Thursday, March 31, 2005
High Art and the Aveeno Girl
I'm sitting at my desk sucking down my third soda of the day, and it's barely noon. I don't drink soda that often, so I don't know why I've gone through so many this morning. I hate the feeling I get from having too much, a jittery surge of sugar and chemical crap. Plus my saliva ends up tasting like syrup for the rest of the day.
I just finished a volly of emails back and forth with my friend Devin, the self-proclaimed "next big thing" of Hollywood who so far has been able to only land Burger King commercials. The fast food giant is taking a break from their current advertising strategy, so for the time being Devin is doing nothing. That's not to say he's not getting auditions for other work. But he's not landing anything either.
Devin's nevertheless keeping busy with his social life, and he's currently badgering me into going to an arthouse premiere on Melrose near the fashion design center. Why the guy can't talk to me on the phone about this is beyond me; he wants to test the instant messenger function of his new sidekick phone.
Me: You know there are phones for this very thing.
Devin: I no but r u diggin this?
Me: What?
Devin: This thing rawks yo! U want 2 go tonite?
Me: R u getting charged by d' character?
Devin: FU lols.
Me: I don't know if I'm up for this. High art and all, it attracts the snobbiest of snobs.
Devin: This will b different. The people there r chill & I want u 2 meet somebody.
Me: This a fix-up? Go fuck yourself.
Devin: It's cool! She's totally down to earth. She's an actress friend I know.
This is how it usually is with Devin. The guy is so enamored with his fellow actors that he automatically bestows the cool label on them across the board. He's forgotten that they can be just as boring and normal as the rest of us. He's also assumed that I'll want to meet her merely because she's an actress. I hate when he does that.
Me: Who else is going to be there?
Devin: Just normal people. The guy whose work is being shown is a friend of a friend, that's all. And this girl I want you to meet, Patricia, I know you've seen her. She's in Aveeno commercials. The brunette.
I had seen her before. Not just on television but in magazines as well. She has very fair skin, almost like a young child's, and piercing black eyes. She also had a voice that always intrigued me. It wasn't sweet, but wasn't husky. Definitely distinct. Definitely a voice you take notice of when she speaks. Definitely. I'm sounding like Rainman.
Me: I've seen her.
Devin: Then u no what I mean. She's hot & single.
Me: Whatever. If I mention it somebody from work can we get them on the list?
I thought mentioning the event to Doug would be a good idea. He appreciated modern art more than anybody I knew, and had the kind of cash needed to buy something should he spot a work he liked.
Devin: Not a woman. None of that bringing another woman to play 1 against the other shit...
Me: Nope. Not like that.
Devin: Cool. What do you think? 8, 9?
Me: Call it 9...see you then.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Devin was right: Patricia wasn't just hot in person, the woman radiated beauty. Like everyone else in attendance she was dressed to the nines, wearing an after-hours style cocktail dress with spaghetti straps. Many women have a hard time pulling this look off, having shoulders too wide and arm muscles too jiggly and untoned to make it happen. She wore black leather slingbacks, probably Italian by the look of the construction and finish of the leather. Patricia was a sight, and she pulled all the energy in the room to her just by entering. Every man and woman gazed upon her, some marveling at how good a person could look, while other scoffed and averted their eyes in abject jealousy.
I took all of this in from outside, watching through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that ran parallel to the sidewalk. I adjusted the crease of my collar to make it a little more pointed, checked my jacket for an errant strands of lint, and went inside.
Patricia had already found Devin and his date, and I stopped to look at a mural that ran along the ceiling before b-lining to Devin. Stange mural, a mixture of black and lime green paint that zig zagged haphazardly across the canvas.
"Mr. Levine," I said as I approached the group, hand outstretched to meet his.
"As promised, and on time," he replied, taking my hand and giving it a rousing shake.
I looked around the room, briefly taking in the art, acknowledging a few faces with a nod as I made eye contact with them. "...and you must be the woman Devin has spoken so much of," I said, forcing an introduction so we could get this show on the road.
Devin cleared his throat. "Yes. Darling, this is Reed. Reed, meet Amanda, one of the finest talent agents this side of the Mississippi."
