Good News and Conquering a Mountain!

May has brought good news and a monumental sense of accomplishment! I got called back for the Layon Gray film, 9Innings, and I am thrilled! I felt incredible after the audition and look forward to working hard to make the second round go as well....I just found out it's this Thursday - - wish me luck! Also, things seem to be picking up a little bit more both commercially and print and I hope this is a positive sign that the economy is recovering more quickly than I once thought.

On a personal note, I accomplished a major physical goal this past weekend with energy to spare. I hiked over 20 miles to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. I love getting out of LA and experiencing nature - - it helps me to reconnect with the things that truly matter in life - - my health, my relationship with my husband and my overall outlook on life. It's easy to sweat the small stuff when living in LA but life is what you make of it!

View from Glacier Point. The 20+ mile hike looped around to the right, on top of the water fall and ended at the top of Half Dome (the big piece of stone to the left)

Half way Base of Half Dome - You can see the cables that line the way to the top

Almost a 45 degree angle without a harness - -surprised the Nat'l Park Service allows people to do this but glad they do! Walking around on top of Half Dome
My husband and I on top of the Diving Board on top of Half Dome

It was an amazing adventure and I am looking forward to many more Mountains and goals to conquer in the future!

Auditions and Boot Camp

Had a busy busy weekend! Friday night I auditioned for Layon Gray's new movie, 9 Innings, and it was a tough audition -- very emotionally charged but went well! I always feel blessed when I can leave an audition and feel content and pleased with my work and really, that's all you can ask for in this crazy industry. I also worked with my improv group, Duct Tape. I think we are really starting to come together and understand each others strengths and weakness and work with these in the best way possible. I'm excited to continue with the momentum we've established!

I ended the weekend with another audition but this time it was for an Internet talk show, Perspectives,it went alright but I'm just not sure about the actual concept of the project and the likelihood that it'll get picked up by a major network. Let's focus on the first hurdle though and that is to get the job. The way it was described to me is that it's like The View with more humor? I figure that auditioning is always good and if it's meant to be, it'll be.

Today was the most exciting though because I started Kutting Weight boot camp! Sometimes, I impress myself (ha) because it takes a lot for me to commit to waking up at 5:30 am 3days/week for 5 weeks! I am hoping it kicks my butt and gets me in tip top shape for bikini season. Wish me luck!

A long long time...

It's been quite a while since I last wrote. I may quite possibly be crazy because I started two blogs at roughly the same time and I find myself blogging more on the other one (http://www.russandang.blogspot.com/) about my life outside of the "acting world".

Since we returned from Vietnam and Cambodia, I've been working a lot on getting my name out there and have reconnected with my theatrical agent, Carlyne, and I am looking forward to good things to come. The following are some of the highlights I've been working on over the past couple of months:

• Read for Lesly Kahn and was placed in her intermediate class. I start in June because of conflicts with my existing schedules May.



• Began working privately with my favorite teacher to date, Annie Grindley. She's a doll and I respect her as a person, which is a hard thing to do in this town. She's not full of crap and I like that she believes in me.



• Auditioned for Destination Green - An Eco travel show that would have been perfect for me. The audition went better than I could have expected but unfortunately I didn't book the job. Not a bad starting audition for my soon-to-be successful hosting career :) I must have misunderstood the memo that requested we dress "sporty casual" because I came dressed as a real traveller (khaki shorts, t-shirt, sporty shoes and pony-tail)...the other 50+ girls looked like they just walked off of the set "Deal or No Deal" complete with huge boobs and miniskirts. I'm sorry, but could you really hike up the pyramid of Chichen Itza in those 4" heels ? I don't think so. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I love my hosting agent, Adam at NTA and he deserves a medal for working it to get me in for this one.



• Beginning the hard work with my improv group, Duct Tape, to hone our characters and skills in anticipation of ongoing live shows throughout Southern California. It's a great group of 8 of us who have been doing this for the last year together and we are now ready to take it to the next level and do live shows on our own. We are blessed to continue our training with Donovan Scott



• Auditioned and booked a job with legendary photographer Peggy Sirota - - she's shot basically everyone under the sun. She is a creative genius but unfortunately, she was shooting me for a Wells Fargo campaign and they tend to be more conservative. I understand though, it' s a bank, not a fashion magazine. Nonetheless, it was cool to be in her presence. Even cooler to be doing the shoot in her offices where you can view her entire wall filled with boxes labeled "Bratt Pitt photo shoot, Charlize Theron Photo shoot, Clinique Happy Campaign, George Bush Photos, Justin Timberlake, etc..." It was pretty rad and not a bad paying gig for less than a day of work.

I've also been a busy bee with "life", which is why I've been neglecting this blog. I'm back in the saddle again and ready to rumble. I plan to start working in some casting director workshops in June as well and hopefully, this will work me into my big recurring role on Law & Order :)

Over and out, Angela