I think too much: Even Brad Pitt has friends

Most recently, my friend, Nadia, was casted to play a small but important guest role on the TV series, Blue Bloods.  She was saved by the guy from NKOTB. According to my other friend, this is a big deal; I suppose he’s right. She’s been trying this acting thing since we graduated from college in 2005 and, while she’s been in several off-Broadway plays and indie films, she has never done anything with this kind of exposure. 

The truth is I have always found it hard to watch her act not because she’s bad but for the simple fact that I have known her since we were teenagers. I just can never get into her characters. She will always be Nadia to me. It’ll always be Nadia pretending to have a FOB accent or Nadia pretending to be ten years younger than she really is. You know when you cringe every time you hear yourself speak in a home video or something? That’s exactly how I feel when I see her act. It’s as if she’s me. I mean what do Brad Pitt’s friends think when they watch his movies? Do they crack up or do they shout, “Bravo!?” Did they giggle just a little bit when he pretended to be a broody ghost (or whatever he was) in Meet Joe Black? Did they think, “Good acting! How did you do that?,” when he smooched Angelina Jolie realistically on Mr. And Mrs. Smith? Better yet, how did they feel when Brad Pitt became an old baby in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? 

What is wrong with me? Should I feel horrible that I cringe every time I see my friend on TV or hear her instructional voiceover reels or should I be embarrassed by how uncultured I am because I can’t appreciate acting? If one day, she becomes the next Lucy Liu or Zhang ZiYi, I would be so proud of her. But I can’t guarantee I won’t laugh out loud, when she does the high kick followed by a “Hiya!”