My first ever network Co-Star on Heartbeat on NBC as a Technician in surgery (it aired in April 2016). I wore a mask in the scene, of course. But I really think a surgical cap suits me.
In the scene, our patient goes brain dead during surgery. It's a tense and emotional moment.
Which I interrupt to ask Dr. Pantierre if she wants to take the patient off life support.
She doesn't answer me because she has a connection to the patient and is too upset. Then one of the interns tells me we all should leave. I know exactly which take this was that ended up in the show because I was acting on the other side of all this emotion staring into Melissa's eyes and this take was different from all the others.
Another dramatic trailer selfie - an actor prepares
Hooray for my trailer!
I had a really good sized trailer with a full "entertainment center" - swanky.
Shooting a Co-Star on Castle on ABC as a Cleaning Lady (the episode aired in April 2016).
It was rainy and I had a long wait until we shot my part so I played music in my trailer. I remember there was really amazing ceviche and guacamole at lunch.
My trailer had a weird saloon style door to the bathroom - I thought it was funny.
Shovel Buddies by Awesomness Films was directed by the team of Si & Ad (Simon and Adam) who normally work in London. It takes place over the course of one day, but primarily the night. It premiered in Austin at SXSW in March 2016. I play a Police Officer responding to a couple of calls throughout the night. I also did additional police dispatch voices during ADR.
Trailers for Shovel Buddies on our second night shoot, somewhere in the valley.
I was one of a group of elves who take our revenge on Santa Clause in That Bastard Santa.
The backstory I made for my character, Tinsel, is that she was your typical happy go lucky elf, and still has all that love in her heart, but she's been pushed SO far, that now she is permanently surly until things get set right.
Would ANYONE put up with this guy as their boss?!?!
Playing Zelda, the psychic that lives next door, on Just Us Guys.
Birdman style long takes with this group actually went really well - you're just praying no one messes up the take. Long takes actually build up a nice rhythm. The cast included Robin Thorsen of The Guild.
Playing a waitress who deals with a time traveler in Press COOK.
It started raining SO hard while we were filming this and it's a miracle the sound didn't pick it up. Of course, it was hot hot hot on set.
James Hong feeding me a chip. He wanted to! Who was I to say no.
I love a costume.
2014 was the first year I was in a show in the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It was a fun experience, and there was a great feeling of camaraderie waiting outside the theater to load in and all the other shows doing the same. It also had a unique awards show.
I had to climb a tall ladder to get on top of this tree for this commercial, and then scoot along sitting on a piece of plastic so as not to ruin the wardrobe because redwoods have a lot of color in them. Then trying to maneuver to turn around so I could go back down the ladder was really hard without touching the bark - but I did it! This shot was clearly worth it. And because I was really into this wardrobe, I am tickled that I am wearing my own boots, that I found years ago "dorm room diving" in the abandoned stuff people left behind at the end of the semester while I was waiting for my college graduation ceremony. They have served me well over the years.
Publicity photos from America's Toughest Jobs. I should always remember, never forget, to not let ANYONE underline my eyes (even with eyeshadow). It just looks crazy.
I got to work with my sister on Replacing Death! When you are multiracial, it is really handy to have a sister who is an actor too to be able to play your sister. I wonder sometimes about how family members and children would be cast for me and what families people think you look like you could be in versus the one you actually came from.
Featured on Samantha Who?. Trying not to trip over Christina Applegate's skirt was a full time job because I had to be close enough to lead her in by her arm, but the circumference of it was HUGE. In between takes we were dancing behind the set to music piped in over the stage speakers. I loved my uniform props and stuff... I'm such a geek for a walky talky.
In the scene Samantha spills her heart out to a TSA Agent about how she's come to realize she's in love with her ex-boyfriend. The TSA Agent (me) says nothing. I kept hoping they'd give me a line and bump me to "Co-Star" status, but they did not - a girl can dream.
They did give me two reaction shots and a bump in pay for "being so good". So I guess that's the best you can hope for from a Featured role. (Here Samantha and her ex, Todd, just got engaged.) People were asking me if I had been in the army or was a real cop around set because I was standing around in character for fun and my body language was throwing off that vibe (that's as Method as I'll ever get).
Playing a Featured role on Monk. I was a chess genius in a big competition. Being in chess club in High School FINALLY paid off for SOMETHING! You had to already know how to play to get this job.
In the competition all of us played against David Strathairn all at once, and Monk played against him too as he was trying to figure out something about David's character having killed his wife.
After some time lapse rounds of game play, I had to lose and shake David's hand and walk off. The chess master who set up the games gave me a sequence of moves that was so fundamentally wrong (in how it exposed my pieces) that I was shamed by it. (As if my game play would ever be noticeable on camera.)
My first day as a card carrying SAG member on Dreamgirls. Hair gave me what I refer to as the "black Parent Trap wig" (like the old Disney movie). Wardrobe gave us matching sweaters and me and this girl made up a routine for when they played a music track over a montage, and they gave us our own shot! It was big for us, because they hosed down the street and placed extras behind us, it was 10 minutes of feeling like more than background. We are shimmying in the part of the routine they used in the film, but we had much more impressive moves...
Here is where we all run to beg Jamie Foxx's character to see us for auditions, and he gives some chick a job after inspecting her hands, I guess to see if she could type.... Someone cracked us all up by saying stuff like "You got fingers? GOOD! You got the job!" The craft services was AMAZING on this day - warm molten chocolate cake with chocolate chips in it. I think I get to check off being in a movie musical on my list of things I've done now, especially because I dance in it.
Hayley Mills with the blonde version of my wig in "Parent Trap" (a nice movie, by the way - I loved it as a kid).
Doing background work on Arrested Development with Jeffrey Tambor. I was DELIGHTED to end up in a shot on one of my favorite shows because by this time it had already been cancelled and this was the only chance I would ever get to be on it. This was a flashback scene to where Jeffrey's character fires us all after having us load our office equipment onto a truck (he has told us to do it because we are getting all new office equipment). Jeffrey pushed me on the first take after he fired us all because I wasn't walking away fast enough, so I made sure to match it by lingering each time so I'd be there for his shove (that part of the shot didn't make it in - but it was fun to play with).
I had taped this when it aired, and I got voicemails before I watched it from friends across the country, "Ummm... were you just on Arrested Development?!?" I do a little double take in the shot that I'm pretty proud of - I feel it adds something to the comedy of the show. (I know. I know. But - HEY! Small actor victories.) Jason Bateman was directing that day. Justine Bateman was guesting on the show in scenes they shot in the morning, so we watched them on the monitors - I love watching uncut comedy footage, like when you work on sitcoms watching all 4 cameras in the studio during rehearsals.
This industrial for Disney involved shooting a number of takes with multiple types of digital cameras and a film camera to compare how they handled typical digital camera issues (for example, I'm wearing red to see if it messes with the cameras in different lights). There were teams for each set of camera equipment on hand to make sure their equipment was at it's best. Sometimes I wondered if this industrial was the turning point in losing film - because it was then used for DPs to make choices for major projects. (I love film!!!) When it came to our martini glasses there was a lot of "clink and drink" to splosh the martinis around, and finding the light with our glasses - I think that was about creating fleeting hot spot challenges for the cameras.
In the story, two couples vacation at a small cabin together - enjoying the outdoors, drinking a TON of martinis(!), and then finishing off with a lovely dinner. I really liked this table scene because it was the last setup and and it was into the evening, and it was one of those peculiar moments when a whole bunch of people were crowded into a teeny space but all you are aware of is the people sitting with you at the table.
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