Who's Year Is It?

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!! Yes! We made it! In a few hours (depending on where you are reading this) we will be ringing in 2014!!! I feel HAPPY, EXCITED, and JOYFUL at seeing what the new year has to bring with it. Now don't get me wrong. 2013 has been nothing short of AMAZING for my acting career (a lil' ole Baltimore girl like me), but there is just something about 2014 that just makes me want to get my praise on and it hasn't even arrived yet! 2014 will receive all I have to offer towards my ACTING career which includes financially investing in my TALENT a WHOLE LOT MORE. So I say to you...Lets vow to make this our BEST YEAR EVER! Lets go after EVERYTHING that makes us HAPPY and keeps us HEALTHY in the new year! Lets vow to hurt less, LOVE more. To have closed mouths and OPEN ears, OPEN arms and OPEN hearts. To those who consciously put their best foots forward WELL DONE. To those who know that they are sick of the negativity and want to live a more positive life...NO MORE EXCUSES! After all, it is proven that when we maintain a positive attitude, the Universe will send everything positive our way. Who doesn't want that? Lets not get in our own way. In 2014 lets let FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, JOY, PEACE, our DREAMS, & HARD-WORK show up & SHOW OUT! 2014 is OUR year!!! OWN IT!

XO

My goal was to sit down and to write about the new play I was just cast in with Director, Randy Smith called "Black Diamonds". That was the goal. Key word: "was". However, when I woke this morning geared to write on what I thought would be new news, I began to fill with so much gratitude that it brought real tears to my eyes (that happens alot though). I immediately realized that as I looked back on the last year of my life in acting, that my purpose driven life has taken me farther than any plans I originally had for myself this time 12 months ago. Just to think that this all started with a dream to act when I was 8. Just to attempt to abandon that dream to do what everyone else said was "normal". However, I realize that in certain ways I have never been normal and instead of trying to fit in have decided to stand out with dreams that are larger than life! A life filled with prayer, gratitude, hardwork, networking, and never looking back has put me in a space where I have met some of the greatest and most talented people ever! Where I can hardly fall asleep for the urge to work and to become a better actor. Just this goal alone keeps me up doing so much through the night. I have been cast in shows that I never expected, for lengths of time that I could never imagine, worked on sets of shows that I thought I would only see on tv, met a few celebrities who have inspired me, been treated like a star even if I was only a feature, and received encouragement from those who continue to support me on this crazy journey. So, you see, what started out as a plan to tell you, my readers, about what I have coming up, turned into a post to be thankful! Thank you! Yes, Thank YOU! Y. O. U. You who take the time to read my blog posts. You, my friends on FB. You who follow me on IG. You who re-tweet me on Twitter. Thank you to you who have cast me in your productions and gave me a chance to project your vision. You whom I have shared a stage or a scene with. You, the photographers, who were gracious enough to put a camera on me and make me feel like I was looking at someone else but in actuality you brought out the best in me. Thank you to those who inbox, text, call or email me to say "I see you! Keep it up!" THANK YOU! I have always been ambitious, but the outpouring of love and support is, well, to say the least, OVERWHELMING! (No, I am not crying now but by the end of this post I probably will be *insert smiley face*) Go with me as I take a look back at my year, and just remember that YOU ARE APPRECIATED!

XO,
Starring_Alesia

Where Dreams Are Made Of....

I AM GOING TO NY PILOT SEASON!!!! I AM GOING TO NY PILOT SEASON!!!! Just got the call from a well known agency that I have been extended the opportunity to audition during pilot season!!! OMG!!! OMG!!! I think I am hypervwentilating!!! (Wait! Did I spell that right??? Oh well!!!!) It is a week event... actors are coming from all around!!! I am going with a connection. Yall have no idea. I grind in my sleep!!!! 2014!!! A year of Elevation!!!! Nomore comfort zone!!!! I am so excited!!! Just the networking opportunity alone is MAJOR!!!! I am gonna bring my A+ game!!! This is the best Christmas gift EVER! Thank you to everyone who follows my blog and encourages or supports me. I AM GOING TO PILOT SEASON!!!! GOD IS AWESOME!!!!

