ACT ONE: Gainesville, Georgia. As a young, outspoken, headstrong girl growing up in the South, Jay MacIntosh, born Janet Tallulah Jewell, was unhappy with the blatant discrimination against African-Americans and the poor that she witnessed on a daily basis by adults she was supposed to look up to.

I wanted to move as far away from there as I could without falling into the Pacific Ocean,? Attorney MacIntosh tells me in her comfortable, high-rise Century City Office. ?I saw the hypocrisy of those who were supposed to be ?respectable? in the community, you know, ?do-gooders,? but they weren?t very respectful to people who had no power, so I think that?s when I first got the idea that I wanted to be in a position where I could help people who were being mistreated.?

An act of kindness as simple as giving her old comic books to a boy (George Groover ? she still remembers his name) who was less fortunate than her, brought heavy chastisement from her parents and other ?Authority? figures?but these admonishments only fuelled Jay more to follow her own moral compass.

Jay eventually got her wish and moved away from Gainesville, attending the University of Wisconsin. A trained pianist, she majored in music, but decided to take Speech classes after being impressed by strong, powerful television personalities like Betty Furness, Arlene Francis, and most importantly Jinx Faulkenberg. Her real education, however, came when she met a young man from Madison, Wisconsin, who planned to pursue a career in law ? he would later become her husband, the father of her three children, and the reason she travelled back to Georgia.

ATT. JAY MACINTOSH: ?I couldn?t believe I?d be going back to Georgia, but he wanted to go to Law School down there, so I transferred to the University of Georgia. I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Speech and Drama, and my Masters in Drama; and then I got a job at Gainesville College as the Chairman of the Division of Humanities, which was a big deal because a woman had never held that position.?

HW: But you weren?t happy.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?No, I really wasn?t? Georgia was still the same and I really didn?t want my children growing up in that environment? So, I started thinking about that Pacific Ocean again.?

HW: ?I have a feeling this is where ?ACT TWO? starts.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Well, I knew Hollywood was the place I had to be to build my career in Drama and take care of my kids.?

HW: ?Oh, so you were already thinking that you and your husband were going to divorce??

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?I knew we were headed there ? I was really unhappy ? so I knew I needed to make a move. What I did was I wrote letters to Actors and Actresses here in L.A., telling them about myself ? and I had a pretty impressive resume at that time ? and asked if they would help get me started in the business.?

HW: ?And someone wrote you back.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Yes. Gregory Peck.?

HW: ?Wow. Atticus Finch from ?To Kill A Mockingbird.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Yes, and he was really nice. Once he was sure that this was what I wanted to do, he arranged an audition for me at The Actor?s Studio. Once I got in, I later auditioned in front of Lee Strasberg and got accepted as a lifetime member.?

HW: ?The Lee Strasberg?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Yes, and I got in.?

HW: ?You must be really good.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Well, you know, this was my life. I took it very seriously.?

HW: ?Okay, so, now, you?ve got this extensive career in Hollywood ? I IMDB?d you and it seemed like your credits would never end; when did you make the jump into Law? Or should I say, tell me about ACT THREE.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Well, believe it or not, I had a guest role on Picket Fences portraying Justice Sandra Day O?Connor, and I was dressed up in a Supreme Court Justice?s robe, and as I walked around the set everyone was just astounded by how much I actually looked like her ? but that was what I did; I was known for being a chameleon with my characters ? so, anyway, I had an epiphany, that day, on the set, dressed as Sandra Day O?Connor. I thought to myself ?Acting is pretending to be someone else,? and I was tired of ?pretending? to be someone ? I wanted to be someone. Someone who could actually help people.?

HW: ?You really came full circle to what you wanted to do as a little girl growing up in Georgia.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?I did? I applied and was accepted into Whittier Law School, and still continued to take roles and act while studying to be a Lawyer.?

HW: ?And, of course, as an Entertainment Lawyer, you bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to your Firm, but what?s really interesting to me is that, as an actress ?playing a judge,? you literally broke through the ?Fourth Wall? of method acting, came out into the real world and actually became a Lawyer yourself.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?It was really my true calling? The role I was meant to have.?

HW: ?Usually I ask Attorneys ?What makes you unique from others in your field,? but I think that question has already been answered.?

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Well, first of all, I?m very content in my life. I have a wonderful husband, Steve Orlandella, who is very supportive of my work ethic, because I care a great deal about my clients? I feel a sense of responsibility for them, and I?m able to sympathize and empathize with them because, many times, as someone who was in the business, I?ve experienced what they?re going through? I also have the ability to recognize the subtext of what?s really going on with clients who come into my office, because acting is about subtext. It?s not what a person says, it?s how they say it; it?s their mannerisms ? these are clues as to what a person really means and is feeling.?

HW: ?Okay, suddenly I?m feeling very vulnerable in front of you ? let?s shift the focus here. What do you love about the Law other than?what we just talked about for the last hour??

ATT. MACINTOSH: ?Winning. I love winning. Building my case brick by brick, and forcing these big companies to compensate my clients ? that makes me happy.? Attorney MacIntosh flashes a beautiful smile as she says this last line to me, and I know helping her clients really does makes her happy because I can feel the absolute emotion behind her words ? no need to look for subtext here.

(310) 284-3725 ENTERTAINMENT LAW

September Issue 2007

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