Melina Smart Discusses Performing Betty Boop at Universal Studios & Much More!
I would like you to meet a very talented actress in Melina Smart. Melina is truly a seasoned artist who has performed all over the world. Some of her credits include Betty Boop in Boop'n Around (Universal Studios Singapore) and in Toon Lagoon Atmosphere (Universal Studios Florida) as well as Little Women: The Musical (Meg). She has also performed with Myers Dinner Theatre, Orlando Fringe Festival, and Winter Park Playhouse and has been a soloist with Dragonfly Studios and Productions. Melina is truly an artist that rises to the occasion with any show and always makes the show better. I am so happy to have the chance to feature her!
How old were you when you knew you wanted to be a performer?
The theater bug bit me as I was entering high school. I had been taking piano and singing lessons since kindergarten. I knew I liked to sing, but I didn’t get the idea to audition for a musical until I saw an audition posting in our local paper for a community theater production of Cinderella. Many of my voice teacher's students were doing theater, so I wanted to give it a try. I went to the audition and Lo and behold, the director called me a few days later and offered me the title role! Shortly after the production, I won a regional award for best lead actress in a musical. It was somewhere around that time I realized that performing in musical theater was my calling in life.
Where did you study? Do you have any mentors that truly helped make you the amazing performer you are today?
I studied Theatre at Binghamton University in New York. I’ll be honest, and not to slam my Alma Mater, but it was not the right school or theater program for me. But, sometimes finances dictate where you end up going to college, and that was the case with me. I think during my four years of study, I learned all the ways that did NOT help me prepare for a show or role, and there is a lot of value in that as well. There are only bits and pieces of what I learned in the classroom that I still use in my professional career today.
That being said, I would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for my acting coach, Angela Angel. After I graduated and moved to Orlando Florida, I felt like I needed to start from scratch again with my training. Angela was offering private coaching so I jumped on the opportunity. I find I learn better one on one than in a classroom. She helped me learn to break down monologues and songs in a way I could process and understand. She also helped me overcome my audition nerves and re-learn to trust my natural instincts. College destroyed a lot of my confidence in myself and in my acting choices, and I had to fight hard over the years to get that back. Without her support and guidance, I don’t think I would be as successful as I am today.
What is your favorite musical and/or play of all time? Why?
That’s a tough one! But I think I’m going to have to take it all the way back to what I grew up listening to and that was Phantom of the Opera. I’ve been a huge Sarah Brightman fan all my life. She definitely had a lot of influence on me as a vocalist as I'm primarily a classical singer, and I always appreciate a great orchestral score. I will never get sick of listening to the overture. It sends chills down my spine in a good way every time.
Are there any roles, shows, or performances you have done in your career that stick out and will always be near and dear to you?
Hands down, it’s Betty Boop. One of the great things about living and working as a performer in Orlando is that the theme parks can give you the opportunity for steady work in the long term. I used to perform at Universal Studios, and I got to portray (or “be friends with” as we theme park performers would say) Betty Boop. I spent two years with her at Universal Studios in Florida, and I even had the opportunity to go over and portray her at Universal Studios in Singapore. So in total, I portrayed her for about three years! Being in a role for that long, you really start to embody that character, even when you're not "on stage". I still find myself posing for pictures like Betty would, or slipping into her voice sometimes, even though I don't do the role anymore. She is fun, sweet, sassy, and confident in who she is. And even though she’s technically a 90-year-old cartoon character, I think we can learn a lot from her today about having confidence and just being yourself.
What advice would you give any young aspiring artist?
There is so much advice I could give on this, but with Simone Biles withdrawing from the Olympics, I think this is a great time to reiterate the importance of saying no for your mental health’s sake. I’ve had to take breaks from performing a number of times and I’ve always come out of it stronger for it. Saying no or taking a break may seem like a setback, but it's actually a good thing!
In my senior year of college, I didn’t audition for anything in my school the entire year. I needed a break from the rigors of a collegiate theater program to focus on life after graduation. There were just some things I wasn't getting within my theater program, so I went out and got them on my own. Later on, my contract in Singapore was so hard and so stressful that when I returned to the USA, I didn’t audition for anything for almost an entire year. I needed to remove myself from performing in theme parks altogether. As I mentioned before, it can be a great way to perform steadily, but it can also burn you out doing the same show/role day after day, for years on end. You can start to feel like a robot, and I just couldn’t take that feeling anymore.
Taking those steps back was some of the best decisions I ever made. My regional theater career is moving forward faster year after year. I originated a role at the Florida Festival of New Musical earlier this summer. I’m now the lead vocalist in a band back in Orlando. I also have some exciting projects coming up in the future that I can't talk about just yet. I feel very happy about where I am as a performer right now. I credit all the decisions I made in the past that got me to this point. So sometimes, you need to take one step back in order to take three giant leaps forward.
To learn more about Melina make sure you visit her official website at - https://www.melinasmart.com