FAIRBORN – Noelle Taylor, 19, was born in Arizona, but moved to the Fairborn area when she was 4 years old. She is currently working toward her degree in international affairs at the University of Cincinnati. However, she aspires to be an actress and is actively pursuing her dreams, as she will be featured on season two of Dayton CW’s “The Valley.”
She said that seeing herself plastered across local billboards and radio ads feels right.
“Today when I was running on the treadmill, I got an ad for ‘The Valley’ on Pandora,” Taylor said. “It’s really cool seeing yourself … It’s amazing to be a part of the process and see yourself on things that thousands of people are going to see also. It feels right, it feels like what I want to be doing.”
The casting process began late in the spring months, and cast members filmed throughout the entire summer season. The show follows eleven individuals from the Miami Valley, aged between 19 and 23 years old, as they go about their day-to-day activities.
“They follow us with a camera and they see what goes on during our daily lives,” Taylor said. “It’s a collective group of kids that they’re interested in, and they wanted to tell our stories. We also get together and do super-fun things.”
Taylor initially felt weird about having a camera crew follow her, but later got used to it. She said she and the cast members and camera crew grew close and eventually felt like family. Although school has started for the majority of cast members and they have each parted into their separate ways, she said she still keeps in touch with two cast mates in particular as she enjoyed getting to know like-minded people.
“I think people do have an interest in knowing about other peoples lives, I think this is a good outlet,” she said. “Everyone on the show wants our story to be told and that’s what makes it interesting. Plus that it’s local – that’s the coolest part about it.”
Taylor is a 2014 graduate of the Fairborn City School District, where she participated in a number of activities along the way, including varsity football cheerleading, varsity girls swim team, basketball and plays/musicals. She specifically served as the cheer and swim team captain.
She describes Fairborn as a melting pot, and particularly appreciates its “close-knit” feeling, in which everyone knows everyone. She is the youngest of two sisters, has a nine-year-old chocolate lab, is in a long-distance relationship and has a niece and nephew. All of her family members live within the area.
“I love Fairborn,” Taylor said. “It was amazing growing up in Fairborn, you see a bunch of different things. It’s a melting pot because you have everyone from the base, and you also have wealthy and poor people. It’s cool when you can see everyone come into the same school, get along and get to know each other. There’s so many different demographics. I think Fairborn is more diverse than UC is … I enjoy going downtown, I think the area is super-cute.”
She is taking more time this semester to book photo shoots in order to build her portfolio as an actress. Her goal is to be featured in five films this semester, and has already participated in one and received a call for another. She belongs to a talent agency in Cincinnati, and looks up to actress Jennifer Lawrence.
“This is exactly what I want to be doing with my life, and I’m not going to stop,” Taylor said. “It’s awesome seeing myself and things like that, but it also feels right. It feels like this is what I was meant to do.”
In addition to her aspirations of being an actress, Taylor enjoys body building. She also describes herself as being family-oriented, and feels that she is meant to be a mom in the future. She is also pursuing volunteer activities throughout the community, such as serving as a baby cuddler at the local hospital.
Season two of “The Valley” premiers 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13; viewers can catch the following 12 episodes at the same time and on the same channel, or anytime on daytonscw.com.
“I’m really excited,” Taylor said. “I think it’s going to be a great season, there’s a lot that goes on. People are going to have to watch to find out – there’s romance and friendships. I did a lot of things on the show that I’ve never done before.”
