Lots of people spend years wondering if they’ve chosen the right career path in life.
Niki Fridh isn’t one of them. “I’ve never questioned my decision to be an actor,” said the brown-eyed, brown-haired performing artist who has trod a vast expanse of proscenia since arriving in South Florida – with acting on her mind and in her heart — some 25 years.
Elizabeth Price has been an actor and director in theatre and film in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta and New Mexico. But since earning her Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Boca Raton’s Florida Atlantic University in 2014, she has called South Florida her home and main artistic venue.
As a young girl growing up in Leavittown, N.Y., Diane Nardolillo Tyminski wasn’t outwardly expressive about her vocal talent. “I sang in secret. I was a frustrated singer,” said the woman who grew to be a frequent performer at community theaters in Lake Worth and Delray Beach, Florida. She moved to the Sunshine State 25 years ago, “alone,” she said. “My parents urged me to go on my own to get a start in school,” though they later followed.
Not every actor gets to clash sword-to-sword with Zorro; perform all the works of William Shakespeare within a single stage production; endure torture at the hands of a dystopian ecosphere’s evil dictator or create the character of a vain, pompous steward in a Shakespearean comedy while, at the same time, directing the show.
Freddy Mercury, the flamboyant front man for one of rock music’s most influential groups, Queen, died 30 years ago. But his notable accomplishments and musical achievements are still celebrated and enjoyed three decades after his passing.
Emily Elizabeth Tarallo has seen the performing arts stage from both sides.
“My mother (Amy London) is a brilliant director/stage manager, and my father (Barry Tarallo) is an actor/musician with one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. He performed on and Off-Broadway in Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I remember growing up in various theaters, watching them on stage. It’s all I’ve ever known.”
Carey Brianna Hart knew she wanted a career in the theatre at the tender age of three.
“I watched a lot of Shirley Temple movies when I was little and was a flower in a play in pre-school,” she laughed. “I got to sing a little song and everybody applauded. My mind was blown. I was hooked. That was it.”
Ask Elijah Word what drew him into the singing, dancing and acting sphere, and the tall, lanky, nearly 28-year-old performer with deep familial roots in Broward County and performance chops earned throughout South Florida may regale you with this story.
If you’ve ever seen Krystal Millie Valdes onstage in one of her many acclaimed South Florida star turns, you might be surprised to learn that she was once so intimidated by the cliquey kids in her middle school drama program that it took her until high school to work up the courage to try her hand at acting at all.
