Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

I had an audition for Gustavo , a USC grad film today. That's huge since I don't really do student films anymore. That goes to show you just how slow these auditions are getting for me. I just need to be busy doing something. Some kind of work. I wasn't even going to show up to this audition today. By the time I got out of work, and got on the freeway, I saw how crazy traffic was. I was about to turn around and just go home. Apparently President Obama was in town so freeways were shut down for some reason. I got to my audition 20 minutes late. :( I met the producer and director and had a very nice chat/interview before my read. I was a little nervous because the script was in Spanish and we all know that Spanish is not my strong suit. I stumbled a bit through my first couple of reads, then I started to feel more comfortable. They were both very sweet and I felt good about it. As I was walking out, I had to smile because I didn't blow this audition off. Whe...

I had an audition for tomorrow that I had to cancel. :( I'm going out of town on Friday for a week because my neice is having a baby and I told her I would be there for her. Well, today my agent called me with a guest star audition on The Closer which would work the week I am gone. :( Damn it. Family first right? haha Ugh.... Well, good news... I will be on DOLLHOUSE this Friday, on FOX at 9pm. Don't blink because it will be fast. Then, Saturday evening my film THE HOLIDAY, with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, will air on TBS at 9pm and again on Sunday at 5:30pm. Again, don't blink.

Today I had an audition for a feature film at Betty Mae Casting. The role called for me to resemble Frida Kahlo. I never really ever go in full costume, but I like to suggest the character as much as I can whenever I go in. So I went with my eyebrows darkened just a bit (with a touch of shadow in between them) and my hair pulled back. I was surprised to see that I was probably one of the only ones who even went through that effort. Most of the other girls looked like their normal everyday selves. I went into the office and saw my good friend JC Cantu there. He has risen up the ranks over the years and I have seen him progress in his casting career. It was so good to sit and catch up with him. Then I went in and did a pretty damn good job in the audition room, if I do say so myself. :) We'll see what happens... This evening I had a production meeting for a short film I am working on called Pawnbroker, dircted by my friend Alex Castillo . This is my first venture as a co/...

with the director and star of the film, Leland and Jeanne. Not the most flattering pic of me, but it was the only one I took. Well, I had an amazing time shooting Morning this week. Let me first start by saying that Leland Orser and Jeanne Tripplehorn were two of the nicest people! Very sweet! I was only on set for three hours and then I was wrapped! It was a fast and easy day! We were shooting in the mall in Torrance so afterwards I just drove down to Long Beach and had lunch with a friend. It wasn't a bad day at all! I play a sales clerk that runs out of a department store looking for Jeanne's character and hands her a bagshe left in the store. Its a very short - but sweet -scene. I was really impressed to see he had a young (and thin) woman (from Mexico City) as his cinematographer, holding that huge steadicam for my scene! That was awesome! Girl Power!

Ok, things like this never happen to me - well, actually yes, it has happened once before (The Office) - but its still pretty awesome nonetheless. Last week my agent called to tell me I was offered a small role in a film, no audition necessary . Wow. Nice. Debra Zane , who cast me in The Terminal with Tom Hanks , called my agent about me for this SAG modified low budget film called Morning . They had wanted to set up a meeting with me but my agent just sent over my reel and they called back to offer me the role. Just like that. The film is written and directed by Leland Orser from ER and stars his wife Jeanne Tripplehorn as well as Laura Linney and Jason Ritter . I'll be playing a store salesclerk in one of the scenes. I shoot on Tuesday. Pretty exciting stuff! And I'm very flattered and humbled that Debra thought of me for this project! She's very sweet! :)

I went to the wrap party for the film Sympathy for Delicious last night. I was very happy to receive an invite. It was at a club in Los Angeles and the band that performed included one of the make up/hair people. It was fun. I didn't stay long since I didn't really know anyone on the crew very well. I only worked that one day and I slept in my trailer for a bit after I was done shooting my scene, so I didn't get to mingle much. But I did see the director, Mark Ruffalo there, across the crowded club, so no chance at speaking with him again. Oh well. It was fun to hang out with my friend Allie who also worked on the shoot. :)