Inspiring Women : November 2020

husband. He worked on the ship with me as a navigation
officer and anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker
for a man in uniform, especially a foreign one with blue eyes.
There were, of course, a handful of times that we had to
cancel our shows due to the weather, but the majority of the
time, we performed with the ship rocking back and forth.
Seeing a piece of set slowly roll back and forth across the
stage always made for a great story with the passengers the
next day.
I took a small break from sailing in 2001 and worked as a
flight attendant, but was furloughed after the tragedy of 9/11
and eventually lost my employment. In 2003, my husband
and I settled permanently in LA, and I put my acting career
aside to concentrate on working a “real job” in the hospitality
industry for the next seven years. I was grateful to be able to
retire in 2011 and spent my downtime reconnecting with the
acting world and volunteering at the local dog shelter where
we found our two rescues, Hunter and Bear.
In 2016, my husband was offered a job in Hamburg that we initially turned down since we loved our
life in LA, and finally, I was getting more film and TV roles. But several months later, the offer came
again, and we took it as a sign and decided to explore the possibility of moving to Europe. My
husband is originally from Gouda in the Netherlands so moving back to Europe was always a
possibility at any given time. We purposely planned our visit to Hamburg in the dead of winter.
Despite the freezing cold, rain, and our general lack of knowledge of the German language, we found
Hamburg simply irresistible.
So, in the summer of 2017, we leased out our home, loaded up the rental car, and drove (with doggy)
2,789 miles from LA to NY to board the Queen Mary 2. Our destination: Hamburg!
Getting Involved in Acting
My mother often reminded me I
came into the world “singing and
dancing”, so it came as no
surprise to anyone that I wanted
to become an actor. In addition,
I come from a long line of
performers and musicians
including my grandfather who
played in smoky jazz clubs in SF
in the 1930s (that's where he
met my grandmother!) and my
mother who encouraged me to
pursue what made my heart
sing. I have lovely memories as a
child of making up little skits,
singing along to musical albums
(Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
Cinderella was my favorite), and
dancing while my mom played
Flight of the Bumblebee on the
19
With my Grandpa and my sister Cindy