BISJ:
Let's turn to TV and the movies now. You have made it to the semi-final
auditions of some reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser, and Monique's Fat
Chance. I've personally tried out for some reality shows myself, and once made
it to a pre-semi final. The experience for me felt a bit exploitive, but again,
that is what reality TV is about. Overall, how was your experience trying out
for these shows, and did you ever feel like the casting managers/producers were
exploitive of the "fat" issues?
Lara: All of my experiences with reality shows has
been nothing short of wonderful. I was one of twelve women for season two of
TBL, and as you know, they could only choose six. The following year, I really
wasn't sure I was going to resubmit myself, and they called me!
They told me that there was a new producer who'd seen my photos and tapes and
wanted to meet me, so I re-interviewed all over again.
It's funny you mention exploitation - for the first one, there
was a guy and a girl, and the guy kept telling me that I'm beautiful, and he
didn't think I was "big enough". I've always been told that I don't
look my weight. I told him that I weighed more than some of the other women on
the first season when they started, and he still shook his head in disbelief. So,
to prove my point, I dropped trou' and lifted my shirt up to the bottom of my
bra! I jiggled my belly right there and said, "Do NOT tell me that I'm not
big enough!" He fell out of his chair laughing, and the poor girl - she
just couldn't believe what I'd done! She told me that I had a personality for
reality TV for sure, and that they were both going to recommend me. Apparently
they did!
For the Mo'Nique show, it was a little different. Tina and I both hopped a
train at 3 am in order to get
in line early for the auditions to open at11 am. We got to
talking in line with all the women there with us for quite some time. I met
some of the girls from CurvyChick and Venus Divas and
even a couple of girls from the REAL Mag contest right there in line, and it
was fantastic!
When we went in, we met with the producer and had about 60 seconds of
one-on-one time with him. Literally! He then called out numbers of people who
stayed, and mine was one of them! Tina actually wound up meeting up with
Mo'Nique in the lobby when she went down, and Mo' sent her back up, so she got
through to the 2nd round as well.
BISJ: That must have been a thrill for Tina to get sent back by
Mo’Nique herself?
Lara: Absolutely! Mo'Nique spoke to all of us, and it really
was an emotional moment. She talked about how hard she's worked to break
through the fat barrier herself, and that she's doing this show to help us
break through a little easier. She cried when she talked about how much it
meant to her that we were all there to support the show. Soon, a room full of
300 women cried along with Mo’Nique. It was a beautiful thing!
For our safety, after interviewing, we had to be escorted by security directly
into a taxi. There was a huge crowd of women who wanted to audition, but didn't
make it in, and they were pounding on the windows of the hotel, throwing
bottles, you name it. Tina and I walked out and comments were made about
"white girls" and "they not fat" and all sorts of things.
It really bothered me that these women had lost all respect for what the show
is really about, simply because they showed up too late to get in the door. To
think - all that was going on as we were upstairs bonding with Mo'Nique
herself.
BISJ: So, you didn’t make the first season of FAT Chance, but like de ja vu,
the show contacted you for the second season, and this is where the drama
begins.
Lara: Yes... when the second season of "FAT Chance"
was about to air, one of the publicists for the show had contacted me and asked
if I'd highlight my post about the show again, as well as use one of their web
buttons to link to the show's site. They also suggested I enter the online
competition, so I rewrote the post and put up the links and in return, they
linked to me.
Coincidentally, my site ended up being in the top spot for "Mo'Nique's FAT
Chance" on all the major search engines. Along with a link from the Oxygen
website, my site got thousands of hits a day. I was shocked! People were coming
to my site thinking that I was Mo'Nique. Mind you, it was clear that I was a
contestant auditioning online for "FAT Chance".
Still, I wound up getting about 30-40 comments and emails a day
from people asking questions as if I was Mo'Nique. I kept telling people on my
site that I was NOT Mo’Nique. I was even accused of "false
advertising" and pretending to be Mo'Nique. I wrote a post that had a
photo of me next to Mo'Nique, and went through all the physical differences. I
did my best to rectify this situation and help people get re-directed to the
show’s site but I still got nasty grams, and people essentially yelling at me
for not helping them the way they thought Mo'Nique should. Geez! What’s a girl
to do?