EXCUSE ME WHILE I WAIT

Can I tell you what is the one thing that drives me crazy about being an actor? Seriously. JUST THAT ONE TINY THING? It has got to be the wait! Even as I type the word "wait" it brings butterflies to my stomach. The wait. (Ugh!) Not the wait involved on the road to becoming some Hollywood starlet ( honestly, for some actors that never happens). It, instead, is the wait that comes after you have auditioned for a role. That agonizing wait. Have you ever waited for something? Of course you have. A package, a loved one, maybe even to check your tickets from that $636 million dollar Mega Million drawing the other day (still cant believe I only had one number out of $13 in tickets. Oh well!). Anyway, *insert deep sigh* the wait. I had several auditions in the last few weeks. I cant say I haven't heard back, because I have. Do you want to know what I heard? I heard the alert of an email. That's right! An email! Not even an email saying I have received any parts, but more like an email from mostly all the casting agents that read the same way "Thanks for auditioning. The selection process will take a few weeks and we will contact you soon blah blah blah...". Geez! A few weeks?!!! (Is this a universal casting agent script?) Do you want to know what I have done in these few weeks while I "wait"? Drove myself insane! I have replayed each and every audition, monologue, and script I read every single night in my head. Every. Single. Day. I have imagined getting that phone call or email saying "You have been chosen..." (I wont say which part I really want but I will say when I imagine the chosen part I immediately envision that role being mines). Want to know what else I do while I wait? I read Stanislavski. I know you may ask why? Honestly, I cant tell you why. All I know is that his words make sense to me as an actor and I always seem to find something that speaks to me about every single audition. (Don't judge me). Oh! The last thing  I do while I "wait"? I train. That's right, I train with one of my acting coaches (right now I am working with a film, tv, commercial coach in downtown Baltimore who is awesome to say the least) and I try to act like the auditions I did never happened at all. Soooooo, long story short, (or judging by what I have typed so far long story a bit longer), that's what I am doing now. Busying myself while I wait. Typing a blog about waiting while I wait. WAITING patiently, while I wait for the wait to be over with! (Yeah, its that bad!) I do, however, have some good news to close this out with!!! MY BUSINESS CARDS ARRIVED TODAY!!! You guys know I don't sit still. Every day, every single day, I devote time to my talent. To networking it, Training it. Learning about it. Seeing it. Reviewing it. (You get the picture!) So I am happy to share them with you guys. A picture of the front and back of the card. I am taking a class with Samuel L. Jacksons acting coach the beginning of next year (this man has also trained Liam Neeson & Harrison Ford) and I am going with these cards in hand when I travel to meet him. I am hitting 2014 running! You know why don't you? Because this is acting...and ACTING IS MY BUSINESS!

THE BUCK STOPS HERE!!!!

Have you ever heard the saying that people who hit the lottery tend to go through feelings of guilt? I have. Do you want to know what I think when I read those stories? Its probably nothing different than what anyone else would think. I say to myself, "If I ever hit the lottery for millions of dollars, I am sure I will feel alot of things, but I am almost certain none of them WOULD BE GUILT!
Hmmmm. No? Are you sure? Now stay with me. I know its the holidays and you are probably still stuck on what you could do with a million, or millions, of dollars, but I do have a story to tell.
Let me explain to you where I am right now with this "acting business". I am an actor. I do things that actors, or anyone who has a dream and any type of talent they believe in, would do. I take a lot of acting classes (some free and some wayyyy from free). I do alot of auditions, volunteer for alot of plays,  and network with alot of people. Some of my efforts move me a notch closer to living my dreams, and sometimes, well, I mean, there is a learning experience in everything I do. (Two steps forward, one step back my nana used to say, or was that Ms. Chancelor from Young & The Restless?) Anyway. I am okay with that. I am okay with working hard, praying hard, losing sleep and sometimes not having time to eat. What I am not okay with is others trying to make me feel guilty.
Now understand that when I say others for the most part I don't look to anyone to "give" me anything. I expect the occasional "naysayer", and where would my motivation be without a "hater" or two. (I hate the word hater, but its typed so lets move on). What I don't like is when "certain people" who have never even so much as taken the time to acknowledge anything else in my life be it good or bad, that now feel the need to directly or indirectly make me feel like I owe them or anyone else something because I am "chasing a dream" and having fun doing it.
First it started with the guilt trip inbox's on Facebook. Then it started with the guilt trip phone calls. At one time, it was a little bit of both (sometimes form the same people). It had gotten to the point where I even considered changing my cell number (a good friend talked me out of that one)! I notice that the more acting work I do that gives me more "exposure" the louder the "guilt trippee's" get.
Well, no more guilt trips! Absolutely NO MORE! I am a giver from the heart. My time, my home, my money, but I will not be backed into feeling like I owe anyone anything when it comes to chasing my own success. I sweat the blood and cry the tears. I take the gains and the losses. At the end of the day I want to be a blessing but on Gods terms and no one else's. So here's a toast to you guilt trippers, I know you are reading this, its not happening! Not today! Not tomorrow! Not ever! My dream, my goals, my talent on my terms. This is acting and ACTING IS "MY" BUSINESS!

