My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope

Diane felt like acting was her calling and finally started to gather the confidence to pursue it. She kept her goals a secret at first but took acting classes, which allowed her to obtain feedback, improve, and come out of her shell to become a fully uninhibited actor. She began auditioning for every role she could find and, tried to learn to accept rejection. She landed a couple of music video roles, as well as a couple of indie films. The second film was called Ashley/Amber and Diane was given the lead role and Diane finally started to see a career ahead of her. She decided to move to New York City and really put everything into her dream, but one thing still plagued her—she had not seen her parents in seven years.

Diane was recommended an agent who told her she might not be pretty enough for acting. Diane found a different agent. She joined an acting class in New York City and moved into her own tiny apartment in New Jersey. In one of her acting classes, she and the other students were asked to reflect on a time in their lives when they felt most vulnerable. Diane looked back to when her parents disappeared and the years that followed as she tried to rebuild her life from nothing.