Alumni News

America Young Makes Hollywood Splash (or Sparkle?)

When Danielle America Young headed for Hollywood a few years ago, she was armed with talent (lots of it), a Creighton degree in theater and, as one professor put it, “sparkle.”

At least, that’s how Creighton’s Bill Van Deest describes her. “She was a great student,” recalls Van Deest, associate professor and theater coordinator, “very hardworking, very motivated. And she had, I guess you could say, a ‘sparkle’ to her.”

Today, that same sparkle is lighting up Young’s career. The Creighton alumna’s work not only encompasses acting, but production, direction, casting direction and stunts.

Among her credits, the Creighton alumna (who goes by her middle name, America, after her grandmother), served as the voice of Wendy Darling in the 2008 animated Disney movie Tinker Bell.

“Animation and voice-over are the hardest (media) to get into,” says Young, a native of Santa Fe, N.M. “Most people can do up to 30 voices, so the jobs that come open in animation just aren’t there.”

“I was so happy to get the part,” Young explains, adding that she contributed a few more voices to Tinker Bell, including a couple of fairies.

But let’s back up a bit. Just how did Young get from here to the coveted “there” that is Hollywood?

“I started out at Creighton in pre-med,” she says, which explains her interest in organic chemistry and even mammalian physiology. “But I’ve always loved theater. I graduated at 21 — and thought I’d go out to L.A. and just ‘get my teeth kicked in.’”

So, she kind of steeled herself against what she thought would be the inevitable: failure. But it still hasn’t happened.

And, sure, that may be due to just plain talent, but also focus, at least that’s how Van Deest sees it.

He relates a story or two that might just sum up Young’s personality and drive.

Back in her Creighton theater days, “Danielle was dancing on-stage, and, at the time, she hated dancing, didn’t think she was very good at it,” Van Deest recalls.

“She came up afterwards and asked me what I thought. ‘You looked terrified,’ I remember saying. ‘But no one cares what your feet are doing. Put on that terrific smile and sell it.’”

She got it, Van Deest says. “She understood.”

And, when Young came back a few years later to catch up with the Creighton program and her professors, Van Deest remembers her description of a casting call.

“There were a bunch of people trying out, and Danielle was in the crowd. Hours passed. Finally, the casting director came out, frantically looking for a makeup artist. ‘Who here does makeup?’ he cried.

“Danielle, whose specialty at the time had not necessarily included makeup, raised her hand and said, ’I do,’ and right away she was in the cast,” Van Deest said. “She got her foot in the door.”

And, thankfully, Young says, no theater skill was completely new to her, in large part because of her Creighton preparation.

“The Creighton theater department is so personalized, and they made you think outside the box. They encouraged us to try everything, to find what fit.” As a student, Young organized the Theater Club, started a variety show. She threw herself into wardrobe and set design, as well as acting. And she cast around on campus for clubs to join for a broader experience.

Young’s Feel Good Film Festival, which she created a few years ago, may be the best metaphor for her work right now. (She also is creator, producer and director of the webseries Groupidity.)

“We only screen movies that are comedies or have happy endings — that show the beauty and hope in the world. It’s the only festival like it on the continent. I’m extremely proud of that.”