Spreading the love

You know what makes me happier than just about anything?

Well, okay, yes, the thought of a lobster dinner in a private bungalow in Tahiti with Christian Bale is TECHNICALLY the answer (just to clarify, if wishes are granted based on how specific blogs are, I would like Batman Begins' Christian Bale and not American Psycho's Christian Bale, although some would argue they are one in the same. Also, may I please have a butter-lemon sauce with my lobster? And can I get some rice pilaf on the side?)

What makes me ecstatic, second only to incredible food and a date with nice arm muscles and a good Welsh accent, is when my friends are happy, and successful, and doing what they want to do in this business. This? This makes me very happy. So happy, in fact, that I wanted to share some of their successes with you guys, because my friends work hard in this industry and I absolutely love it when one of them contacts me and lets me know the hard work paid off. The entertainment industry is not for the faint of heart, and it's not for everybody, and above all else, it's not for the selfish. You can refer to an earlier blog of mine about LA vs NY, but you have to network while in Los Angeles, and networking is about developing good, strong relationships and friendships built on support and mutual recognition of each other as artists. If you're trying to step on a bunch of people to get to the top, you're going to find it a very lonely place if you ever get there. I wish you the best of luck with that.

At any rate, two of my friends are having good moments in their lives, moments when they are both working (albeit in two different ways) to make their way through this industry, and it just so happens that these are two of the least selfish, most supportive people I know. When I have a project going on, they are the first to email words of encouragement and support and check out what I'm working on. I wanted to return the favor.

So first up is the incredible Alex Ball (check out his website here), who has a guest-star role on "Rules of Engagement" tonight, Mon. 03/9/09, on CBS at 9:30 PM. Apparently he plays an orderly in a nursing home who has to do some stuff that no one should ever be asked to do, but hey, what are nursing home orderlies for?

Alex is one of those guys who is blessed with three things: one, incredible comedic timing. (I worked with him in acting class. He blew the rest of us away. It was actually kind of annoying.)

And two, the fact that Alex has the kind of look where he can go from a really good looking guy in a business suit to a really freakin' terrifying serial killer in about three seconds flat. Don't believe me? Check out his reels on his website. Yeah. Told you so. And finally, number three: Alex is one of the nicest guys on the planet. Annoying, indeed. :)

Lastly: if Alex looks familiar, it may be because you've seen him share screen time with Lucy Liu and Matt LeBlanc, and he once got to hit on Jennifer Aniston as she was stealing office supplies on Friends. Nice.

So if you're a fan of the show Rules of Engagement or just want to see my friend Alex dressed up as an orderly, tune in tonight, 9:30 PM, CBS.

Moving on to that second fabulous friend of mine, I will just start by saying that the picture on her blog captures her personality perfectly: it's a smiling waitress, with a dangling cigarette, pot of coffee, and an attitude. Like, Yeah, you're kinda cute, but don't piss me off.

My friend (I'll call her Elle) did what most smart actresses do (wink wink). She started her own blog to make sure her friends, family, and agents knew what an amazing person she is and what projects she's working on. And so, I give you: her blog, The Struggling Actress. And what makes Elle's blog different than a lot of blogs, especially in this industry, is this: that there are some people in the entertainment business that thrive on competition and only look out for themselves (read: above note about selfish people who only network to serve themselves.) There are some people who would say that to make it in the entertainment industry, you need to only look out for yourself, never offer any advice or help another actor move ahead, and try to be as least helpful as possible to the new-in-town actors.

To which The Struggling Actress said: Screw you.

Elle's blog, which gives us regular updates on her wherabouts, projects, and what her friends are up to (see? I learned from the best) also gives advice on headshots, auditions, agency contracts, etc. How sweet is that? I learned some stuff even I didn't know and I can't thank this struggling-actress-for-probably-not-much-longer enough for being a good friend, a fantastic actress, and a wonderful human being. Her blog is blowing up like crazy and even got the past host of a E! entertainment show to plug it for her. And I couldn't be happier.

My friends all deserve wonderful things to happen in their lives, and I can't wait to keep using this blog to call attention to those wonderful things and share them with everyone else. :)