Amanda blushed slightly. "Oh Devin, such a charmer."
Devin laughed and pointed two fingers at me. "Oh no Amanda, this guy, this is the charmer."
I took Amanda's hand and shook it. "A pleasure. Any woman who can keep Devin in check is alright by me."
Amanda laughed a high pitch squeak. "Flattery will get you everywhere."
"Your friend couldn't come?" Devin asked, meaning Doug.
"No, other plans. But thanks so much for offering to get him on the list."
Patricia stood there as we talked with an obligatory smile on her face, but the nervous movement she was making with her right arm made it more than obvious she wanted her moment in the spotlight. Actors are such attention whores.
I finally shifted gears for her. "And who is this?" I asked.
"This," began Devin, "is the face of Aveeno skincare, and quite a pretty one at that." He'd get no argument from me. Devin took a step back to stand between us like a mediator. "Reed Becker, tomorrow's advertising guru, this is Patricia Sanders."
Patricia spoke first. "Becker. Sanders. We sound like a couple of WASPs."
I smiled tightly. "Seems that way. I've seen your work. I especially like the magazine ad in front of the Hawaiian waterfall."
She smiled a toothy grin. "You're familiar with our campaign."
"I'm in advertising, it's my job to know." I smiled back, a little more friendly this time.
Devin, in his infinite smoothness, broke in: "We're going to the bar, but don't let us interrupt you." He and Amanda quickly made off for the bar. Not a fix-up, right? I should have seen his move coming from a mile away. I was stuck now.
I turned to look at what everybody else in the gallery was doing, and saw more than a few looking right back at me. They all had the look we've each gotten from time to time - How can some schmuck like you be with somebody as beautiful as her? As degrading as that look can be, it's also satisfying, reinforcing the sorry truth that they're the one not with her. I made eye contact with each, and one by one they turned their focus back to the artwork.
"So how do you know Devin?" She asked. I swallowed. Time to play the small talk game.
We chatted for a while, stopping momentarily when Devin and Amanda brought us glasses of fume blanc from the bar. In time we began going from artwork to artwork, taking in each of the paintings and commenting on what we thought they were supposed to represent.
"You think this is supposed to be about life?" she asked when we stopped in front of one canvas, a splattering of dark colors on one end and a splattering of lights ones on the other.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" I said.
"Look at it, one side is light, like how we are in life, and the other side is so dark and ominous, like death."
"Maybe it's supposed to be about good and evil then," I suggested.
"No." she replied. "Are you even looking at it?"
We walked from piece to piece discussing each in a similar manner. Patricia also talked a bit about her roots - a small town girl from Maryland who fell in love with acting and drama club in high school and came to Hollywood two years ago looking for her big break. Like Devin she managed a small break, though her exposure was much larger than his. She even mentioned that she was part of a larger support base of actors toughing it out in Hollywood as they sought out work. They got together Thursdays for breakfast at the Dennys on Sunset and Gower, right in the belly of the beast.
As beautiful and radiant as Patricia was, that's all she was. The woman had no opinion on anything of interest to me, be it movies, literature, or pop culture. I even ventured into the no-man's-land of politics just to feel her out, but she revealed she didn't vote because it didn't matter. After a while I longed for her "two WASPs" line she had said an hour earlier. It was the wittiest thing she had said. No wonder Patricia was single, she was boring. Anything I'd projected onto this dream girl of the small screen wasn't panning out. Sometimes the images we hold up as fabulous and representative of the ideal just aren't in real life. And that certainly was Patricia's story.
I excused myself with a little white lie that I had an early meeting for which I had to be sharp, and Patricia understood. When I went to say goodbye to Devin and Amanda Devin pulled me aside.
"Whoa, where are you going?"
"Home."
"What about Patricia? The girl's hot."
"Yeah, but she's also boring." Devin looked at me, puzzled. "See buddy, being a starlet with looks doesn't cut it for me. You need to have so much more up here." I motioned to my head. "That's where you and I differ. I don't get starstruck."
Devin looked disappointed. I don't know what he told her, but it looked like he'd worked out a different ending in his head.
"It's all right, she understands," I offered.
