She's A Gem

"She's a gem," says producer Dave Christiano. "A real gem."

Jenna Bailey

In 2001, Dave Christiano went to the JTA Talent Agency in Charlotte, NC to audition actors for his movie, Late One Night. Christiano arrived early and actually was there before the Agency opened. While he waited at the front door, a young lady soon approached as well. Her name was Jennifer Bailey, and she was coming to audition for the producer's film. Dave and Jennifer introduced themselves and spoke for a bit until the doors opened.

"I got there early and so did she," said Dave. "I was anxious to read people for my film because this was the top Talent Agency in the southeast and I knew there would be some good people to look at. I read great talent that day and one of them was Jennifer."

She was cast in Dave's film and the two worked together for a couple of days. "When I worked with her that first time, I knew I was in the presence of a real actress," said Christiano. "She was the only female in the cast with a supporting role and I just thought she was so good and easy to work with. The other cast and crew members could also clearly see her ability. I knew then that I wanted to work with her again if the opportunity arose."

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Jenna as "Patty" in Late One Night

Jenna remembers the experience as well.

"This was my first film role," says Jenna, "just before I was making the big pilgrimage from North Carolina to Hollywood. I was very lucky to get that role in Late One Night. It was a wonderful experience and a great opportunity to form a working relationship with Dave."

Jennifer shortened her name to Jenna Bailey upon arrival back to her native California roots.

She was born at Edwards Air Force Base in California but with her father in the Air Force, Jenna moved around quite a bit in her early years. She left the golden state when she was 2 months old and proceeded to live in Idaho, South Carolina, England, Spain, and Maryland. Her formative years (ages 10-18) were spent in a small town in Maryland, very ironically named California! Now she's back to her true California roots and living in Los Angeles.

Jenna's interest in acting started at an early age. "My family has often said that I was a ham from the start," said Jenna, "but I really got my feet wet in high school performing in school plays. I went to college at NC State to study Psychology, but after graduation I moved to Charlotte, and realized that I just wasn't going to be happy unless I was doing something creative. I then dove in head first and began taking every acting class I could take and auditioning for every role I could get my hands on."

Turn the clock ahead four years to the spring of 2005. Dave's brother Rich put out a casting call in the LA area through his casting director Beverly Holloway. Beverly had 732 submissions for the role of "Lauren" in Rich's movie Unidentified.

As Beverly worked her way through the submissions, the role eventually was narrowed down to two ladies for the part. Both of the actresses reading for the role were very good. And one of them was Jenna. After Rich read with her, he turned over Jenna's headshot and saw a familiar name on her resume, "Dave Christiano". She had listed Late One Night and Rich was blown away. He did not recognize her at the time and didn't know this was the same woman in Dave's movie.

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Jenna as "Lauren" in Unidentified

Rich called his brother Dave about the choice he had before him. "It was a simple decision for me," said Dave. "I had worked with Jenna before and I knew Rich would be really pleased if he chose her." Rich ended up casting Jenna and Dave was right. Rich was extremely pleased with Jenna's performance and her great attitude while working on the film.

Jenna's role in Rich's film brought her back to Dave's attention as Dave went to cast his love story, Me & You, Us, Forever. "I read Jenna for two key supporting roles," says Dave, "and I told her she had one of the parts but I wasn't sure which one yet. I knew in either role, I could not lose. So, after making my casting decisions, I originally cast Jenna in the role of Nikki for the film and Karla Droege was cast in the role of Sue."

All was fine until Dave set the shooting schedule and Karla had a conflict due to another project she was in. Dave had a dilemma. "I didn't want to lose Karla and her schedule did not allow her to be in the film unless she played the role of Nikki," said Dave. "I thought about this and then the idea came to mind to switch roles. I sent an E-mail to Karla and she wrote back happily with good news that she could do it. I then contacted Jenna and it worked for her as well. And I did not lose one ounce of talent with this switch cause both were terrific."

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Jenna as "Sue" in Me & You, Us, Forever

"I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Dave again," said Jenna. "I had a wonderful time working on this film. It is amazing to be a part of a project that is truly a labor of love. From the director and his lovely script to the hardworking cast and crew, everyone worked long and hard to help bring Dave's vision to light."

"I hope that this movie will reach the largest possible audience," says Jenna, "and that it will serve not just to entertain, but to enlighten. The topics that are dealt with in the film likely affect us all, as divorce is everywhere in our society, and even if you haven't dealt with it yourself, you surely know someone who has."

"I really, really like working with her," says Dave. "She's a real gem, and Lord willing, I'll get the opportunity to work with her again."