Chantal's Hollywood Adventures

Hello my lovely readers,  So, the other day I was with my best friend and her fiancé and we were talking about the difference between dating in Los Angeles and dating in Britain. Whilst spending the last year in LA I had a bit of a whirlwind in the dating department and realised that many of my dates were misconceived by what dating a British girl means. Now really it shouldn't make a difference where you're from right? but, from my experiences and from many of my British friends, there definitely seems to be different rules and ideas on what it means to date a Brit.  Here I've written a little fun blog on 11 tips to consider before you go out into the big wide world and date a British woman. Enjoy :) 1. Don't make fun/mimic her accent. As I've learnt from dating in LA, it's not fun when your date spends the whole night mimicking your accent because 'it sounds funny and posh' . Please stop, we've heard it all before, its not...

Hey guys and girls,  First of all I hope everyone had a lovely winter break and happy new year to you all. I'm excited to be writing my new post of 2016.  Here goes for my first post of the new year. Today I have decided to write a review on the new film Joy written and directed by David O Russell.  The film is set in late 1980s to early 1990s and follows the story of a divorced woman named Joy who rises to fame and becomes a self made millionaire  after inventing a mop that would change everything. Joy is a powerful woman and the film takes us through all the failures and struggles of her life before she makes her fortune. The film has a very impressive cast with actress Jennifer Lawrence playing the lead role of Joy, Robert De Niro playing the role of Rudy, Isabella Rossellini as Trudy and Bradley Cooper as Neil Walker.  I went to watch this film in Novato, California for a family night out with my aunt, uncle, cousin and...

Hey guys, So.. things here in LA have been super crazy. We have finally finished our first twelve weeks of classes and I went to San Francisco for my very first thanksgiving with my family, which was so much fun. Now that I have returned I am in the process of rehearsing for our exam play at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. The play that I will be doing is Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize winning play 'The Heidi Chronicles' and I will be playing the role of Heidi. The Heidi Chronicles is an iconic play that speaks a very strong message to the audience. The play follows the life of Heidi through the decades from 1965-1980 whilst she tries to find her place within society and how this fits in with the rise of feminism. Heidi is a very interesting character and I am so glad I get to play such a rounded, strong, independent character. When I was first given the character, I had a complete overwhelming feeling. This is such a strong play and I want to bring Heidi to ...

Hey Guys, So I’ve now been in California for over two weeks and so far I’ve loved every minute of my time here. My first week was spent in Marin County where I went to Napa for wine tasting and had some lovely quality time with my aunt. This week, however, has been a little different, but just as exciting as the first. For my second week in Cali I went to stay with my cousins in Concord and Pleasant Hill, whilst my aunt was in Orange County. This is about an hour away from Marin and has a little more to do. The first few days I was here I didn’t quite feel comfortable, as everything seemed a little alien to me. Even going to the grocery store to buy dinner seemed to be a bit of a stress. I decided after a week of takeaways it was time for me to do a bit of cooking. I headed on my thirty-minute walk to Safeway to pick up the ingredients. After about twenty minutes of searching I finally found most of what I needed except from a bottle of soy sauce. I couldn’t ...

'Is drama school essential as an actor or is a complete waste of money?' This is a tricky debate and is not a decision to take lightly. As someone such as myself who has attended many acting classes and been to various drama schools I feel that there are both pros and cons to attending drama school. I don't believe there is a right or wrong answer to this question as every actor will have a different opinion depending on their personal experiences. For this reason my response to this debate is that it is all personal preference to that individual.  Some actors swear by drama school and believe that it has shaped and developed them into better and more confident actors, whilst, others believe it has made no difference in bettering their careers and now all they have to show for it is  £30,000+ in student debts.  Firstly I want make clear that I wouldn't go to drama school if you are not 110 percent sure that being an actor is for you. Acting is a craft that is very speci...

Hello My Lovelies, My mission to AADA is well on it's way. My excitement has taken over and I've already started to prepare my acting folder, making room for lots of new monologues and am attempted to polish up on my American accent (you know, just in case I may need it). I am so excited to know that in four months time I will finally be able to ditch my thick woolly jumpers for some cute little dresses and shorts. I have also managed to meet many of my fellow class mates (via Facebook of course!) and everyone seems really cool, which lets me know already that it is going to be an amazing year (or two). There is quite a diverse range of people in the class, coming from all walks of life, which is amazing. I can also finally share my excitement with other people now, rather than annoying my friends and family by going on about AADA and moving to LA 24 hours a day. It's nice to be able to share your thoughts and feelings with people that understand you and know what you go ...

Hello my Lovely Readers, Today in this blog post I will be exploring the uses of character development through a piece of educational theatre to create a relevant and believable character that the audience will be able to connect with. As I mentioned in my earlier blog post I am currently working with my new theatre company called 'New Reflections' on a piece of educational theatre as part of a unit for Drama School called 'Student Led Project' at RCCSD . The performance that we will be presenting is called 'Like Me? Follow Me..' and has been hugely influenced by Brecht. The performance focuses on body image in teenagers and the impact that social media and celebrities has on them. The story follows the journey of two teenagers Perpetua (Pep) and Hudson (Hud) as they struggle to deal with the harsh ideas surrounding the Perfect body.  As a group we were adamant that we wanted to incorporate many of Brecht's techniques as we believed that they w...

Hey Everyone, As part of my university course, this term we are in the middle of a unit called 'Student Led Project'. For this unit we have the option to devise a piece of theatre, create a workshop or write a play. My group, which involves five other members have decided to create a Theatre Company called New Reflections. New Reflections aim to produce a innovative piece of educational theatre for secondary school key stage four students. The performance will be focusing on the effects that social media have on body image. This is a topic that I feel especially interested in as I believe it is something that effects all of us. My career as an actress expects me to be and look a certain way, which keeps me obsessing about my body and the way I look. The moment I log into Facebook or Instagram my newsfeed is overloaded with images of perfectly toned bodies with hashtags like #fitness and #mydreambody. I'm constantly coming across tips on ways to get the perfect bod, but th...

Hey my lovelies, Today is a pretty exciting day for me as I have officially enrolled and sent off all my forms for The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I am now just waiting for my I-20 form so I can finally apply for my visa. The next step for me is to get a start on my fundraiser as I now only have seven months until I leave. I know it sounds like ages away, but there is still so much to sort out and with my third year at Central coming to end, I really have to focus on my dissertation. When I started fundraising I thought it would be as simple as setting up a page and people would donate, however, I was sadly mistaken. It involves so much more than that and can be quite disheartening when you don't get any donations. Back in November I sent out about 200 letters to a variety of organisations in the arts and I only received three replies, which unfortunately were all rejections. It did make me lose confidence in my fundraiser. I soon realised that I had managed to get t...

Hey guys, Today I'm going to be reviewing the latest horror film 'Annabelle' . For people who haven't seen it and are thinking of going, I'll give you a brief synopsis, without spoiling too much. The 2014 film which was directed by John R Leonetti is a spin-off from the 2013 film 'The Conjuring'. It is based around the story of a doll that has been possessed by a spirit named Annabelle and has a taken a shining to it. Annabelle is using the doll as a way of connecting with a young couple in order to try and sacrifice a living soul. I've always been a massive horror film fanatic. I just love the idea of not knowing what will happen next and the thrill of feeling nervous and excited all at the same time. It's such an adrenaline rush. I've also said that my dream acting role would be to perform in a horror film. Every time I watch a horror I usually try and scare my family and friends by jumping out at them when they're in the bathroom or fright...