Aspiring Star Isn’t Toying With Roles
Some days, Tanya Newbould must contemplate who she is.
For instance, she just returned from a toy show in New York where she took on the role of Barbie, the doll.
Other times she is known as Miss Hollywood USA, Miss Newport Beach and, most recently, as Miss Prettiest Eyes.
And at times the Corona del Mar woman becomes a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.
“In my career I have to be versatile with all these roles, but I’m keeping a close association with myself,” said the aspiring actress, a Cal State Long Beach student in speech communications. “I’m looking for stardom.”
Most of all, said Newbould, 24: “I have to know who I am and what direction I’m heading. And I have to know my capabilities. I know I’m not the most beautiful woman out there.”
Newbould, a tall (5-foot-9) striking blonde, feels her greatest lesson was in last year’s Miss California contest.
“I didn’t even make the top 15,” she said. “Before the contest they told all of us to be ourselves, but I was trying to be more than that.”
She used that lesson to help her be named Barbie, Mattel Toy Co.’s famous doll.
“I was really surprised when I was named Barbie over 25 others,” she said. “I learned from past experiences not to get my hopes up.”
It was like a dream come true, said Newbould, who looks remarkably like the Barbie doll.
“Barbie has always been my idol and I feel every little girl feels that way,” she said. “This is a positive relationship.”
In many ways, Newbould feels she has been living the life style of Barbie through the advertisements and commercials in television and magazines. At times she is Dance Magic Barbie, Home Pretty Barbie and soon, Rock Star Barbie, the different characters of the doll.
“Barbie is a friendly, outgoing personality that likes to dress up and go places and do things,” she said, “and that’s a lot like my own personality.”
Besides playing Barbie to market the doll, Newbould will soon visit sick children as Barbie in Los Angeles and Orange County hospitals. The one-time nursing student said: “I am my own marketing tool, which means I have to be very disciplined. If I’m not eating right, getting enough rest and not in good shape, I’m losing money. To me, this is all a business venture.”
Reaching stardom is a slow process that means a frenzied and difficult life style, said Newbould, who has been a model and actress for five years and has appeared in one television movie and several TV commercials.
“I have the most insane schedule,” she said, “but I’m happy doing what I’m doing and I’m learning all the time. I’ve already experienced enough in five years than most people have in their entire life.”
And during that time, Newbould said, she has not had negative experiences.
“I’m very businesslike when I do my work. I don’t give anyone a false impression.”
And someday, “I’ll get married and have children. But first I want to be a star.”
Veteran pool shooter Robin Bell, 32, of Costa Mesa just returned from Burgheim, Germany, after winning the first World Women’s Pocket Billiards Championship over 15 other women and pocketing $2,500.
Bell, a mother of two, said she is currently ranked No. 2 by the American Women’s Billiards Assn.
But the left-handed shooting pool player said she scored a first.
“This was the first time the world championship has ever been held,” she said, “so I guess that makes me No. 1 in the world.”
She calls herself a homemaker. “I have a pool table at home where I practice,” she said.
More unusual names have been sent to the People Column, including this one from Linda Moak of Cypress: “My father is a mechanic and works on the car of a physician in Tulsa whose name is Dr. Safety First.”
And Noel White, of Fullerton, wrote this: “My name is Noel and I have a twin brother (named) Leon. He’s backwards because he was the second born.”
