In 132 days Kate Davis, a Lasell junior, will be traveling down to Orlando, Florida to become a member of the Disney family. With a whimsical personality and wonderful attitude, she is sure to be a success in the Magic Kingdom. Not only does she pack a powerful punch with her acting, but she is also an amazing singer. With a big heart and an even bigger voice, she is bound for success one day.
HC: What made you first get into acting?
KD: I’ve been into acting ever since I could move around and talk. I would watch all the Disney movies, sing along, and act out all the scenes for my parents, from the crying scene in Alice In Wonderland . It might seem ridiculous, but I literally have been acting since I was a baby. I wasn’t on TV or anything, but watching movies and having my parents sit down so I could re-enact scenes for them, or create my own shows, was my favorite thing to do. In the second grade I even had my whole class perform “Annie” with me, just so I could be Annie. I was weird. My dad is a music professor at Salve Regina as well, so a lot of my babysitters were musicians or actors, and we’d hang around the offices of Salve that were in the Newport mansions. I would read the scripts of the shows he put on too. When I went into middle school, I finally got on the stage to perform with the drama department in 6th grade, so I guess you could say that was my official “debut.”
HC: How has your experience at Lasell effected your view of acting?
KD: My experience at Lasell has shown me how open and versatile the world is. My high school did a lot of classic musicals, it was very “white bread material,” which wasn’t my thing at all. Lasell allowed me to use the differences and individual, peculiar personality I already had, and really channel it all. My directors methods are really unconventional, and have allowed me to grow as an actor, despite how other actors have resisted. This senior year however I’m really learning how to grow. Since we never had a voice teacher before I never got to learn about my voice. Now I’m learning how I was forced into sings that were never in my range, and I’m really learning what my true character type is.
HC: You recently found out you got accepted into the Disney program, what was the process like for this?
KD: So the Disney process was a roller coaster. I applied the same day as my boyfriend, which starts out with an application. We both got web based interview links an hour later, which apparently some people don’t even make it to that. I ended up passing and I got a phone interview, but my boyfriend didn’t. I was scared, but now I’m completely okay. If anything, it will help me concentrate and grow as an actor more. I had a phone interview with an extremely scary-cheerful man a week later- I thought he hated me. A week later, I decided to go out on a whim and drive down to Philadelphia for the chance to work as a character actor. Well, I was cut the first round for my height (they were looking for shorter people that day). But on the drive back, I got my welcome email in a rest stop during the 7 hour drive and found out I was accepted as an attractions member. Needless to say, I’ve been periodically crying/dying of happiness since and constantly planning my next steps
HC: Why did you choose communication as your major instead of theater?
KD:I chose communications because I had to. My family has no money to spare, and since my dad is a professor I was available for full class and tuition cost coverage from select schools. I was accepted into Lasell for that, and we had to take it. I have to pay for everything else myself, and getting that discount for a tuition was the only way I could go to college. That’s why I moved off campus, so I could stay here and be near more theater opportunities, and so I could save money by not paying room and board. So, I do everything I can at Lasell to be involved with theater and music, and by now I pretty much have enough credits to have a minor or half a major in theater, but of course since Lasell doesn’t have it as an option, I can’t . I would have loved to go to Emerson or NYC for musical theater, but it all comes down to the fact that I never had the money to do that, or the opportunity. Even with a scholarship, I would never have that kind of money.