DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709220241

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Loraine Eaton 

                                            LENGTH:   54 lines

MORE LOCAL WOULD-BE STARS ON THE RISE

Joanna Canton, 22, of Virginia Beach, attended the Governor's School for the Arts and studied at the Actors' Place in Virginia Beach. She graduated from high school in 1994, left for New York in 1995 and then moved to Los Angeles in February.

Joanna, who is a member of SAG, has had supporting roles in several movies, including the best friend of the murder victim in NBC's ``Love's Deadly Triangle: The Texas Cadet Murders'' which aired last winter.

She's done commercials for Hardee's and appeared in ``America's Most Wanted.''

Joanna studies at Playhouse West, Jeff Goldblum's studio. She works full-time as a hostess at a restaurant that is frequented by stars and describes herself as ``completely happy.''

``I feel really, really blessed,'' she said.

Laura Robbins worked for four years at Regent University film studio school after graduating from Princess Anne High School in 1990. A student at the Actors' Place, she earned her SAG card at age 20 for an episode of ``Matlock.'' She played Matlock's goddaughter.

Laura left for Los Angeles in September 1996 and did her first national commercial this February. She's the person in the Pizza Hut commercials who says, ``Take the challenge.'' Some weeks she has five auditions, other weeks none. She also takes classes at Playhouse West. Her ``survival job'' is waiting tables and she says that all the rumors about L.A. are true. Mobs of young people get off buses each day with stars in their eyes.

``You just see so many people struggling so hard,'' she said. ``It kind of makes you want to give up acting and be their Mother Teresa.''

Eric Feldman didn't know what he wanted to do as a student at Kempsville High School. Now he and his screenwriting partner know exactly what they want: ``We want to be the highest paid writing team in Hollywood.''

Eric, 28, started out modeling locally and taking acting classes at the Actors' Place in Virginia Beach. This spring, before leaving for L.A., he got a part in a Busch Gardens commercial, which earned him an SAG card. His acting name is Eric Branton, and he's also played a policeman on ``All My Children.''

Now he's teamed up with a former Disney animation writer and together they've written six screenplays on spec. One, a romantic comedy titled ``The Snag,'' has piqued the interest of a production company, Eric said.

``The trick to this business,'' he said, ``is persistence.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Laura Robbins

Eric Feldman

Joanna Carlton KEYWORDS: PROFILE LOCAL ACTOR LOCAL ACTRESS

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