Teen Stars In 2 Films To Screen At Festival

By JAMIE PILARCZYK The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 13, 2008

DAVIS ISLANDS - When the Gasparilla Film Festival screens "The Good Samaritan," Plant High School junior Rachael Stroud plans to be in the audience. She'll also be on-screen.

With a starring role as an abused girl who has to make choices of conscience, Stroud was chosen for the role without even trying out.

"It was one of the most interesting films I've worked on," said Stroud, 16, who uses the stage name Rachael Lee.

She said director Evan Smith "was really specific on what he wanted. It's grueling, but when you see the end product, you see what he pictured in his mind. And it is amazing."

"The Good Samaritan" will be screened at 5:45 p.m. Feb. 29 at Channelside Cinemas before the feature "Dream Havana." Stroud also will be seen in the film short "Gunn Highway," which will be shown at 9:50 p.m. the same day at Channelside, before the feature "Viva."

The festival runs from Feb. 27 through March 2 at venues citywide.

"The Good Samaritan" producer Michael Compton said Stroud's professionalism and superior talent will prompt people to take Tampa more seriously as a film community.

"We need more talent like her to get respect," said Compton, a producer at Tampa Digital Studios in Ybor City. "If we get more talent who are committed to the film industry, we'll become more respected by the nation and the world for filmmaking."

Stroud isn't new to acting. She did a radio voice-over when she was 3 and started acting in theater at age 10. In 2002, she performed with Masque Theatre of Temple Terrace, where her family was living. They moved to Davis Islands in 2007. She attended Orange Grove Magnet School for the Arts and started appearing in film and television at age 12.

Stroud appeared in Discovery Channel's "Dr. G: Medical Examiner." While filming, she had to sit in pig's blood for hours in the sun.

"Right off the bat you figure out if this is it for you or not," Stroud said. "Film is stressful. If they don't find what they want, they get someone else."

"She is driven," said her mother, Allison Adams.

Adams said there never was a question in her daughter's mind about her life's calling. She said she and her husband, Bill, who own Adams Pianos on Fowler Avenue, have been supportive. Their son, Dustin, is studying medicine at Florida State University.

"I believe the worst thing is for that dream to be taken from them," Adams said. "I want them to make choices for their life based on where life is pushing them. We're just the bus drivers."

Stroud said she can't choose between acting on-screen or onstage.

"I like something with a good script, good talent and good people," she said.

Stroud also has a passion for community service. In the past four years, she has completed 350 community service hours with Positive Performance, performing shows at nursing homes, hospitals and shelters.

Her goal is to have a regular role on a soap opera, preferably her all-time favorite, "The Guiding Light." After graduation, she plans to enroll in acting school in New York.

"I really want to be successful with consistent acting," she said. "I know who I am, and I know what I am about."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Gasparilla Film Festival, including screenings of "The Good Samaritan" and "Gunn Highway," featuring Plant High School junior Rachael Stroud

WHERE: Venues citywide, including Tampa Theatre, Channelside Cinemas and the Florida Aquarium

COST: $10, with packages and combo tickets available

WHEN: Feb. 27 through March 2

INFORMATION: www.gasp arillafilmfestival.com

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 835-2114 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.