Amish Grace Sunday Night March 28th-8pm on the Lifetime Channel

By Sally Deering 

 Emmy-award winning actress Tammy Blanchard recalls growing up in the 1980s a shy girl who cherished Judy Garland’s performance in “The Wizard of Oz,” and dreamed of her own stardom in her tiny bedroom.  In the past ten years, Blanchard’s break-out performances as Judy Garland and other complex women have received critical acclaim and respect from her peers. And like Garland, whom Blanchard calls her “angel,” when it comes to playing a role or singing a song, her shyness disappears and she becomes a chameleon blending herself into the part and in the process turning in dynamic, edge-of-your-seat performances that are anything but shy.

 This week, TV viewers can tune in to see Blanchard in two sensational roles in a TV movie on the Lifetime Movie Network and in NBC’s Monday night line-up. On Sunday, (March 28^th) Blanchard takes on the role of a young wife dealing with anger and guilt after her husband kills five young Amish girls in the TV-movie “Amish Grace” on LMN (Lifetime Movie Network, 8 pm;) and, on Monday, (March 29^th) Blanchard plays another young mother in the “Law & Order,” episode “Brazil,” (NBC, 10 pm.)

 

A new mom herself, Blanchard, 33, brings a sense of truth to the mother roles she plays.  She says this comes from her deep relationships with her own mom, Patty Rettig, and her 2 year-old daughter, an adorable toddler and Blanchard’s bundle of sheer joy.

 

“Now that I’m a mom, it’s not about me anymore, it’s not about the goal to be a movie star,” Blanchard says. “I wanted to be a movie star, now its condensed to I want to give and receive love and this talent that God has given me is like this child he has given me, something I need to nurture and respect and use with good intentions.”

 

Although she’s never taken an acting class, Blanchard’s natural talent is as evident as her natural beauty. Off-camera, she wears no make-up and comes across as quiet and somewhat serious. On-camera, she can explode with emotions that are so raw, they make viewers feel like their hearts are being ripped out of their chests – she’s that good! And the TV and film credits Blanchard keeps racking up on her resume are strong indicators of the high-quality of her work and the increasing demand for her talents.

 

Channeling Garland

In 2001, Blanchard earned an Emmy Award for her spot-on portrayal of the sweet, yearning and deeply-troubled Judy Garland in “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows,” that also starred Judy Davis. This role garnered Blanchard raves from critics and started opening doors, like the movie “The Good Shepherd,” directed by Robert DeNiro and the Broadway production of “Gypsy, The Musical Fable” where Blanchard transformed from a gawky 13 year-old girl to the elegant striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee and earned a Tony award nomination in the process.  She recently completed filming “Rabbit Hole” playing the younger sister to Nicole Kidman’s character. Kidman is also producing the project.

 

Immersing herself in the characters she plays seems to be Blanchard’s trademark. A self-described “sponge,” Blanchard knows she has acted with some of the best in the business and has chosen to observe the masters in action, soaking in their knowledge, listening to their perspectives, applying what they’ve taught her and then letting it rip. Blanchard channels the emotional pain of the characters she plays with an uncanny depth that seems to be rare in most actresses her age.

 

Blanchard attributes her acting ability to a somewhat lonely childhood growing up in Bayonne, a “Pleasantville” type of New Jersey community in the shadow of New York City.  Like her favorite movie character, Dorothy in her favorite movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” Blanchard has traveled to faraway places, but there’s still no place like home.

 

“For me, Bayonne is my family, my hometown, my safe place, and I love this place more than anything,” Blanchard says from the porch of her cozy house on the first sunny day of spring. She is joined by her Calico cat, “Deva,” who plops down next to her to sunbathe while through the window, Blanchard keeps an eye on her daughter playing in the living room under the watchful eye of her dad and Blanchard’s partner of 11 years, Damon Chasmer.  “Most of us are from all the same background in this town. We grew up together. We’ve all been through the middle-class trial and error and we understand it. This town should feel pride in every success I’ve had. This town gave me everything I have inside me. If I grew up in another place and time, it would all be different.”

 

It was in public school when Blanchard, a sixth-grader, first felt the inspiration to become an actress from friend and family members’ reactions to her solo rendition of “Over the Rainbow” in an assembly program. When she finished, there was complete silence at first and then a roar of applause.

