Acting out

One of the most frequently asked questions that I get is "How do I get blog sponsors so that I can quit my day job?" My answer: I have no idea. I usually refer them to other bloggers who are doing this. As for me? My ultimate wish is use Adored Austin as a springboard for a job in which I can combine my love for performing with my love for blogging. I'd love to make ridiculous video blogs for an online media company, publication, or an apparel site that I admire or I'd love to have a weekly segment on the local morning news where I do lighthearted pieces about fashion trends or shopping. At this point, I don't think Adored Austin or even acting will ever be my full-time job. Chris has a job that affords us the honor of my being able to stay at home with Jude, we are trying for another baby (or two or three), and to be quite honest, I don't have the same enthusiasm for commercial or print work anymore. I love acting but once I had to start bastardizing my craft for mindless, shallow gigs in order to make a buck, I became jaded with that side of the industry. I do not want that to happen with blogging.

I recently got new acting headshots. Headshots may seem like a strange investment for someone who isn't really acting anymore. A few months ago I left a rote commercial audition and resolved to be done with "acting" for good. I'm using "quotes" around "acting" because it was after leaving that audition that I realized that the print and commercial auditions I'd been going on lately weren't really "acting" per se. It's more like modeling with a few lines of dialog, and I have zero desire to model.

One of the reasons why I kept my hair so long was to match the headshots I had done in 2008. Alas, the recent haircut precipitated the need for new headshots, which is okay because technically, a working actor should get new ones once a year or with any major change to their appearance (since my last headshots I've gained about 15 pounds, had jaw surgery to correct an overbite, and had braces to correct a wayward tooth). The dude who did my 2008 headshots Photoshopped me within an inch of my life, so I like that these new ones actually look like me. Here's a few of the unretouched proofs:

photos by Mark Herron

Here (L-R) we have the bored business woman, the wide-eyed girl next door, and the stay-at-home mom: all necessary archetypes for any actress' headshot repertoire. I'm not throwing in the towel on acting just yet. I'm still seeking paid theatre, independent film, and network television work.

Before I had Jude I was able to work as a company actor at two much loved local theatre companies and also booked some really great industrials, local commercials, print jobs, and independent films. The year before I had Jude I had the biggest auditions and call-backs of my life: Leah Clearwater being one of them. Then I took 2009 off to --you know-- gestate a child, and I've been having the darndest time getting back in. I've been on ten auditions, been called back in for five, and booked zero. Jude, on the other hand, has been called in for three and has booked two. Go, Jude! Maybe being a full-time stage mom is in my future.

He loves hamming it up for the camera and he is pretty cute, wouldn't you say?

My other dream jobs include a magician's assistant, Tina Fey's personal assistant and new best friend, and the tv host of a spinoff I'd like to pitch that's just like the Food Network's show "Man vs. Food" but it's called "Woman vs. Desserts". It's me. Eating massive desserts. You'd watch that, right?