Hayley Gulizia (Godzilla? Guleeza? Guuhhh...? How do you say that last name?!)
Gulizia: Origin-- Italian.
Pronounciation-- Gul-its-ee-uh.
I know. I get it. My last name is hard for 95% of the population to pronounce. Maybe more, unless you're in Italy. They seem to say it with a magical ring. Even I can't make my name sound that good. Normally, it would matter how hard it was to pronounce my name but with my career it certainly does. You see, I'm an actress. Acting is my passion. Acting is the career I plan on having until my dying day, or at least as close to that day as I can get. I'm not someone who wants a stable job where I can retire in twenty years. I want to be working for the rest of my life.
So why does my name matter!? Well... luckily it doesn't matter as much as it used to. But people need to be able to pronouce your name. And normally it needs to be catchy. You are a brand name, and names mean everything. Look at Marylin Monroe. She changed her entire name to portray a different image than Norma Jean whatever would have portrayed. My father had a few short year in acting and he changed Gulizia to Powell, because that's what actors do. They change their names. And it works! It needs to be something memorable. And trust me, I've spent years thinking of different names I could choose for my "stage name". I even contemplated taking on my dad's old stage name... Wouldn't that have been a kicker? But alas, here I am. A SAG-Eligible actress with the last name of Gulizia. I'll let you know if it works out for me!
Many people wonder why I need to be an actress. I say need instead of want because there is literally nothing else I want to do. I was always extremely school-smart and could have picked any career I wanted, but acting will forever hold a special place in my heart. As I mentioned, my dad was an actor. He was actually on an episode of Bewitched back in the day. He became SAG-E like THAT. Now, it takes actors like three years to get vouchers. (HOLLA! I got mine in 6 months!) His parents didn't support him and he went on to find a "real job" and still to this day recounts that episode as his favorite job he ever had. When I was a little girl he continued with plays at a small local theatre in good ol' Idaho Falls. I would go to rehearsals and read my books about magical horses every night. As I got older, I wanted to be the one rehearsing. So, I got into my first play as a smal background role in A Christmas Carol. They liked me so much they ended up giving me an actual role a few weeks into rehearsal. I loved it, that was the first time I can remember loving something so much I wanted to do it all the time. I even stayed and helped the main characters memorize lines. Keep in mind I was like eight.
A few years later my dad moved back to California and we stayed in Idaho. That first weekend I was sad beyond console so my mom did the only thing she could think of to lighten my mood--take me to a movie. And it did, movies made everything better. We continued to go every Sunday until I graduated highschool. Movies always comforted me so much, like books (which I also love) they took me to another place. Whether the movie was happy or sad, I always loved sitting in the dark theatre for two hours feeling the lives of other people. And I always knew that I wanted to help other people escape someday the same way the actors in the movies helped me.
Everyone looks at me funny and asks what my back up plan is and I say honestly, "I don't have one. What's yours?" So many people get fired from jobs that they hate and are left unemployed and unhappy. I'd rather spend the rest of my life chasing my dream than one minute in a job that I don't feel fulfilled in. Jim Carey made an excellent speech about this. I'll attach it in case anyone ever reads this.
