I, amongst many others am a freshly graduated professional actress venturing into hopefully a lifelong career pursuing what I love and have dedicated my life thus far too.

I started young. Probably sillily young and have come from the embarrassing but necessary world of nylon catsuits, ISTD dance exams, numerous armature productions of Bugsy Malone, sugar plum fairy dances, GCSE and a-level dedication, year after year of Christmas shows, drama school auditions coming out of my ears and every weekend traveling back and fourth down and across country, drama school, Laban techniques classes, vocal coaching, clowning, animal studies, numerous productions of 'Punk Rock', a ridiculous amount of £5's spent on under 26 theatre tickets, hours of sleep lost queuing for day seats for shows such as, 'Frankenstein' and 'Jerusalem', being on copious amounts of mailing lists of what seems like every fringe theatre in the entire world, agent letter writing, failed responses from agents written to, head shots taken twice or maybe even 3 times over to get that one winning shot that encapsulates the exact human being I am and what casting I am in a flash, worrying about what casting I am, getting confused about the meaning of 'your casting', graduating from drama school, freaking out and not having a clue what to do next and wondering why my once beloved local theatre or stage coach only goes up to the age of 18 because for a few years there I was a local celebrity and was a sure hop, skip and jazz hand away from in-house church hall stardom and never once had one flicker of doubt that I would not be 'the next big thing'.

So that pretty much sums up my journey in a nut shell - minus a few school names and specific qualifications gained but at the end of the day I believe that the quality of what you produce on stage or in front of the camera or how you are to work with as a professional is the only thing that really matters. If branding where you've come from is your saving grace and sure way into success then I still don't seem to quite understand the logic. If you bag an audition simple because your headshot is pretty enough or were lucky enough to attend a slightly more acclaimed drama school or once had half your face on screen in the background of a Hollywood movie (but no one needs to know the specifics like that) and not based on your raw talent, recommendations, passion and individuality then my lifelong commitment to and understanding of this strange yet wonderful and cruel industry still confuses me. But alas my undying dedication and confusion will no doubt always live on. I can only hope that one day I do get lucky or my high recommendations are followed up or someone shows genuine interest and risks seeing me in the right place at the right time and my lifelong investment and diligent training to acting will pay off in a way that can one day support me in a world that is ever growing. Until then I will continue being me. Because at the end of it all that's the main thing that we all have and has always been there. And if one job or employer doesn't 'get you' then never mind. On to the next and keep the faith that somewhere along the line someone will totally understand you and want nothing more than to invest in the wonderful talent you have worked so hard on. Then past that moment, aim to achieve the same success over and over again. Sounds simple. But I believe if you never lose track of your true self and honestly continue to work on your craft you should hopefully never lose the enjoyment you once had all those years ago religiously attending the after school clubs and Saturday schools. I loved it then and I worked hard then. These two facts are the same today. And I can only hope that they continue in the same fashion throughout my life and career. Because if there are two qualities about myself I can full heartedly guarantee to anyone interested in employing me for work is that I work hard and I love what I do.

I recently took a risk myself and exploded my curiosity in another path I felt passion for. I am recently a fully qualified yoga instructor. I always got so much pleasure from the physical aspect of yoga and soon became inquisitive about it's history and knew I would much rather have that as a supporting job on the side than anything else such as a bar job or call centre position. I've done those jobs before and have done them long enough to know life is far too short and precious to spend it doing something you rather loath. So I took the plunge and did the training and I loved every second, every twist and backbend of it and was amazed at how many astonishing comparisons and parallels I could draw to acting. It made me realise ways I can incorporate and combine both paths and I am currently conducting a way of comprising the two together for a training purpose. I felt the benefits yoga had on my acting skills and visa versa and they only made me stronger in both from the help of each other.

Whilst lying in savasana (corpse pose) at the end of a class I heard a quote that summed up my acting/yoga discoveries and confirmed my belief in the equation: passion + hard work = success. It read 'the only two things we are ever really capable of is to be present and to allow ourselves to love'. And with that I live my life.


And if you took the time and read all of this, thank you.