Judi Evans

You want to know how rough the economy is? Emmy award winning actress Judi Evans has made a career in soap operas--a talented actress with a great sense of humor, who has the uncanny ability to cry on demand.

Here's her page on IMDB.com But work is drying up. I work with Judi's husband, who told me that the soaps business is dying off, so Judi has picked up extra work in the dying business. Literally.

She is selling cemetery plots to bring in extra income and keep herself busy in between auditions. She loves it. So I asked Judi to write a guest blog on how--and why--she's gone from acting to working for Rose Hills Memorial Park. Only in Hollywood, kids. Here's the first part of her blog:

"Being an actress can be a waiting game. For most, it's waiting tables. For all, it's waiting for the phone to ring. I have been lucky, better yet, blessed enough, to have worked on soap operas for over 20 years. With that being said, it has made me somewhat of a workaholic. I thrive when I'm busy, and make myself and my family crazy when I'm not busy. Waiting around for my manager or my agent to call is not my forte. When works slows, I want--no, I need--some kind of job to take on, and fast, before I make everybody crazy.

In college at 16, I landed my first contract role at 18 on "The Guiding Light". That left me without a degree. We all know that in this day and age it is truly difficult to find a good paying job without a college degree. I consider myself to be an intelligent and hard working individual creating high expectations for myself. Yet I could not come up with a career path besides acting, no matter how much I wracked my brain. With work slowing down over the summer, I spent a day at the beach with my good friend Carrie. While we watched our sons play, I brought up my dilemma to her.

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She mentioned that she had had a friend who had worked at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier and just loved it. It was a great job with benefits and better yet, you had the opportunity to help people. Having always shied away from any talk about death, I was for a brief moment hesitant. But then, the thought of helping people through a difficult time truly appealed to me. Well, the seed was firmly planted. I went home, looked up Rose Hills on the computer, and as it happened, they were looking for Pre-Need Counselors, so I applied online right then and there.

During the first interview, Jason, the recruiter, mentioned how being an actress could work to my advantage. As an actress you must be in touch with your feelings and the feelings of those around you. As a pre-need counselor the same rule applies. Also, in sales, it's important to believe in what you are selling. Again, in acting, the same rule applies. In order to make the moment believable, you have to believe in that moment.

• Rough Economy: Soap Opera Actress Selling Cemetery Plots (Pt 2)

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