The Actress
Holly is a diverse character actress with leading lady looks. She's won several acting awards and has worked in about every medium available to professional talents. She's naturally comedic but has done edgy drama. Her unabashed and fearless approach to bring whatever's necessary to shape the character, has led her to be cast in "out there" parts that more conventional sorts don't do. To quote Weird Al, "what really impressed me in your audition was that you were a pretty girl who wasn't afraid of broad comedy".
She co-starred as a comedic single mom in the independent film Pushing 30, which screened simultaneously at the San Diego and Boulder Film Festivals and currently has several film and television shows (drama, comedy and reality as both host and subject) being pitched. She just joined the cast of The Vamps Next Door webisode series, written and directed by sitcom veteran Phil Ramuno (author of The Sitcom Career Handbook with over 1,000 episodes under his belt), and originated the role of writer/director Joelle Arqueros’ favorite monologue, "Bulgarian Princess" in the long-running show, Sex, Relationships and Sometimes Love. Her convincing portrayal of Madonna on Fox’s hidden camera show, Outrageous Behavior of Celebrity Lookalikes Caught on Tape, caught the attention of Entertainment Tonight, who rebroadcast the segment the following evening.
While she has made over 50 television and film appearances as Marilyn Monroe and Madonna, she has maintained one foot in the “legit” film, television, and theatre world and the other in the oft-surreal celebrity look-alike world of international live entertainment, essentially close-up improvisation, singing & dancing. While on a gig, Debbie Reynolds commented it must be the hardest job in the world, taking over a cold room. Holly’s schedule continues to be an eclectic combination historical character work and traditional acting roles in plays and films. As a singer, she’s fronted a 23-piece big band and sung on a few albums with Grammy-winning engineers.
Holly began her acting career in a film written for her as a “Marilyn type” at 13, before she who she was. In the true Hollywood style of working while others play, she spent her 16th birthday accepting her first acting award for this film. At the premiere, songwriter Bernie Wayne (who worked with MM) wanted to introduce her to Las Vegas as the newest Marilyn Monroe. He also wrote the Miss America song and wanted her to pursue pageant life. But being 16 with over-protective parents, she was a bit young to venture off to the bright lights of a big city. Instead, Holly became entrenched in theatre and as a high school senior won a city-wide acting competition performing, of all things, Bus Stop.
Holly trained to be a traditional “triple threat” performing artist at Indiana University: studying acting in the major theatrical styles (Shakespeare, Strindberg/Shaw, Chekov, T. Williams, Absurdism, etc.) studying dance (all major styles), and singing, where she was encourage to pursue a career in opera. Her work earned her a place in the National Society of Arts and Letters competition with a monologue from Orpheus Descending. She also studied couture sewing, preparing her for the costumes to come!
Outside of school, Holly explored her talents doing anything that was legitimate and paid. She worked as a print and editorial model. Her first voice over assignment, the telephone greeting for Proscan Electronics, was in both French and English and got her SAG card mimicking the voice of an evil robot on a Rugrats Playstation game. She’s been an eye model, a hand model for Hamilton Beach and Shane Diamonds, acted in a few commercials and films, hosted in many educational films targeted for high school students, sang with an Indianapolis semi-pro vocal performance group, performed in the Mystery Cafe Dinner Theatre, sang a capella 4-part harmony on the Indiana Dinner Train, and then at the Zoo.
Indiana University theatre director Clara Marshall pre-cast Holly as the “Marilyn-type” Rusty in Goodbye Charlie (written by George Axelrod who was also the screenwriter for The 7 Year Itch). However, in auditions, Holly’s sense of adventure enabled her to shift from glamour girl to the lead Charlie, a man-come-back-to-life-as-a-woman victimizer of glamour girls. This was Holly’s first leading role on stage and "lead" to the professional world of live entertainment. The director married former Entertainment Director of Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas, Reno and Tahoe, who auditioned Holly to play Marilyn at The President Casino in Davenport, IA, and a call to Chicago got her booked with Bob Zmooda’s Comic Relief. While juggling a very busy schedule as a Marilyn look alike in Chicago, Holly performed the lengthy Lanford Wilson monologue, “The Moonshot Tape” and acted in several films and commercials. She made her national television debut as Madonna on Jenny Jones.
In Hollywood, Holly has developed a broad overall understanding of the industry with substantial first-hand experience in film production, post production, finance & distribution. While she has worked as an impersonator of the icons you see, in life she has also been told she reminds people of Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Sharon Stone, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Silverstone, Kate Winslet, Lana Turner and Marion Davies. Guess she's just got that familiar kind of face!