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Kamala Lopez
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Kamala Lopez is a filmmaker, actor, and Yale graduate whose feature film debut, A Single Woman, is about the life of the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress, noted pacifist and co-founder of the ACLU, Jeannette Rankin. Born in New York City to an Indian mother and a Venezuelan father, Lopez is known for her many roles in television and film, such as Deep Cover, Born In East L.A., and I Heart Huckabees. She recently hosted the PBS series Wired Science.
I’m not sure why I was determined to be an actress from such an early age but I was – ever since I can remember having thoughts of what I would “be.” Living in Caracas, Venezuela, although I was already doing plays, was not going to cut it as a place where I could get the training that I knew I needed to become an actress like my idol – Meryl Streep. I knew that I had to be in New York, and I needed to start studying right away. I was thirteen when I began hounding my parents to move back to the States, to New York City, in particular.
My parents, who were somewhat flummoxed by my steely intransigence on the subject, nonetheless eventually agreed and when I was fourteen I began studying at the Herbert Berghof Studios in the Village. I would take the D Train from Flatbush, where we had bought a house, and would lug a huge sack of props on the subway and drag it all the way to the studio. HB Studio’s methodology was based on the teachings of Uta Hagen – Berghof’s wife – who was a big proponent of having real objects that had been infused with personal meaning in the scenes, hence the fledgling actors and their multiple suitcases tromping up and down the west village day and night.
In addition to my training, I started teaching myself the “business.” I did this by reading the trade paper BackStage and figuring out that if I wanted to work as an actress, I would need auditions; if I wanted good auditions I would need an agent; and if I wanted an agent I would need headshots.
My father, who made his living as a creative director at an ad agency, knew a great many of New York’s top photographers. I remember my first photo session as being very glamorous. I was in a big industrial type photo studio, there was a fan blowing my hair like the models in the hair commercials; the French photographer, Memo, was a little sleazy but probably too scared of my dad to really get out of line… Anyhow, I walked away from that session with some amazing shots.
Next step: an agent. I picked up the monthly booklet called The Ross Reports which listed every agent in New York. With my new photo portfolio under my arm I took the subway into Manhattan to go to the agencies. The first agency on the list was the Michael Amato Agency. I remember the building as a typical New York office building, old with that weird smell, not too fancy but definitely legit. I took the elevator up to their floor and walked into their office, announcing myself as an actress looking for representation.
After a while I was taken to a woman at a desk who eyed me, then took the portfolio and flipped through the pages quickly and, I felt, disparagingly. She slammed the book shut and said, “No, no, no. These pictures are terrible. They will never do. You will have to get new pictures.”
I stood up, leaned over the desk, whisked the portfolio out from under her shocked face and said, “Well, I like them and I think they’re great.” I turned on my heel and walked out of the office and down the hall to the elevator.
Before the elevator could arrive Michael Amato ran down the hall and signed me on the spot. And the rest is history.
For me, the lesson is (and believe me, I have to constantly bring myself back to it): be who you are; do what you want; the rest will follow. And always, always dare to be as fabulous as you actually are.
Tags: Lopez Kamala
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