Hi! I’m 14 years old, and I’m SAG- AFTRA. I’ll be reading for the role of-

These were some of the first words hard- wired into my head when I began acting in 2011. Of course, I was only 12 back then, and I hadn’t even heard of SAG- AFTRA (the Screen Actors Guild).

My story started as many others’ do. When I started watching The Disney Channel as a young girl, my sister and I always nagged my parents with questions like: “Why can’t we be girls on Disney?” Finally, one summer while my sister and I were visiting relatives in Canada, my mom finally looked into the business and booked us our first gig as extras in a short independent film.

We eventually looked into various agencies, began attending an acting class, took headshots, and within that first year, I booked a principle role in a feature length film, a guest- star role in a TV show, and filled my resume with many projects such as short films and music videos. Things were looking up!

Of the small handful of female child actors in Santa Fe, I was an ideal choice. I have always been short for my age, which finally paid off when I started acting because directors are always looking for older people who can play younger, and, I am a mutt when it comes to ethnicities, another beneficial factor in an actor.

As the year progressed, I continued to get a roles every once in a while. But I wasn’t booking as many roles or getting called for as many auditions as I had been earlier on.

We soon realized that if we really wanted to get the big roles, we had to live in L.A., California. We spent many weeks driving to and from California, hoping to get a bite on our ever- waiting fishing rods.

Many times, I got frustrated, wondering if anything would ever come. There have been times in the recent past when I thought of giving up entirely and begin basket- weaving. However, I pulled myself back on track. If I’m not getting the roles that I want to get, I would just have to write those roles for myself. I’ve always loved writing. I had been working in a novel, and I’d written a play for school. How different could a script be? In 2012 at age 13, I wrote my first short film. We had it copyrighted and looked into shooting it. 10,000 dollars later, we decided to hold off for a bit.

In February of 2013, my mom took us to California for the month, hoping to get us more auditions. We took new headshots, got called for several auditions, and took some great acting classes. Finally, fate knocked on our door.

We heard from a boy who I had done an AT+ T photo shoot with. He and his father had created a production company. We told them about my script and they loved the idea. We met with their producer who thought to make it into a webisode series. I was asked to write nine more episodes.

I came home in mid- March after I convinced my parents to stay for a couple more weeks to be in a showcase. I got right to work on the series, and I finished all the episodes by the deadline I was given. But, not surprisingly, when the ball started rolling in acting, things started going downhill at school. My grades had dropped significantly since I had been away for so long. I had never had much trouble in school before, and I never thought I might have trouble juggling priority and play.

Now it is summer, and I have more time to work on my writing, improve my acting, and catch up with school work. My dad has been saying lately that he can feel something big coming and that it’s not a question of if I get a big break, but when I get a big break.

I am always reminded that extraordinary people do extraordinary things, and no matter how long it takes me, I want to be extraordinary.