Let’s get down to the bare facts. When I was growing up and dreamed of being an actor, there was a lifestyle attached to the dream, and it’s probably not what you’re thinking. It wasn’t the dream of limos and stardom. It was the dream of living in a small apartment in Manhattan and working in theatre… small theatres, big theatres, traveling theatres. It didn’t matter, the excitement for me was friends sitting around and discussing the “work,” heating up water with our old teapot, staying up all night exhausted from conversation, having very little material things and just loving…
Author: April Audia
April Audia
A native New Yorker and conservatory trained, April has performed in over seventy theatre productions. Musically she can be heard on the original cast CD for “L.A. Now and Then” as well as the LifeTime movie “A Teachers Obsession” TV work includes"Nicky,Ricky,Dicky & Dawn" “See Dad Run”, “So Random”, “Wizards of Waverly Place” and very recently the tv show VIP-LA, and many more. Additional work includes her first film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” first starring role in an 80’s cult classic horror film, “Night Ripper” and recently "Fighting Chance" which is available at Walmart and Target, as well as The Lifetime Movie "Seduced". She joined the web world starring in the series “The Playhouse Soap Opera”, "Pregnant", as well as her own award winning web series “Long Island South Shore”. April recently returned from NYC where she was working with an outreach program for acting at Rikers Island Prision.
I was having a conversation with an actor friend of mine right after he read my last article “Blue Collar Actor.” We’ll call him “Steve”. When Steve finished the article he said, “You’ve inspired me to go out and do more student films. I would always get annoyed when people would tell me to go do student or low budget films. I would never even submit to them because I thought I was past that but now I’m at a point where I just want to act.” Well, this started a long conversation about the positive aspects of working for…
I can’t talk to you about being a star, or a series regular, or perhaps something else that may sound wildly impressive. But I can talk to you about being what I like to call a “blue-collar actor.” I don’t use the term for its actual meaning but for what it actually means to me. I was raised in a blue-collar family in a blue-collar neighborhood in New York. To me, it meant “work hard every day, do what you need to do to take care of your life, and always give a hundred percent.” With all due respect, you…