Growing up, I didn’t even know acting was an option. It’s not that I didn’t  know about it. I’ve seen movies here and there. I was aware these characters in these movies were played by real people – actors. But it never crossed my mind that acting could be a professional path that I could choose, especially when your parents push you towards other more stable, non-artistic professions. Sometimes, you really don’t know what you don’t know.

My parents raised their children in a traditional, strict household. They did the best they could the way they knew how. And what they knew at the time was that a future in the medical field or engineering or law was the best way to go. They weren’t big on the arts. Sure, they thought artistic skills were good hobbies to have but definitely not a good idea as a career. So that’s what I knew also.

I went through schooling in the sciences, not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life, like many college students. Graduated with a bachelor’s degree at UC Davis in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, still not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, like many college graduates. Then I decided to take a gap year, move to Sacramento to help a Forensic Science graduate student with her thesis project and see whether I wanted to study forensics to become a criminalist because I thought that was something I might be able to live with doing for the rest of my life, like many people in the workforce now.

Then I took an acting class. Because… Why. The hell. Not.