Mariel's Guest Post: 'Holllywood of The North' Bound.

 Mariel says "sorey," when she's apologetic and "eh?" when she didn't quite catch what you said. 

And she just moved from A to B  to follow her dreams, leaving her live in boyfriend and puppies back home.

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That's COMMITMENT!

For some of us, leaving what we know and embarking on an adventure clear across the country all by ourself, isn't a mere daydream, it's a necessity. Mariel shares her tale of leaving everything she knows to follow her dreams in a new city, with new people, new roommates, new everything.

Find out why.

xoxo, Lira

                                                  

I am a 23 year old wannabe-actress from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada where I have been raised and now live with my wonderful boyfriend and our two huge dogs in my own little dream cottage. This fall I'm embarking on a 4 month hiatus from my life here to Vancouver, BC "The Hollywood of the North". I'm leaving everything in my life behind to chase down my dreams of acting at Vancouver Film School.

Lira asked me what many may find a simple question, "Why?" and to be honest, I had to scratch my head about how to answer it. When it comes right down to it, I guess the answer is fear. I am settled into a life I love, but I have dreams I have never chased. I can see myself finishing off my BA, getting married, having kids... living life. The terror of it for me is that one day a little hand will reach up and tug on my sweater, asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up and me saying that I always daydreamed about being an actress but that I never did anything about it. How can I ever tell my children that they can become anything they want to if I don't prove it to myself?

When I was eight years old or so, I watched the Oscars with my mum. I fell in love with the world of acting as I saw them play clips from different scenes and heard them talk about all the work that goes into bringing these stories to life. When my Dad got home that night, I promised I would take him with me one day to the Academy Awards, that I would be the best actress he'd ever seen. And it stuck.

I love to act, and as much fun as you can have interacting with a live audience for me nothing compares to film. I love movies, L-O-V-E. My boyfriends harps at me constantly when he comes home and finds me curled up, "How many times have you seen THIS one?" I love re-watching movies, digging for the intracies that build characters into the lives the scripts hold for them. I love bio-flicks, dramas, the endless laughter that comedies bring me to, watching epic heartbreaking scenes with tears filling my eyes... I love being drawn in.

Ever so much more than that, I love being part of that process. In my hometown, there is so little. We have one theatre company and one theatre. To get to a serious film/tv or even web series audition I have to drive four hours EACH WAY. To get to a student film audition I have to drive anywhere from an hour to two, three, or more. And that's just for the "if" of trying out... If I get a role, you can imagine the scheduling nightmare it becomes trying to coordinate actors & crew across two or three provinces (not to mention it hits the gas tank pretty hard). Choosing to be an actress and choosing to stay here are just counterintuitive choices.

On top of that, I need to train. I am, by no stretch of however strong an imagination, a very talented actor. I need to learn and I'm craving that. I need to work with others, and here, no one does anything on any ongoing basis but community theatre productions.

So the bottom line is that really I HAVE to move to chase this dream, and the truth is that I really have no choice in chasing it. I've always known this is the path I should be on and while helping my inspiring boyfriend to make his dreams a reality (to great successes I may add) I realized I could no longer keep my back turned to my own passions. He recognized that need in me, and he's behind me 100 per cent telling me to go get my dreams and make them happen; that our love is strong enough to weather the distance and that he believes in me.

It's my turn, and I have to do this.  

You can find me any time at http://daydreamingactress.wordpress.com for the undoubtedly bumpy ride I'm in for over the next four months.