My name is Michelle Wood and I live in sunny Naples, Florida with my husband and 4 furry children: 2 cats (Emma & Oliver) and 2 dogs (Nikki & Kacie). From a young age, I pretty much knew I didn’t want to produce any humans. Shhh! If you listen closely, you can hear a round of applause…..

I am originally from Chicago (go Sox!) and moved down to Naples back in 1997 with my now ex-husband (I think every girl needs at least one).    Talk about culture shock!  Things more very S-L-O-W-L-Y down here and I still haven’t acclimated myself since I’m a on-the-go Chicagoan at heart.   On the flip side, knowing that I will never ever have to scrape ice from my car’s windshield at 6 in the morning makes it worth it.

As far back as I can remember (and most days that doesn’t go beyond yesterday), I’ve always been quite fascinated by the filmmaking business. Every aspect of it. And I am still fascinated every time I watch a major motion picture. And may I just say that “Cloverfield” was the shit?! Holy cow, was that one awesome flick! I felt like I just got off an amusement ride by the time that movie was over. Brilliant!

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. I’ve always had a secret desire to try acting. I just never had the “balls” to try it so I never pursued it and I never told anyone about this desire. I’m a natural ham, and I really love making people laugh. That’s probably why I was voted “Female Class Clown” my senior year of high school. An honor which was very well deserved, mind you. Too bad that prestigious honor didn’t get me anywhere …

Sadly, my friend’s father, Matt, passed away from non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last November. He was an amazing man and accomplished so many amazing things in his short 60 years on this Earth. From that moment on, I decided I didn’t want to be left on my deathbed with nothing but regrets for being too scared to try new things. I also decided that 2008 was going to be the “Year with No Fear” for me. So thanks for the inspiration, Matt: I wouldn’t have had the courage to do it otherwise.

Since Matt’s death, I’ve already taken 3 acting classes at 2 local community theaters, one of which is ranked in the top 10 in the nation. My Improv class was definitely my favorite. I performed with my Improv class at our local Barnes & Noble on “open mic night” back in March. I was so nervous right up to the moment I got up on “stage.” And by “stage”, I mean a small 8′x8′ space cleared out in the coffeehouse section, with the audience being so close I could actually see their nose hairs. But once I was on “stage”, my fear quickly disappeared and it turned out to be quite an exhilarating experience for me.

Since then, I decided I’m going to break into the “biz” any way I possibly can. Then I happened to find this awesome job. They already told me they’d put me in some of their productions, so I’m in hog heaven. Don’t worry; I won’t forget about you little people (not to be confused with Little People) when I make it big someday. After all, I’m gonna need people to clean my massive house, my Olympic-sized swimming pool, and drive my limo … Just kidding. That stuff doesn’t matter much to me at all. I drive a VW Rabbit and I’m quite proud of that fact. So there.

Oh yeah. I should probably also mention that I have a teensie weensie crush (although some people might tend to call it an obsession) on Christian Bale. He is probably THE most incredible, and underrated, actor of our generation. Where the hell are his Oscars already?!!!! Some dude named Johnny Depp ain’t bad either. Just kidding. Christian and Johnny (we’re on a first-name basis, that’s how we roll in H’wood) are 2 of my most favorite actors ever. They just suck me into any movie they do - they’re so brilliantly talented. Okay, so how happy am I that they’re going to be in Michael Mann’s movie “Public Enemies” in 2009? You’re gonna have to chisel the sheepishly huge grin that is permanently plastered on my face, if that’s any indication.

So now that I’m working for this awesome production company, I’m going to try to convince them to produce my short film I’m thinking of calling, “Quest for the Holy Bale.” Hey - it could work! Christian, if you happen to be reading this, call me: we’ll do lunch.

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If you have some strange desire to contact me (you have an idea for a post or just to shoot the shit), feel free to contact me at Michelle@introublezone.com.