Sandy Jacobson was born and raised in Los Angeles, with two half-brothers 14 and
16 years older than her...that gave her the gift of music a generation of ahead of her time. The show is dedicated to
the youngest of the two brothers, Roger Gelatt, who died prematurely in 1998.
Sandy has a long history with the arts. She began dance lessons, at age two
and danced her first performance that same year. At age four, she won a "Beauty Pageant," acquired an agent, and began
doing local television work. At age six, she was in a life-threatening car accident, that left her with countless injuries
and reconstructive surgeries...and forced her into "early retirement" from acting...
or so she thought...(read on).
Sandy spent from ages six through thirteen having reconstructive surgeries, and
initially spent three months in the hospital recovering. When she came home from the hospital, her two brothers bought
her a brand new color T.V., so that she'd have something to do. "The Monkees" television show was airing at that time,
and it was the only thing that made her laugh and forget about what she was going through. Roger, seeing how connected
she was to the show, bought her every album that was released, and bought her magazines with stories about them, every time
she went into the hospital. Her biggest dream was to "someday" see them in concert, hopefully meet them, and thank them
for making her laugh. Her favorite "Monkee" was Peter Tork, because while Roger was incredibly smart, he always acted
"dumb" when he was joking around with Sandy...and Sandy connected with Peter's character in the same way. (She knew
that Peter Tork, the person, was a lot smarter than the character he portrayed...because she knew that her brother was smarter
than the character HE portrayed.)
Not to be stopped, she wrote, produced, directed, cast, choregraphed, and sold
tickets for a play performed in her backyard at age eight. Two years later, at age ten, she was one of the voice-characters
in a story she wrote for radio that was performed on a local radio station. She continued dancing, and had dance solos
in high school musicals, and was head cheerleader in high school and college.
When her daughter became school-age, she introduced her daughter to countless opportunities,
because she believed her biggest contribution to her daughter's life was to help HER find HER OWN dream, and take it as far
as possible. She gave her daughter soccer, Brownies, art lessons, musical theatre, television and movie acting experience,
ballet, jazz, piano lessons, etc. Sandy participated in all of the activities equally...being a soccer mom, assistant
Brownie leader, and backstage parent assistant for ballet productions. Her daughter narrowed her choices down to ballet,
TV/Film and musical theatre, in that order...and at age twelve, her daughter announced that she "wanted to focus exclusively
on ballet." That's what she did...and she just retired from four years as a professional ballet dancer, with S.A.G.
and Equity affiliations.
Eight years ago, Sandy was rear-ended and diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress
Syndrome from that accident. She suffered flashbacks, nightmares, and short-term memory loss related to her childhood
accident, and relived that experience more than any other time in her life. A specialist helped her work through
that. And, it was also when she finally got to see Peter Tork, from The Monkees, in concert for the first time.
Through a series of professional exchanges which arose out of that concert, a solid
professional respect and admiration has grown. Peter has become a contributor to an amazing change in Sandy's life the
past few years...including encouraging her when she had the opportunity for a re-entry into acting...with her first audition
landing her a role in "Pirates of the Caribbean II." She has since worked in 8 Feature Films, 4 T.V. episodes, and was
the "Featured Girl" in an MTV-music video project last year. She has deep gratitude for every opporutunity to act
today...but is MOST passionate about the production of
BACKSTAGE: LOS ANGELES.
This project would not be possible without the support and assistance of the talent,
crew, and friends in Sandy's life today...including, in no particular order, and not limited to:
Peter Tork, James Lee Stanley, John McEuen, John Batdorf, (who were our first four
guests), Michael Sunday (host for most of our segments), John Charchalis, Mike Driml, Nathan McEuen, Bob
Stane @ The Coffee Gallery, Gary Mandell @ Boulevard Music, and Paul Kulak @ Kulak's Woodshed...and everyone who has referred
talent to the show.
As Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" said to the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow..."You're
the best friends anybody ever had!"
Sandy has recently been approached by a producer to turn her copyrighted life story
into a film. We will be shooting a trailer for the film in January 2009.
Sandy is available for speaking engagements to discuss overcoming obstacles in
one's life, and whenever possible to share her story with a child who may be facing similar life challenges. Requests
may be made via the contact page.
Sandy Jacobson was nominated for the
- 2007 Best Indie Film Maker / Artist / Entrepreneur Craggy Award from Cult Radio A-Go-Go
Sandy Jacobson's life story appears in:
- XL-Extraordinary Lives Magazine - an international publication for inspiring entrepreneurs
(October 2007), and
- BackStage.com (Jan. 2006)
- and in the Dec. 07 issue of her College Alumni Magazine.
- On Dec. 11th, 2007, Sandy was interviewed by Dr. Gayle Carson on the radio show "Women
In Business" which reaches 1.5 million listeners. http://www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/Women-in-Business-Radio.html
- October 2008 - Sandy Jacobson, was a speaker/moderator on a panel that addressed
musicians on "Alternative Ways to Get Your Music Heard" for the October 2008 FAR-West (Folk Alliance Region - West)
Conference. She has also been asked to address Los Angeles college students on "Preparing Yourself to Become a Successful
Musician" in early 2009.
- October 2008, we also added a radio show to our project, with the same format as the T.V.
show.
- Sandy is a volunteer for The Art of Elysium, a non-profit organization
that brings the arts to hospitalized children with critical medical conditions. http://www.theartofelysium.org/
Sandy has been a member of N.A.R.I.P. and E.P.P.S. She also worked for
Strand Media Group as Assistant Producer and Office Manager for four Nationally-Syndicated music and interview shows, until
the company relocated to the East Coast in 2003.
Answer to the question:
"The Real Hero" is in each of us, including YOU...
every day that you get up and give each day the best you have to offer IN THAT MOMENT, regardless of what your circumstances or feelings tell you; because both your
feelings AND circumstances can change in a minute, a day, or a year, but what you DO with that time CAN change your life,
the lives of others, and maybe even the world...or at least the part of it that you occupy. It's when you do the things
that are hard to do, in spite of how you feel or how things look, that you have the opportunity to be a hero to yourself and
to others.
