Lauren Finley still remembers when she was three years old, playing “Star Wars” with her friends and imagining they were Jedis swinging light sabers.
She would later find a love for acting.
“It really stems from my love of playing pretend, and acting is the greatest, not only are you playing pretend but everyone else is playing along,“ Finley said.
The 19-year-old UCF sophomore is now pursuing acting with all she has. At the age of 12, Finley discovered her love for acting. At the age of 14, Finley signed with an agency, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London last summer and has done five UCF student films.
Finley recently made plans to travel back to London to audition for a role in the new “Star Wars” movie. After hearing of auditions Finley made no hesitations. She got the news by 5:30 p.m. By 7 p.m. Finley had her round trip ticket to London for November 22.
Finley’s love for acting actually began as an accident.
“I started because I love visual art,” Finley said.
When Finley was younger, she attended a visual art summer camp where she performed in the afternoons. She enjoyed that more than visual art.
“I was like oh my God, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Finley said. “I mean there are going to be thousands of people.”
Still, this aspiring actress continues to chase after big dreams of becoming a star much like her favorite actors, Tom Hiddleston and Scarlett Johansson. Finley loves Tom Hiddleston, she said.
Finley works alongside her director friend as well as other film directing students at UCF who share in her love of acting.
“I knew that for some reason like she will inspire me to do great things with my art,” Precious Thomas, a sophomore majoring in theater, said.
Thomas has directed many of the student films Finley worked on. When Thomas met Finley there was an instant connection, a connection that bonded them in the form of theater.
“Automatically we started talking about theater because we were both theater people,” Thomas said. “I had said she resembled young Brooke Shields.”
Thomas is not the only one who knows how much theater means to Finley. Her roommate Madeline Davis, a junior physics major at UCF, does as well.
“She wants to be an actress and she’s very performance oriented, like she likes to entertain people and she likes to be around people,” Davis said.
Kim Stratoti, Finley’s high school friend, met Finley years ago during girl scouts. They met during theater theme week.
“She can go from talking like a teenage girl one minute, to talking like a heroine out a Shakespeare play,” Stratoti said.
For many people in theater, Shakespeare is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights, and Finley loves his work. “She adores Shakespeare, she’s very, very devoted to theater,” Stratoti said.
Finley is thrilled at the idea of moving to London to pursue acting, but has a backup plan should that fall through.
“If I don’t get into drama schools, which is likely that I won’t, I will probably try and move to Los Angeles and use my degree at Disney Animation Studios or Pixar, DreamWorks,” Finley said.
Lindsey Hollingsworth, Finley’s former roommate and UCF sophomore majoring in anthropology, fondly remembers what it was like living with Finley and how performance art was something she loved.
“She has a habit of singing around the house very enthusiastically at very unusual times,” Hollingsworth said.
Finley’s experiences with acting, even from the time she was 3 years old playing Star Wars, have all contributed to her love for acting, making her better.
“All my work has come from student films,” Finley said. “We look back on it, the director and I, and it’s like embarrassing baby pictures, it’s so bad. But that’s how you get experience, you go out and do it, figure out what works, what doesn’t work.”
