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How It Started

8/27/20266 min read

I just graduated high school, turned 19 that summer and landed a gig as a background actress for the Disney television sketch-comedy show So Random. Up until this day, any acting or modeling I’d done prior, I’d been considered a minor so my dad and I would ALWAYS go to set together. He would be stage dad aka Maya’s bodyguard, directing me to go here, do this etc. answering all my questions about who does what EXCEPT on this day, I remember we pulled up to Centre Stage Studio and we’re at the security desk and we realize only I have been cleared to enter the sound stage, Dad’s name isn’t on the list, and my dad looks at me and says: Welp, this is as far I can take you. And I remember looking back at him, like NOOOOO I need you to get me to the front door of the stage, and he’s like you got this and I’m thinking in my head FUUCCCKK MEEEEE I don’t have a car, so I get out dad’s car and the security card pulls out a map of the sound stages and he’s audibly telling me how to get to the sound stage on foot and it feels like the longest set of instructions, like bruhhhh I am literally having a panic attack mentally while holding my 3-4 different looks for the wardrobe team and I realize in this moment I need to be the independent women my dad thinks he just dropped off but also at the same time I am very much still an innocent child whose experience is predominately school plays and musicals but here we are and I am EARLY because I always want to leave time to get lost.

SO- with my heart POUNDING, palms and armpits SWEATING profusely- a part of me is nervous I’m gonna run into someone who's gonna tell me I am somewhere I am not supposed to be, but NOPE. It’s a ghost town. I am literally the first person on the soundstage or so it appears that way because my little Helloo upon opening the door is met with the sound of emptiness, the stage is open no set is down, the AC is booming the smell of the sound stage is lived-in and very overwhelming because I’d never worked on a show and my understanding was that I was just coming in as a day player, I’d never heard of the show prior to working on it but I knew it was gonna pay more than my part-time cashier gig and ya girl was tryna make all the money to help pay for my first year of college expenses. So here I am walking onto the stage, looking for a single soul to introduce myself and ask where the background actors were .. but no one … until finally I find the crafty area OMG it was so beautiful, even the morning spread had sandwich, croissants, donuts, candies you name it, so I think to myself well if I hang here for a bit someone is bound to show up and so it happened- I was then escorted to the Background actors corridors which was built kinda like a house of dressing rooms with a common living area- here I met the other background actors who were all over 21 and some well over 30, meanwhile we are playing high school kids. Literally all the other actors knew each other from previous episodes and seasons from different shows. I was happy to be a fly on the wall and just observe as they playfully teased each other. They would eventually put me on game of how the background actor scene at disney works and how they do this in the day time then work as cashiers or waiters, they’d all pretty much slept with or hit on each other at some point, they were all also not Black, it kinda made me feel like I was replacing someone who booked a bigger gig nonetheless I was the fresh meat.

The day went by extremely quickly, I loved every part of it, the main actors were extremely kind, and the entire crew- at the end of the day the 2nd Assistant Director (2nd AD) asked me if I wanted to come back tomorrow and I was overjoyed because I promise you for most of the day, I ate snacks, stood in the background for a couple of scenes pantomiming by lockers having just been in high school a month ago it wasn’t really acting for me- so I said yea I’m available. The 2nd AD says Great, go see this person so they can get your paperwork completed, I called my dad to let him know I’d wrapped and been asked back it felt like the best day of my life and my introduction to going solo, and it was the day I really practiced in real time, not allowing my fear to stop me from experiencing the next blessing. A look I will never forget: the look on my father's face at the security gate when the guard said I’m sorry sir, you don’t have lot access.”

The risk at the beginning of the day- was based in self-doubt, my anxiety with the unknown because a new, fragile muscle was being built. The insecurity sounded like: “What if I don’t get something right? What if I get lost? What if I forget something? Well, the gain was I became a regular day player for the show- working 2-3 times a week for So Random making between $600-$800 a day and then working my cashier job Thursday-Sunday and if I needed to switch a day here and there, my pizza spot was very supportive; my manager was actually in shock she knew someone working on a television show and thrived on hearing the latest gossip from set. I never revealed the pay gap between gigs because I understood that at the pizza spot I was gaining problem-solving skills and learning to juggle multiple tasks as a cashier/waitress in Manhattan Beach; meanwhile, on set, I was living la vida loca, where my biggest challenge was making sure I wasn’t too high on the sugar rush before lunch came.

I also learned that when I am doing something on my own- my inner self needs the following support to not panic. I need to be a little early to make myself feel safe in the space, where I can get the lay of the land, without being rushed, I enjoy meeting the other early birds too I tend to vibe with people who have respect for other people's time. And, I need to establish at least one genuine connection with someone before things get moving so that I have an anchor in a sense, someone I can go to if anything feels unsafe- something about my presence (probably the relationship I have with myself) makes other people feel safe to express themselves so I never had a problem finding an anchor; rather, they would 9/10 come to me. At 19 years old in the summer of 2011, in Hollywood at Center Stage Studios, this was the first place I learned to go solo and how great it is to make friends along the way, by the end of the first week, the other actors were inviting me out to clubs and house parties. I would always say I’d think about it because I didn’t want them knowing how young I was, but truth be told if I wasn’t calling my father to come pick me up after wrap, he’d certainly be looking for me. Also, I didn’t have a fake ID, and at 19 I probably looked 13; let’s be honest.

Then finally it was the end of the season, and there was a wrap party- and the 2nd AD wanted to take us all out for shots on him. Man, these people loved to drink, and they kept encouraging me to go and then finally he asked, “Wait a minute Maya, how old are you?” and I smiled and said 19, and then he said Oh shit! I forgot, my bad. Me: No worries, bro! Thanks for a great season. I didn’t wanna tell you earlier because I didn’t know if you would keep booking me. And that’s when he informed me higher powers were looking out for me- shoutout to Lisa Lee a Black woman, and production coordinator of the show, for giving me this opportunity and transcending my growth as an independent young lady who took care of business, remained cordial, and went home after work.

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