IMDbPro: Do you remember seeing your first credit on IMDb? How did it feel?
Tamela D’Amico: I remember seeing my first credit while in college on my IMDb page, and I was proud to be a part of a legitimate community of actors, filmmakers, and all-around creatives.
IMDbPro: How should aspiring actors utilize IMDbPro to help them in their careers?
Tamela D’Amico: IMDbPro is an amazing research tool and wealth of information. Before you go on any audition or meeting, you should research the casting director, the producers and director, as well as any of the main cast of the project you have interest in or will be working on. Actors should be utilizing IMDb to follow projects they have interest in, as well as people they want to work with in the future. It’s all a fantastic gauge for trends in the industry.
IMDbPro: What other advice would you share with them?
Tamela D’Amico: Actors should always demand the highest work from themselves and be willing to be 100 percent vulnerable in the sharing of themselves for their art. I am only in competition with myself to elevate higher and higher with each new project.
Garry Marshall
IMDbPro: Do you have any mentors? How did you meet them and what have they taught you?
Tamela D’Amico: There are so many to list, but the immediate ones coming to mind right now are director Garry Marshall, who taught me how to read and re-write scripts in a way that makes sense for actors and to be comfortable in the notion that the writing is in the rewriting…and, outside of the entertainment business, Don Fehr gave me the best advice of my life: “The greatest source of unhappiness in the world comes from having unreasonable expectations about the behavior of other people.” If you can remember that quote, your stress level stays way down.
People – Abhinaya, Jeeja Ghosh, Sayomdeb Mukherjee, Tamela D’Amico
IMDbPro: What has playing Raina in One Little Finger taught you as an actor?
Tamela D’Amico: We all know the expression, “Never judge a book by its cover.” The same applies to actors. I worked with over 80 people with disabilities on this film. I was in awe of their natural talents and commitment to the preparation of this work. You can’t judge someone by what you think they cannot do. You need to celebrate them for what they can do. This film is about the “ability in disability,” and it is important to use People First Language (PFL). It is a way of communicating that reflects knowledge and respect for people with disabilities by choosing words that recognize the person first as the primary reference and not a disability. Learn more now.
IMDbPro: Would you like to share anything about the One Little Finger Foundation?
Tamela D’Amico: This is more than a film—it is a movement. Over a billion people, about 15% of the world’s population, live with some form of disability. People are disabled not only mentally, physically, and emotionally, but also by society itself. It is statistically probable that everyone will experience a disability at some point in their life. One Little Finger is not just a film; it is a movement to break the barriers of stigma in the word disability. All it takes is a change in perspective, a change in our mindset! Disability is what we perceive. Ability is everything we believe!
"As we move into the new year, just remind yourself that you get this one life, this trip around the sun. Move away from the dream stealers, the jealous, the non-supporters, the misery loves company talk sh*t about other people type of energy vampires. They are not worth your energy. You do you. Elevate. Risk. Be a Dream Giver.”