Little Girl: My Open Letter

They say what doesn't kill you will make you stronger. They also say no need in worrying about something that hasn't happen yet. "Live in the moment" I think the saying goes. Well today, I got a taste, or shall I say a dose, of both sayings. The interview dropped today.  *takes both hands and covers eyes*Now before you go off asking "Where is it?" *peaks from behind one hand* first let me just say that today I learned that I am my own worst critic. Now, I know you may look at it and have your own opinions, some good some bad, but let me just say that there is nothing you can say or ask that I haven't already criticized myself over, for or about. However, as the day went on, the love and support poured in, as I replayed the youtube clip a number of times, something interesting began to happen, I began to love me. Not me the everyday Alesia, but me the aspiring actor Alesia. I thought what better way to end the night but to say a few things to the little girl in me that I must let die. The one who still has all the, well, let me just do this...

"Little Girl, Little Girl its okay, you dont have to cry/Little Girl, Little Girl pay attention and let me tell you why/You are brown skinned, pretty and you are very very smart/You will have your feelings betrayed but still maintain your heart/Little Girl, Little Girl dont be so hard on those you love/God placed them there as your angels also from the heavens above/I know you carry hurt it will pass with you over the years/I know you are afraid, youve seen so much, it sometimes brings you tears/but Little Girl, Little Girl there is so much out there for you to do/so many lives to be touched, inspired, these words I speak are true/Little Girl, Little Girl dont fight who you are, we are human, we all have our flaws/Just know that others you meet can be a lesson or a blessing and will eventually show you their cause/So Little Girl, Little Girl be gentle, happy, loving and kind/And when you find that thing you do well and love you stay on your grind/For one day you will remember Little Girl all the things you thought you couldnt do/And you will read this and remember that your biggest supporter was you!" 

~With love to myself~

Enjoy and thank you for your support!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPr_fS4XBSY

Out of my comfort zone.

People spend all their lives having dreams. (If you say you  never dreamed of doing something at least once that you felt was "out of reach" ---I would really want to call you a liar...like, really bad, but, well ,thats not nice.) Anyway, I am at the point in my life and in my "up and coming" (we will address that term on another post) acting career where acting is more than just a talent, or a dream, but more like my life. Every move I make, every class I take, every time I wake, its all about acting. Acting is my business, and lately I have been treating it as such. So with that being said, I have been making some moves that are "totally out of my comfort zone". No. I mean really. See, I started out on stage, that's what I know. However, my dreams, they are, well expanding. Stage was good, and is good, and has always been good to me, but I am determined to do more. So this Saturday, for the first time, I sat in front of a camera and answered questions. Questions about my acting that included where, when, how, what and why? It was a great experience when it was happening! I was totally STOKED! Now? Right now? I am sitting here trying to calm my nerves from what may have been the best (or worst) first decision in many of my acting business decisions. How did I look? Was I too dull? Too funny? Too animated? Not enough personality? Over the top? Did I look fat? I know I didn't look skinny? Did I sit right? Sit wrong? Talk too much? Not enough? Anyway, you get the picture. Oh well, its too late now. Whats done is done. Sending my own self positive vibes as I fight the urge to eat chocolate and rock myself like a baby. Anyway, ride with me people through the ups and downs, hi's and low's, good and bad, as I chase a dream that began so long ago. This could get ugly, but hey its acting and ACTING IS MY BUSINESS!!!!