I recently received a question from a young actor from the UK, asking me if it was possible to get a Christian Agent, and if it was necessary. Honestly, I don’t really know the answer. I would think that of course you could find a Christian Agent. But I would have no idea where to start, other than Googling, “Christian Acting Agents.” However, honestly, I think you’d be limiting your options by deciding you would only want to work with a Christian agent. That’s like saying you won’t buy food from a shop owner who’s not a Christian, and on and on. Many people in the film industry are not devout Christians, but that doesn’t mean these same folks won’t care for you, or empathize with you, or want to help you find a successful career. …

Besides the obvious inspirational religious or faith-based books that most people read, such as the Bible, or the Upanishads, or the Bhagavad Gita, there are so many other books I’ve loved and read dozens of times, which I wanted to post as recommendations, for your reading pleasure! These are my favorite books that truly changed my life! I get so many people writing me asking me for advice about being an actor or artist who’s Christian, or just plain spiritual-minded, and I realize that some of the best advice I can offer, actually comes out of these books. In them is so much of what inspires ME, and I also admit that much of what’s in these books goes even way beyond my own personal faith.

The messages within each of these books are the same. They are …

For the last several years, I’ve been writing a novel. I’m now trying to get it published. The novel started as a reaction to a year-long period in my life which I could call now, “My Dark YEAR of the Soul.” I couldn’t find any film or teaching work in LA, my father was dying of alcoholism back in Kansas City, I had gained fifty pounds, was feeling middle aged, (having just turned forty), and I was more broke than I’d ever been. It was a terrible time. My husband and friends had no clue how to help me. And I struggled each day, just to get out of bed.

One morning, sick of it all, I sat down at my computer and started to write. Since I couldn’t think of one single profound thing to say, I just wrote about …

What is The Dark Night of the Soul? It’s a feeling most of us have at three in the morning (or even, for weeks and months at a time) when we feel totally alone. When we feel unbearably lost. When we ask, or pray, and do not hear any reply. It can be a period where just getting out of bed to do our daily tasks seems like the hardest thing to do. Brushing our teeth hurts. Taking a shower is painful. Sending out one more headshot or calling one more agent, or having one more conversation about “who we want to be” and “what we really want to do with our lives” feels like someone sticking a hot poker up our backs! It’s those periods in life when all we’d rather do is pull the covers back over …

LA is one of the busiest most overpopulated cities in the world. As such, it’s really hard when you first move there — especially if you don’t know anyone. The first week you arrive in the city, one of the best things you can do for yourself, is to find some groups to join, and create a new family.

Joining an acting, improv, or cold reading class, will immediately help you learn the ins and outs of the LA professional acting scene. In these classes, you will meet folks who’ve lived in LA all their lives as well as actors of all ages and ethnicities, who’ve recently arrived, just like you! Joining an acting class, and maybe auditioning for a local LA theater production, are some of the quickest ways to make new acting friends.

Political Action groups, or …

Too many young actors and actresses who move to Hollywood, think it’s all a big party scene. They think their life will mirror TV shows like: The OC, Laguna Beach, Gossip Girl, or The Hills. It won’t. Life in LA is so much more difficult, expensive, urban, dirty, poverty-stricken, stressful, and oftentimes, just plain boring, than you can ever imagine. What we see every week on TV is nothing like the reality of the hard slog of being a professional actor. If this is a surprise to you, then maybe you’d better rethink your move to LA!

Because it’s so hard to live and work in LA, many acting professionals can get easily lured into a crazy kind of lifestyle, and many get quickly burnt out. How can you come to LA and be prepared for all the stress? …