Getting Started and catching you up

Thanks to gurustu, I am able to write in my blog today. I know very little so cannot link you directly to anything. However, you can see gurustu at blogger and at gurustu.com, too. Thank you, gurustu.

I basically am blogging to record my thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc as my acting career moves forward in hopes of propelling myself forward, sharing with friends and inspiring other artists. I live and work in Los Angeles, am a SAG member, and am represented across the board by the Jana Luker Agency.

I've been acting for over 10 years. They say it takes 10 years to make a good actor. I've done plenty of industrials, my fare share of commercials, and a few theatrical pieces including: One Bad Mice; Walker, Texas Ranger; and other things including plays, show cases, and directed scenes. I've taken tons of classes, too, so many that I do not write them all on my resume or any where. From time to time, I will mention my teachers. They have all played a tremendous role in my life. Two have died in recent years, one a very dear friend - Jeff Alexander, who I miss dearly many days, and Zina Provendie, who I studied with for only a short while but influenced me deeply. She was a powerful woman and a wonderful teacher.

Early last calendar year I got stuck and couldn't seem to move my craft forward. I knew I really wasn't that castable yet and that my acting needed to be more open. I was holding back but did not know why and have spent years trying to get past myself. I had flashes of terrific work but could not consistently repeat it. So, I took a whole year off from May 2004-May 2005. I wanted to see if I could live without acting and see if a break could help me create a breakthrough. I didn't take any classes, didn't send one postcard, didn't submit myself for a single thing. The only thing I did was go to auditions for which my agents called me. Oh, someone suggested I attend events. So, I lucked out and met Jennifer Beals, whom I admire and respect, and Jamie Foxx.

I spent the year reflecting, going to weddings, and spending time with family and friends. I even went to NYC and saw "Wicked" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." I loved Wicked, and John Lithgow was wonderful in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In the late 90's, I was a reporter for a local Dallas cable show called "StageDallas." My beat was the Dallas Summer Musicals, so I saw everything that eventually went to Broadway and interviewed some terrific actors including: Phyllis Diller and Ronnie Claire Edwards among others. Until this summer, my favorite musical was "Jekyll and Hyde" by Andrew Lloyd Weber, which I'd seen in Dallas and had interviewed the starring cast. It seems many people missed that one. My new favorite is "Wicked," and I'm looking forward to Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Women in White" that opens on Broadway in November.

I was inspired by the Broadway shows and came back to LA to prep myself for better days in acting. During the year off, I learned that I was free to leave acting and that my life wouldn't be ruined if I didn't act. In essence, I was free to go, and therefore, I was free to stay. I decided to stay and became more committed than ever.

I started eating better - mostly organic foods, working out a little more, and took a couple of casting director classes that lasted 4 weeks each. The two casting directors were Joe D'Agosta and Holly Powell - both through Nowcasting. Both CDs had helpful information. Holly had some tips that could have saved me from mistakes. I wish I'd taken her class before I went to producers for 90210 and before I went into a producer's session with John Wells for Presidio Med. Neither one went well. I had more to learn.

After the casting director workshops, Danielle Eskinazi brought me in for an audition for a Sutter Health commercial. The audition went well and the callback went even better. At the callback, I didn't quite understand the cameraman when he gave a direction. One of the 10 people in my peripheral vision spoke up and impressed me. She directed a question to the cameraman and in doing so gave me the information I needed. I thought she was excellent. By directing her question to him, she had respected him while indirectly giving me the information that I needed. It turned out later that she was the director who hired me. Her name is Carolyn Chin.

After the callback, I was called in for another first audition for a new scene that they had created. They auditioned another woman and me to see if we could pass as sisters. My name is Sarah Jean Fry, the woman who auditioned us was Sarah, and the woman who would play my sister was Sarah Jane Hale. There were three women and all of us were named Sarah! And get this, my friends call me SJ...and Sarah Jane's friends call her SJ, too. I knew it was destiny. And so it was.

They cast us and we shot one afternoon in a swimming pool. It was great fun! 4 hours of nearly non-stop swimming and diving. Since there was a lot of diving, I was given a stunt bump, meaning I was paid as an actress and a stuntwoman that day. I loved that day. I was back in the acting game and thrilled to be there! It wasn't all acting since we didn't have lines per se, but we had to show a connection with each other and develop a relationship. So, acting was required.

For the first time in years, I sent out postcards and told CDs that I had booked a commercial. I've had a few auditions since and also started back to my acting class. I've had tons of classes over the years with all different kinds of focus. Saving more information on that for another time. In late August, I just needed the final class to help me break through and I knew just where to go. So, I called The Art of Film Acting: A Guide For Actors and Directors" (well, the first 8 chapters anyway, lol) and upon his advice in the book coupled with his reminder in two classes in a row, I began sight reading on a daily basis. I've often procrastinated this effort, but this time it stuck. I've missed a day here and there but for the most part I read every day and sometimes twice in addition to auditions, Jerry's class and CD workshops.

Since then my work has moved to a new level. I feel like I've finally become fluent in acting. Jeremiah's class and his book were the things I needed to make my final breakthrough. Now I consistently work well in audition and cold readings.

Last night, Tony and I worked on a scene from "Whose Life is It Anyway." Remember we only read the script once and then we go. It was a powerful scene and we were very connected. I cried and completely let go. It's some of the best work I've ever done. And I'll be doing a lot more of it from now on. I am free.

The other big milestone I just crossed isn't big to a lot of people, but I found myself in the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB - free & IMDBpro - membership) yesterday. I've been trying for years, off and on, to be added for my part in "One Bad Mice" (1997) to no avail. However, this summer, I read the credits again and it turns out I was "Help" not waitress. Evidently someone else at IMDB looked up a copy, too and found the same thing. So, I've finally been added. My goal is to add all the other info including representation and biographical information this week. And I'll also be creating a reel that is long over due and a website, too.

More tomorrow.