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Alayna!
Alayna Credemore of Hope Mills is hoping to hit the big time and become a Hollywood starlet when she travels to California on Aug. 6 to compete in Hollywood’s Best New Talent Awards 2008.
Credemore, 11, is a novice actress, so even if she doesn’t win the prestigious competition — which will give her a chance to perform before talent scouts and agents — she’s hoping the exposure will put her on the road to stardom.
“I want to be an actress,” said Credemore. “I’ll do anything ... commercials, comedy, TV series, movies ... I just want to act.”
Alayna was “discovered” about a month ago when she and her family visited her grandmother in New York. On a lark, Alayna’s family took her to visit One Source Talent, through which she was invited to several casting calls, including an audition for a Jell-O commercial. Though she didn’t get a callback from any of the casting calls, her involvement and her online photos and portfolio did catch the eye of Hollywood East Casting in Wilmington, which sent Alayna an e-mail stating she had been selected to participate in Hollywood’s Best New Talent Awards 2008.
Alayna’s family expressed surprise not only that she was chosen to fly to L.A. to participate in the event, but that she was even interested in becoming an actress.
“We’ve always called her a drama queen,” said Alayna’s father, who wished to remain anonymous because of his involvement with Special Forces. “When she did her performances in New York we saw a side of her that we had never seen. She’s usually very quiet and shy, but at the audition a lady asked her why she should pick Alayna over everyone else, and Alayna said, ‘Because I’m unique.’”
Alayna, a student at Gray’s Creek Middle School, will compete in the acting category when she goes to California. She must perform a drama skit, a commercial and do print and runway sessions.
Alayna rewrote a monologue provided online for the drama performance and a family friend helped her write the commercial skit.
The competition will be at the Kodak Theater. Past winners include Brad Kish, who played the lead in the HBO series High School; Elizabeth Yozamp, who has booked national commercials and national radio, and is presently filming Step Brothers with Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly; and Adrianne Leon, an Emmy Award nominated actress who is best known for playing Brook Lynn Ashton on the soap opera General Hospital and played the role of Colleen Carlton on The Young and the Restless.
It’s a win-win situation for Alayna, as she gets the chance to perform and be seen by movers and shakers from Disney, 20th Century Fox and MGM while also receiving tips from acting coaches, as well as participating in seminars such as runway modeling; acting techniques; managing her career; and finding out what record companies are looking for when signing a talent.
“Even if she doesn’t win she’s getting exposure to all these people in the business,” said her father, “and it will give her an idea of what she needs to do to get into the business.”
In addition to her training in Hollywood, Alayna is also getting a little homegrown tutelage as well.
“When we watch television shows we tell her to pay attention to the actors and actresses because she might learn something,” said her father.
And maybe someday we will all be paying attention to Alayna on the silver screen.
11-year-old Hopes to Hang Star in Hollywood
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