LOS ANGELES — While she probably wouldn't describe herself that way, actor Shanola Hampton is a gambler.
When she and her husband trekked to Los Angeles hoping to launch a career, they had little to go on. "We had $1,000 in our pocket and got an apartment that was $900 a month and then we just hustled our way through," she said.
By "hustling" Hampton means she leaned on her experience as a server. All through her struggling years she'd been a waitress or a bartender, starting at Applebee's when she was still in high school.
"That's where the service industry comes in because once you have that talent, you can be a waitress anywhere," she said.
Choosing to be an actor was also a gamble for Hampton, though she said, "I wish I could say it's something I chose, but it's something that really chose me from a very young girl. It was really ordained in my life."
Ever since she was 5 years old, she has loved acting. "And what makes me love it now is I feel like I am living my purpose. So all the stuff that comes with it you take because you know you're doing it for all the right reasons because it's all you want to do," she added.
After several years of auditioning, Hampton now has the role of her life. She stars as the tough chief of a team that searches for missing people who have been forgotten by society in the NBC series "Found."
Arriving where she is today wasn't easy. Her mother died of breast cancer when Shanola was 16. Her father wasn't crazy about Hampton wanting to pursue a career in acting and thought she would be a "theater bum" if she did.
