Sometimes, it seems like someone just comes out of nowhere and they are an overnight success.

Just like that. Boom. Discovered.

• No matter that they studied their craft from the age of 3.
• No matter that they practiced and tried again, and again.
• No matter that they tried out for plays, movies and television series (plural).
• No matter that they gave up on playing with friends to go outside and hit the tennis ball, throw the baseball, swim yet another lap in the pool, read their law books, or practice card tricks.
• No matter that they ignored all other subjects and focused entirely on their dream and their passion.

Yet, there they are. “Introducing for the first time…”

Like Robin Wright in The Princess Bride (1987) – she was 21.

And again, in Forrest Gump (in 1994.)

Yet again, in a bunch of other fairly forgettable parts* until House of Cards (2012 – through, now.)

There she is and there she stays.  I have no idea the trajectory of her overall career, or how she got here, but it appears to have had fits and starts according to IMDB.

If only other stars, athletes and every day people could be born and turn into an overnight success, and have such a long career, coming back again and again to amaze us. What will they do next and how much control do they have over the process – other than making sure that they are prepared, ready to express themselves and take everything they have done and make it count when it matters.  Just like the rest of us…because it does matter.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl

*I literally didn’t remember any of the movies in between the years of 1994 and 2012, until I read the IMDB profile and then, “yea, right, she was in that, too – and she was good. Too.” They just didn’t come to mind.