Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

So, good news, I booked the mother role on the feature film Sympathy for Delicious ! I'm so excited because it's being directed by Mark Ruffalo , and starring Orlando Bloom and Laura Linney ! I shoot February 18th! Bad news, for me - I've been sick this whole week. I haven't been able to sub and I've been laid up in bed for the past couple of days. I knew I felt something coming on, which was a god reason to rest - but noooo, I ended up going to The Price is Right on Tuesday. haha In almost 8 years of living here in LA, I had never been to a taping! It was pretty exciting! Not the 4 hours of waiting right before, but once we got in, it was cool to see how it all worked. And let me tell you, Drew Carey was very impressive! He was so friendly and personable to all the tourists during commercial break. He geniunely wanted to entertain everyone. He seemed like a very nice guy. :) We had a good time, but all the cheering and clapping really helped my voice...

Yesterday's auditions went pretty well. I made it to my first one, where I met the casting director, Kim Coleman , for the first time. She was so very nice! I was a bit nervous because my Spanish isn't GREAT, and I had two pretty meaty scenes to do! Luckily, when I went into the audition room, she told me the second scene was in English. Nice! I felt more comfortable with my Spanish in the first scene anyway, so this was perfect! I felt like my audition went really well. I may be a bit too young for the role, but you never know! I feel like I made a good impression on her, so that's what counts! Then I headed over to Heidi Levitt's office for my second audition, for the feature Sympathy for Delicious . I wasn't clear what role I was auditioning for exactly. "Girl #2" with one line...at first. Then they came out and changed my role to one of the fans and I auditioned with three lines! :) Then after that audition, she said they had a last minute ...

My manager called me yesterday with a small one line role on a SAG low budget film, but its starring a few big names and being directed by one of the stars. It was going to conflict with my subbing job for today and I was trying to see if they could see me afterwartds, around 3pm. I was willing to miss it if they weren't able to see me later. I hadn't worked much since I've been on vacation and I really couldn't afford to take time off - even for a one line role on a low budget film. THEN, my agent called me around 8pm with another adition for today, within 30 minutes of that first one! This one is a larger role in a larger film. So I had to call the teacher and cancel on her. It was hard considering she arranged this with me last week and I was cancelling on her last minute. :( But she was very nice and understanding and even wished me well. But of course, I'm not out here to be a substitute teacher, so I had to do what I had to do. :( Low on cash or not!...

We had two shows tonight - back to back. I'm so tired. The run is going well, and we've had sold out shows for almost all of the performances! Just two more tomorrow and that's it. It's over. I've really enjoyed being involved in another play production even though it wasn't a full run. We only rehearsed for 2 weeks and had one weekend of performances. It was a nice stretch considering I have been away from the stage for almost 2 years! It just made me want to do more theater! I've missed it! I can't wait for Monday when I can just relax. Hopefully I get some auditions lined up this week. I need to book something! :)

I had a GREAT audition for ER the other day! There were 5 of us up for the role that was written purely in Spanish. Now, in case you didn't know....I don't really speak Spanish. I like to say I fake it pretty well. So there I am, first up, in front of the director, producer and casting director and I do my thang...and it went pretty awesome. The director said something along the lines of that being "damn near perfect!". Nice! He gave me direction and I did it again. Again, it went awesome and I was out the door, feeling really good. :) Well, I'm assuming that someone walked in after me and did it perfect - not just damn near it - because I haven't heard anything. Oh well. What can you do? Tonight was opening night of the play festival I am doing at Casa 0101. It was a great opening night. I hadn't been onstage in almost 2 years! That's the been longest I have been away from the theater. I was so nervous at first - but once I felt the ener...

YAY!! I love when I get back from the holidays and I'm busy with auditions. And believe me, one a week in January IS busy! haha I have another audition next week for ER ! Now, technically I have already worked the show, but my amazing cop role was never seen since it ended up on the cutting room floor. Oh well. It happens. Now I have my second (and my LAST) chance of making the ER cut! This is the final season of the show and there are very few episodes left to shoot, so I jumped at the chance to go in again. Granted it's not a large part, but I don't really care! ER has been around for ages, so that means one thing - the residuals will be awesome! :) Now, if I book it, my agent has advised me to take a "no billing" instead of a co-star. Its already on my resume anyway, so it doesn't matter much. I'm excited. The role is completely in Spanish, so I better practice! Tonight I start tech rehearsals for the show that's opening next weeken...

Yesterday's audition went well. It's always nice to see G. Charles Wright and Deborah Barylski ! :) It looks like they may have only called a couple of people in per role for the producers. When I got there, I saw my friend Chane't Johnson, who was there for my same role. We chatted a bit about her amazing trip to Puerto Rico and then it was showtime. I felt really good about my audition, but I also know how great Chane't is - so I guess it just comes down to type. Whatever they feel like this teacher should look like. You never know. You can't control things like that - all you can control is what you do in that room. Hopefully its your best, and then you leave it at that. Like I said, I felt really good about it....we'll just have to see what happens. :) I had rehearsal this whole week for that show, then tech week starts this weekend. It's nice to have something I'm working on. Keeps my blood pumping! Ok, Off to the gym! Trying to be pro...

Wow...I was on vacation for 6 weeks and it ended yesterday! I never thought I would ever utter the words "I'm tired of vacationing" - but it's true! I'm so happy to be back and motivated to get back to work and make things happen! I had a great vacation, starting in Europe and ending with my family in Texas. Very low key holiday season for me, which was nice for a change. :) Within the first couple of hours back in California, I get a call from my manager letting me know I have an audition - straight to producers - for a guest star role on a pilot, playing a teacher! hehe I couldn't be more perfect! It's the same casting office that I tested with in September for that series regular role on that pilot. Remember that? Seemed like just yesterday... I'm very excited that I have an audition right out of the 2009 gate. Sometimes I have to wait weeks before that happens which is very frustrating! And I'm busy in rehearsals right out of the gat...