This world continues to shift and change, and so do I. Old Heraclitus back in Ancient Greece was the one who said “The only constant in life is change.”
Today, I can stand outside the front door of my house in New Mexico, and see down the road to the place where my father grew up. I can just imagine all those kids playing the road on the bend there, enacting all the stories I’ve heard.
The maternal side of my father’s family lived in Northern New Mexico for centuries.
I grew up off a dirt road a few miles west of town. As a girl, riding my three wheel dirt bike down that road, I dreamed of moving to Los Angeles and also of studying in England. Later on, I had the opportunity to live both those dreams.
After university, I headed to LA in a very old Buick to make my way as an actor. I studied Meisner at Playhouse West with Bob Carnegie and Jeff Goldblum where I got a good feel for the truthfulness of the moment—and the power of the story to transform lives.
For years, I was mostly focused on a career that was mostly 99-seat waiver theater. Some of it was really fantastic. I had the notion that most people in Los Angeles were just like me – going to classes and workshops, trying to meet the right people for their career and having drinks at Residuals.
Turns out that’s not it. Throughout my time living in LA, I’ve come to know far more than just that narrow world. I’ve come to discover the beautiful diversity of culture that makes up the city and learned to appreciate it deeply.
I continued that education for two years in New York City, where I studied Meisner again at The Acting Studio with James Price. I did some Off-Broadway theater there in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. I worked at Columbia University Law School where I became good friends with the inimitable Kellis Parker – first black professor at Columbia Law School and one of five black students who integrated the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His buoyant humor and passion for art made a lasting impact on me. I returned from New York shortly before September 11, 2001, because a temp job I had in the World Trade Center had been cancelled.
Back in Los Angeles, as images of 9/11 were replayed again and again across my television screen, I thought of how disappointed I’d been that I’d had to leave New York and of how close I’d been to being in that building.
In the following days, months and what turned into years, I became passionate about the fight for a better world. I spent some twelve years producing forums, film screenings, conferences, spoken word and musical concerts, and large and small demonstrations from 50 – 150,000 people. The experience was incredible. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Now, I’ve come full circle in many ways.
As an actor, including a voice actor, I see the art as an act of love for humanity – of standing in the shoes of another and living that truth, whatever it may be. The power of seeing the world through the eyes of the other holds the promise of building bridges and transforming lives. Building bridges sounds good to me.
What I am seeking now are partners who are looking to tell some good stories – to make some magic – so together, we can touch hearts and minds, and maybe make the world a brighter place for all – even if it’s one project at a time.