I have been acting since the age of two. My first gig was a publishers clearing house commercial. For me acting was playing make believe. Just in front of a lot more people. I would drive two and a half hours from Barnegate NJ to Manhattan NY just for one audition. Looking back, it was a lot to put a kid through. There was so much rejection. You're not pretty enough. You're too green. You're too this, you're not enough that. Then a few times in between the rejections you would actually get something. I'll never forget my first break. I was 11 years old and I booked a big movie called "New York Stories". Francis Ford Coppola directed the picture. After several screen tests I got a role in the movie!! This is when I began to fall in love with acting. It fulfilled me in a way I couldn't describe at 11 or heck even now. I just knew that this is what I wanted to do. Forever. Any emotion I had or ever had I could channel through the character. I felt for the first time I could express myself fully. People often ask me how I handle such an unstable business. I still don't know that answer. All I know is that I love what I do. Genuinely. I love being on set! I love actors! I love the makeup chair in the morning. I love the breakfast burrito I inevitably order every day. Being on set surrounded by a group of people who all have a common goal is inspiring. The work is the icing on the cake. Yes it's like anything in life the road can be hard and rough but without the bumps you never appreciate a newly paved road. You just never know when they're gonna pave the road so I just sit back and enjoy the ride. I take every audition as an opportunity to do what I love. Even if it's for five minutes in a room full of strangers. I am learning to be grateful for it all. The no's and the yes's. The journey. Here's to all of us having an amazing 2012. Dream big. Love bigger. Share endlessly.
Love,
Heather
