Chantal's Hollywood Adventures

Hey guys,   So, after a few crazy months I am finally back. For anyone that hasn’t visited my blog before or has forgotten who I am after I fell off the face of the earth for a few months, I’m Chantal. I’m originally born and raised in Essex, close to London in England and moved to Los Angeles two years ago to pursue my career as an actor. Whilst living in the States I encountered a lot of crazy events, I’m not sure if this is down to the fact that I’m British, an actress or if I just attract drama but either way I though what better to follow my journey than with a blog, so here it is ‘Chantal’s Hollywood Adventures’.  To recap I have previously been studying acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and on May 28 th I got to graduate with my fellow classmates at the Dolby Theatre (Where the Oscars take place). This was such a great honor and pretty exciting, especially as I got to have my mum there who flew in from London to watch me. This meant so much to m...

Hey everyone,  On Wednesday evening I went out for the evening with a friend in Hollywood. We went to the W Hotel for dinner before heading to the Pantages Theatre to watch Dirty Dancing . Walking into the theatre I was amazed by the décor of the place, it was absolutely beautiful. It was decorated with sky high ceilings with grand chandeliers hanging in every corner of the hall.  As I walked through the stalls in the auditorium to get my seat I noticed large gold statues by either side of the wall and many red plush seats. It was just my luck that I had been sat behind probably the tallest person in the whole theatre, but luckily the seats were quite close so I was able to manuover my head around him.  I had originally seen the west end version of D irty Dancing a few years back at the Piccadilly Theatre in London and was extremely disappointed so I was hoping that the Hollywood version would be much better.  The first thing that I...

Hey guys, I hope that you all had a good weekend and enjoying the rest of your week. So, on Monday night I went to the premiere and after party for the new movie  The Choice directed by Ross Katz. The red carpet event took place at the Arclight Cinema on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.  It was a bit of a last minute invite so after rushing around like a headless chicken trying to get ready, I ended up ripping my dress. I was already running slightly behind, so this just added to my crazy rush. The red carpet was at six thirty just before the movie was due to start at seven thirty and I did not want to be late. After finally giving up on the broken zip and changing my dress completely, it was ten minutes past six and now I began to really panic that I was going to be late. After my uber cancelling on me twice I was finally on my way, the only issue was that I hadn't really given any thought to the fact that there would probably be traffic at th...

Hey Guys,  Last Saturday I got onto to the plane at Oakland Airport and flew to Burbank for my final stop in Los Angeles. After landing at Burbank my cousin and I headed off to west Hollywood to stay with a very good family friend, who was kind enough to let us stay with him until I was able to move into my apartment.  Our first few days of exploring the area were fantastic. We started off with a spot of shopping at the Beverly Center, which we walked forty minutes to as we had no car, before heading off on a night out at a stylish nightclub near sunset called Boulevard3. The club consisted of a large outside area with large water display surrounded buy fire burners, an outside cocktail bar and luxury VIP areas. There was also an inside section with another very large bar, podium dancers, a VIP section and a large dance floor. It cost about $20 to get in, which is pretty pricey considering in London nightclubs girls will always get i free. I was ...

Hey Guys, So after talking about my preparations and my excitement to move to America for the past year, the day is finally here. At the moment I am currently sitting in the garden drinking coffee and enjoying the sun whilst I write my first blog post in the USA. I can't believe that it is finally here and I am thrilled to be able to share my latest adventures with all you lovely readers. Waving goodbye to my mum, dad and sister at Heathrow airport I realised that I was finally on my own and ready to start this new chapter in my life. Even at the age of twenty-four I had never really been away from my family for longer than a few weeks and I now had to learn how to be a grown up in the real world (a very scary thought). This is something I felt was extremely important for myself as I was hoping it would allow me to gain a bit more Independence and force me to not always rely on my parents for everything. After leaving my parents for security I was ready to board the plane. I ...

Hey Guys,  So as you all probably know by now I will be officially moving to Los Angeles in August to study acting at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts located in West Hollywood. With only nineteen days left until the big move I have been doing major preparations to to get 'hollywood ready'.  Tan- Check, Bikini body- half check, Hollywood Smile- Double Check!!! For a long time now I have been getting my teeth professionally whitened. The issue I find with this is that my teeth become extremely sensitive after and although they look white for a while, it always seems to fade between treatments. I am a big coffee fanatic and drink two espresso's every morning, as well as, a red wine drinker. Although I love white teeth I can't really afford to be spending large amounts of money on whitening that doesn't last and ends with my teeth feeling sensitive and uncomfortable.  I have probably tried nearly every tooth whitening kit and toothpaste on the market from ...

So recently I've been super excited and nervous about the fact I'm moving to Los Angeles and going to the American Academy of Dramatic arts in July. I know it's still eight months away but having so much to prepare for, I can't help but think about it.  I have bought myself a little preparation notebook, which I've labelled 'Chantal's Hollywood Plans'. I know it may be a little silly, but it's the only way I can keep everything organised and work out what needs to be done. I have so much to do that I feel almost like I'm preparing for a wedding or something. I have visa's, driving licence's, apartments, fundraising and so much more to sort out all before May. I've never really been one of those people to leave everything until the last minute, in fact I love to organise things way in advance, as you can probably tell.  This is a big deal and I guess it's not as easy as booking holiday, it's way more complicated to sort ou...

Hey boys and girls, So I just got back from LA a few days ago and it was amazing. My cousin got married in San Francisco and my sister and I were lucky enough to be her bridesmaids. We thought while we are in California why not take a road trip to LA. We left  for LA two days after the wedding, which took place a gorgeous vineyard an hour away from San Fran. We decided since my sister and her husband has never seen LA that we would take the coastal route through the mountains stopping off at Santa Cruz, Carmel and Santa Barbara on the way. We planned it out so well.. well we thought we had. A day and a bit travelling with a stop off to a Motel in Santa Barbara and be in LA by the afternoon. We had our plan all worked out, so we packed our stuff, waived goodbye to Pleasant Hill where we were staying with our cousins and off we went. I was so excited to stare out the widow in admiration at the sea with the wind blowing in my hair, the music on loud, sun glasses, looking cool. This ...

Hey I’m Chantal Lopez-Dias and I live in Essex in the United Kingdom. I'm an aspiring actor and have decided to start this blog to document my journey and share all my experiences with all you lovely people. So a quick back track, I previously studied acting at Sylvia Young Theatre School and Italia Conti Academy and I am now studying a BA Honours in Drama and Applied Theatre at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I absolutely love my course and have had some amazing opportunities such as going to India to facilitate drama workshops with children in the slums as well as teachers and students. I also had the opportunity to tour a devised piece of children’s theatre around Cornwall. I had originally chosen to steer my career in a different direction from straight acting as I thought I should have other skills behind me. Although I am having an amazing time, I have come to realise that performing is my biggest passion and I can’t see myself doing anything else. This is why I...