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Puttin a Twist on Tradition
by Jessica Dore
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by Anitra D. Brown
Acting Out
by Fallon Jai
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by Anita Oubre
The Rebirth of Morris Jeff Community School
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Columns & Departments
Acting Out:
New Orleans native’s acting career takes off right here in the Crescent City
New Orleans East native Samantha Beaulieu first discovered her talent for acting as a teen.
“In eighth grade I did a play and I loved it, but I didn’t know any actors, so I didn’t think I could make a career out of it,” she said.
Instead, she graduated from Cabrini High School and attended Clark-Atlanta University where she received a bachelor’s in mass communication. She also earned a master’s degree in business administration from The University of Minnesota.
After college, Beaulieu, who is the daughter of 1230 AM WBOK radio personality Paul Beaulieu, began working for the Disney Corporation in Orlando. Soon after, she received a promotion and was transferred to Burbank, Calif. After working for Disney in Burbank for several years, she was laid off.
Now Beaulieu knows plenty of actors and she co-stars in the upcoming film Hurricane Season featuring Forest Whitaker, Isaiah Washington and Lil Wayne. The film is a biography about a Marrero high school basketball coach that assembles a group of players from various schools around the city after Katrina to form a team that goes to the state championship.
She also co-stars with New Orleans native Wendall Pierce in the HBO series Tremé, which focuses on the historical Faubourg Tremé neighborhood, its musicians, as well as politicians in the city.
In the past few years, Beaulieu’s acting career has taken off. She has been in a host of commercials, films and television shows including the independent film Her Father’s Daughter, the CBS series Ghost Whisperer and Lifetime’s Girl Positive.
Ironically, it was after being laid off from Disney that Beaulieu decided that she would try her hand at professional acting. She began taking acting classes to see if she really enjoyed and was capable enough to act in a professional arena. After taking her second acting class with Chip Fields, Kim Fields’ mother, she knew it was definitely her calling.
“It was so much fun getting on stage and becoming someone else,” she said.
She got an agent and began taking more acting classes. She soon landed her first leading role in the film The Candy Shop starring Omar Gooding.
Although Beaulieu’s first acting job came easily, her future roles did not.
“Trying to be an actress in L.A. is very competitive because everyone is an actress there,” she said. “My agent hadn’t called me to go on an audition in years.”
After trying to pursue a career in Los Angeles for five years and receiving little to no work, Beaulieu decided to move back to New Orleans. Soon after she moved back, she began booking commercials. And as a result, she was referred to an agent through the New Orleans Model and Talent Agency.
“I was referred to her while I was on the set of a Visa commercial. The first audition she sent me on was for American Violet starring Alfred Woodard and Xhibit and I booked the job,” Beaulieu said. “I’ve gotten more work in New Orleans in two years than I got living in L.A. for five years. This truly is Hollywood South.”
Aside from acting in films and television, she has also used her talent on the stage playing Christine in Take a Giant Step, a role Ruby Dee made famous. She also played Luceila in The Women of Brewster Place at the Anthony Bean Community Theater.
“It’s my favorite and most challenging character I’ve played so far,” she said.
Beaulieu credits her getting the part of Luceila to having faith and not putting limits on her talent.
“I was reading The Times Picayune and I saw the audition ad. It said, ‘If you can sing, act and dance- audition,” she said. “And I thought one out of three isn’t bad, so I went to the audition and got the part.”
