This year I had the opportunity to take on a new role, acting coach! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to support a cohort of incredibly kind, talented, and hard-working teens at KD Studios in film and commercial acting throughout 2018. I'm thrilled to have the chance to work with owner, Kelly Ann Dunn, and KD Studios again in 2019! 

(Post below is a repost from my Instagram @jessica__benz )

Never mind me; I'm just listening to plastic bags breathe. Pretty standard. Seriously though, I'm always thankful for work, especially when it's direct book work! 

School's out for summer and I'm super thankful to be off and running in the industry wheel again. Auditions, callbacks, workshops studio teaching, oh my! Here's hoping for a wonderfully busy summer with lots of new stories to tell. Here's the first fun story of summer...

On June 2nd, I had the chance to kick off the season in a workshop with sketch comedy genius, Kevin McDonald. Such a terrific day full of learning by doing and failing and finessing and performing and leaving with great insight on the process. Fun fact, Kevin McDonald was the Disney voice for Agent Pleakley in Lilo and Stitch. So cool!

Fresh frames and a fresh, fun video from the Eyeconic group. I know most of my teacher friends have VSP and Eyeconic accepts that along with a few others. Plus they offer student teacher discounts! How cool is that?! Check out all the fun options at eyeconic.com

Happy Labor Day! This was a summer to be grateful. With my first return to the industry after a full year teaching in the classroom, I was a little unsure if I'd be able to jump back in and book. Well, I did and I'm so happy that I could. Here's some highlights from a fantastic summer on both sides of the camera.

I started with a super-fun, comedic booking for the folks at Eyeconic. The final media on this one should be out soon! Here are a couple behind the scenes shots from that project.

Of course, there were plenty of trips to San Francisco for auditions. It's great to see friendly faces from Cast Images at castings. Love carpooling when we can too!

And another booking for a comedic office industrial. Yay!

There was studio teaching work for me too at beautiful locations. I missed working outside during the school year!

Plus, there were monthly sketch shows at Sacramento Comedy Spot. These keep me sane during the school year when I am not able to be auditioning and working in the industry full time. Love creating and performing all manner of random sketches with  this wacky crew!

Then, in the most serendipitous way, my Gemini split actor/teacher life came full circle when I discovered that a First Grade student I had in my very first year of teaching is now a stand-up comic who frequently performs at Sac Comedy Spot too! This is Sydney Stigerts then and now. She's spunky and smart and has been that way since she was six years old. She's one to watch!!

All good things must come to an end. Thank you, summer. Until next time, I've got a hundred stories to read and ukulele skills to practice with a sweet new class of little ones.

So cool to see how Intel technology is powering this tiny house and its cool features! These are a few screen grabs from new industrial video work. Always thankful for days on set!

Love it when companies produce wholesome products and want natural looks to go with them. Thankful to have worked on this print campaign for Natural Delights, appearing in SHAPE magazine for the month of December! 

You never know what's lurking outside! Check out this video I booked for the new weatherproof outdoor camera from Nest. Would have been cool to watch the cougar...but only from the inside!

Hey, Siri!...
So cool to see and work with cutting edge technology like BASE from Logitech. Being an actor near Silicon Valley means you get to geek out on set a lot. I really like the hands-free features and the fact that it charges too! 

New photos give me that fresh-from-the-salon feeling (even now as I sit here typing in gray loungewear and messy hair) and it makes me smile. Here are some of my most recent photos taken by the lovely and talented Victoria Smith Bradley.

Thank you for reading! Now I guess I'd better finally get dressed properly because I'm heading to SF for an audition. Hope your day is full of opportunity too!