“I had the time of my life!” coos the sultry, light-skinned Latina. “It was a dream come true. Everyone was so nice. We shot on a lake and it was like summer camp, only I was a movie star! My head still spins when I think about it…”

That was only the beginning of the dream. She quickly enrolled in The Hollywood Acting Class. “I had no idea what I was doing. It was all instinct. Just me PLAYING at being a bad girl.” And before you could say “overnight sensation”, Gina landed a three- year contract as the man-eating home-wrecker, TARYN CARCASS, on a soap opera near you.  “I learned the meaning of a lot of new words: Lolita, vixen, minx… and a few more that I don’t care to repeat,” she laughs. “But soaps are very difficult. There’s no time and you do an episode every day. The people who are really good at it are amazing, but I just felt like I never had enough time. I always felt rushed. And I would go home feeling like Nina in THE SEAGULL: I am a bad actress.”

So when it recently became time to renew her contract, Gina politely said no to the big bucks offer. “I’m really grateful to the soap. They took a chance on me. I learned so much. It’s hard to pass on the money because I don’t come from money. My brother has a serious illness, my mom is a single parent, and I’d like to help my niece go to college. My family is everything to me. But right now, I need to be here. I want to study Chekhov, read Tennessee Williams and watch foreign films. I love Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Sophia Loren and, of course, Marilyn. The sexy glamour is fun, but it’s only a part of me. I’m also this goofy little tomboy from the Inland Empire… just the girl next door.”  Right… if you happen to live next door to… Hollywood!