Just like everybody else? NO!
A girl in my acting class asked me how she could overcome her fear of performing. This week, I've been thinking of an answer that would help her. The short of it is...BE YOURSELF!
I wasted a LOT of years trying to fit in. I remember the first time I went to a modeling agency. I was 15 and eager to please. This was in the 80's when blondes like Kim Alexis and Jerry Hall ruled the runway. The first thing they told me was "Get a nose job" Of all the things I loathed about my body, my nose was not one of them. (My butt and my hips were another matter) Obviously I said, NO! to the nose job. They also said I might be "too exotic/ethnic".
"What is ethnic about a little welsh girl from Idaho?" I said to myself.
So I highlighted my hair, wore frosty mauve lipstick and went to the tanning bed. (I tan VERY quickly) Little by little I tried to look like the other girls in the agency...clean cut in that Gap/Estee Lauder sort of way. Did I get more work? NO! I just looked rediculous and I felt horrible. I wanted Nocturna back. What was so wrong with being a dark, seductive, gothic beauty? After all, I WAS born that way. I was 22 before I started being myself.
And now, at 33.. I know the secret. BE YOURSELF! My performances are always soooo much better when I'm not trying to imitate someone else's style. Cause you know what? YOU CAN'T and it will sound really cheap. Find out what YOUR style is and then WORK IT! You gotta have a shtick baby. Otherwise, you're just another clone. So look inside yourself and LOVE your individuality. Love the parts of you that make you different...and very soon others will to! How can they notice YOU if you hide the talents that distinguish you from the rest? You have to give them a package..All nice and laid out for them so they don't have to wonder, "can s/he pull this off?" Of course you can. But YOU have to believe it, or no one will. So....Don't wait DarlinG! The world is waiting for your GGGGGGggrrrrrrrrandest performance right NOW!