Anyone who knows me knows that I like to make people laugh. I've been this way as long as I can remember. In fact, I think it goes back to my Grandpa Saus, my mom's dad, who, as a jokester himself, gave me a book of one-liners as a kid. The book was old, and I'm pretty sure that some of his groaners came from within it's crinkled pages, but it certainly was enough to inspire me. One of it's gems: "What do you get when you cross a dinosaur with fireworks? (Wait for it...) Dino-mite." Insert obligatory groan here _____. That being said, with my love for jokes and an inherited passion for acting from my mom, I decided at age 8, on a cafeteria stage during a first grade Christmas production, that I was going to be an actor.
Sigh. Sometimes I wish my childhood mentors would have been real with me: "Hey kid, that's a cute dream and all, but do you realize you're going to be told 'No' more than 'Yes' in the acting world and on your way to being told 'No', you're going to be told what you're not doing right? They'll call it critique, but that's just a 20 dollar word for 'I don't like what you're doing.' And in between the times you're told 'No', you're going to sit around and have to figure out ways to make your free time interesting, positive, and worthwhile to counteract all the professional negativity you are forced to deal with, just so you don't go crazy." Yeah. I'm not sure it would have made a difference back then, but it sure is becoming apparent now. More on that in a later post.
I've been fortunate enough to make my living in Los Angeles as an actor for the past 5 years. No, I don't work in a restaurant. I don't pick up temp jobs either. I make my living ACTING. Yes, I'd have to say I'm pretty lucky. The bulk of my work has been commercially. I'm the girl hawking foods, services, and ideas to you while you get up and run to the bathroom during a break in your favorite TV show. Admittedly, it's kind of fun to get texts and emails when family and friends catch you on TV. When the commercial is a good one, it's even more fun because people actually watch it! My personal favorite I've done was one a few years back for Lay's Potato Chips:
Yup, I'm the gal in the green. Love it or hate it, it was one of the most fun ads I've been in because of the public's reaction to it. People chatted about it on message boards, manicurists went nuts, and I even got recognized in public! (I guess not everyone runs to the bathroom during commercials.) The best part was that this was found on YouTube a little while later:
How cute are they??! I'm sure those girls spent some the better part of an afternoon remaking that ad! Imitation is the highest form of flattery I suppose! But wow. That took some serious initiative. But then, as if the infamous "manicure commercial" epidemic couldn't get any more bizarre:
I know! How weird is that??!! This is a commercial from Indonesia...they totally copied everything about the original...down to my exact movements! I think it's so obvious the production had the girls watch the original one. How weird. I felt a tiny bit violated when I first saw it, but thought, eh, I figured I must have done something right...
So this is a slice of my life. I go from job to job hoping each one will be a big one. Its a business that has its ups and downs, and it definitely takes some maneuvering...something I'm still working on. But there's more to me than just being a TV salesgirl, so I decided online would be the best place to cultivate and share my other passions. Coming soon: decorating, jewelry, flea market tips, furniture refinishing, more acting woes, travel ideas, dating disasters, and basic goofy chatter. Stay tuned friends!
