Seeing actors perform on stage for a local Torrance production for the first time, Xandra Myers, 12, whispered to her mother, “That’s where I want to be.”
Years later at West High School in Torrance, Myers began to blossom into a performer, which is just what she had dreamed of as a young girl.
“I was a band geek in high school and took an active part in the school’s drill team,” Myers said. “My junior year was when I started to audition for plays and before I knew it, I was spending my senior year at Walnut Hill, a performing arts school in Boston. When school let out, I came back to Los Angeles.”
Besides doing extra work for various television shows and productions, Myers landed the lead in EC’s production of “Picnic.” The play is about risking everything to follow your own path, according to the EC website.
“I wasn’t even planning on auditioning for any of the parts, but I walked in, read the script and got a call-back a week later,” Myers said.
Her next big breakthrough, she hopes, will be in Los Angeles’ longest running play, “Eavesdropper,” which she auditioned for this past weekend. The play, she said, is about an uninvited party guest who hides behind a shower curtain and eavesdrops on different events that occur in the bathroom.
“I’m crossing my fingers for this one,” Myers said.
Every actor has his or her own particular influences, but Myers believes that life experiences are the strongest influences.
“When I read through a script I try to feel what the character has gone through and try to see if I can relate to them in any way,” Myers said. “I believe that the best actors have had the most life experiences.”
Now 20, Myers still holds the passion for acting in her heart, but her career path is an unsure one.
“Everyday is different for me,” Myers said. “I love acting, but that kind of career can be a hit or miss. The way I see it is you don’t need a degree to be an actor, so now I’m focusing my studies on something a little different.”
Myers has recently changed her major from theatre to Child development, a move that she hopes will set her up with a new and exciting life.
“There’s always that chance that acting won’t work out for me and that’s why I changed my major,” Myers said. “My main goal in life is in fact to have a successful acting career, but a more realistic goal that I have is to own my own pre-school.”
After a recent visit to Northern California, Myers fell in love with San Francisco and the atmosphere surrounding it.
“Not only did I fall in love with the city, but I found out that San Francisco State University has a concentration in early childhood development,” Myers said. “Really it all depends on my acting career though. If something ties me down to Los Angeles, then ultimately I’m staying right here.”
Through all the years of auditioning and performing on stage, Myers has learned more than enough life lessons.
“You have to do what you truly love,” she said. “You don’t have to be on a red carpet to be considered an actor.”