A few people have changed my life.
There was a YouTuber named Jack Helliquinn (he's since deleted all the videos or made everything private) who was like this dark gothic clown guy. I befriended him around 2008ish over Facebook and YouTube chat which no longer exist. He became one of my best online friends and he later formed a group of his fans and friends into the Helliquinn family. We would loosely collab on videos together using clown alter egos with the last name Helliquinn. We would also chat for hours on Skype, have movie-watch parties, and play games together online. The group eventually fell apart because of a few different dramas, and we all (that I’m aware of) lost contact with Jack. I met a lot of wonderful people through that. I ended up dating 2 people from that group and am currently still seeing one of them. I also have some friends from that too.
Between doing YouTube on and off (I started very close to when Pewdiepie did) and being active online, especially on social media, I then got discovered/talent scouted by an indie horror filmmaker and author named Dusty W Fleishman. He had just started making movies again and sent me a DM on Facebook asking if I had ever thought about acting. I exclusively worked on movies with his company for a few years (acting, makeup effects, animal handling, and being a script supervisor & production assistant). During that time I also got my first modeling experience and was in my first 2 commercials. From being in those indie horror movies I made other friends/acquaintances in the entertainment field which led to a few more low-budget movie opportunities, commercials, and modeling work.
Prior to being discovered, I had studied film, photography, video editing, and sound production at the technical high school I attended, and that probably gave me a leg up on being discovered on top of my looks, YouTube, and being online a lot. The best advice I can give is connections & experiences are important, be true to yourself, and keep an open mind. You have no idea how things in life will connect, it's one big domino effect where one thing can lead to another.
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