Summer: It was a long process. I auditioned and submitted three self-tapes over the course of a few months, and after the last one I thought: I think they’ll want to talk to me.
Suddenly, I was in a work session, which consisted of an hour-long meeting with the cast. I stopped looking and thought I was done. Half an hour passed and I got a text from my manager: “Can you return the call? Mike wants to see the monologue, but he’s in tears.”
“Okay, I got this!” I lay on the floor of my room for a while and told myself all these affirmations about why I deserve this: “I’ve come this far. I’ve made this happen.”
Mike called me on April Fool’s Day. My team told me, “The director wants to talk about the character,” and I was ready to audition again if I had to. My team knew I got the role, but they wanted him to surprise me. When I answered the phone he told me I would get the part and thought I was amazing. I had no idea!
I was confused. I told my family this was a foundational memory. I can still imagine it all.