“It was like a way for me to express what I was feeling, all the joy and hope that I really had in my heart as a child and it was a way to bring joy to my family,” Blanchard remembers. “That’s when I realized, wow, maybe I can do this.”

 

The Wonder Years

Blanchard doesn’t hail from a theatrical family and she didn’t really have connections to show biz’s movers and shakers, so if you ask her how she managed to carve out a serious acting career, she says without hesitation that it was her mother Patty, who inspired her. Patty Rettig saw that her daughter Tammy had talent and when Tammy was 13 and in high school, she wanted to compete in the Miss Teen New Jersey pageant. She didn’t win the crown, but a manager was impressed enough to get her an audition with a talent agency that signed her and sent her on commercial auditions. Patty Rettig accompanied Tammy to her auditions while raising two other children with Tammy’s father, a Vietnam Veteran. These were tough times for the family, Tammy says.

 

“My mom would scrape 20 bucks together and we would drive into New York for an audition,” Blanchard remembers. “It was a broken down car and she would sit in the car for hours, waiting for me to come down from my audition. She would do anything for me.”

 

Blanchard spent the next several years doing commercials for Domino’s Pizza and other products, while going on TV and film auditions. Her first big break came in 1997 when she landed the role of spoiled brat Drew Jacobs in the soap opera “Guiding Light.”  She worked on the show for 3 years and credits actress Patty D’Arbanville – who played her biological mother on the show- for teaching her about acting for the camera.

 

“Because she was such a natural actress, I learned a lot from Patty,” Blanchard says. “She allowed me to open up and find my own instrument; it was great to work with her. I’m always working with great women – Patty, Jessica Lange, Bernadette Peters, Blythe Danner …”

 

But it was her breakout role in “Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows,” that earned Blanchard an Emmy for her uncannily spot-on performance as a young Garland. She signed with one of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, ICM, and began attracting the attention of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

 

Robert DeNiro Directs

In 2006, DeNiro cast Blanchard alongside Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie in “The Good Shepherd,” a spy film about the birth of counter-intelligence in the CIA.  Blanchard played a girl who was hearing-impaired and during filming, she remembers DeNiro being extremely particular about his direction, sometimes doing 20 takes until he was pleased.

 

Once satisfied with the take, DeNiro would nod his head, Blanchard says, illustrating her point by scrunching her eyes, lowering her voice and saying, “That was good. That was good.” It’s a dead-on DeNiro impression.

 

“He was fatherly to me,” Blanchard says. “He gave me the advice that enhanced my performances for (the film) ‘Bella,’ and probably saved me from a lot of bad performances in my life. He told me (when playing a role) to never play the victim. The point is to not know you’re being victimized and always try to keep your dignity. He definitely changed my career.”

 

Playing 16 Characters in One

In 2008, Blanchard gave a heartbreaking performance as the title character in the TV redux of “Sybil,” based on the real-life experiences of a young woman who splintered into multiple personalities to deal with the abuse she suffered as a child. In a review of the work, “New York Times” critic Neil Genzingler wrote, “The film has fine performances by Tammy Blanchard in the title role and Jessica Lange (as) the psychiatrist. It is crisply told and full of powerful scenes…”

It’s been a little more than a year since “Sybil,” and in that time, Blanchard has landed plum roles in TV shows like “Law & Order,” and films including “Rabbit Hole,” starring Nicole Kidman and directed by John Cameron-Mitchell – director of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”  Blanchard has acted with the some of the biggest stars in show business and she hopes one day to work with her favorite actress, Meryl Streep.

There’s No Place like Home

And now that she’s proven herself in the industry and enjoying a fulfilling acting career, Blanchard talks about fulfilling one more childhood dream.

 

“I want to build homeless shelters, stock the shelves with food and employ the mothers and fathers,” Blanchard says. “This is a big dream I had when I was a little girl. I remember my mom struggling to get by cleaning other people’s homes.  I always felt compassion for single mothers with children. I’ve always wanted to help.”

