Darby Camp, CSD Sophmore, has been called many names. You may know her as Emily Elizabeth, Kate, Chloe Mckenzie, Frankie, Erin Miller, and, soon, Marty Mitchell. But to her friends, she’s simply Darby. 

Camp has been involved in acting since she was three years old. Camp’s first job was for a commercial. Her mother studied acting in college, so she got Darby and her older sister Ruthie involved at an early age. Then, at six, she was on an episode of “Drop Dead Diva.” Little did she know, these two roles would change her life.  

Q: What is your favorite memory from acting?

A: Maybe when I was doing “Christmas Chronicles”. I had to do a lot of stunts when I was falling off the sleigh and then his bag of toys. That was kinda cool. It was my first time wearing a harness and being on a wire in the studio which was a crazy experience and it was really fun.

Q: You said your mom got you into it, how have you and she bonded through acting?

A: My mom goes with me everywhere when I do a project, legally, and also I want her to be there. We did a movie in 2018 and it was a little low-budget [southern] film where we played the same character. She played me in the future, and I played her in the past. We met some friends [who] are now some of our closest friends.

Q: Who is your role model and someone you look up to?

A: I really look up to Jennifer Aniston. “Friends” is one of my favorite TV shows, which is how I knew who she was. I really admire how she started as a sitcom actor and now is this huge serious actor in serious movies. 

Q: How have you learned to balance school, work-life, and everything in between?

A: It’s definitely very difficult. Whenever I’m out of town, no matter what state or country I’m in, I always have to have a set tutor. They also have to be there for child welfare to make sure everyone is following the rules [about] having a child on set. Since I’m 14, I can work nine and a half hours, and then I have to be offset. I also legally [have to] have at least 3 hours of school every day. It is easier now with remote [learning]. Before that, [my teacher and I] would just email [to] send different types of work. It is definitely hard to balance friends as well. I’m very thankful to have facetime and text [so that I can] keep in touch with them.

Q: What has been your favorite role and what were your emotions like when you did it?

A: One of my favorites is the most recent job I’ve worked on. It’s called “Gaslit” and is based on [the] Watergate [scandal]. I play Julia Roberts and Sean Penn’s daughter. [It] was really exciting when I got the audition. I remember saying “Julia Roberts daughter! Really?” It was just hard to comprehend that I got to work with them. 

Q: Can you walk me through the process of an audition and how it all works? 

A: Since I’m in North Carolina, I can’t really do in-person auditions as the first step, so usually I’ll do a self-tape. With the self-tape, my agent will send [me] a few scenes from the script and a little character breakdown with things about [the character] I should know before preparing for the role. In my house, we will set up a tripod and plain background. If they like [the audition], they will ask me to do a callback …the same exact thing, but more scenes and they will give notes on what to do differently. Sometimes they will fly you out to where they are filming [and you] do [the callback] in person with them.

Q: What are some goals you have for yourself?

A: I’ve always been really interested in other roles on set like directing, director of photography, and producing, so I would love to do other things in the industry. My dream role is to play a Marvel character.