Things got a bit testy. It really bothered me - to the point
where I was ready to move all my modeling and acting stuff to another domain
and just keep the weight loss stuff on that site. Of course I got yelled at for
that too - someone shaming me for "yelling" about the whole thing,
and telling me that I was stupid to make a move because of the search results
for "plus model" and "plus size model" in the search
engines bringing people to me.
Fortunately it all died down after the show stopped airing encore episodes. I
still get traffic from the Oxygen site, but it appears that these people have
taken the time to read before commenting, so it's a good thing. :)
BISJ: You have
appearances coming up in two movies which means you now have an IMDB profile. Cool! Can you tell us more about the movies, and
how you came about getting the parts?
Lara: Sure! The first one I did is called
"Spinning Into Butter" and stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Beau
Bridges, Mykelti
Williamson, and was equally the most exciting time ever! I actually was paying
for a hotel in the city for the 4 nights, and it cost me double what I was
making in pay for each day there to do so, but it was so worth it! I learned so
much about the movie industry.
We filmed on Governor's Island, which is an old military base off the southern tip of Manhattan. It was cold and rainy, and because the base hadn't been really used in so many years we had no electricity, no running water, and had to use portable bathrooms. But it was such a tremendous experience, one I'll never forget for the rest of my life. I got that one by submitting my photos and resume online, and they called me up, and it was set!
The second movie is "Aftermath" and stars Anthony Michael Hall, Tony
Danza, and the late Chris Penn. Filming was done right near me in Saratoga, and
Tina and I had gone to an open call for it and we both got it. I flirted my
butt off with Anthony Michael Hall and offered him my panties…Oh come on, don't
you remember Sixteen Candles??...We had so much fun on that shoot. It was only
one scene, so it was a one day shoot, but I got to eat my dinner right with AMH
and Chris. Let me state, for the record, that Chris was a fantastic actor and
was never given the recognition he deserved. I also met Michelina Alimindo, who
plays Roxy in the movie. She's an amazing woman, and is definitely someone to
watch as a rising star.
BISJ: One of the themes I like to promote here at BISJ is putting your life in
PLAY and not on PAUSE. Many of us, especially women, place our dreams on hold
until we achieve certain criteria like getting back into our skinny jeans, or
finding a man. What I admire about what you are doing in your life is that you
are in PLAY, and during this interview we've learned how you've been going
after your dreams.
You wanted to be a model and be on TV and the movies, and you didn't let the
fact that you're not skinny by Hollywood standards stop you, you just
found a different route. I really do admire that quality. You seem very focused
on what you want to achieve, and you do it. Can you share with us some
mentoring type advice for those who want to go into acting/modeling but are on
PAUSE because we feel we can't until we achieve some kind of "I'm good
enough" bar?
Lara: Sometimes I think rather than PLAY, I'm on
fast forward! I've done so many things in my life that I'd consider were
dreams. I've been a zookeeper, a volunteer firefighter, gone to Italy at 16
years of age without my parents on a foreign exchange program, been in movies,
been a model, and I'm here to tell you I'm nowhere near done yet. Life is for
living, and putting anything off is nothing but a waste of precious, precious
time. We never know what can happen, just look at 9/11 or the people who are
killed in car accidents on their way home to see their families after a long
day at a job they hate. Those people all had dreams, and their lives were cut
short before they could achieve their goals.
Everyone has the ability to do things they want to do to some degree. Get out
there and do the research, and just go for it. You have to really dig down
deep, and look past all the insults and the names you've been called over the
years. You have to find your passions and just refuse to stop or
"pause" because no one but you can ever force the pressing of the
"play" button. I've submitted myself to literally dozens of modeling
and acting jobs every single month for the past three or four years. You see
how many I've gotten out of it! It's something that I think is fun, and love to
do. Is it something I think I can make a career out of? Maybe not, but I'm sure
as hell going to have fun trying.
BISJ: Gorillas, now that sounds exciting! Thank you for joining us today Lara. It was a pleasure to share your
story!
