Sharing in Oscar's big night

Melissa McMeekin experienced life from the northwest Pacific coast to the mid-Atlantic shores, but this aspiring actress finally felt she had arrived "home" when she landed in Rockport just over three years ago.

McMeekin, in her first foray to enter the film world from the stage, was pulled from an open casting call of 2,500 actors last year and found herself meeting the Los Angeles director of the "The Fighter," starring Mark Wahlberg. The film is a biopic of Lowell boxer Mikey Ward.

Although the film, directed by David O. Russell, will not hit the big screen until later this year, McMeekin will walk the "red carpet" Sunday at the only Oscar party in Massachusetts sanctioned by the Academy of Arts and Sciences. The gala is a benefit event for The Ellie Fund, an organization that aids families in the fight against breast cancer.

"When you hear my story, it's hard to deny that there is a bigger plan out there," she said in an interview last weekend. "I act on faith and I found this inner joy and gratitude being here in Rockport. There's something to just being happy. We're so much more effected by our environment than people give credit for."

At the gala film event this Sunday, she will wear a vintage style honey-gold gown, adorned with beads and lace.

She chose the color of the gown to match "Oscar," the coveted golden statue of the acting world, but the style is far from the look she provided for the casting staff when she appeared in blown-out 1980s hair, a move that helped land her the job as Little Alice, a sister of the characters played by Wahlberg and Christian Bale. She also appears with Amy Adams, Melissa Leo and Jack McGee.

Her path to Cape Ann

McMeekin was raised near Bellingham, Wash., a city of around 50,000 near the Canadian border. She lived in a town without a post office in the dairy farming community of Laurel. But she was always intrigued with the postcard beauty of New England and dreamed of living here.

"When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a lawyer," said McMeekin, now 37. "Then I thought it would be better to play a lawyer on TV. I wanted to be a trial lawyer, but I didn't want to go to school. Then I discovered theater in first grade when I did my first Thanksgiving skit."

As a teenager, she became involved in all the community theater she could find. At the time, Hilary Swank, also from Bellingham, was acting in the same circles.

"But I would not presume she would know me," McMeekin said.

After high school,¬ she moved to Seattle to pursue the stage more seriously and build an acting resume. She later moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a nanny.

She had planned to move to Los Angeles and try the starving actress role as she looked to work in jobs on the big screen. When she became pregnant with her first child instead, she figured she would attempt that transition when her child turned 16. She moved back to the Washington. Now a mother of two children, she later studied to become a massage therapist.

McMeekin's husband, Aaron Suoja, who works for Microsoft, was transferred to the East Coast, and McMeekin's dormant wish became a reality.

"I always wanted to live in New England. But this was actually better than I could have imagined," she said.

They looked around Greater Boston for homes, including a Victorian in Amesbury and a suburban home in Lexington. But when she arrived in Rockport, her instinct told her she had found her place.

As they looked for a home in Rockport, they lived temporarily at the Cape Ann Campground for four months with their 14 year-old son, a preschool-age daughter and McMeekin's mother who moved with them across the country. They were living at the campground at the time of the Mother's Day flood when the rains that May seemed to never end.

"We had our own tenting compound," she recalled. "My mom had her own tent and we had ours. It was better than two hotel rooms — and you can really cook anything in a Crock Pot."

When they found their house in Rockport, they packed away their tents to begin a new life.

In another twist of fate, McMeekin named her children Logan and Kennedy, with no thought about the East Coast connections. They were not named after Boston's airport nor the Massachusetts Kennedy family.

When her son turned 16, she decided to go ahead with making the transition from stage to film. But she needed a Screen Actors Guild card to pursue that ambition. She went to the open casting call for "The Fighter" in what she thought would be a small step in working to obtain the SAG card.

"I was shocked when I got pulled from the line to be put on film," recalled the 5-foot-2-inch actress. "The universe was shining on me. Everything just fell into place."

She had six call backs and a four-hour audition with other cast hopefuls. She was chosen to play one of the seven siblings and spent the past summer filming the movie, which will be released later this year.

"When an assistant director called, I was told to show up for work at 4:30 a.m.," she said. "I didn't believe it and I thought he was kidding, so I paused, waiting for him to say the real time. That never came, and I got directions to Lowell instead."

She awoke at 2 a.m. that morning to prepare for her first day on set.

"But I didn't really sleep. I was so nervous and excited, it felt like the first day of school," she said.

She is now a card-carrying SAG member and has been working ever since.¬ She filmed in New York for "The Hole in The Wall" starring French film actress Roxanne Mesquida. ¬

She just finished filming her part in "Festival ... The Movie," a comic "mockumentary" now filming in Rhode Island.

Filming has also begun on the psychological thriller "The Visionary." In that film, McMeekin plays the lead role as the mother of a young girl who, after being cast in a major motion picture, becomes the obsession of the director.

The Party

Sunday, McMeekin will be among the 350 guests to attend The Ellie Fund's Oscar Night Boston Gala at The Langham Hotel in downtown Boston. She will attend with Erica McDermott, who also was cast in "The Fighter."

"This is the 14th year The Ellie Fund has hosted the event," said Julie Dennehy, a spokeswoman for the charitable organization.

"Oscar Night America is the official event around the country, a national program, and they chose very carefully one nonprofit per market to host their event," Dennehy said. "It allows the charities to use the assets of the Academy."

Those assets include attendees receiving the official Oscar program that guests who are attending the awards ceremony in Los Angeles receive.

Many of the guests are supporters of The Ellie Fund, SAG actors and local film industry members.

The event will help raise awareness for the charity's "Care for the Caregiver" program.

"This program fills in the gaps with services that are lifesavers for women going through treatment, from child care to meals to shopping services and rides to treatment — all things that aren't covered by insurance," said Dennehy.

The event starts at 6:30 with the red carpet entrance.

"This is an official telecast of the Oscars and the Academy is creating a red carpet party around their telecast all around the country," Dennehy said.

Another fun Oscar element for the evening is an opportunity for the guests to be photographed with an actual Oscar, which is on loan from actor Chris Cooper.

Cooper won his Oscar for his supporting role in the 2002 film "Adaptation," which also starred Meryl Streep. He also starred in "The Bourne Identity" and dozens of other films.

When the party is over, McMeekin looks forward to her next adventure.

"At this point, I just believe the universe and God have a much bigger plan for me," she said. "I'm just accepting what comes my way with open arms and open heart."

Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3445, or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.

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Rockport actress with growing resume hitting Boston 'red carpet'

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