ANN SOPHIE VANLOMMEL FOLLOWING HER PASSION AND CALLING
Persevering people with a goal or a dream in their heart rarely give up when obstacles are thrown in their path. They might be stopped momentarily but that time is generally used as breathing room for them and a time to re-group and marshal all their forces. Of course, they are only marshaling their forces in order to go into battle again and win the prize, which is achieving their goal and/or dream. Ann Sophie Vanlommel, the Belgian actress, knows exactly what we are talking about here.
Even though Ann has been acting since she was 5 years old, (in front of her dad’s camera) everything wasn’t rosy for her on her journey to become the actress she is today. When she saw her cousin perform in a commercial Ann decided that that was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She was cast in a bank commercial and then did one for an insurance company. At age 8 she started acting in school plays and when she graduated from high school she enrolled in acting school. This was one of those obstacles we mentioned earlier. She didn’t pass the entrance exam because of a “lack of life experience” and the school officials felt she was too young. If that wasn’t bad enough, her father attempted to discourage Ann from acting and he suggested a career in journalism and forget about an acting career.
Well, Ann, being extremely perseverant and clever signed up for a journalism course that just happened to be near a media outlet that could help her reach her goal of being an actor. During the three year journalism program Ann continued acting and honing her skills. She found work as an extra in some productions and then more significant parts began coming her way. Incidentally, she found all of those jobs on her own or through casting websites and she hadn’t signed up with a casting agency. Even with an intensive three-year journalism course and a weekend job, she accepted a role in a short film that was a three-hour away train ride and which she loved doing. She was then cast in a music video for one of the most important comedians in Belgium and more commercials and other acting jobs started rolling in. After that, Ann moved to Los Angeles to check out acting schools and none of them clicked with her until she discovered The Stella Adler Academy Of Acting and Theatre. For some reason she was drawn to it like a magnet. She applied, interviewed and was accepted on the spot. Now, after all that perseverance, Ann has a very long resumé filled with acting achievements and she has worked in everything from commercials, short films, Feature-length motion pictures, infomercials and music videos for famous musicians.
