life has been absolutely filled to the brim the past few weeks, hence my absence from the blogging world! that's a good thing; i'd rather be busy really than virtually :) although...some of my business has been virtual. if you saw my last post of announcement, my official website finally went live. check it out if you haven't already at: www.laurenparrent.com



my friend, matt, and i sat down for a few days and put together the footage that i'd filmed last year to have a hosting reel. that's on the Reel tab, so definitely have a watch at that, too. matt did a really great job on it, and if you're an actor or someone who wants some kind of reel, let me know, i can hook you up with him!

in other career highlights:

1) i participated in a performance for the young storytellers foundation, an organization that my friend, alex, volunteers for. i'll hopefully be able to write more about this in its own post, complete with pictures, but for now, just a brief overview. al asked me if i would act in the "big show," a final performance of screenplays written over weeks by about 10 aspiring 9-year-old screenwriters and their mentors. um, duh! yes, please! i was excited about it, because stars like dustin hoffman, jennifer aniston, and rachel bilson had acted in it in past years, and i thought it would be fun. even though there were no big names associated with this year's show (well, a couple you may recognize, but you may have to wait for pictures!) it turned out to be one of the most fun performing experiences of my life--no exaggeration! it was basically two hours of improv. we got the kids' scripts, and with no preparation, they cast us and we had to act them, reading them as we went, of course, on the spot!! SO much fun! and it was a major workout! i can't wait to do it again!

2) unfortunately i did not end up booking this job, however, i did get a callback for a major national television commercial!



yes, my hands could have been featured in a national pyrex commercial--how funny is that?! the auditions were hilarious; i had to pick up baking products in slow motion and sketch whisks and measuring cups. :) ahh, the jobs i have...anyway, i made it to the final 6 actors, so that's good! someone recently told me, i should thanks every person for their "no" on a part, because i'll need about a hundred more and then i'll get my "yes." this crazy business!

when i was at that first audition, i also had the fun experience of crashing another audition. it was casting out of the same waiting room, and so i just asked if i could audition, and they said yes! it was for a .com company, and it was a mockumentary-style commercial spot. it sounded funny, so i had a good time auditioning for it! no word on it, and i doubt i'll hear anything, but it was fun nonetheless!

let's see, what else...ah! i moved! don't worry, i'm only about a mile away from my old place. i haven't thrown in the towel for the west coast yet ;) but i'm loving my new house (yes, a real house!). i've got 4 great roomies, and get this--my OWN ROOM!! aaah! definitely a step up from living the last two years in a shared bedroom in a loft bed! this house is such a blessing that fell into all our laps, and we're so grateful. meet the roomies (and see a glimpse of our adorable backyard!):



i could go on forever...there's so much to update! i hope to write posts soon about my trip home to indiana for my brother's graduation/memorial day weekend, AND about my best friends' from college visit out here!! so many pictures, so little time!!

hope this finds all of you well! take care, enjoy the beginnings of summer...i'm off to the beach! :)

well well well!! a lot to write about indeed!

i'm hoping that some of you might have seen the previous post, and tuned into today's episode of ellen. it's actually pretty funny and kind of exciting (wow, what will happen when i actually get a real role on tv!?!) to get calls and messages from people who saw me on the show! friends of friends who were watching at home or at the gym have called their friends that know me to see if lauren parrent was indeed to tv. what a globalized world--news travels so fast!

anyway...if you didn't get to watch ellen today, the video is actually already up online on her website! i thought i'd have to wait to watch it on a friend's dvr, since we don't have cable, but luckily i got to see it online! if you go to her site: ellen.warnerbros.com, and then click on gallery, then video gallery, right now it's the first video that comes up. although, i'm sure that will change very soon (i.e. tomorrow), so you may have to search for a video about musical chairs...that'd be my guess anyway.

the whole story

my friend, mj, was able to get tickets for my roomie and me to be in the audience of the ellen show last week. so, we went on thursday and while we were all just waiting with the other audience members to be let into the studio, a p.a. (production assistant) from the show came and asked me to come with them. after being reassured that i would still get to sit with my friends, i followed her, shortly joining a group of about 25 young women in another room. we were asked our names, and i guess they were checking our appearances and confidence, because somehow they dwindled the group to about ten. next, we each told them our occupations and where we lived. without going into too much detail (i'm probably releasing confidential information here, and the ellen poice will be showing up at my door any minute!)...we were asked if we'd all be willing to be potential audience participants, and we even got to practice our reactions for if we got called on. the just wanted to make sure we were up for anything, and were spunky and energetic!

when the show started, as many of you have or will see...ellen came out and announced that for starters, she was going to have a game of musical chairs, but not just normal musical chairs, a version with "hunks" sitting already in the chairs, to go along with her naughty november show theme. i'll let you all watch the video for yourselves and i won't spoil the ending!

i will however tell you i won a flip mino camcorder! and, we also got other gifts just for being in the audience: the ocean's dvd trilogy boxed set, and a gift card to a certain chain of malls. not bad!! the guests on the show were heidi klum, seann william scott, and susan lucci. holland even had a nice long conversation with seann william scott at a restaurant near the studio just before the show!

so, please go have a look at the video, i definitely ham it up, there's lot of dancing, laughing, and musical chair action, so i highly recommend it! AND, i think i'll use my new camera very soon to post a video blog :)

let me know what you think!!

~lp