In the Spotlight: Michelle Tomlinson

By Owen Crowlie and Todd Fuqua

Michelle Tomlinson (BFA 00), Hollywood actor, director, producer and writer, started her lifelong love of acting as an undergraduate in the ENMU Theatre Program. In February 2020, she was excited to return to the campus as a keynote speaker for the 65th Annual Dramafest. The popular event brings students from high schools across New Mexico and West Texas to perform plays, submit film shorts, and participate in workshops led by the Department of Theatre and Digital Filmmaking faculty.

“My passion for acting began here, so it’s a big ‘full circle’ thing for me to be back,” Michelle said. “It’s an incredibly humbling experience to be asked to come back for something as sacred as Dramafest.”

In her keynote address, she aimed to teach visiting high school students about the realities of working in Hollywood.

Since graduating from ENMU, Michelle has explored every facet of television and film, with more than 30 acting credits, bolstered by her experience as a director, producer and writer.

In 2020, the ENMU thespian alumna won a Third Quarter Bronze Award for Best Director from the Queen Palm International Film Festival for her work with the situation comedy television pilot “Deeply Superficial.” This fall, Michelle has been deep in production for the documentary “Edge,” addressing the importance of Native American language preservation.

Currently, Michelle is in post-production on a drama film titled “Redemption,” shot and directed via the Zoom meeting app.

“It was great to shoot and super challenging, because everybody had just one camera and one microphone on their laptops. We had to play with everyone coming into and leaving the frame,” Michelle said. “The actors had several pages of dialogue, with nobody to react to them. It was such a wonderful experimental project, and I’m really inspired by it.”

Tomlinson addresses students at the 2020 ENMU Dramafest.

Photo by Rein Carrasco

“I know the Los Angeles experience. I know the business side of this industry, which is a completely different bag,” she added. “I know the experience of ‘how do I audition’, or what the difference is between all the subgenres of TV and movies. What I have to offer these kids is experience with Hollywood.”

Having taken her acting experience from New Mexico to California, Michelle knows how to pursue the dream of making it in acting while remaining practical in her approach. By talking to young students about working with an agent, accepting losses, and being persistent, Michelle said she hoped to encourage young actors to invest in themselves and not become discouraged.

As an example of using this mindset, Michelle told the story about how she landed a part in ENMU’s first produced film, when, at the time, they were only auditioning men. After attending the auditions and speaking to the director, she managed to impress the writer with her reading, so he wrote a part into the film specific to what Michelle could bring to the production.

“Just audition. Always audition. My entire career, my whole entire life, is based on that principle of kicking down doors,” Michelle said. “I don’t mean kicking down doors by being nasty, but kicking down doors with love. Never with anger, just reaffirming myself.”