The 8 Sided Forum welcomes Samantha Streets!

Meet Samantha Streets on the 8 Sided Forum!

How does one describe an actress like Samantha Streets?

For that matter, how does one find an actor to play a woman who's wrestled with otherworldly visions and nightmares about mythological warfare since she was far too young to know about such things, crawled through the nasty sewers of drug addiction, and betrayed everyone in her life - only to emerge as a quirky, fun, well-adjusted woman who pretty much knows exactly who she is?

Oh, and that's only until the object of all her visions and fears sits himself down across from her at a table in TGI Fridays and buys her a blue marguerita.

Did I mention she's Swedish?

You'd need a young, female Johnny Depp to pull that off! How does a director find somebody like that?

Generally speaking, they're right under your nose. They're undercover. This person lives and breathes character so completely, it's going to take a stroke of brilliant insight or a catastrophic train wreck to get you to look past what they've shown you.

Even though I had both, I still wasn't catching on!

I'd known Samantha through theater friends, and my desire to cast her in something has led me to read her for parts she wasn't quite suited to. Because of her professionalism, her profound openness, and the sheer pleasure of her, I almost cast her anyway! Both Gerard and myself have been telling the other folks in the ensemble what a blast of fun she is. When I look at the slate of projects our ensemble will be working on, I can imagine countless ways her strange magic will help make our movies better, but I wasn't seeing a way to bring her into the ensemble through what we're doing now.

Strange magic. If that isn't a prophet, what is? Still, I wasn't seeing it. This is why awesome actors like Johnny Depp and Gary Oldman make their breaks in such interesting, quirky, brilliant little movies. Great directors spot those actors right away. Idiots like me pass them up.

So there I was sitting at my desk, pulling apart my files looking for my Heartsgaard prophet, when a little voice rang out in my head: "Samantha Streets can do this."

You know that voice. Because it's so easy to ignore, I'm training my body to bypass my brain and just do what it says. Like a robot, I send Samantha a casting breakdown and move on with my day. Even then, I didn't think twice about it.

Only when she responded, enthusiastic because finally someone was offering her the right role, did I see what was happening. Samantha Streets was saving my bacon. I literally read her email and jumped right out of my chair shouting "Wait a second!" Strange magic, hallelujah!

Thank you for being a part of our ensemble, Samantha! We're thrilled to have you with us, and we pledge to give you all the challenge and support an actress of your unique caliber commands.

Thank you, little tiny robot voice! You've given us the kind of actor every director dreams of exploring, and every performer longs to play with.

Watch your ass, Johnny Depp!