Personal statement: 2nd draft

Personal statement 2^nd draft

Sophia Hinchliff

Drama is part of who I am. From a very young age, I have always expressed and applied a strong interest for the arts, acting in particular. Acting allows me to express myself and has given me aspirations and goals for my life. Acting has been a constant journey for me throughout my life and I want to continue this journey by studying Drama as a degree. I am currently in my Second year of Acting, studying for a UAL Extended Diploma in Performing and Production Arts at Level 3.

Since beginning my course I have taken part in 5 live productions, all inspired by practitioners ranging from Stanislavski and Mike Leigh to Artaud. I have also been involved in Brighton Live Productions, an internal company within my college which produces all our shows. Through this I worked as Stage Manager for a recent show, which has allowed me to extend my Communication and Organisational skills to a more advanced level. I was elected by my class to be Course Representative for Acting, which is a massive achievement for me as it allows me to be the voice of our acting class at regular student council meetings.

From 2005-2008 I attended Stage coach Theatre Arts Drama school of dance, drama and singing, this developed my skills in acting techniques, all areas of dance and singing. I performed in an annual musical performance.

I later on attended Adele academy of dance and drama in 2008 for over a year and studied GCSE Dance there, and took part in an annual performance which was held at Roedean School in Brighton. Whilst taking my GCSE's I was awarded an NVQ in Dance teaching for junior school children, which involved me teaching dance routines in lessons I planned for them.

More recently in 2013, I took part in a short scene for the BBC3 programme Boomtown, which was filmed in a diner in Leicester Square in London. 
I have also attended castings for various films and TV shows, including Les Miserable, I enjoy attending castings even if I do not get the part as the experience is always worth it and motivates me to be better for the next audition.

I was cast as an extra for a low budget gangster film in 2013 called " It is what it is" which was filmed in Portsmouth harbour.

Since 2011 I have worked as a commercial and promotional model , this includes being involved in Fashion shows, photo shoots, websites and attending promotional events. I created my own website and gained excellent production, communication and business skills from this.

In 2012, I was hired by an independent travel company to inspect their luxury hotels, I travelled to Italy, Paris, Dubai, Asia and Capri Island independently.This was such a fantastic opportunity and gave me the chance to explore different countries independently, learn about new cultures, meet new people and develop an advanced independence and determination. 
In 2013, I was employed by a Cabaret club based in Brighton in which I worked as front of house, and worked closely with the performers and made sure all the acts were organised. This work helped me to understand how it all works behind the curtains of a performance and the amount of hard work and organisation is involved in performing. I feel all my work experience has pushed me to become more confident within myself and to see the world and know what I want for myself.

Since studying acting , I have developed a wide range of knowledge and skills from different methods of acting and practitioners. I have developed a flair for Stanislavsky's Naturalism acting and feel I succeeded very well in a play called " Playhouse creatures" By April De Angelis, which I performed in February 2014. Naturalism is an area of acting I am strong  in, but controversially I enjoyed learning and applying Antonin Artaud's "Theatre of cruelty" in my final 2014 show “ Dracula”By Liz Lochead. Theatre of Cruelty has bought me out of my comfort zone and has helped me develop as a versatile actor.

I know I am a very focused and determined person and I have a goal I want to achieve, and studying Acting as a degree will allow me to become one step closer to achieving my goal. Over the past few years I have gained a vast amount of experience, inside and out of education, which has boosted my confidence and has allowed me to envision a clear path in my mind of where I want to go in my life

I strongly believe I would be a valuable asset as a University student as I can bring unique and creative ideas with me to University and I have a constant desire and drive to become a better actor and to widen my knowledge within Theatre and studying at University would allow me to achieve my aspiration of becoming an actor.