In praise of Shannon Ashley for wanting to be famous!

It’s never too late — my recent experience as an extra taught me that.

I love that Shannon Ashley still aspires to take part in “huge creative endeavors”!!!

I just spent 10 days working as an extra (a background actor, ahem) on a Showtime TV series filming locally called The Good Lord Bird about militant abolitionist John Brown, played by Ethan Hawke. (The show will premiere in February 2020.)

I met over a hundred other extras working on the project.

It was my first film experience, and I got to know people of all ages and backgrounds actively pursuing the goal of being famous through TV and movie work.

While most of the extras had limited experience, many were actors with dozens of credits. But we were all united by wanting to help a big project succeed and maybe having a little bit of fame along the way.

The atmosphere was just incredible every day on set — hundreds of people coming together with the single goal of making the show successful.

And those extras trying to make it famous? They ranged in age from 8 to 78 — so it’s never too late!

Even that project’s big movie star Ethan Hawke is finding better opportunities for fame as he ages:

“The 48-year-old Hawke already has an impressively diverse career on stage and screen, and he’s only getting more intriguing roles with age.” — Style Weekly

And, indeed, Hawke himself feels the same way about other actors, such as Brad Pitt.

“Hawke says, ‘It’s funny about aging. You start to realize how much movies are a young person’s game. The thrust of cinema is about seducing young people. So the negative aspect is there are less parts, but the parts are more interesting,’ he says. ‘You have to have lived a little to play a priest with an existential crisis of faith.’

He continues this line of thought when discussing his peer.

‘Brad Pitt is giving the best performances of his life right now. It’s really exciting to watch him. I didn’t used to be that interested in him, but now I find everything he does so interesting. And I think it is the roles,’ he says. ‘If you’re lucky enough to stick around, to keep getting parts. I mean, I’m playing John Brown right now, love him or hate him, he’s one of the most interesting Americans that’s ever lived. Is he insane, enlightened, a saint, a murderer? Just a very complicated soul – and it’s thrilling.’” — Style Weekly

So you go for it Shannon Ashley !!

We’ll be here to cheer you on!