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Tanna Frederick with the
co-star Justin Kirk |
Tanna
Frederick is a young actress from Mason City, Iowa, where she acted
at Stebens Children’s Theater and Mason City High School. She
graduated from the University of Iowa where she was the
Valedictorian and Phi Beta Kappa. She learned Tae Kwon Do, boxed,
and ran cross-country and track. Heady credentials for a small town
girl with stars in her eyes who dreamed she wanted to be an actress
from the time she was nine years old.
Tanna Frederick has been
in Hollywood for five years. She did some legitimate theater, and
acted in several independent films, a few of which never made it
through postproduction. As any industrious actor with a dream, she
also appeared in commercials and promotional films. You will soon
see her in her first starring role in Henry Jaglom’s “Hollywood
Dreams” in early November at AFI Fest, The American Film Institute’s
Annual Festival at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
In “Hollywood Dreams,” Tanna Frederick (www.myspace.com/tannafrederick)
says her favorite film is “Casablanca,” her favorite actress Marilyn
Monroe and her favorite actor Humphrey Bogart. In the she film plays
the character Margie Chizek, a young woman from Iowa who dreams of
making it big in Hollywood. If that sounds like life imitating art,
you may be right. According to Tanna, acting in that role was not
much of stretch for her. The story the filnm tells is true, to a
degree, for all young actors trying to make it in Hollywood. She
says acting in this movie is like “Alice in Wonderland” meets “All
About Eve.”
In the film she says, “I want somebody to promise me I am going to
be great.” I do not think she needs anyone to promise her anything
because what she does in the movie is very promising. Be prepared to
watch an actor who runs the gamut of every emotion possible, and
importantly, she makes you believe almost everything she does. She
shows great range. She is able to change moods quickly – a
quick-change artist -- and seemingly without effort. Sometimes in
her changes of mood we can detect how calculated they are. Other
times her mood swings are natural and moving. In Hollywood nothing
is assured, except the dream. Without the dream, perhaps nothing is
worth it. Be prepared, then, to follow her on her journey from
struggling actor to hints of fame.
Henry Jaglom is one of Hollywood’s fiercest independent filmmakers.
As in many of Jaglom’s films, “Hollywood Dreams” takes place mostly
in one location. Yet, in this film we see more exterior locations
than usual, especially as we track Tanna Frederick's character as
she wanders through Los Angeles. Still, Jaglom as usual wasted no
time in shooting this film. He shot it in about three weeks. For a
young actress to work with him is a unique experience. Frederick
says that before he starts shooting, he has the story, the script
and locations set in his mind. She says, “There was a script with
every scene carefully laid out. Though at times stubborn, Henry was
open to let us explore where we wanted to go. He is open to artists
because he is an artist.”
Frederick says “ Life in Hollywood is like a movie for me.” At times
naïve, but ambitious, her character Margie Chizek is probably like
many other star struck young women who trek to Hollywood with dreams
of fame. Now that she is starring in her first real movie, and has
the lead in two other Henry Jaglom films, it seems that dream is
coming true. As she says, “The only way I feel successful at
communicating is through my acting. I am having a wonderful time. I
love every minute of it.”
“Hollywood Dreams”
is Tanna Frederick’s first big opportunity and she has made the best
of it. A struggling actor no more.
........................................................................................................................
At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
