My California Dream

I am a Midwesterner. No my family does not farm and yes I have neighbors. Growing up I despised being entrapped in a maze of corn, hearing all about NASCAR, the monotony of towns and people, and the brutally long winters. People seemed to live the same lives as their neighbors and eventually their children would grow up and repeat the lives their parents led. California always represented an escape for me; away from the judgments, strip malls, cold, and corn stalks. I was always different from the kids at my school, as they didn’t think about breaking the small-town glass ceiling, whereas I wanted to shatter it. My “California Dream” is coming out here to find myself and live a more substantial life as well as making it in the film industry. From the moment I took my first breath, I knew I wanted to be an actress. Movies served as one method of escape for me while I was growing up, and I decided I wanted to escape reality as a career. Los Angeles is the place that holds everything I’ve dreamed about since I was five. I look at the Hollywood sign everyday and know I am meant to be here. 

The word California just represents something that is almost impossible for me to explain. My dream is to be an actress. I came here to pursue my love of film and make a career out of it, and this state, this town holds the answers to my prayers. I feel whenever I see that Hollywood sign or drive past the Kodak Theatre that eventually I will get to where I want to be. I dream of one day sitting in the audience at the Academy Awards with my name up for the award, and the only way that is possible is if I establish myself here. No other place seems as capable of making my dreams come true.









Despite the newfound happiness I have obtained while living here, I fear this dream is impossible to achieve. Films are what inspired me to come here, and I realize now that Hollywood is responsible for these images I have in my head of my hopeful future. The movies leave out the part of struggling actors working as waiters for ten years and being turned down from every audition. I try to keep the positive images of California in my mind, but now I need to stay in reality.