Hi Bonnie,
I was thinking of writing to you sooner and then today catching up on things, I read your plastic surgery column. I was giving a lift (ha — in a car) to a younger female castmate in a short film we had been shooting.
During our 45-minute drive to location, this young lady mentioned that she was in your SMFA class and had an exercise to do: get a total stranger to type her. I offered to type her on the spot and hit it right on target, aligned with her goals: quirky, off-beat girl-next-door. Cool, because I had seen her work and personality, knew the role she’d been cast in, so it made sense.
We then chatted about the various pieces of advice she’s been getting by leaders and teachers in the industry here, and she got really excited when I told her I was also a personal trainer, asking if I knew “how to get rid of arm fat?” I laughed: “Oh yes, it’s usually the triceps, the bum, the thighs, and the stomach that ladies want trimmed.” And then I asked her what she was specifically looking to do, and she proceeded to tell me some of the most ridiculous, unfounded, and harmful things that she was told to do — and to give up (surfing) — in order to lose weight and be competitive. This advice came from a coach, a teacher, and a photographer. I was stunned. And still driving.
Her comments were so unsettling because she’s not fat. At all. Not only that — and as important — she’s not a leading lady, or a “pretty girl” who has to be at her all-time best-looking to compete with her talent pool and type. We had just confirmed her branding as quirky, off-beat girl-next-door! I asked a few more questions and it turns out that this “advice” came from a well-known commercial teacher. Commercials: a land where all types, sizes, natural-looks, etc., are desired and abound. And, this girl clearly looks healthy and normal to below-normal sized for her age. I was perplexed.
Then, she told me how predominant the obsession with weightloss and bad eating is within her age group, peers, and friends. (And that rather than exercise they’d rather not eat.) She herself admitted to being borderline anorexic, with history of eating disorders in her immediate family. I was stunned. Perhaps it’s something I should have been more prepared to encounter working as a trainer to females in Hollywood, but honestly it’s really only happened once before… that I know of. Perhaps that’s because most of the ladies I see are on the other side of the industry and not in front of the camera. And the few actresses I work with do actually need to improve certain physical areas. In any event, it struck me that she was in your class; she was aware of how to brand and still got sidetracked with such bad — and subsequently harmful — advice.
I don’t know what I can do specifically, but the thought occurred to me to offer to you — if you approach this topic in your class — if there is anything I can do to help bring awareness, a dose of reality, another perspective, bust myths about weightloss, offer nutrition advice or exercise tips, do anonymous Q&A, anything, anything at all, please let me know. I’m sure this goes without saying, but this isn’t something I’m looking to profit from.
I appreciate your “let’s make this the Hollywood and the industry we want it to be” sentiment. This is a side of the current one that breaks my heart.
Hope all is well with you.
Wow, thank you. I sat on this email for a little while before publishing it both because it disturbed me, deeply, and because I wanted a little time to pass before putting it out there, so as not to give anyone too much a trail of breadcrumbs to trace back to this young lady, as it sounds like there are some much bigger issues to tackle here than just the ones that Hollywood has the ability to plant.
I’ve been working with actors in small group seminars, ongoing classes, and one-on-one coaching sessions for more than a decade now and one of the things that has become abundantly clear is that what we’re doing when we’re working on issues of Typing, Targeting, Producing, and Pitching — all Self-Management for Actors principles — certainly has the potential to cross into issues of mental health and personal problems of all manner.
Are we licensed therapists with training that equips us to properly deal with these sorts of issues? No. Not by a longshot. And that’s why — quite simply — we don’t. We have a rule in our ongoing online mentorship program that issues above our paygrade, let’s say, in terms of anyone’s HEALTH must be escalated outside of the SMFA environment.
What you’re describing is disturbing, for sure. Especially if someone has learned her primary type and is embracing her brand as an actor, to know she’s still flirting with disaster by considering unhealthful choices to lose weight that she doesn’t need to lose for her type is disconcerting. But it’s not uncommon. I’ll never forget eating at Hamburger Hamlet with an actor friend probably 13 years ago (when I, too, was an actor) and she dragged a pat of butter across the top of the warm piece of cornbread, then put the butter off to the side, took her fork, and proceeded to peel just the crusted brown top layer of the cornbread off, and eat it as if it were the most rich, decadent delicacy ever made. Total calorie count of her entire lunch? Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 57. Number of hours she worked out at the gym that day? Four. Because that was her daily number of hours spent working out. She didn’t even get her period anymore. But she was testing at network on a pilot, so she was happy.
I almost want to put the word “happy” in quotation marks, though, because dining with her these days, I get to see her truly happy. No longer in that crazy, 20-something female in Hollywood mindset that grabs so many actors — no matter what their primary type — she actually eats. Still not a lot, mind you, but certainly a more normal amount. The workout regimen is a healthy one too. Ah, the aging process can be a beautiful thing, for women with body image issues. I don’t know that they ever fully go away, but certainly for some people, their grip relaxes somewhat.
Thank you for your incredible offer to help out with these issues with my students. We don’t actually cover these sorts of things due to the fact that we’re simply not qualified to do so, as fully as they need covering, for some folks. But I would love to include you as a resource for those who need one, as I love staying plugged in with folks who agree that we get to create the Hollywood we want this to be!
Here’s to better health for all of us! It’s an ongoing process, for sure. Thank you for your email. And thank you for taking care of your fellow actor so beautifully! I know you steered this lovely actor toward some better choices in your time together, and that’s awesome.
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001531.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.