Post by jag11 on Nov 21, 2007 20:26:28 GMT -5
Alum finds stardom in a soap opera
By Lisa Bendele
For Princeton students, a career in law is a common ambition. But Vail Bloom '04 skipped the LSAT and found her way into a different kind of courtroom role: She plays assistant district attorney Heather Stevens on the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless."
Bloom, who obtained a degree in architecture and was a member of diSiac Dance Company during her time at the University, became a campus celebrity her senior year when she won third place in Maxim Magazine's Hometown Hotties contest. Though she was shocked by the racy nature of her first photos, the publicity helped launch her acting career. Bloom moved to Los Angeles after graduation to pursue acting, and she started her role on "The Young and the Restless" in July.
She now spends much of her time on the set, filming up to one-and-a-half episodes per day as many as five days a week.
"I have a lot more respect for [soap operas] now that I know them better," Bloom said. "I had no idea how fast of a pace the production is. In soap operas, you have to do scenes so quickly that you have to do them in one take. Unless someone completely botches a line, they go with it. I think I do 99 percent of my scenes in one take."
Though soap opera stardom might not be a common career path for University alumni, one of Bloom's former classmates said she is excited by her friend's newfound celebrity. "I'm really happy for her," said Erica Hahn '04, who lived with Bloom when the two first moved to California and now owns a store in Orange County. "Just yesterday, people from Style network brought some magazines to my store ... and she was featured [in] them. I couldn't help but say, 'Wow, that's Vail!' "
Bloom said she appreciates the consistency of her daily television role in an industry that is often marked by employment ups and downs. Actors in the soap opera business have a daily and weekly routine for filming episodes and are guaranteed to keep their jobs for a set period of time, she said.
"It's really nice because there's usually not any stability in acting," she said. "With soaps, many of them have been longstanding and popular. For instance, 'The Young and the Restless' has been popular for 30 years now. It's probably the most stable nine-to-five job you can get."
Even before Bloom won her soap opera role, she said, she enjoyed the support of her family after she chose to try her luck in Hollywood, despite the uncertainty of succeeding in the acting business. When she first moved to the Los Angeles area, for example, her father advised her to wait tables at night but discouraged her from getting a daytime job because it might make her miss auditions.
"This suggestion was funny coming from a dad who just put you through Princeton," she said. "It just showed how supportive he was of what I wanted to do."
Currently, she added, her parents watch every episode in which she appears.
"I think it's unnerving for any parent to know that their child is going into an environment that lacks stability," Bloom said. "It's hard because there's such a low budget, and a lot of rejection is involved because it's just inherent. But despite this, my parents knew that acting was what I wanted to do."
The path to Hollywood
Bloom first thought of a Hollywood career during her sophomore year at the University when her roommate asked her to star in a film she was producing for a class. She was performing long before she stepped onto the set, however, and she enjoyed being in diSiac because she could tell stories through dance, she said.
After graduating in spring 2004, she moved to California, hired a manager and started attending acting classes. Soon, she had landed a guest role on the TV show "Las Vegas," starred in the independent film "Finishing the Game" and played roles in other short films. She also modeled for Juicy Couture swimwear, "Best Body" magazine, beauty ads and jean companies.
She won her current "Young and the Restless" role after submitting a preview video to the program's producers, who were looking for an actress to play the Heather Stevens role. Bloom got the part based solely on the video and wasn't even called in for a follow-up audition.
Though she is enjoying her current career, Bloom said she may eventually make use of her University degree. "Realistically, I won't pursue architecture until maybe I'm in my 30s or 40s," she said. "But it has been on my mind lately, as much as I love film."
Hahn said Bloom is in a "much better place" now that she has a steady TV role.
"She is more sane and happy but still crazy busy and swamped," Hahn said. "She has to go to a lot of events and do a lot of networking. It can be hard for her to plan ahead, and she doesn't know her schedule until the week of [the events]."
Despite the seeming glamour of her Hollywood lifestyle — which includes regular contact with actors and actresses she previously had seen only on television — Bloom said she is no longer starstruck by the celebrities she encounters.
"You don't even notice the famous people anymore," she said. "After all the grandeur and illusions you put around celebrities, pretty soon you just realize that they're just people."