I
am an artist in every sense of the word. I’ve always
had an active imagination and an insatiable curiosity,
which my parents encouraged and fostered. Since the day I
could hold a pencil, I’ve sketched, painted,
sculpted... you name it. Growing up, if I wasn’t
playing piano, running around the soccer field, aiming for
that sweet spot behind the shortstop, or singing, I had my
nose in a book.
Unlike many of my peers, I did not act at a young age.
After seeing the movie American
Beauty for the second
time, I sat in stunned silence because something in me
went, “That’s IT!!!” It took a drastic
last-minute change in University plans and majors to figure
out that "IT" was Acting. I had always had a passion for
film, but the lightbulb moment in Karen Hirst's "Respect
for Acting" solidified my path for me, and the rest, as
they say, is history.
The Academy of Art didn’t invigorate me enough
academically or artistically, and their Acting Program was
relatively undeveloped in 2000/2001, so at the advice of
Michael Carroll, I pursued more intensified training at the
American Conservatory Theatre, and transferred to San
Francisco State University to get my B.A. in Drama.
Once I started my "real" acting training, my hunger for
knowledge came on full strength. The more I studied and
read, rehearsed and performed, the more my passion for
acting grew and I began to realize how essential it was,
and still is, for my life. Studying in the BADA program was
the catalyst that pulled all of my training at SFSU, ACT,
and the Academy of Art together, and shaped me into the
actress and woman that I am today.
I am incredibly grateful to have discovered my Bliss; the
thing that gives me goose bumps, that keeps me fired-up,
passionate and in love with life. I also feel, very
strongly, that my participation in life as an actor is a
sacred endeavor. Stories and myths have been passed from
generation to generation since before time was time, and I
believe they are the invisible ties that connect us all, no
matter what language we speak.
If I can make
someone in the audience laugh or smile, take the edge off
of their day, stoke a person's love of language and words,
get one person to think about something in a new way, or if
I can simply find and bring out the truth through our
endeavors on stage, I feel that I have done my job.
I believe that
I can do anything I set my mind to, I’m an optimist
both by nature and choice, I’m level headed, very
patient, I love a good challenge, I take direction well, I
have an incredible foundation of love and support,
I’m very passionate about acting and theatre, and I
never, ever want to stop learning. Whatever I choose to
commit to, I do so completely. I strive to be true to
myself, my passion, to live fully, and to keep myself on
the right path. Like my mentor, teacher and friend Irina
Brown said, "There's nothing like jumping off a cliff to
get you started." I tell you what: I've leapt, and it's
absolutely marvelous.