Red Deerian Gina Omilon has been leading an exciting life since moving to Los Angeles in 2012.
The latest feature film she worked on was Tragedy Girls, a horror comedy about two girls who get obsessed with the idea of serial killing, and pursue it to try and get famous on Twitter and social media.
The feature included some big names in acting, including Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games, Future Man), Brianna Hildebrand (Deadpool) and Alexandra Shipp (X-Men, Days of Our Lives).
“It was a pretty strong cast,” said Omilon.
“It was really fun for me that’s for sure. Because I did voice over and ADR, I wasn’t on location with them in Kentucky but I was walking the red carpet with them, I was at the after party with them, I was doing Q & A’s with them, so that was really cool.”
She added that it was especially exciting as this was the biggest feature film that she has worked on so far.
“It was really weird to be at the after party with Josh Hutcherson right behind me,” she said with a laugh.
Omilon said the move from Red Deer to Los Angeles has been quite the change, as L.A. is way more hustle and bustle.
“The weather’s also much nicer. I’ve been trying to make it a goal to go to the beach more often and actually take advantage of living on the coast. I’m starting to now adjust to California’s version of cold. I get cold when it’s six degrees out, but unfortunately I have not adjusted to their heat.”
Omilon has wanted to do acting since her high school days at Notre Dame High School, and is constantly auditioning, trying to get in on new projects.
“I just figured the easiest way to move to the U.S. immigration-wise is to go to school there,” she said.
When she was young, she had wanted to do dancing and modelling and ended up getting pulled out of her dance classes to model.
“I’m very short. I’m 5’1, so runway was going nowhere,” she said with a laugh.
“I think I just joined a play by random because I was artsy from the get-go.”
Around Grade 9, Omilon was still modelling and could still pull off runway for kids as she looked young.
She later ended up going to a talent convention in Toronto and met an agent there who hooked her up with an agent in Alberta who then hooked her up with an acting coach in L.A.
When it comes to what she’s learned most, she said, “You learn what you’re made of. You face a world of rejection every single day, you’re going to hear more no’s in your auditions than you are ever going to hear ‘yes’.
“It’s not only the persistence, it’s also the hard work, because if you do get that role, then you’re up at 6 a.m. for it and you’re working till like 8 p.m. or 10 p.m. You’re doing 14- to 15-hour days.”
She also learned how passionate she is for her career as she’s not going to give up until she gets there.
“If you don’t have the persistence in this industry you’re just not going to make it. You’ll give up.”
Omilon also did Criminal Minds, playing a past girl who died.
“They flashed back to 20 years ago and connected a bunch of murders to the present murders, so I was one of the past girls. That was cool being on that set because that was one of the biggest television sets I’ve ever been on.”
Tragedy Girls has been released and is available on iTunes, Video on Demand and Blue-Ray.
