Inspirational stories

I'm a religious person so this is a faith-based inspirational story. On my last film I was in my first trimester of pregnancy with my son and I started getting really bad morning sickness just like a few days before filming and I was really nervous because I wanted to be able to bring the same quality that I brought in audition and callbacks when we were on set. I didn't want to be completely wiped out or totally sick so my husband and I prayed that I would be able to do what I needed to do while I was on set and make it through and do a good job and it was crazy. I'd be driving to set at 5 30 in the morning and feel totally sick even feel nauseous while I was in the hair and makeup chair and then I would feel completely fine all day long and then we would wrap I'd get out of my hair and makeup get in my car to drive home and the nausea would hit again. So absolutely I believe that that was a blessing that came from prayer.

Video 2 Transcript

So about 20 years ago, I produced a film, also played in it. It's called The Best Two Years, and I played the mission president. So, inspirational story would be, we had no idea if that film was going to work. We had no concept. We went to Holland for a couple of weeks and shot over there, shot two weeks in the States, but we had no idea. But in the aftermath of that, there's been a lot of really good stuff come from it. A lot of stories, a lot of people just saying, wow, we love the film. My daughter went on a mission because of that movie, and on and on and on. And so many stories like that. That film, and I didn't direct it, didn't write it. I just, I produced it. I was just an actor. So Scott Anderson, my dear friend, he was the main driving force behind it. He was the writer, director. But yeah, it's blessed a lot of lives. And that feels really good because not many films do that.

Video 3 Transcript

Inspirational story in 60 seconds. That's gonna be tough, but here we go. I'm a huge fan of meditation and prayer. In fact, I feel like that they are intertwined in so many beautiful ways. So I approach most characters with this in mind. And I remember being on set on a project and I could not get to where I wanted to go. I had something I wanted to do in my heart and it wasn't coming out. Something in my headspace was just jacking it all up. I had a director that was asking for something. I could see clearly what he wanted, but I couldn't get there. And I have 100 people staring at me, waiting for me to get to this moment and it's quite overwhelming with all that pressure. But I remember, remembering I'd done the work. I needed to relax. I needed to trust my instincts and trust the work that I had done. And I went into a meditative, prayerful state and the most beautiful, sweet spirit just came in and relaxed me and I went back to work. And now I look for that driving force.

Video 4 Transcript

This was a huge lesson learner for me, but when I was 17, I was in a conservatory, an acting conservatory in Arizona, and I was the youngest there, so I really wanted to prove to everyone that I was worthy of being there, and the conservatory puts on a play every season, and I auditioned for the play, and after callbacks, our acting coach who was directing the show was like, I'll give you whatever part you want, just tell me what part you want, and I said that I wanted the lead, because she had the most lines, and I performed the part, and I was terrible, truly, truly terrible, and what she taught me is that I should have picked the comedic lead, it was a much better part for me, but had fewer lines, and I learned that sometimes the smaller part that's better for you is way better for you to take, it's not always about being the most important.

Video 5 Transcript

For one, look at me. I look like Santa Claus. So, I get typecasted a lot as Santa Claus. And, you know, that's fine. I do Santa Claus very well. I've been doing it for 20 years. So, I know how to do Santa Claus. Other actors, well, other parts, it's kind of hard, but you work with it. And, when you have someone come up to you and say, hey man, you are an awesome Santa Claus. Thank you for being on set. It makes me feel good. So, you've got to be the best that you can be at whatever you do. Whatever part you get, do your best. Just make it your own.

Video 6 Transcript

Inspirational stories. The most inspirational person I can think of is a friend of mine, Andrew Pilkington, who went to University of Rhode Island, and I'm a writer and I had done a story on him a while ago, but I made a movie with him as well, but the point is he has cerebral palsy and he's in a wheelchair and he's very spasmodic, but he's a filmmaker and he makes films. He types text and whatever with his nose and edits with his foot as he has a joystick on the floor and he moves his foot to edit. The kid is phenomenal. He just produced this movie that's done very well at film festivals called The Best Summer Ever, and it's filled with people with disabilities and some without disabilities, but it's a musical. It's a take off on teen romance musicals, and it's absolutely a stunning film. That kid inspires me because as he likes to say, he said, you don't adapt. If the world doesn't adapt to you, you adapt to the world, and he has adapted magnificently. I love this kid, and people like that are my inspiration.

Video 7 Transcript

I truly feel like there's acting work for every type of person out there. Now, you have to be good. You have to train. You have to study. You have to practice in order to be ready for those roles. But anytime I do a bad audition or find out sometimes I didn't get a part I really want, I'm like, I'm gonna quit. You know, it's like, it's so, so hard. But really sticking in there, sticking to it and continuing on can really be amazing. I just did a film called Witnesses and on Facebook and on Instagram and all these places. And after screenings where I do Q&As, people come up to me and tell me how much they were moved by my performance. And that is just, that is enough fuel for me to continue going through all those bad auditions and through all those other times of not getting hired.

Video 8 Transcript

I've tried to do as much work as I can that would be considered of value to real people in the real world and not just entertainment, not just for entertainment's sake, although I don't mind doing things just for entertainment's sake. It's nice if there's something that can inspire or motivate people. And so I've been in a couple of faith-based film projects that throughout my career and since I've made them, I've met people in various locations that have expressed gratitude that those projects were made and how they've helped them to change their lives around and make significant improvements just kind of based on what they saw. One of them was about Christian missionaries and that inspired a lot of young people to go on missions, which is fairly gratifying.

Video 9 Transcript

My biggest thing is just to not give up. I mean, it's so, you're going to get rejected so many times. I, even the college sketch group that I auditioned for, which led to my full-time job, I didn't get in my first year. And I remember being so bummed because, you know, I thought I had done a great job, but there were a lot of really funny people. And I realized that there's some things that are out of your control as an actor, and you just have to do your best. And then if you just keep at it, and if you're friendly and easy to work with, opportunities will come their way. I talked about it earlier, but I got to do a feature film with John Heder, Napoleon Dynamite, and that took years and years of hard work. But it came together, and I got to play a really fun part in a romantic comedy.

Video 10 Transcript

This was a cool experience. I was working with Kevin Cosner and it was a scene with just him and me and all day it was just him and me doing this scene together and in our downtime I was talking to him and I told I was kind of venting to him about my frustrations with the industry. I've been in it for 20 years and I just haven't gotten that break and things like that and he asked me he was like you know how old are you and I tell him and he tells me he's like I didn't get my first job until I was 30 something years old which was older than I was at the time and he's like and they cut me out of the film and that was the movie The Big Chill I believe and so he said he's like it's not a race just you're already ahead of where I was so just keep working hard keep pushing and if it's meant to be is meant to be and I've always hung on to that so thanks Kevin.

Video 11 Transcript

I feel like I want to put the attention on other people, like people that I've met. I've been in a fashion show with Johanna Catan. I didn't even know who she was. All's I knew was that it was awesome to walk the runway with her and she had the most beautiful dress on, just smiled and greeting all of us other models. And she was a model as well. She only had maybe 20,000 followers and basically within two years, she has like over 150,000 followers. Just an amazing musician, fashion model, actor, actress, just super awesome, such an inspiration.