From Coast To Coast, Pasadena Native Pursues Acting Dream

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Brandi Burkhardt Has Appeared Onscreen And Onstage From New York To Los Angeles
 
Brandi Burkhardt’s first acting role was in a production at Chesapeake High School.
 
Now, Burkhardt has acted onscreen and onstage from coast to coast.
 
When Burkhardt first started at Chesapeake, the high school didn’t have a theater program. Her friend’s mom decided to start one, and Burkhardt was one of the founding members. The program’s first show was “The Matchmaker” during the spring of her freshman year.
 
“I didn’t even have a line in that show,” Burkhardt said. “I was so scared to audition.”
 
Burkhardt’s stepfather was a stagehand and worked in the movie industry. He went to her high school to help measure the stage for the production, and he forced her to audition.
 
“They knew I wanted to, but I was just being a chicken,” Burkhardt said. “I think back on it and how scared I was, and I wound up doing this for a living.”
 
The following year, the high school put on a musical. Burkhardt was participating in pageants at the time, so she had learned how to sing. She scored one of the leading roles in the musical.
 
After high school, Burkhardt attended the University of Maryland for one year as a music major. She then transferred to New York University and switched to theater.
 
Since then, Burkhardt has done two runs on Broadway and made multiple appearances on the Hollywood stage. In 2008, Burkhardt starred as Lucie Manette in “A Tale of Two Cities.” Then, in 2009, she portrayed Sophie Sheridan in “Mamma Mia!”
 
On the Hollywood stage, Burkhardt has most recently had a recurring role on Bravo’s “Odd Mom Out.” Previously, she was in several seasons of the soap opera “Passions,” which aired on NBC until 2008.
 
She has appeared in many popular titles, including “How I Met Your Mother,” “Mad Men,” “NCIS,” “Boston Legal” and “Confessions of a Shopaholic.”
 
Despite constantly switching between the two media, Burkhardt said she doesn’t prefer either film or stage more than the other.
 
“I always have felt like I need to go back and forth and have both in my life,” Burkhardt said. “There’s nothing more satisfying than being onstage and getting an immediate audience reaction. There’s something about having a conversation with the audience and having them be part of the show, and the show’s different every day. I think there’s a certain kind of magic that happens there, and that is special.”
 
As for future projects, Burkhardt said she has “irons in the fire,” but nothing she can talk about right now.
 
Though Burkhardt said she has struggled to come home while staying available for projects, she returned to Pasadena roughly once a month in 2017.
 
While in New York and Los Angeles, Burkhardt said social media has helped her stick to her roots in Pasadena.
 
“All my family lives here, and a lot of my friends still live here from high school,” Burkhardt said. “I feel like with Facebook and Instagram, it’s pretty easy.”
 
Additionally, one of Burkhardt’s LA friends is originally from Maryland.
 
“We try to get together and have crabs out there if we can find them. So there’s small things like that,” Burkhardt said. “I have my Maryland T-shirts and my Ravens gear. You have to be [a fan], right?”

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