It’s hard to become a star in the world of entertainment.  The dream of earning a living as an entertainer is crowded.  There are long lines for auditions, and endless stacks of promo CDs, DVDs, film reels, and resumes.

Success often requires the entertainer to pursue multiple talents and always requires motivation and persistence.  You never know when your break is going to come so you have to keep making contacts and demonstrating your versatility.

Modeling this approach, Iris Frank has become a standout in the competitive reach for the stars.  She is a singer, songwriter, guitar and piano player, recording studio owner, and film, TV, and stage actor, and model.

“I thought I was gonna be a rock star for a while.  It’s one of those dreams that just won’t die.  You keep believing that you have a shot.  I ended up switching gears to acting later, because that’s what was actually paying me,” says Iris.

As a teenager, Iris played in bands, sang in the church choir, and acted in the Royal Oak High School plays and musicals, often in the lead role.  While attending Michigan State she was signed for a record deal as The Iris Project (now just Iris).  She transferred to the University of Michigan, Dearborn to be closer to the recording label headquarters, and finished out the  rest of her college education, music  touring at the same time.

“The end of this story is I got stranded in N.Y. City.  I had a meeting with Sony, and my manager got wasted and didn’t show up to the meeting, so that burned that bridge, and I finally said, ‘Mom, I need some money – I gotta come home.’ So I came back home, got a job with my degree,  and started more on the acting side.”

Back in Michigan, Iris started doing commercials, and other small projects then landed a speaking role in Conviction on screen with both Hillary Swank and Sam Rockwell.  She then landed a guest starring role in an episode of the TV show In Plain Sight and relocated to L.A. to film the show and to try her luck during pilot season.

“My original plan was only to go out to L.A. for pilot season. When I went out there, I enrolled myself in Central Casting and just shot up the ladder there.  I really got along well with the guys and I’m SAG so that helps too.  Out in L.A. everyone is clawing over each other to be SAG.  The fact that I moved to L.A. already being SAG gave me a leg up.”

In L.A., Iris landed numerous small roles in TV productions like Canned, In Plain Sight, Southland, Entourage, Lie to Me and CSI.  She also continued to do commercials and movie extra roles.

“I would go out for anything that I didn’t have to take my clothes off for.  I actually landed a whole bunch of stuff- just maybe one word, or one line, or no words but a feature. I thought I was only gonna be there for two months.  I ended up staying for eight months because I kept landing things.  They were small things, but they add up. “

She eventually returned home to take part in the state’s blooming film business.  She took a full time job in health care, all the while continuing her artistic pursuits.

Back in Michigan, Iris managed to land three more speaking roles in major features on-screen with A-listers.  In Game of Death she can be seen begging Wesley Snipes for her life.  She then landed a romantic scene with Gabriel Macht in S.W.A.T. Firefight.  Most recently, Iris nabbed a scene in an elevator, opposite Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place.  Needless to say, her reel is shaping up nicely.

“There is so much work that is coming in to Michigan it makes me proud to live here,“ said Iris.  “Its rejuvenating this dead state.  It’s funny - when you go to different cities and sit in coffee shops and listen to people talk ,you will hear certain words used frequently. In Michigan the word is ‘hard’.  ‘Its so hard.’ Everything is ‘so hard’. It’s hard to get a job, it’s hard to pay the bills, it’s hard to do everything.

“I think that the film industry has added some excitement. It’s like a marriage.  Everyone here is married to Michigan for one reason or the other.  They are married to Michigan because they have a house here and there is no way in hell they are ever gonna sell it - so they are married to their house. Or their profession is here, if they actually have a job, and they are married to their job.  What this industry is doing – it’s putting the love affair back in being married to Michigan.  It’s putting this kind of love in the air. Something exciting - it’s the excitement put back in the marriage.”

Through hard work, persistence, and multiple talents, Iris has earned a place on the exclusive “next up” list in Michigan’s emerging film scene.  And she has no plans to give up music - currently producing her next CD at her lake studio in Waterford.

“I’m still doing music.  Once you have music in your bones, it’s not something you can just get rid of. I will play music for the rest of my life.  The arts are my passion. It’s just who I am.”