This weekend marks the regional opening of “Walt Before Mickey” at theaters in Delray Beach (Movies of Delray), Lake Worth (Movies of Lake Worth), Coconut Creek (Silverspot), Fort Lauderdale (Cinema Paradiso) and Aventura (AMC Aventura). Shot entirely in Florida by local natives Arthur Bernstein and Armando Gutierrez, the film dramatizes the early years of Walt Disney’s life and career, reveling in period nostalgia while discovering a message of hope and perseverance in the animator’s repeated bankruptcies.
Boca Raton-based actress Sheena Colette knows a bit about perseverance herself, having been sequestered for years in tiny cameos as a token “bikini girl.” For Colette, who appears in a supporting role in “Walt Before Mickey,” the movie is, hopefully, just what she needs to reach the next level in her career.Boca Raton spoke to Colette last year.
Sheena Colette
Perseverance pays off for a Boca-based actress whose career is heating up.
When established Hollywood actors note that “it’s all about the work,” they can come off as sincere as the athlete who “takes it one game at a time.” But after listening to a reporter read through some of her early roles as described on a popular internet database, Sheena Colette makes it abundantly clear that, for her, it was entirely about the work.
Any work.
Between 2010 and 2012, the Boca resident scored bit parts on TV and in films playing everything, according to her IMDb Web page, from “hot girl” and “fit model” to “stunning girl” and “bikini babe.” On paper, it reads like the credits from a “Baywatch” episode. But in an industry littered with trampled dreams, Colette was intent on staying busy and making her own breaks.
“You can’t sit around and assess every acting opportunity, especially in the beginning,” says the New York native. “You put yourself out there over and over and [hope] someone takes the bait. You have to if this is what you want to do. … Yes, I had to be ‘bikini girl.’ But I had to showcase myself.
“No one is going to invest in you until you invest in yourself.”
Don’t look now, but that investment is starting to pay dividends. The graduate of Florida Atlantic University is sharing the big screen this month with Jon Heder (of “Napoleon Dynamite” fame) and Thomas Ian Nicholas (from the “American Pie” movies) in the feature film “Walt Before Mickey” (the film opened Sept. 4).
For someone seemingly on the brink of catching a wave that could take her career to the next level, Colette is steady as she goes. She’s done little press, choosing instead to remain “a bit of a mystery.” But her below-the-radar approach can’t hide the passion she clearly has for a profession Colette began to pursue in earnest four years ago after earning a degree in biological sciences from FAU.
“I was sending my résumé out after graduating and cringing at the same time,” says Colette, the oldest of five siblings (one sister and three brothers). “There I was applying for a pharmaceutical rep position, when all I really wanted to be was creative.”
Colette had done enough modeling—including a 1999 shoot with renowned photographer Philip-Lorca DiCorcia that appeared in W magazine as “The Perfect World”—to know that she loved the collaborative energy on a set. But she also didn’t want to be stereotyped as a model-turned-actress.
“If I need to look ‘drug-addict chic,’ and I have a modeling photo to back that up, great,” she says. “But I don’t put modeling on my résumé. … I’m an actress, and that’s an important distinction. There is a prejudice against models trying to be actresses. The [vibe is that] you’re either a serious actress or not.”
To that end, Colette is fiercely proud of never having to take a “regular” job to pay the bills. She calls the national commercials she’s landed—from Home Depot and McDonald’s to a Nike campaign with LeBron James—“an actor’s best friend” because of the pay. Such work gave her the means to plug away and eventually earn bit roles on “White Collar,” “The Glades,” and “Burn Notice”—as well as parts in several short films.
But it was her work on a pilot that she describes as a “catastrophe” which led to Colette’s recent breaks.
“I worked with [director/cinematographer] Bernard Salzmann on this pilot that was just a financial mess,” she says. “We became friends, got together with a writer, and did a pilot about the Cuban mob that I’m producing. One of the people I casted for my pilot is Frank Licari, a great actor who is based in South Florida. It turned out that he was a co-producer and doing casting for ‘Walt Before Mickey.’
“Had I not been open to doing the catastrophe, these doors wouldn’t have opened.”
In a perfect world, Colette says her career would trace the indie-darling-turned-mainstream arc of her favorite actress, Julianne Moore. But for now, she’s content knowing that she’s earned her opportunities on her terms.
“When I first started, I remember building myself up for three days to read two lines at an audition that was over in two seconds,” she says. “I watched a woman make an audition tape [recently] for a part that required a glance. No lines. Just a reaction. She spent 30 minutes working on it. Some of the things you do in this business … just crazy.
“ … [But] you have to be open to the possibilities.”
