Making it in Hollywood isn’t getting any easier. Even with all the new opportunities, the key is to get to work and keep working. Just ask the beautiful and talented Ana Nogueira.
Ana’s been doing all the right things. She’s got a terrific singing voice, and she’s learned to use it beautifully on stage, including stints in the National Touring Company of In the Heights and more recently at the New York Fringe Festival. She’s made short subjects like Sarah + Dee. She’s made a YouTube series, The Battery’s Down. She’s done some guest starring roles on TV, and last year she did a pilot for Fox, El Jefe, that got some good buzz but didn’t make the cut.
And now maybe–just maybe–she’s getting the break she’s been working for. Ana’s just been cast as Michael J. Fox’ “very young, very sweet, hard-working but very emotional segment producer” in his much-talked about new pilot for CBS (as yet unnamed). In it, Fox plays a husband and father of three in New York City juggling the challenges of family and career while dealing with Parkinson’s disease. A former lead anchor for a local NY station, Mike decides to go back to work after Parkinson’s forced him to take time off.
This, obviously, is what it takes: working hard, hanging in there, and working for the big break. And Ana has told a bit of that story in her all-too-rare Twitter feed. You can read the whole story between the lines in just three tweets: (she’s @Ananogi, btw):
Dec 4: i mean, YOU try writing a screenplay when the “Will and Kate E! True Hollywood Story” is on.
Dec 9: Just heard on CBS: “Stick around to watch Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman battle it out in a dramatic musical duel. Sponsored by Viagra.”
Dec 19: oh y’know just plucking grey hairs and waiting on hold with unemployment. what about you?
Well, she can hope there are no more unemployment checks in the future. It’s not a sure thing–it never is–but working with Michael J. Fox on a show like this has to be good news. After all, that’s what all the hard work has been about.
Listen to Ana sing in this snippet from an off-Broadway showcase a few months ago:
…and watch her at work in an episode of the YouTube series, The Battery’s Down, right here:
