Actor, Friend and Midwesterner
September 30, 2023
Writers Note:
I’ve known ‘Commander Lynch; from Syfy’s Megalodon.’ since the movie’s release in 2018. And if I were to sort through my Instagram Stories, I’d find her as my first upload, in that newly enacted feature back on July 15, 2019. I knew back then Caroline Harris was special. She was different, in a good way. This is ‘Janey from Green River Bend’s’ story. – Rick
Chicago Upbringing:
Born and raised in the Chicago Community of Hyde Park and now living in California, I asked, ‘Amy of The Compatibility Report,’ where she calls home. Caroline interjected (I will write her responses by her various character roles). “When people ask where I’m from, I say Chicago and I’ll probably say that forever. California does feel like home. I cannot imagine living anywhere else. I’d like to attribute my grounded nature and “stick-to-itiveness” (my middle school gym teacher’s favorite word) to being from the Midwest.”
“Growing up,” adds Kelsey from Perspectives, “my mom wouldn’t allow me or my sisters to quit an activity that we had signed up for until a year had passed, even if we hated it. I loved soccer and started playing soccer at age 4 and played competitively until college, when I decided to focus more on acting (though I still played club soccer at Northwestern). I was a forward, scored a lot of goals and excelled at the sport.”
“Basketball, on the other hand, was a sport I picked up later on, says ‘Katherine of Goodnight.‘ I actually had a really good jump shot so when I tried out for my high school team, I somehow made varsity as a freshman. However, I didn’t play a single minute of game time! I was devastated, I hated going to practice and sitting on the bench. I asked my mom if I could quit mid-season and she said no. So, I stuck it out. Practice every day after school. I worked hard at skill building and supporting my teammates. Looking back, of course I sat on the bench, my game consisted of being able to shoot but not much else. And when Freshman year ended, you bet I didn’t rejoin the team Sophomore year.”
‘Sarah from Together’ jumps in. “Having a mentality of sticking to something you sign up for, even if it doesn’t turn out as you expected, has served me well in adulthood. That being said, the biggest challenge for me in Hollywood has been dealing with rejection.”
Caroline chose Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, which is about a 45-minute drive from Hyde Park, to attend college and lived all four years on campus. She majored in Theatre and minored in Spanish.
Sports:
I know you enjoy tennis and also running. Did you play other sports either growing up or in college competitively? Were my two follow up questions to ‘Tiffany on Trauma Informed’ after the tennis reference above.
“Big White Sox fan (sorry, Rick),” Caroline began, knowing I’m a Tigers fan. (I forgive you, Caroline) “Soccer was actually my main sport! My dad taught my sisters and me to play from the time we could walk. My older sister played club soccer at Yale, I played club at Northwestern (sorry, Caroline. Go Blue) and my little sister was a full-scholarship varsity athlete at the University of Michigan. I still play soccer in LA and fun fact is that my little sister joined my team when she moved here about two years ago!”
“Running is something I picked up for the mental benefits and have grown to enjoy it, though I wouldn’t call myself a runner,” said ‘Shook’s, Claire.’ “I ran a half marathon in January and plan to run a marathon in the next three years, but I don’t go out and run for fun. I did do a running challenge where I ran one mile a day for a year as a mental health exercise but that ended in June, and I haven’t run consistently since.”
“Finally, tennis, my newest love! I picked up tennis during the pandemic. Now, I play 3- 4 times a week and really enjoy it,” voiced ‘American Anthology’s, Ruth Okenowi.’ “But it’s relatively new to me. I guess you could say I played a tiny bit as a kid if you include hitting with my grandpa, who was a college tennis player. He taught me and my sisters how to hold a racket and hit and we did a few local camps as children, but that was the extent of our tennis training!”
Hollywood Life
“You get one job out of 20 if you’re lucky,” offered up ‘Zara Bell of Ringman.’ “You get callbacks and then “ghosted.” It’s just the way it goes. My siblings, one of whom is a lawyer and the other in business found it shocking when I told them that in acting, if you don’t hear anything you assume you didn’t get the job. There’s no notice. You take the silence as a no. It hurts but I’ve certainly gotten better at dealing with it.”
“I remember in college, an actor who went to Northwestern came back to talk to the theatre majors about auditions and she said that she would always plan something fun for after an audition. That way, she had something to look forward to and anticipate so her excitement didn’t get all wrapped up in the audition,” opined ‘Samantha from Tethered (Trailer Below).’ “I do that sometimes. I’ll go buy myself my favorite fancy coffee after an audition or go play tennis. I have learned with experience to accept that a “no” just means “not now” instead of “not ever.” I’ve worked enough to really believe this, but my gosh, it hurts to be close to big jobs and end up not booking.”
Actor, Actress and Why
“I go by actor!” ordered ‘Lieutenant Jones, of Alien Siege.’ “When I was a teen, my mom took my sisters and me to see musicals and plays in Chicago. One day she took us to see the musical, Wicked. I remember being so taken by all of the elements of musical theatre. I felt so alive during that performance, and I not only wanted to be a part of that but to make others to feal the way I was feeling! I get a little embarrassed to say that Wicked was the thing that made me want to be an actor, but it’s the truth so I’ll say own it!”
“I wanted to be a musical theatre actor. I took 5 years of voice lessons, and I must say that singing has got to have a genetic element and I just might not have it. I learned to sing but not at a high enough level to do musicals at Northwestern, so I hunkered down and focused on straight plays. I fell even more in love with simply the acting element and the rest is history. After Northwestern, I went to drama school in London, and we had a short semester on film acting and that’s when I discovered the area of acting, I wanted to live in,” expressed ‘Liz in Toother.’
Most Difficult Role:
“Hmm…I think the most difficult role I’ve played would be Bette from City on a Hill (Showtime), said the Actor Bette Williams from City on a Hill. “The content forced me to go deep. I did a ton of work on this role, and it was one of my favorite jobs (I got to work with Kevin Bacon and Aldis Hodge which was a tremendous career highlight),” It was on this job that I learned how to shed expectations and just be in the moment. Sometimes you think a scene is going to go a certain way and then you hear action, and it goes somewhere else (which is exciting and how it should be). I learned on this job to do all the back story work, personalization, action work and then let it all go when actually shooting and just respond. And not judge yourself for what’s coming out but instead say “hm, that was interesting and different from how I thought about it initially.”
Sentimental Pick:
Then there was ‘Blake’ in Dashing in December,’ not a leading role, but I couldn’t help falling for her character and Caroline’s portrayal of her. What’s it like, I queried, doing something sentimental, soft and wholesome as opposed to Commander Lynch or Lieutenant Jones in Alien Siege?
Just as sweet and soft spoken as in ‘Dashing in December, Blake’ recounted, “Blake was a fun role to play because I got to be pretty much myself. Hopeful, a little spunky, reasoned. I felt really free while filming this project and I’m sure that came from really liking who Blake was on the page, enjoying the people I worked with on this project (Andie, JP, Peter and the director Jake all so fabulous), and gratitude that I was working on a film in 2020 when jobs were scarce due to Covid, continued the ‘Roosevelt Waitress in American Gigolo,’ “Lynch and Jones, roles that came really early on in my career, were ones that I felt like I needed to be “doing” something. As I’ve gotten older, I leave the “doing” for the prep work and then I root myself in the present and play freely when on set. I think it’s an experience thing, being able to trust your craft more. I think if I got to do Lynch or Jones again, I would approach the roles a little differently. I’d love to play a character in the military again if I get my chance!”
Bruh:
This was BIG, also, during Covid. “18 episodes how did you manage,” I began, “what lessons did you take from the filming and what was the filming schedule like?”
I can see ‘Valerie’ grinning in pride as she replied. “Bruh, my first really big job. I got flown to Atlanta first class and stayed in a really nice room at the Intercontinental Hotel. I was definitely pinching myself. Bruh shot really fast and with multiple cameras so for this job, I actually really relied on my theatrical training. Because we did the scenes only a few times, I was really free to move in the space and trust that one of the camera’s was going to catch me. Less hitting marks for the camera and instead letting the camera catch me. We also got to improv a lot and Tyler Perry, who directed us, would side coach us. He would feed in lines and notes as we rolled. It kept me on my toes.”
Dream Role:
“Dream role would be playing an athlete in a bio pic. This would allow me to marry my two loves…sports and acting. Dream to play Brianna Scurry, Venus Williams, Althea Gibson,” was ‘Theodora’s character answer from Amy and Peter are Getting Divorced.’
Super Bowl LVII:
Even before the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles I knew who I’d be rooting for. The NFL Championship Game is pitted only between itself and the television commercials that cost companies millions upon millions of dollars to air. I’m from Metro Detroit, this game meant nothing to me. I was tuning in for those very commercials like millions of others. But one in particular.
It was a General Motors Ad. The Detroit based automotive manufacturer. But I wasn’t watching for them either.
There was a woman. A Chicago girl. It wasn’t ‘Lauren from 30 Days to Kick Ass Love’ nor ‘Kelly who played in the Happiest Season.’ I passed by the ‘Young Nurse from Westworld’ and sadly wasn’t watching for ‘Lydia in My Nightmare Landlord,’ either. Although, if I weren’t looking for that ‘Wildcat’ from Northwestern, I surely would’ve rewatched that movie. If you haven’t seen it, you should. I’m not giving away any story lines here. It’s simply that good!
It was my friend; Caroline Harris I was tuning into the game to see.
Caroline tells me the ‘Super Bowl Commercial’ started out like any other audition. She appeared for the read and did the scene a few times and had left.
“For the callback, though,” she adds, “I was in the room improvising for about 30 minutes! Because Will Ferrell was the star, I think they wanted to make sure the other person would be able to improv and be quick on their feet. I found out I was on hold for the role later that day and that I got it a day or two later.”
“I remember being nervous during the Super Bowl and only after it aired did it sink in how cool it was,” the Chicago native says. “I will say I got about 100 text messages in 15 seconds which was pretty funny. I watched it surrounded by family so no better place to be.”
Knowing Caroline as an ultimate professional, I hadn’t seen the following coming from her when she revealed, “What’s funny with watching my own work is I get incredibly nervous. Perhaps because the first time I’m seeing my work is when everyone else is too, so I’m not really sure what to expect.”
I would never have expected, my rock-solid friend would get nervous about anything. That is until what’s coming up next…
Private Life:
If you haven’t caught on to my blogs, I always try to focus on something that has either touched me or affected my life in another manner. This actually does both. Before even asking the question, I asked if her relationship status was off limits. as to not cross any boundaries. She said it was not. And I followed up with this…
You’ve agreed to allow Alex into the questions. When did you two meet? How long have you been dating? Have you set a wedding date yet? What single trait do you love most about him?
“Alex and I met on Hinge in October 2019. So, we’ve been dating for almost four years! We got engaged in February of this year and our wedding date is May 4th, 2024. The single trait I love the most about him is his steadiness in character. He is a fantastic problem solver and is calm in a crisis. I am not a good problem solver nor am I calm in a crisis! He is my rock and I love that about him,” she replied.
I coupled that question with the one below…
How important is it to you that fans know you’re involved in a relationship? Your openness about it is admirable. And I believe it’s something social media is lacking; a bit of honesty goes a long way for not only respect to your fans but their respect to you as well.
“Thank you for saying this, Rick!” Caroline started. “I am a professional actor and I also have a life filled with family, sports, travel, love, hardships, etc. just like everyone else. I try to share bits and pieces of everything. If I didn’t, I don’t think I would feel authentic. We go through so much of our lives having to put up some sort of “front.” Social media is a place to be ourselves and connect with other selves.”
The Beginning of the End
I was ‘Lynch-ed’ from day one with Caroline’s on-screen presence and years after our initial meeting, I’m even more so. Yet, I had never asked her about the early career role that connected us. Especially a fight scene. Now was the moment to do so.
You know the fight scene in Megalodon, with Aimee Stolte, is a favorite of mine, I stated. Did you two do your own stunts in the movie?
“I love that it’s one of your favorites! That fight was choreographed by Mario Rocha who was awesome to work with. We practiced a ton on some gym mats at the bottom of the boat. I haven’t watched that movie since the premiere, I’ll have to watch that fight scene clip again! We did do that fight but the water scenes (nor did I climb up the side of the boat) because I am not a strong swimmer and they filmed that in the ocean,” the ships Commander disclosed.
Below is a portion of that fight scene, I had recorded years ago.
Our Friendship:
And lastly, one about me. Five years now, still seems like yesterday, I concluded. It’s like our friendship and support hasn’t changed one bit, in two or three sentences, what is it that keeps our friendship special?
“I am so grateful for you, Rick! It all started with Megalodon. I appreciate your humor and I also enjoy watching you share your life honestly with your own follower base. I enjoy discussing specific moments from films of mine you’ve watched and getting your feedback. And your support! Being an actor at times is lonely and when you’re in a rut, getting close to jobs but not booking, it’s easy to forget that you have a lot to give. Messages from people who enjoy my work remind me that I do have something to share with the world and that I should just keep going.”
The Rest of the Story:
Again, in closing, I borrow the words of the late Paul Harvey. I’d like to thank Caroline and ‘Cora Love of FBI’s Most Wanted’ for the opportunity to write this article for and about her. Your friendship throughout the years has been unwavering. Your kindness and compassion coupled with your openness and honesty rate second to none. To you and Alex I wish nothing but the very best in life, love, happiness and marriage. You two make the perfect couple!
To my readers and followers, I can only muster the biggest ‘Thank You’ possible!! With you ‘I Am Me’ yet without you there would be no ‘rest of the story.’ Enjoy you weekend everyone!
You Can Follow Caroline on social media at the links below:
Caroline Harris (@carohartharris) • Instagram
Caroline Harris (@carohartharris) / X
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