"I want to learn about your body, Baby"

Sorry I've been MIA for some time. I've been making my film debut. That's right, the once writer-director has turned actor. And we're talking the big screen, baby. Anyone remember the 17 year old Stephanie Gardner who wrote an innocent little song while she was sitting bored out of her mind in Anatomy Class? Well we've stepped it up a notch.

I made a good choice in living with two film production students. And I got lucky; they're great. We have a perfect balance of personalities in the room, and a healthy exchange of ideas. I have now acted in two films: one comedy, one drama. One for my roommate Wai's directing exercise, the other for Susan's. The assignment was to show a moment of decision.

Wai's project was fun for me because it was a little bit like making a childhood dream come true: actor-singer-ingenue. Haha, and it was fun, a lot of fun. It was a good first film acting experience because I had the freedom of mobility, it was more like the stage acting I'm used to. My second assignment, playing the best friend of a coke addict and having to make the decision of whether to stay or leave her with her newest lover-supplier, was a much more challenging piece. There was much less movement involved and more simple, concentrated emotions. The biggest challenge is knowing that there's a camera in your face and getting past that to actually being in the moment of the scene. In a sense, the camera made me feel like I was acting and it made it harder for me to find a genuine reaction to the scene. But it was a great experience and I am looking forward to more opportunities to learn and hopefully improve as an actress on (and off) the screen.