My first commercial audition in years

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I just got back from going on my first commercial audition in YEARS!

I’m sure it comes as no shock to learn I used to be an actress (I may or may not have been called “Sami Hammy” as a small child). You may have heard of stage moms who drag their children to auditions and pageants and such…I happened to be a stage kid. Yes, I was the only who made my parents put me in acting.

Living in Chicago as a child, it wasn’t too hard to find auditions, but my parents quickly tired of taking me out of school on a regular basis on the small chance of booking a Rice Krispies commercial or a Sears catalog shoot.

In junior high, I decided to take matters into my own hands. While my mom was on a vacation and a high school friend was ‘watching’ me, I learned of a role I could step in to on a series my sister-in-law was working on in Hollywood. (It was actually called “ER”, but not the one you’re thinking of!). I promptly booked my own flight, got the necessary paperwork filled out by my school principal, and shipped myself out to LA without consulting my mother; as you can imagine, she was less than thrilled. However, it was one of the highlights of my 8th grade year (though I think we later taped over our copy of my debut with an episode of “Days of Our Lives”).

Over the years I’ve done my share of stage musicals, extra roles and stand-ins, but I haven’ pursued it for the last decade. That is until I walked in a fashion show with my kids last fall. What was supposed to be a way for them to practice self-confidence turned in to an opportunity for both of us. So imagine my surprise when, a couple days ago, I received an email asking if I could go to an audition for a “35 year old soccer mom at a farmer’s market”….

Don't I look like a 35 year old soccer mom?

Uh, yeah.

I quickly emailed back saying I thought I could stretch for the role (not too hard considering I am a 35 year old mom who frequents local markets), make up my own headshots, threw together a resume with my experience from the past 15 years and Voila!, I was back in the game!

I can’t tell you whether or not I’ll get the role, but I can tell you that I didn’t let anything stand in my way.

No headshot? No problem, thanks to PhotoShop.
No resume? No problem, thanks to Microsoft Word.
No recent experience. No problem, I’ve got passion and personality!

The point is, I could have let a lot of things stand in my way, but I didn’t. Every experience is an opportunity to grow and expand your horizons. If you want to accomplish something, you can’t wait for the opportunity to drop in your lap…you have to help create it.

What are you sitting back and waiting for instead of helping to create?