 

Amish Grace

LMN (Lifetime Movie Network)

Sun, Mar. 28^th, 8 pm

 

“The Amish Community of Nickel Mines is forever changed when a gunman senselessly takes the lives of five girls in a schoolhouse shooting before taking his own life. What transpires afterward takes the community by storm, as the media descend on the town and criticize its Amish leaders for their notion of unconditional forgiveness of the shooter and their outreach of support to his widow, Amy Roberts (Tammy Blanchard.) Devastated by her daughter’s death, Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) finds herself struggling with her community’s belief in the transcending power of forgiveness. Deeply conflicted and unable to forgive the gunman and his family, Ida is tempted to leave the only life she’s ever known before re-embracing her faith,” – www.lmn.tv

The post TAMMY BLANCHARD “Amish Grace” Actress Follows Her Yellow Brick Road first appeared on River View Observer.

Kenneth Del Vecchio Chairperson

Mayor Dave Roberts and the City of Hoboken

Presents

THE NATION’S HOTTEST…TRUE…FILM FESTIVAL
May 29, 2009 – June 4, 2009

Cloris Leachman, (Academy Award, 4-Time Golden Globe, 19-Time Emmy Winner & Nominee) will be the 2009 HIFF Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Emcee- Comedian Mike Marino

 

 

 

Award Presenter -                                                                                                            Donna Bostany

For video of  past FilmFestivals Hoboken International Film Festival

MISSION & OBJECTIVE

Hoboken International Film Festival (“HIFF”) is dedicated to showcasing and promoting fine non-studio films, TV pilots, and screenplays from filmmakers throughout the United States and internationally. The best submissions will be rewarded with cash prizes in nearly ten categories. As will be discussed in the next section, HIFF has quickly become one of the top ten best film festivals in the world.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

With a celebrity jury comprised of Academy Award and Emmy winners, and powerhouse partners this past year that include CBS, Anheuser-Busch and Stella Artois, TD Banknorth, 101.9 RXP, The DoubleTree Hotel, The Jersey Journal, The Melting Pot, Glaceau SmartWater, and hosted by Mayor David Roberts and the City of Hoboken, HIFF is a worldwide renowned film festival. Showcasing the edgiest domestic and international movies and their filmmakers, HIFF will kick off on May 29, 2009 with its opening night films–that will be viewed by nearly 1,000 fans and industry personnel at Pier A Park, located directly on the Hudson River and overlooking the majestic New York City skyline.

The 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award winner will be Cloris Leachman (The Last Picture Show; Young Frankenstein; The Women; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Dancing With the Stars). At this past year’s Gala Awards Ceremony, noted as one of the best in the country for its Oscar-like class and fanfare, Billy Dee Williams personally accepted the HIFF Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2007 HIFF Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Charles Durning (2-time Academy Award/8-time Golden Globe/12-time Emmy winner and nominee). The 2006 recipient was Frank Vincent.

In addition to nonstop screenings during the week of the festival, HIFF offers a slate of panel discussions held by top industry leaders. The 2007 group included an Academy Award winning producer, CBS news anchors, MTV casting director, CBS soap opera star, a studio executive and a star talent manager.

HIFF also offers unique, star-studded special events. Some past special events include: the “Keg Party Blowout & Screening” sponsored by Sheraton Suites on the Hudson, Harbor Bar and Brasserie, and Stella Artois–featuring the movie “Beer League” and a party with the movie’s filmmakers and stars including Artie Lange (The Howard Stern Show); a series of films from Academy Award nominated actor Danny Aiello, with a special Q&A held by Aiello and the filmmakers of his new film “The Shoemaker,” as well as a live concert by Aiello and his band; a series of Charles Durning films and special screenings and parties with Durning.

HIFF awards the winning filmmakers with cash prizes in the following categories: Best Feature Film; Best Director (Feature Film); Best Screenplay (Feature Film); Best Actor (Feature Film); Best Actress (Feature Film); Best Short Film; Best Documentary; Best TV Pilot; Best Unproduced Screenplay. There are also awards given in several other categories. In addition, there is a Grand Prize (for Best Narrative Feature Film) of a distribution deal offer (2009 company TBA).

All festival venues are located in the heart of New Jersey’s artistic capital, with gorgeous, waterfront scenic views of the New York City skyline.

HIFF will be held from May 29, 2009-June 4, 2009 in Hoboken, NJ.

The post Hoboken International Film Festival May 29- June 4th first appeared on River View Observer.