The Performers Academy: 09/12/11

How it Started

Initially we all started off working in the “business” on some level. Natalie Costa started this pursuit because her daughter was one of those “pretty little kids” and a “real character” at home. Looking at that Pepsi girl doing those commercials, she thought…”Humm, my daughter’s cuter than that kid!” (Don’t laugh all parents think this way!). So she started on a road (bumpy to say the least) to get her daughter into commercials and print. One commercial could pay for college and having had her only child at 37 – didn’t really plan on the college thing.

She went to a place that charged her $3,000 for a “portfolio” for her daughter and six months later her then 5-year-old started to lose her teeth. So before the Visa bill rolled in, Brianne looked nothing like her $3,000 portfolio. To add insult to injury, she took the scissors and chopped her bangs to her scalp.

After enough of a run-around and a never-ending Visa bill, she took a job at a franchised modeling and acting school. They had agents coming in and well – it seemed like a good idea at the time. The company had been sold three times in 3 years and at Christmas time, December 2003, the last owner decided he had had enough. He owned the franchise for a whopping six months and was saying goodbye to a million and a half dollar investment.

Not being one to pass up a good opportunity, Natalie jumped at the chance to take over the business, change the name, and do what she had wanted to do all along….which was to create a really good school, with really amazing teachers, and allow performers of all ages to have a safe, fun, productive environment to practice and develop their craft and create performance outlets and to provide an opportunity for agents to come in an scout the students and hopefully find talent they would like to represent.

One big change in the program was pricing. Never feeling comfortable with huge tuition and life-long programs, the entire pricing structure was revamped and made completely affordable. Imagine that, a place with affordable programs and really amazing teachers! Go figure! You probably spend more at Starbucks in one month than it costs to take a two-hour weekly workshop with honest-to-goodness film directosr! The second big change was the quality and background of the instructors. Only in Orange County can you work with actual film directors and working actors with very impressive credentials.

So The Performer’s Academy was born! The cast and crew here are dedicated to one thing…..great classes and affordable prices and customer service. Well, that’s three things – but we mean it. We pride ourselves on the service we provide to the students and their families – so after you enroll your child, we promise to remember you, to call you and to keep you updated on what’s going on. We’re here to hold your hand through the auditioning process, the work permits and the photo questions and to make this an enjoyable journey for you and your family.

Bios

Natalie Costa: Is formerly from New Jersey (that should be enough!) started out as a dancer. She danced from age 4 to age 21 and decided that she had enough of shoveling snow and didn’t want to marry a funeral director and headed for Malibu. She spent 7 years in Malibu and lived around LA until moving to Laguna Niguel some 20+ years ago.

She spent years in the commodities business, worked for big – billionaire real estate developers, a cranky movie star, and literally drilled her own oil wells, owned health and fitness clubs and taught aerobics. Working since age 16 – her resume reads like an Aaron Spelling pilot.

At age 37 she and her husband Joe gave birth to Brianne and that’s where the story begins. Brianne was really cute and really animated and as a newborn, didn’t have a penny to her name never mind having money saved for college. Thinking that putting her in a commercial (if it were only that easy) would pay for her first year at Harvard, the trek began.

Natalie though just because she was “cute and animated” that was enough to do the trick. No one took into consideration Brianne’s temperament (similar to that of an angry mule) or the fact that she was shy, or didn’t have an agent would be a stumbling block.

So the process began and through a series of trials and tribulations, twists, turns and bumpy roads, The Performer’s Academy was born.

Brianne is now a sassy and 18-year-old going on 45, has been represented commercial and theatrically. She’s done several print jobs and appeared in two feature films.

She now no longer has any interest in acting (go figure) but spends her time drawing, painting, and singing.

To be continued………

Here's an exciting update:
The Performer's Academy is excited to announce that one of their own is starring in the hit film A Dolphin Tale.

Cozy Zuehlsdorff plays Harry Connick Jr.'s daughter in the film.
She was an amazing student here at The Performer's Academy. The instructors, film director Jeff Celentano, writer, producer & director Randall England, film director Brent Huff and Johnny Timko all made reference to how talented she was. She had an understanding of the process early on.

At first her mother seemed reluctant to pursue getting agency representation - but the bug bit Cozy and once she signed with Pam Fisher, there was no stopping her. I am sure this is just one of many success stories we will be hearing from Cozi.

We are enormously proud of her - her first film - she's on the poster with credits....how exciting.

The Performers Academy

Monday, September 12, 2011

Samantha Valdivia - Former Office Manager of The Performer's Academy

John Carroll's Foot Locker Commercial - Issac Newton

How The Performers Academy Started

Nick Roux - Jane By Design

A Dolphin Tale - Starring Cozy Zuehlsdorff

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