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the Ar ts, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Ar ts degree in 2014. Now in possession of a coveted Screen Actors Guild (now SAG-AFTRA) card, Sinotte continued working throughout her time at school, including playing a Marilyn Monroe looka- like in "Desert Noir," a picture that was featured in the Carmel Film Festival. "It was a dream come true to be in my hometown festival," she says. A project the actress is par ticularly excited about is her role as The Sorceress in seasons two and four in a recent YouTube Premium production, "Escape the Night." She considers it her breakout role, and an oppor tunity to work in a groundbreaking medium. "I'm in every episode of season four," she says. "It's a new genre, created by YouTube stars Joey Graceffa and Adam Lawson, who also directed. The show is half scripted, half reality. A lot of it is improvised, loosely based on a script. It's almost like a play—performed live, it feels like anything can and does happen." "Escape the Night" is fast paced; a mix of fan- tasy, horror and adventure shot through with an undercurrent of dark, campy humor. Production values are high. It's obviously well-funded. The show has exploded on social media, garnering more than a billion views all told. "The fans are amazing, and incredibly dedi- cated to the show" Sinnotte says. "They tag me on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and other plat- forms. The post edited pictures and paintings of my character, role play games and act mono- logues from the show." In addition to acting, Sinotte has been work- ing on her writing chops, contributing blogs on the HuffPost. "I met Ariana Huffington at a workshop," she recalls. She gave everyone here contact information and I messaged her, telling her I'd like to become involved in that world. I'll be doing more of that this year." She's branched out into commercial and voice-over work and at one point created, acted in and produced a 212-episode art project, "A Monologue a Day," which she uploaded to YouTube and Instagram. At this point in her life, she doesn't have much time to indulge her life-long passion for surfing, but still manages to get in the water, especially when she comes home for visits. In an interview late in her career and toward the end of her life, mega-star Marilyn Monroe explained the determination that led her to the top tier of her profession. "Someone said to me, 'If 50 percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?' My answer was then and still is, 'If 100 percent told me that, all 100 percent would be wrong.'" Though not driven by the same types of demons as Monroe was, Sinotte certainly dis- plays a similar level of resolve. She's been able to attain a dream of many, to make a living as a full- time actress. "It's not my goal to be famous," she says. But given her strong presence, interesting, engaging, bright personality, rare determination and obvi- ous movie-star looks, the chances are she most likely will be. Will Smith summed up her mindset when he quipped, "In my mind, I've always been an A-list Hollywood superstar. Y'all just didn't know yet." 100 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 9 Photo: Gina Sinotte Left: Between acting work, Sinotte also works as a model. Right: Sinotte in costume as The Sorceress in "Escape the Night." Season 4 recently wrapped up, and she is hopeful that her character will be brought back for future episodes.