“My parents tell me all the time that there is a one in a million shot, and you can be that one; somebody is going to get it, and it can be you,” sophomore Gabby Cila said.
Acting enthusiast Cila recently got an opportunity to audition in California for an upcoming TV series on the Disney Channel. This past June, Cila got an agent to book auditions for her, and her agent found a role for a new series called I Didn’t Do It coming out next year.
“I was requested to submit a tape for this role,” Cila said. “I didn’t think anything would come of it, but then I got an email about six days after I submitted the tape saying that they wanted me to go to L.A. two days later.”
A week before Thanksgiving break, Cila flew to California to meet the casting director of the show and read a scene for the pilot episode.
“I met the casting director of Two and a Half Men and the creator of Sonny with a Chance and That’s so Raven. It’s like the little kid in me came out when I met them; and [I met] 15 Disney executives, which was so intimidating, but they were all really nice,” Cila said.
In this new show there are two main characters; Cila auditioned for one of the main character’s best friend, so if she gets the part, she will be on the show regularly.
“The show is about two fraternal twins named Cole and Claire. They’re kind of awkward, but over the summer they get really hot, so they decide to throw a party to become popular and I am auditioning for the best friend of the girl twin,” Cila said. “She’s like a ditzy hipster.”
Cila doesn’t know if she has gotten the part yet, but if she does, her plans are to move to California to film the show starting in January and come back to North Carolina to visit. If she doesn’t get the part, she says she will continue acting.
“I’m looking forward to whatever will happen, because I know if it’s not this role, it will be something else. I’ll definitely keep acting because I have been doing it for a while, so I’m not stopping now,” Cila said.
Cila started acting at 11 years old, at a summer camp called The Second City in Chicago. She now takes acting classes at Northwood, as well as lessons outside of school. Cila does improvisation, comedy and drama.
“I think now I’m more versatile. I used to just do improv and comedy, but now I can do more drama and I love it,” Cila said. “I keep getting better from when I was 11; I think I feel more comfortable acting now, and it feels more natural.”
When Cila’s agent told her about the audition, she says she never expected to get the opportunity to go to Los Angeles and audition.
“When I found out about the actual audition, I was really excited, but I didn’t think anything would [happen]… but when they said we really would like you to come to L.A. that’s when I was like, ‘Ok, I’m done, I’m crying now,’” Cila said.
Sophomore Allie Harrington, who is a friend of Cila, says she was very proud of Cila when she told her about her new opportunity.
“I was really proud of her, and honestly I wasn’t surprised,” Harrington said. “She is really talented [and] she is such a genuinely good person, I knew something like this would happen because she deserves it,”
When Cila returned home from California, she had a welcome home gift at the airport from friends Harrington and junior Rachel Boyle.
“We surprised her at the airport. We pretended we were paparazzi and made a sign that said: ‘Gabby, we’re your number one fan!’” Boyle said. “We had a camera and took pictures of her. She was so shocked.”
— By Taylor Maloch