"I don't get you man. I hand you a gorgeous woman on a platter and you refuse. Any guy in here would give his arm just to be seen with a woman like that."
"I guess I'm not like other guys."
"You'd better check what's flowing through your veins Reed, 'cause I swear you're the pickiest guy I know."
"Having standards is not a bad thing," I said in defense of myself.
"No, but being unreal is. Think about that." Devin turned back to Amanda. No handshake, no pat on the back, no 'see you next time, pal.'
I walked outside and while waiting for the valet to return with my car I saw Patricia inside with Amanda comforting her by rubbing her shoulder. Patricia didn't look sad. She didn't look...anything. Just normal. Just her normal beautiful self. When she saw me in the distance watching her she smiled and waved. Eh, maybe she was worth something beyond my first impression. I'd misjudged people before.
I didn't hear the valet come with my car until he walked up behind me and said, "that woman with the black cocktail dress, she's some kind of gorgeous."
I laughed. "Yeah. Wanna hear something sad? There's a guy in there who kicked her to the curb."
"You're joking! Her? No way. Who was it?"
I took the keys from his hand and made for me car. "Me," I replied softly without turning.
I just finished a volly of emails back and forth with my friend Devin, the self-proclaimed "next big thing" of Hollywood who so far has been able to only land Burger King commercials. The fast food giant is taking a break from their current advertising strategy, so for the time being Devin is doing nothing. That's not to say he's not getting auditions for other work. But he's not landing anything either.
Devin's nevertheless keeping busy with his social life, and he's currently badgering me into going to an arthouse premiere on Melrose near the fashion design center. Why the guy can't talk to me on the phone about this is beyond me; he wants to test the instant messenger function of his new sidekick phone.
Me: You know there are phones for this very thing.
Devin: I no but r u diggin this?
Me: What?
Devin: This thing rawks yo! U want 2 go tonite?
Me: R u getting charged by d' character?
Devin: FU lols.
Me: I don't know if I'm up for this. High art and all, it attracts the snobbiest of snobs.
Devin: This will b different. The people there r chill & I want u 2 meet somebody.
Me: This a fix-up? Go fuck yourself.
Devin: It's cool! She's totally down to earth. She's an actress friend I know.
This is how it usually is with Devin. The guy is so enamored with his fellow actors that he automatically bestows the cool label on them across the board. He's forgotten that they can be just as boring and normal as the rest of us. He's also assumed that I'll want to meet her merely because she's an actress. I hate when he does that.
Me: Who else is going to be there?
Devin: Just normal people. The guy whose work is being shown is a friend of a friend, that's all. And this girl I want you to meet, Patricia, I know you've seen her. She's in Aveeno commercials. The brunette.
I had seen her before. Not just on television but in magazines as well. She has very fair skin, almost like a young child's, and piercing black eyes. She also had a voice that always intrigued me. It wasn't sweet, but wasn't husky. Definitely distinct. Definitely a voice you take notice of when she speaks. Definitely. I'm sounding like Rainman.
Me: I've seen her.
Devin: Then u no what I mean. She's hot & single.
Me: Whatever. If I mention it somebody from work can we get them on the list?
I thought mentioning the event to Doug would be a good idea. He appreciated modern art more than anybody I knew, and had the kind of cash needed to buy something should he spot a work he liked.
Devin: Not a woman. None of that bringing another woman to play 1 against the other shit...
Me: Nope. Not like that.
Devin: Cool. What do you think? 8, 9?
Me: Call it 9...see you then.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Devin was right: Patricia wasn't just hot in person, the woman radiated beauty. Like everyone else in attendance she was dressed to the nines, wearing an after-hours style cocktail dress with spaghetti straps. Many women have a hard time pulling this look off, having shoulders too wide and arm muscles too jiggly and untoned to make it happen. She wore black leather slingbacks, probably Italian by the look of the construction and finish of the leather. Patricia was a sight, and she pulled all the energy in the room to her just by entering. Every man and woman gazed upon her, some marveling at how good a person could look, while other scoffed and averted their eyes in abject jealousy.
