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Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Robbie Barnes

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Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Robbie Barnes

anna2“Passionate, free-spirited, and nurturing: Three words that best describe Robbie Barnes. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in the neighborhood of Slavic Village with her parents and brother, Robert, Halina, and Chip Barnes. It was after watching Linda Hamilton in ‘The Terminator,’ she knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actress when she ‘grew up.’ Movies always looked like so much fun. In grade school, she was cast in the school’s Christmas play, where the kids weren’t forced to memorize the lines, they could hold the script on stage. Robbie took it upon herself to go above and beyond, and was the only student off-book. After that, she took a summer acting class where she shined amongst the other kids. In high school there wasn’t much opportunity, so she spent most of her out of school time playing sports or working at her first job at Taco Bell.

She then started acting classes in the theatre department at Cuyahoga Community College in Parma, OH. Her professor, Robert Ellis, was very hard on her and challenged her constantly. Her first lead role was Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting For Godot.’ The next few years were devoted to stage work and honing in on her abilities. She worked on plays such as Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, MacBeth, Dracula, and Our Town. Bob constantly made her work harder and helped her grow tremendously. Sometimes his way of teaching would hurt feelings, and tears and anger would consume her. But she didn’t let the pain of rejection and criticism stop her. What she didn’t know was that he was training her for a much bigger world and giving her the backbone she needed for the industry. After her performance as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, he told her that was the best performance he’d ever seen out of her and that she had come such a long way. The compliment was as good as a million bucks. He was, and still is, the role model figure she needed.

For a short time, she took a break from acting and started school for court reporting. After a two year hiatus, she needed acting back in her life, but this time she decided to get into film and commercial work. A career is what she was looking for and she felt she had a better chance of success with the camera than the stage. Browsing around on NEOHPal, she found an audition for a commercial. Thinking she didn’t have a chance, she went anyway and ended up being the spokeswoman for Metro Toyota. She then signed with Docherty agency in Cleveland and has been in several different commercials, including spots for Arhaus Furniture (national), Classic Auto – Streetsboro, Generel Electric, Citizen’s Bank, Southwest General, and Mr. Hero’s. She also does print work for Fisher Price in Buffalo, NY.

Robbie is also involved in the Cleveland film community and has been in several independent films. JW Myers’ ‘A Christmas Tree Miracle,’ which has been picked up for distribution and also was invited to Cannes’ Film Festival in France in 2013. She also had a role in ‘Made in Cleveland’ which also has a distribution deal, nationally and internationally, and stars bigger names such as Gillian Jacobs from ‘Community’ and Busy Philipps of ‘Cougartown.’ Robbie was also a mime in 2012’s 48-Hour Film Festival, ‘PheMIMEnon,’ which won Best Film, Best Acting Ensemble, and Audience Choice. It showed at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, CA in March 2013.

Robbie is fairly new to modeling, but has found a way to utilize her passion and skill set as an actress in her modeling work. Similar to movie productions, modeling is a new outlet for her to express herself. She loves telling stories with pictures, making people think, and feel something when they see the images. Much like film or theatre, it’s a way for her to teleport to another world and create a scene that celebrates humanity. In her modeling discovery she has found a second love, playing with fashion, leaning about different styles of clothing, and posing.

In her free time, she loves to travel almost as much as she loves being in front of the camera. She is learning the Italian language because she would love to go back to Italy and hold a conversation with a local in their native tongue. She also loves practicing martial arts (Kali and Taekwondo), dancing, playing with her pets, and horseback riding. Her favorite actor is Norman Reedus, who she has had the pleasure of meeting.

Robbie is a SAG-AFTRA must join and is planning on joining the union in 2013. She will be moving on to a city with a bigger film market so she can continue her journey through the industry.”*

Location: Homebase, for right now, is Cleveland, OH.

1. How did you get into the industry?

I got into the industry years ago when I started taking theater classes at a community college. It became my 2nd home and I spent most of my days and nights rehearsing scenes and plays. Eventually, I decided to transition into film. I went a few mixers and met some people to work with. I got into an agency, and from there just made sure to keep moving forward. I try to always be involved in a project, and if I’m not I’m spending my time either networking and making contacts or taking an acting class.

2. What Scream Queen inspired you most?

The Scream Queen who inspired me most…hmm…good question. There’s a few I really love, including Jennifer Love Hewitt and Neve Campbell, but I’d have to go with Marilyn Burns. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most terrifying movies for me and she rocked it. Would love the opportunity to work with her one day.

3. What are the next couple projects you are working on?

I’m currently working on a feature horror film called The Dawson War, where I get to play Estella Dawson. I get to be the ‘monster’ character and have had Alan Tuskes as a special effects make-up artist. My prosthetic was made by Gino Crognale, a special effects make up artist for The Walking Dead. And I got to share the screen with actor Parrish Randall, which was a great experience. In the next few months, I’ll be in a web-series called APOC, fighting off zombies in a post-apocalyptic world, which is always fun. I love zombies. There’s a couple other things going on as well, but I’m not sure how much I can talk about them right now. Keeping busy, though!

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*Bio Courtesy of Robbie Barnes Website

Dedman13

Owner of Slit of the Wrist FX and producer, actor, FX artist and writer.

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