My Syrupy Road to Pancake Fame

Only my close friends and family know that I LOVE LOVE pancakes.  Often getting asked if I want pancakes with my syrup...but in all honesty It's the pancakes, not the syrup that I can't get enough of.  Just writing this is making me crave the sweet, soft, fluffy, yummy cakes that make my soul go Mmmmmm Hmmmm. So it was only all too befitting that I get cast in a commercial about....PANCAKES, how apropos!
  

My national Denny's pancake commercial is currently getting a lot of play on TV.  My friends across the nation from Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and of course California have all been telling me they've seen me, or shall I say "Maria", the Denny's waitress, serving up pancakes with a smile.  I admit, it's fun to hear the comments and accolades but it's still a bit surreal to me that I made a national commercial here in LA considering the rough start I had.   

Me and my co-star Kurtis Bedford

When I began my professional acting career in Phoenix I landed my very first audition.  And I kept landing job after job after job.  

One commercial I worked on, even bumped me from an extra to a principal role working along side one of baseball greatest home run hitters - Sammy Sosa.  I got Taft-Hartleyed right on the spot!  My acting journey in Arizona was so easy I thought, it's a sign, I'm destined to go to Hollywood and that's what I did. But let me tell you, what happened to me in Phoenix did NOT happen to me in Hollywood.   

I went on what seem like hundreds of commercial auditions here in LA without getting hardly any callbacks.  Yet I thought I was pretty good at most auditions!  I took classes, I had a commercial agent and I was SAG but not one single commercial paycheck.  I was really beginning to think it was like winning the Lottery...just darn near impossible!  [I thank my commercial agents Pat & Pierre for not giving up on me] 

Then one day, I was on the road to callbacks and after that I booked my very first commercial in Hollywood.  I remember it - oh boy do I remember it.  It revived my faith in me, my career path and just felt freaking great!  I don't know if you remember the HBO series called "Rome", well I did a commercial promo for that show....that never aired LOL.  Yep, shot it, got paid, had a blast working it but it never aired.  Welcome to Hollywood.  

This promo led to another promo then a regular commercial then another and another and then... nothing for a year.  That's how it goes, sometimes you hit sometimes you miss, for months or even years.  Luckily, these past few years have been good to me and I've had a good commercial run.  

Here is my Denny's commercial!! Directed by David Gray, who also directed me in a McDonald's spot I did a year ago.  This also happens a lot, you start working with the same people over and over because once they know you and trust your work they keep bringing you back for more.  But cracking that world...oh boy, that's a WHOLE 'nother blog.