I took all of this in from outside, watching through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall that ran parallel to the sidewalk. I adjusted the crease of my collar to make it a little more pointed, checked my jacket for an errant strands of lint, and went inside.
Patricia had already found Devin and his date, and I stopped to look at a mural that ran along the ceiling before b-lining to Devin. Stange mural, a mixture of black and lime green paint that zig zagged haphazardly across the canvas.
"Mr. Levine," I said as I approached the group, hand outstretched to meet his.
"As promised, and on time," he replied, taking my hand and giving it a rousing shake.
I looked around the room, briefly taking in the art, acknowledging a few faces with a nod as I made eye contact with them. "...and you must be the woman Devin has spoken so much of," I said, forcing an introduction so we could get this show on the road.
Devin cleared his throat. "Yes. Darling, this is Reed. Reed, meet Amanda, one of the finest talent agents this side of the Mississippi."
Amanda blushed slightly. "Oh Devin, such a charmer."
Devin laughed and pointed two fingers at me. "Oh no Amanda, this guy, this is the charmer."
I took Amanda's hand and shook it. "A pleasure. Any woman who can keep Devin in check is alright by me."
Amanda laughed a high pitch squeak. "Flattery will get you everywhere."
"Your friend couldn't come?" Devin asked, meaning Doug.
"No, other plans. But thanks so much for offering to get him on the list."
Patricia stood there as we talked with an obligatory smile on her face, but the nervous movement she was making with her right arm made it more than obvious she wanted her moment in the spotlight. Actors are such attention whores.
I finally shifted gears for her. "And who is this?" I asked.
"This," began Devin, "is the face of Aveeno skincare, and quite a pretty one at that." He'd get no argument from me. Devin took a step back to stand between us like a mediator. "Reed Becker, tomorrow's advertising guru, this is Patricia Sanders."
Patricia spoke first. "Becker. Sanders. We sound like a couple of WASPs."
I smiled tightly. "Seems that way. I've seen your work. I especially like the magazine ad in front of the Hawaiian waterfall."
She smiled a toothy grin. "You're familiar with our campaign."
"I'm in advertising, it's my job to know." I smiled back, a little more friendly this time.
Devin, in his infinite smoothness, broke in: "We're going to the bar, but don't let us interrupt you." He and Amanda quickly made off for the bar. Not a fix-up, right? I should have seen his move coming from a mile away. I was stuck now.
I turned to look at what everybody else in the gallery was doing, and saw more than a few looking right back at me. They all had the look we've each gotten from time to time - How can some schmuck like you be with somebody as beautiful as her? As degrading as that look can be, it's also satisfying, reinforcing the sorry truth that they're the one not with her. I made eye contact with each, and one by one they turned their focus back to the artwork.
"So how do you know Devin?" She asked. I swallowed. Time to play the small talk game.
We chatted for a while, stopping momentarily when Devin and Amanda brought us glasses of fume blanc from the bar. In time we began going from artwork to artwork, taking in each of the paintings and commenting on what we thought they were supposed to represent.
"You think this is supposed to be about life?" she asked when we stopped in front of one canvas, a splattering of dark colors on one end and a splattering of lights ones on the other.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" I said.
"Look at it, one side is light, like how we are in life, and the other side is so dark and ominous, like death."
"Maybe it's supposed to be about good and evil then," I suggested.
"No." she replied. "Are you even looking at it?"
We walked from piece to piece discussing each in a similar manner. Patricia also talked a bit about her roots - a small town girl from Maryland who fell in love with acting and drama club in high school and came to Hollywood two years ago looking for her big break. Like Devin she managed a small break, though her exposure was much larger than his. She even mentioned that she was part of a larger support base of actors toughing it out in Hollywood as they sought out work. They got together Thursdays for breakfast at the Dennys on Sunset and Gower, right in the belly of the beast.
As beautiful and radiant as Patricia was, that's all she was. The woman had no opinion on anything of interest to me, be it movies, literature, or pop culture. I even ventured into the no-man's-land of politics just to feel her out, but she revealed she didn't vote because it didn't matter. After a while I longed for her "two WASPs" line she had said an hour earlier. It was the wittiest thing she had said. No wonder Patricia was single, she was boring. Anything I'd projected onto this dream girl of the small screen wasn't panning out. Sometimes the images we hold up as fabulous and representative of the ideal just aren't in real life. And that certainly was Patricia's story.
