Tara Ann
Althaus
Actor Singer Dancer
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I know what you’re thinking. You’re trying to place how you know me. Don’t worry, I can help. You’re probably remembering me from my very promising breakout role as the Farmer’s Daughter in The Music Man Jr. when I was ten. No? Huh, well then you MUST have heard about my amazing trademark ability to turn my feet backward… That’s not it either? Oh, I know! You saw me win the Britney Spears singing contest at my city fair when I was eleven. Yup, that’s definitely it!
I was young when I decided I wanted to be an actor. I was twelve years old and my mother pulls me into her bedroom. I’m wondering what I did wrong. She sits down and tells me she has something very important to discuss with me. Okay, now I KNOW I’m in trouble! She starts to tell me, “When a man and a woman love each other, they want to be close to each other, and well—” Oh no, it’s THE TALK! I quickly interrupt her. “Mom, you really don’t need to do this,” I say. “I already learned everything from the TV show Friends.” She just stared at me with startled surprise. Looking back now, I don’t think that was the response she was expecting. Growing up, I was obsessed with Friends and the amazing actors on it. I knew every line to all ten seasons and I looked up to all the actors. I loved that their job was basically to make people happy and I knew I wanted to be just like them when I grew up…minus the coffee. I hate coffee!
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I love performing for the same reason I love to read. George R. R. Martin explained it best when he wrote, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The person who never reads lives only one.” As an actor, I get to live through so many different characters and experience things I never would normally. Films, Theatre, TV, they have a way of bringing people together. They allow us, for just a moment, to be distracted from our everyday lives. They allow us to laugh together, cry together, and sometimes even learn together. The arts are a powerful force that help make the world a better place and I’m proud to be a small part of that.
When I’m not acting, I spend my time working with my non-profit organization ‘Once Upon A Time – Youth Literacy and Disabilities.’ This is a program I started when I was 18 to help children who struggle with reading disabilities and to help all children get excited about reading. So far I have been able to personally visit over 200 classrooms and donate over 3,000 books to schools and libraries across Michigan. There is a kind of magic that lies in every storybook and there’s no better feeling than helping a child discover that magic for the first time.
