Hanna Chu
Staff Writer
Time management is a key element of any college career. This could not be truer for freshman Amanda Gregory.
Coming from Houston, she is taking advantage of every opportunity that Los Angeles has to offer. As soon as she got to Pepperdine, instead of learning how to surf, she decided to get a talent agent.
Since then, her agent has gotten her jobs as an extra in various films, television shows, music videos and commercials. Her first real experience of Los Angeles, she said, was when she got a job as an extra in a new reality show called “Mr. Romance.”
“The network people were sitting behind me and telling me how this show is going to blow my mind,” she said. “Then these guys come out with these ridiculous costumes on like a fireman costume, a fisherman, an Eskimo and a robot with just silver briefs, elf shoes and glitter on. It was like a male pageant.”
The show was actually a talent show featured on the reality series. At one point, Gregory said the actor dressed as a fisherman cast his rod out to the audience while reading a four-line poem.
“It landed on the only male in the audience,” Gregory said. “It was really funny.”
Gregory said her job on the show was to get extremely excited about the guys, but she could not take this role seriously. So when the camera came toward her, she said she decided to dramatically exaggerate her acting and pretend to throw up.
Despite all her adventures in entertainment, Gregory said school is her first priority. She has had to turn down several jobs because she could not make it to the filming because of her class schedule.
Gregory is a music major, taking 18 units this semester.
“It’s really hard to find time to go out and do this stuff,” she said. “Sometimes it will take an entire day of just being in the background.”
She turned away jobs being an extra in some mainstream productions like a music video with Lindsay Lohan and the upcoming movie “War of the Worlds.”
“It was being filmed three days a week, and I couldn’t do it because of school,” she said.
Another element that hinders her availability as an extra is Los Angeles traffic. She said she hates driving into the city because “rush hour here lasts for like six hours.”
Gregory said she aims to always prioritize her academics and school activities before her career.
A member of the Pepperdine choir, she has mandatory practices that can’t be missed. And although she said she enjoys the experience of being an extra and likes “feeling out a new area,” it is just another job.
“Acting is something I might as well do while I’m here in L.A.,” she said. “If it happens, great. But music is my passion.”
Gregory has been taking voice lessons since she was 7-years-old. She is enrolled in an opera class that meets twice a week, which is where she said her true aspirations lie.
“What I really want to do is sing like the blue alien in ‘Fifth Element,’” she said.
The Bruce Willis movie featured an opera singer who is actually an alien. The singer puts a spin on the traditional style of opera and adds a techno element, which is what Gregory said she would like to do.
And while she loves singing opera, she doesn’t like the traditional style.
“I really want to do something with opera,” she said. “Not techno, but something kind of rock sounding, like techno-rock opera.”
If there weren’t enough activities on Gregory’s schedule, her agent has also gotten her involved in market research. Agencies send her CDs with new music, and she tells them what she thinks about them. One of the television shows Gregory screened was “Point Pleasant.”
In addition, Gregory also does a radio show every Friday at 3 p.m. with seniors James Riswick and Brian Bushway called “The Morning Show in the Afternoon.”
She said she has a lot of fun working with the guys on the show because they mix comedy with the news.
“It’s an opportunity to say what’s on your mind and be able to express yourself,” she said. “They’re basket cases like I am, so we all get along really well.”
Her radio show co-hosts said Amanda is an important part of the show’s dynamics.
“Amanda is a dynamo, a brick house,” Bushway said. “She resembles a modern-day Queen Latifah.”
And Gregory only has more plans for extracurricular activities in the future.
Already a member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, Gregory said she wants to participate in the summer study-abroad program in Florence.
“I can’t wait to go to Florence and meet new people,” she said.
Until then, Gregory said she will continue to juggle a busy schedule and enjoy all the opportunities her freshman year of college has presented.
02-17-2005
