Diary of a Diva: Wishing on a Star

These days, with so many actors, writers, singers and ( lets face it ) wannabes out there, to get yourself noticed as any sort of artist it's necessary to play the game. Our columnist, actress and playwright Hayley Nolan, knows only too well that to get the break you've gotta play a determined hand of PR Poker. This week, even Christmas doesn't get in the way of the ace up her sleeve.

Christmas time in the foreign terrain of Showbiz Land is usually the quietest time of year.
TV specials have been filmed in advance, festive theatre was cast months ago and no one starts projects till the New Year.

So to my great frustration I’m usually forced to put all career plotting and planning to one side and just enjoy the Yule Tide season – bah humbug!

But this year, after I had two TV appearances air within one week (ITV1’s Who Gets The Dog and Channel 4’s Dispatches) and suddenly feeling like a proper actress, I realised there were other ways the performer inside could contribute to the festive season.
So last week I volunteered my services as a children’s entertainer for When You Wish Upon A Star’s annual charity trip to Lapland.
I, along with X-Factor star Chico, accompanied an inspiring group of very sick young children on the trip of their lifetime.
 I’ve been doing a lot of charity entertainment work lately for terminally ill children and it always overwhelms me at how lucky I am to actually be able to follow my own dreams.

So on my return to London, humbled once again by my experience – and also spurred on by the fact that if the current celebrity juggernaut can make a fun guy like Chico achieve success and celebrity status through sheer endearing personality, then there may be hope for the rest of us who also have a whole host of other talents to sell!

So I made an appointment with The Reel Deal Showreel Co for us to edit together all my acting work over the years – or rather, for them to edit spectacularly, while I cringed and criticized my way through every clip! (Actors are, by a rule, insecure. I, being an actress and tortured writer take that to a whole new level.)

 But I have to say the outcome is pretty impressive, although for it to have any effect, I need it to be seen by every casting agent and director in the land.
So I have finally invested in that essential marketing tool of the modern world to launch my career into the stratosphere – the website.
And the one I'm designing, with the aptly named usetheforcejedi.co.uk, is an all singing, all dancing site to showcase my talent - but to also show the world I can do glitz and glamour as well as the next A-List person.

 Yes, I may be attempting the impossible: to appeal to the Artistic Directors of the county's most renowned theatres as well as  the newspaper editors who create tabloid stars – but to succeed in this day and age I really do believe new talents have to figure out a happy balance between the two worlds.

Just call me the Katherine Jenkins of the Writing/Acting world!