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Sydney Jenkins has a portfolio, has taken acting lessons and knows how to stand out from
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Don Jenkins of Stafford supports daughter Sydney's acting aspirations. She's been part of top commercials and is auditioning for TV series. |
Nine-year-old Sydney Jenkins is a fourth-grader at Conway Elementary School in Stafford County, but for several days last week she did all her schoolwork on the set of a commercial being shot in Brooklyn, N.Y.
A tutor oversaw Sydney's lessons during her breaks from shooting for a series of Chuck E. Cheese commercials to be aired nationally over the next year.
Sydney is already an experienced professional actress, having shot seven commercials in the past two years.
And now she seems poised for even more inroads into the performing life.
One day about two weeks ago, Sydney was on the train back from some New York casting calls when her mom's phone rang.
Pam Jenkins answered, and the next thing Sydney knew, they were getting off the train in New Jersey and booking another ride back into the city.
There, she auditioned for a regular role in a popular Showtime TV series.
Whether she gets the part or not, it's a promising sign to be asked to audition for recurring television roles, said Pam Jenkins, 49.
It's not surprising, though, that Sydney would catch a casting director's eye.
Blond, blue-eyed and freckled, Sydney has a winning giggle and an easygoing yet polite way of interacting with adults.
She's also a natural actress, says dad Don Jenkins, 54.
Jenkins is a power-plant supervisor these days, but when Sydney was younger he took several years off work to be a Mr. Mom.
Even as a toddler, Sydney would script dramatic scenes and insist that her dad say his lines perfectly, Don Jenkins recalled.
Sydney's vivid imagination caused a little embarrassment on the playground. The Jenkinses--who also have a blended family of adult children ages 20 to 35--were living at the time in an apartment in Alexandria. It was a new building, and it had developed a few settlement cracks.
Sydney blurted out in public, "Daddy! I don't want to live in a crack house anymore!"
Years later--after Sydney had said, "Mom, Dad, I want to be in commercials, and I want to be on TV shows"-- that memory came in handy.
She competed in a local talent contest and advanced to a weeklong competition in Orlando, Fla., in January 2008.
There, about 1,200 actors of all ages auditioned for dozens of producers, agents and casting directors. In one of Sydney's competitions, she was asked to create and perform a monologue one to two minutes long.
With a little help from Mom and Dad, Sydney came up with one called "We Live in a Crack House."
Onstage, Sydney launched into the monologue and, her parents said, at first drew gasps of sympathy from the adults in the audience.
"And then they started laughing," Sydney recalled, "really hard."
Sydney made the finals in every category she competed in that week, and she had a blast doing it. Several agents scouted Sydney, and the Jenkinses eventually signed with Shirley Grant Management in New York--an agency known for starting the careers of the Jonas Brothers, Christina Ricci and Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Making commercials for the likes of Walmart, Cream of Wheat, Smiley Central and other advertisers has been fun, but it's work, too.
Last month, shooting a clothing commercial with several other kids on an outdoor set in Brooklyn, Sydney wore a a dress, tights, tennis shoes, a hat and a sweater. It was 90 degrees out.
Workers sprayed the set to look as if it had been raining, and some of the young actors begged to be sprayed too. Sydney just toughed it out, figuring that she'd rather just be hot than hot and wet.
The experience didn't squelch her enthusiasm, though. She loves watching such shows as "Drake & Josh" and "iCarly," and she's also a fan of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. Someday, she hopes, she'll be the one on the small or big screen.
But there is a cost--time away from school, a lot of travel and the occasional disappointment of not getting a part she tries out for.
"If you get tired of this, all you have to do is say so," Pam Jenkins often reminds Sydney. If that day comes, they've agreed, they'll meet any existing commitments, then come home for good.
There, Sydney knows, she can always read, climb trees, play with her dog Thunder and cat Lightning, and have friends over to play Marco Polo in the backyard pool.
Because professional or not, she's still a kid.
Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Email: lmoyer@freelancestar.com
| Acting in commercials isn't quite like winning the lottery. Sure, actors are paid, but Don and Pam Jenkins incurred many expenses before daughter Sydney, 9, got her first job.
They've paid for acting workshops, resume photographs, travel to and from auditions, and accommodations in New York. Now that Sydney is getting work, a percentage of her earnings goes to pay her agent and manager. Another portion of any child actor's earnings goes into a trust fund until the performer reaches age 18. Still, Sydney has gotten to enjoy some of her hard-earned money. Last Christmas, her parents let her spend $100 of her earnings to buy presents for others. |
About two years ago, Sydney Jenkins aced an audition held by M&S Studio of Fredericksburg and earned the right to compete in the AMTC talent competition held each January in Orlando, Fla. She took classes at the studio and had photographs made to prepare for the opportunity. Two things were immediately obvious about Sydney, said M&S Studio director Sabina Kvenberg: The camera loved her, and she had an indefinable "something" that set her apart. "There's something very special about her," Kvenberg said. "She had a good shot at getting work." In Florida, Sydney placed in several acting and modeling categories and got scouted and eventually signed by top children's talent agency Shirley Grant Management of New York. Casting calls, auditions, callbacks and paid jobs soon followed. "It's gone from a snowflake to an avalanche," is how mom Pam Jenkins describes Sydney's career so far. The 9-year-old has gotten several roles in commercials and is now being asked to audition for television series roles. Locally, M&S Studio holds monthly open auditions for aspiring performers ages 4 and through adult who would like to attend a future AMTC competition. The next open audition will be held Saturday, Oct. 17. There is no cost to audition. Those interested should make appointments by calling the studio at 785-6772 or by following instructions on the Web site, mandsstudio.com. --Laura Moyer |
