25 Actors: Day 3 - Virginia McCreary

As part of the 25 Days of Sine Fine Films extravaganza leading up the 25th Anniversary I have decided to write a series of posts celebrating the 25 actors who have been the most dedicated by participating in the most productions.   

Actor of the Day: Virginia McCreary

Virginia joined the company in May of 1999 when we began filming for Pandora's Box.  She has participated in 6 productions as cast and/or crew. 

Virginia is the younger sister of one of my classmates from elementary/middle school.  I got to know her through theatre, although I think the first time we really met was when I was asked to be the quick change dresser for Holy Cross Catholic School's production of Once Upon a Mattress.  Virginia played the lead in the show and when I wasn't doing quick changes (mostly for her) I got to sneak out and watch the show.  I was really impressed with Virginia's acting abilities and I filed that information away for later use. 

"Later use" came a few years after that when I was desperately in need of someone to play Zarc in Pandora's Box.  The first two people I cast in the role were suddenly no longer able to commit that much time to filming (because...you know...they had lives unlike me).  The shoot was schedule for that weekend and I contacted her on Wednesday or maybe Thursday?  Long story not so short she agreed to play the part on short notice and was absolutely amazingly FANTASTIC as the young thief Zarconia Gold. 

Filming with her was truly a joy and even though the production - which was only supposed to take 5 weeks to film - took 18 months since I kept adding more and more episodes Virginia rarely if ever complained.  After a communication mishap on filming over Christmas Break she even filmed a long, eight hour film shoot on zero hours of sleep and severe jet lag.  She is a trouper!

In the middle of filming Pandora's Box I went off to college and filmed when I came back on breaks. That year I was studying film and was able to shoot two movies on actual 8MM film. One of those was The Long Take and Virginia agreed to participate in it as a crew person - not being crew but playing a character who was a crew person in the movie, but she also did help out on crew.  That made sense somewhere in my brain but I don't think I translated it right.

When I decided to film Eidolon in 2004 I needed someone to play Skyler's (dead) wife and had no idea who to cast.  James suggested Virginia (probably because he had always like the character of Zarc and I think he wanted to meet the actress who played her) and I said "yeah, that would work. Let me see if she's available."  She was. It was only one day of filming sometime in June and I don't think I had given her the script before hand - although maybe I did? I don't remember.  She did a great job as the sweet, kind, ethical (and dead) Elise Jackson.  

We had to film two scenes and then take some photos to use as props in Skyler's apartment.  I wanted to include a wedding picture - because he dearly loved his dead wife so of course he would have their wedding picture in his apartment.  I realized at the last minute, however, that I did not have a wedding dress, or a tuxedo or even a nice suit.  So I decided that they got married at a Renaissance Festival and threw them into costumes.  It added some dimensions to Elise's lack of personality so that was good. 

I wasn't able to film with her again until the summer of 2010.  I was filming Twisted Tales, short films that took a twist on a fairytale, and needed an actress to film on next Saturday which just so happened to be the Fourth of July.  FYI: don't film in public parks near a parade route on July 4th, it's loud.  I think I reconnected with her through Facebook and she replied to my posted plea for an actress that day.  Again, I'm not sure if I sent her the script ahead of time or not.  Knowing me, probably not. 

She played Cindy Lou, a modern day Cinderella who spends her days reading romance novels and dreaming of marrying a handsome prince - or a senator's son in this case.  I think this was the first time she really got to play opposite Annamarie MacLeod who played the novice Fairy Godmother, Felicity.  Although they were both in Pandora's Box I don't think they were in many scenes together - or possibly any scenes together although they did hang out on the same set so they knew each other.  They did a wonderful job together and Virginia captured the hopeless romantic character of Cindy Lou perfectly.  

Since I had already reconnected with Virginia that year I was able to get in touch with her again in December when I needed an actress to play Sarah Johnson in The Stranger, a tale about a kind family who takes in a stranger on Christmas Eve.  Like Elise, Sarah was a much more mature character then either Zarc or Cindy Lou and Virginia brought a wonderful amount of compassion, emotion, and gravitas to the character.  While she was there she also helped out on crew for the last scene we had to film for Hulde.  

I haven't filmed with Virginia for over ten years now and I really hope that someday I can film with this wonderful, funny, bright and cheerful woman again some day.  Thanks for always being willing to jump in at the last minute Virginia!