Standing backstage, her heart beats fast in her chest. She raises her chin and places her shaking hands near her hips. The first beats of the music start to play, and she steps out into the light on the runway.

For the first time, senior Giulia Ewing walked in a fashion show at the University of Houston in February 2022. Wearing massive golden earrings paired with a long linen skirt, she thought of Gigi Hadid as she tried to channel as much confidence into her walk as she could.

“You don’t start to get nervous until you’re waiting in line backstage to go,” Ewing said. “You have to wait for the cue, and I [was] just going over everything my agency taught me to do in my head. But to a certain point, it’s kind of like, ‘Okay, I’m just going to go and do it.’ And while I’m walking down, I kid you not, I blackout.”

From a young age, Ewing knew she wanted to do something creative. From family movie nights to dreaming of becoming a singer, she grew a love for acting and performing on stage.

Her opportunity came in the summer of 2021 when her mother phoned an agent at Neal Hamil Agency, an organization for aspiring actors and models. Within a week, Ewing attended a casting, which is an audition models proceed with for a job by meeting with directors or clients to determine if they are the right fit. A few days later, the agency contacted her with news that she was accepted.

“I was very excited,” Ewing said. “I remember getting the text, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ because it was the first time I was getting [accepted] into something.”

When Ewing’s parents found out, they were supportive.

“My mom has always been extremely supportive of me,” Ewing said. “I love my mom, she’s one of my best friends. She always supports me through everything. My dad is more of a finance guy, so he’s on the business side of things. He definitely thinks more of the aspect of money and things like that, which is good, because that’s a very important thing to consider, especially if you’re getting into that type of industry.”

It was her mom who encouraged Ewing to attend the International Modeling & Talent annual competition in July 2021, an event her agency participates in annually. She traveled to New York to compete in modeling and acting contests, ranging from runway walks to voice acting.

“After I went to a competition in New York, I realized I wanted to focus more on acting,” Ewing said. “I placed fourth in voice acting, and I’ve always loved watching TV and things like that, it’s always been my favorite thing. English has always been my favorite class, so when it comes to analyzing characters and stories, that’s just something I love to do.”

A part of the Ewing family routine which Ewing attributes to her interest in drama and acting was Friday movie nights. With her parents and two siblings, Ewing binge-watched TV shows such as Stranger Things and horror films.

“It was fifth grade when I first watched a teen drama series, ‘Pretty Little Liars,’” Ewing said. “Since then, I’ve watched that show 10 times over. I absolutely love that show, I’ve grown up with [it]. One of my favorite characters is Spencer Hastings. She’s just a strong character, and the actress who plays her did a really good job. So from that, it created my love for drama.”

To further Ewing’s acting skills, she attended the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, California in the summer of 2022. From improv to monologue, she attended classes across the street from the Warner Bros. lot.

“One of the biggest takeaways I got from NY Film Academy is to be yourself and know what works for you,” Ewing said. “Because what works for someone else may not work for you. You get up in front of people in front of the camera, and you are watching yourself in front of the camera. I usually would never do that because it’s agonizing since I see differently than other people, but doing that and just being in front of people is important.”

At the same time, Ewing built new friendships on the other side of the nation.

“From going to IMTA and the New York Film Academy, I have a lot of long-distance friends who share the same passions that I do,” Ewing said. “Being in the same space as people with the same interests is really different and comforting. It’s unmatched being in that space, because you’re with a bunch of people who think the same way you do, or have the same passions as you do. It really does build bridges and connect people.”

The combination of new experiences and stepping outside her comfort zone for her job motivated Ewing to open up to others.

“I think it’s made me come out of my shell a lot more because I’m the type of person to if I’m meeting people, it takes a while to put myself out here,” Ewing said. “But with my job, I have grown a lot with being more comfortable with who I am and talking to strangers. It definitely helped me just being in front of people too because that’s really scary but the more you do it, the more you’re just like, ‘Okay, it doesn’t matter.’”

Along with becoming more outgoing, Ewing learned how to balance her work and school life throughout her years in high school.

“Balancing school and work is hard because you always have a lot on your mind, and I want to spend time either doing homework or trying to practice a certain scene.” Ewing said. “It’s just hard with the everyday things you have to do, plus school and your hobbies. But for me, something as simple as literally looking over the lines that I want to practice for auditions helps.”

Her busy schedule doesn’t go unnoticed by her friends like junior Juliette Nahman, who shares the same passions as Ewing.

“She’s very hard-working, and she tries her best,” Nahman said. “She deserves whatever is to come. She does a bunch of creative things with her work. She’s very artsy, and she goes to acting classes all the time. She is always ready to be booked with jobs.”

Currently, Ewing is booked for a movie she cannot explicitly reveal yet, but she is acting as one of the extras. Since filming will take over more than one day, she has to miss school, which isn’t unusual for her.

“I am really excited,” Ewig said. “I was talking with my acting teacher, and she was telling me about that movie that was filming here [in Houston]. It’s also a chance I could see an actress that I love, who’s going to be the lead role in this movie.”

However, with her job comes opportunities as well as hardships.

“It can definitely start to get too much in your head when you’re doing things in this industry,” Ewing said. “It’s hard because you can compare yourself to a lot of people, and you can think that, ‘Oh, I’m not good enough.’ Especially with the long waiting periods applying for things, and not always getting jobs.”

Ewing advises anyone who wants to pursue acting or modeling to combat self-doubt by understanding why they chose this career and to keep pursuing their passions.

“You have to be really nice to yourself,” Ewing said. “My advice is to don’t be so hard on yourself and not compare yourself to others, because you are your own person. Just keep going, and don’t turn it into a chore. Do it because you love it, and remind yourself why you did it in the first place. I just love movies and TV shows, they have always been a huge part of my life. You can see yourself a lot in different characters that are portrayed in movies and TV, and it shapes your life. It shapes who you are, and the reason why I want to do it is because it helps me get out of my shell and do something that I love and express myself. But also, to make other people feel something. I want to make other people resonate with it and feel seen and heard and feel recognized with something.”