Friday, April 25, 2008

Keri Russell was an inspiration to Amy Adams

Amy Adams was waiting tables at Boulder's Dinner Theatre in 1994 when a nasty patron carped, 'Well, I certainly hope you're a better actress than you are a waitress.'

'Oh, believe me,' she responded guilelessly, 'me too.'

Amy is the middle of seven children by Kathryn and Rich Adams. In high school, she was an apprentice ballerina for the David Taylor Dance Company and focused on art and sculpture. Art teacher Larry Alexander said Amy 'had the quiet intensity of a perfectionist,' but she never considered acting, in part because, she said, 'I was led to believe that I can't sing.'

Her mother knew Amy was going to be a star when she was rushed into service by Boulder's Dinner Theatre for 'A Chorus Line' after another actor was injured. 'She learned all the songs and dances by video,' Kathryn Adams said. 'When she went on stage, she hadn't had any time with the rest of the cast, and she was phenomenal.'

She worked for Heritage Square Music Hall and the Country Dinner Playhouse, where producer Bill McHale said, 'I felt she was something special from the very first audition.' Adams calls those 'the learning years' - and the poor years. She drove a rusty car the family called the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because you could see straight through to the street from inside the car.

A producer from a Minneapolis dinner theater saw Adams in the chorus of CDP's 'Anything Goes' and 'stole her away,' McHale said. It was there she landed the Minnesota-based 'Drop Dead Gorgeous.'

Even today, she still can't believe her luck.

'When I was starting out, Keri Russell had just gotten on 'Felicity,' and even though she was far more beautiful and talented, she was an inspiration to me,' Adams said. 'She was from Colorado, and that made me think, 'Hey, it can happen.'

'So my advice to anyone now would just be to work hard, stay focused and remember that it is just a career. But yeah, it can happen. It definitely can happen.'

- John Moore for The Denver Post

2 comments:

Tiffany said...

that's so amazing! I love Keri Russell too :) my sisters & I are on the 2nd season of Felicity...we drive our mother crazy almost every day begging her to buy the 3rd and 4th season dvd box sets lol

Anonymous said...

lol i remember her talking about her old car on conan... by the way, do u have a clip from that?