YOU'VE PROBABLY SEEN LAURA WOODY'S FACE SOMEWHERE

Local teen-ager describes how she juggles the demands of modeling, school and just being a kid.

Have you ever wanted to be a model? What about at the age of 7 months? Not many of us would have that opportunity, but Laura Woody did.

At the age of 7 months, a commercial for Famous Footwear launched her career. Now 13 years old, 5-foot-5, with brown hair and green eyes, she has appeared in TV and radio commercials for everything from the sporting-goods store Galyan's to the Indy Poison Control Center.

Laura grew up around modeling. Both of her parents do radio and television commercials, and her mom is also an agent for Act 1 Model and Talent Agency.

"In fifth grade, a lot of people thought I was really snobby because I was always getting out of school for auditions and things," she told Children's Express. "But now they think it's really cool."

Laura says the requirements and training for modeling differ. "A lot of people like to take classes. I do a lot of theater, and so I've taking workshops on how to do makeup and stuff like that once or twice.

"I have what's called a demo tape, which just has a few examples of how I speak well. Casting directors like to know that kind of thing."

She also has a portfolio. "It's just a resume and a head shot."

Outside of modeling, Laura is pretty active. She likes to dance, do shows, and play the flute in the band at Eastwood Middle School. For fun, she likes hanging out and being a kid, going to the mall and stuff like that.

"Every day I usually go to school," she said. "Usually I just have a pretty normal life, unless I get called for an audition or something."

Auditions are not done in front of a huge audience. Usually, the actor or model is called into a small room with one or two directors, she said. Then he or she reads from a script.

After the audition is done, you wait for a phone call telling you whether you've got the job. "The most important thing to deal with rejection is not to base your life on it," she advised.

There's really not a set number of auditions that you have to do before you get a job, but Laura says that for every two or three auditions, she gets a job.

Occasionally, she gets a full day of work modeling. "One day I had to get up at like 6 a.m. and drove to a studio in Zionsville, where I shot an all-day commercial for Indiana State Museum. . . . We shot for most of the morning and then ate lunch, and then shot for the rest of the afternoon until about 5:00 or so."

She says typical pay ranges from $25 to $75 for voice- overs and $75 to $200 for commercials.

Laura also does a lot of voice- overs, in which she goes into a studio and reads lines. Each usually take about 10 minutes. A commercial, sometimes, will take all day.

Laura explained that there are a lot of pros and cons. "From a kid's point of view, the money and getting out of school are the best things. The experience is really good because it helps you in later life.

"The most difficult time is the time between when you audition and when you get the phone call."

Laura has her future planned out. "In 10 years I'll . . . probably be at college. I want to go to New York University, and I want to be majoring in writing. I want to have a little apartment, and my own car, and just travel a lot."

EDITED BY: Cindy Dyar; Anne Coffey, 14 ASSISTANT EDITOR: Marie Eckstein, 14