I excused myself with a little white lie that I had an early meeting for which I had to be sharp, and Patricia understood. When I went to say goodbye to Devin and Amanda Devin pulled me aside.
"Whoa, where are you going?"
"Home."
"What about Patricia? The girl's hot."
"Yeah, but she's also boring." Devin looked at me, puzzled. "See buddy, being a starlet with looks doesn't cut it for me. You need to have so much more up here." I motioned to my head. "That's where you and I differ. I don't get starstruck."
Devin looked disappointed. I don't know what he told her, but it looked like he'd worked out a different ending in his head.
"It's all right, she understands," I offered.
"I don't get you man. I hand you a gorgeous woman on a platter and you refuse. Any guy in here would give his arm just to be seen with a woman like that."
"I guess I'm not like other guys."
"You'd better check what's flowing through your veins Reed, 'cause I swear you're the pickiest guy I know."
"Having standards is not a bad thing," I said in defense of myself.
"No, but being unreal is. Think about that." Devin turned back to Amanda. No handshake, no pat on the back, no 'see you next time, pal.'
I walked outside and while waiting for the valet to return with my car I saw Patricia inside with Amanda comforting her by rubbing her shoulder. Patricia didn't look sad. She didn't look...anything. Just normal. Just her normal beautiful self. When she saw me in the distance watching her she smiled and waved. Eh, maybe she was worth something beyond my first impression. I'd misjudged people before.
I didn't hear the valet come with my car until he walked up behind me and said, "that woman with the black cocktail dress, she's some kind of gorgeous."
I laughed. "Yeah. Wanna hear something sad? There's a guy in there who kicked her to the curb."
"You're joking! Her? No way. Who was it?"
I took the keys from his hand and made for me car. "Me," I replied softly without turning.
8 Comments:
Was that really the "Aveeno Girl" from the TV ads? Black hiared, blue eyed, finely featured, full mouth; like a caucasian Aishwarya Rai? What's her full name, so I can Google her? Believe it or not there are no images posted for Aveeno girl on google.
No, I know who you are thinking of - Daniella Van Graas. This isn't her. Daniella is very beautiful though, and her Aveeno ads always make me stop and watch. I think DVG is also married. Patricia is in the Aveeno ads with the waterfall at the beginning.
Was Daniella the same girl that was on the contact lens commercial at the same time as her Aveeno commercial about 3 years ago...do you have a last name and a video clip?
Was Patricia the same girl that was on the contact lens commercial at the same time as her Aveeno commercial about 3 years ago...do you have a last name and a video clip?
You're in luck: Find yourself a copy of the July '05 (latest) edition of "Shape" magazine, open to around page 40, and you'll see an Aveeno ad opposite a page showing an iShuffle and various gadgets. That's Patricia in the Aveeno ad.
I'm happy she is getting steady work.
Thanks, but is Patricia the same girl that was on the contact lens, I think Focus SoftColors, commercial as well a couple years ago as well at the same time as her Aveeno commercial?
Sorry, that I don't know. I don't remember her in any contact lens commercial and don't recall her ever mentioning it.
So do you know or have some idea about the age of this Patricia Saunders? Sorry for coming so late to the blog but I have been trying more so causally of late to find out who this was for about two or more years. At first, there was a more intense effort by us but Aveeno was very tight-lipped and wouldn't give any information about her even though our interest was to hire her for an independent intrigue and suspense film project that is now scheduled for revival in 2006.
The commercials spots for Aveeno have been running lately with her in them and I figured that at some point, I would learn through the net from someone at least a name for this actress. I must say, I get the impression, and even before I read your blog, that there is a rather vacuous individual lurking behind those genetically aesthetic looks that capture our attention and sell us on the product. But in the role she was to be looked at for, and provided she was able to act well enough, she would be able to sell the character to the world and even though we were concerned about the popularity of these spots making her too recognizable.
I know this comes late but hopefully, you will still receive and can send or post a response.
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