Sexy Screen Role Opening Doors for Heather Gordon

Heather Gordon is busy being a movie star, but it hasn't gone to her head.

At 27, the new West Hollywood denizen is making a name for herself, starring in a low-budget indie called Seducing Charlie Barker that is raking in awards.

“Work has been pretty steady for me, although I’ve had a lot of close calls” Gordon told Patch. It's been about a year in Weho, and she says hasn't had to take one non-acting job.

You might see the Bay Area native in some TV commercials she shot recently, one for Citibank and one for Listerine. She’s shooting a Christmas film for the 2012 holiday season titled December Dilemma with veteran actors Richard Benjamin and Tony Dow (yes, Wally from Leave it to Beaver), and she’s doing two voice duties for an animated film titled Skyforce.

The screenplay for Seducing Charlie Barker morphed from a play by Theresa Rebeck called The Scene that ran at San Francisco Playhouse and starred Melrose Place graduate Daphne Zuniga and an up-and-comer named Heather Gordon.

“I loved it from the moment I read the script when I first auditioned for the play," Gordon said. "Theresa is funny. She gets it. She gets how people talk and how people think in that scene. She wrote about her own experiences, from the people she has met, and it’s so rich.”

The West Coast debut garnered industry buzz almost immediately.

“The executive producer (of Seducing Charlie Barker) saw the stage performance and thought it was an amazing story,” she said. “Just being in that play was a breaking point for me, and then he said I had to play the role in the film.”

Barker (played by Stephen Barker Turner) is a struggling actor whose wife (Zuniga) is growing impatient. He meets another actor named Clea (Gordon), a sexy temptress who lures him into an affair. The R-rated story that unfolds is a dark but humorous morality tale.

“It’s very funny but also very intelligent,” Gordon said. “It definitely connects with audience with everybody in the cast. It’s really about the human condition and human relationships.”

In a way, Gordon was seduced to play Clea, a party animal just in from Ohio who is vulnerable and naïve while being cunning and manipulative.

“I can only do what I can do as an actor, and they you put it in the hands of the director, editor and cinematographer,” she said. “The writing of the story is the star, for sure, but there are some gorgeous scenes with Clea."

Gordon earned her AA degree at College of Marin, regarded as one of the top community college drama programs in the country, before being crowned Miss Marin County in 2008. She was a top-10 finalist at the Miss California pageant, helping her earn scholarship money to continue her education.

Gordon started applying to graduate drama programs and was accepted to Harvard University’s advanced acting program at American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre. “I know it’s strange that I went from getting an AA degree to getting a master’s,” Gordon said.

Gordon shot all her scenes for Seducing Charlie Barker while on a 10-day break from Harvard. “I really couldn’t explain to my instructors why I was going on a hiatus,” she said with a slight laugh. “They know now.”

She said she has high hopes that her first major movie role will prove her chops and open doors in the profession. She said it’s an honor to have worked with the film’s crew, including director/producer Amy Glazer, and she feels lucky that the role has earned her three best-actor awards at indie film festivals all over the world.

“There are not that many characters like this for people my age, because it’s very layered,” she said. “It showcases me playing a varied role instead of a niche part, which is something I’m really excited about.

“Now that we reached a distribution deal and it’s coming out in the States, it’s all about getting butts in the seats. It will be on Showtime in April and then On Demand and Netflix after that. We’re starting out on the indie level, sort of like Sideways or Little Miss Sunshine — films that are edgy but aren’t going to get the real big hype when they first come out. You just hope people start hearing about this film, and then you never know what will open up for you.

“This whole thing is something I’ve dreamed about.”

This story was originally published on Novato Patch.