Today we’d like to introduce you to Noelle Cameron.
Noelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For me, there was never a definitive moment where I decided I wanted to act — it was just always what I wanted to do. Of course, I joined the theatre in high school, and it was such a safe haven for me. It was my junior year of high school, where I knew I wasn’t just acting for me. I was acting for every child like me. I grew up in a very emotionally and mentally abusive household with my mom. She alienated me from my father’s family — he died when I was five — and my friends. I can count on two hands the number of times I was allowed to see my friends under her house. Not only was she possessive, but she was also manipulative. I often ended up being the one consoling her and being her emotional support, because if I didn’t she would lash out at me. I was gaslighted and thought I might be “remembering” things that didn’t happen. Often, I would have to record our arguments and listen to them the next morning to know that I was telling the truth and that what was happening was real.
So acting became safe for me. I found comfort in the characters I was living in these productions and never looked back since. I just got back from a pilot filming in Texas and have a couple of auditions out in LA. The end goal for me now is to have enough influence to create a non-profit for children, teens, and adults of emotional and mentally abusive relationships to help get them out of the relationship they are in and to begin helping them work towards their future.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I’ll tell you that much. I mainly went to college to get away from my mom, but even still, I wasn’t able to go out and audition for things until about the summer of my sophomore year. By then, I had learned what I could say and what I couldn’t to her.
I also struggled with a couple of different issues — depression, anorexia and anxiety mostly. For about six months, I didn’t want to do anything. I lost my drive and my passion. I didn’t know why I was here or if there was any purpose to my existence at all. I stopped eating –at first from the loss of interest — but then I started to prefer the way I looked and would eat just a handful of nuts a day. Even now, I look back at those pictures of me, and I like the way parts of my body looked then than now.
Also, with acting, there are so many no’s you get before a yes. It can break down your confidence and make you question if this is the path for you. But the yes’s you get are so sweet. It keeps me going for the next.
Please tell us about your work.
I am an Atlanta based actor. I have a background in theatre and have several layers of theatrical training like Commedia del Arte, Chubbuck, Meisner, vocal training, and more. For the past three years, I have focused more on film techniques and acting for the camera, and I try to improve upon those techniques every day. I’m currently taking improv for the camera at The Creative Movement, and it has changed my game completely.
I can and have portrayed a variety of different characters in my career thus far, like the girl next door, the romantic lead, the mean girl, the stoner, the chosen one, the manic pixie dream girl, the psychopath and more.
I’m the proudest of my ability to bring characters off the page and into real life. I care for these characters as if they were parts of me because in a sense, they are. I also feel like that’s what sets me apart from others in my profession. These characters – no matter how much they appear on screen – are multifaceted people with hope, fears and dreams.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Within the next 5 – 10 years, I plan on reaching my level of success which is having at least countrywide recognition and enough ability to start my non-profit. I’m going to go where ever the industry takes me. I don’t see myself leaving Atlanta until I begin to book more projects in other regions. But I’m never going to stop working my way up.
Contact Info:
- Email: noellecameron1@gmail.com
- Instagram: noe.camero
Image Credit:
Headshot: Dwayne Boyd
BTS Photographers: Bill Manning and Matt Laczko
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