By Sarah Vogelsong
Three p.m., the casting director had told Laura Long, was the zero hour.
If Long hadn’t heard from her by then, she could assume that the part of Philadelphia socialite Becky Franks on the second season of the AMC television series ‘Turn’ had gone to someone else.
Two o’clock passed. Then three. Then four, five, six, seven.
Still, said Long, “I just had this gut feeling. I was praying for it, and I thought, I don’t think this is over.’”
The next morning, despondent over the role but still hopeful for the future, Long was driving in her car when the casting director called her up on her cell phone.
“Pull over, Becky Franks,” she said.
The role had been Long’s all along: the director had written an e-mail offering her the part the prior afternoon—but had never pressed send.
It was a twist worthy of a movie: the story, perhaps, of a country girl trying to make it big in Hollywood who finally gets her break. But unlike a script, Long’s tale is both still unraveling and more complicated.
Born and raised at historic Townfield in Port Royal, where her mother is mayor, Long moved to Los Angeles at 19, so fresh to the big city that she had to Google how to
parallel park because, she said, “I was used to parking in a field.”
The first few years were rocky: working multiple jobs in an unfamiliar place whose sprawl was in sharp relief to Port Royal’s close-knit culture, Long many nights ended up on the phone with her mother in tears. Still, she said, “I never once said I wanted to come home.”
“I knew it was where I was supposed to be,” she said.
Gradually, she accumulated experience, and when the opportunity to audition for Franks arose, she was prepared.
“I think I needed the past four years to look for part-time jobs to make ends meet, to eat ramen noodles all the day, to be a struggling actress,” Long said. “It made me grow in my faith, [and] that’s made me grow as a person and as an actor.”
Shooting the two episodes of ‘Turn’ in which Long appears this season brought her back to the familiar land of Virginia and, given her background in historical reenactment, some familiar colonial garb. From learning to dance three different minuets to filming outside the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg, the experience was an exhilarating ride.
“I love when history comes back to life,” she said.
That love sprouted in Port Royal at an early age. Long recalls seeing a portrait of Fannie Lightfoot, an eighteenth-century resident of Caroline known for her beauty, hanging on the wall at Townfield and “wanting to be her.”
“Even as a kid, I was always fascinated by the families that lived here beforehand,” she said.
From Port Royal to Los Angeles, she’s carried that fascination with her, and those roots have helped her stayed true to herself amid the heady rush of the city, where a strong community of friends, mentors, and faith keep her centered.
“It’s such a big pool,” said Long of Los Angeles. “There are so many people wanting the same thing, and there is no formula for success—which is why I think it’s so important for actors to come up with their own formula.”
For Long, that formula is a matter of focusing on her craft, rather than becoming a celebrity, working hard, and letting events unfold as they will. Her goal, she said, is “to pay all my bills by acting. To be constantly working on a set.”
“I am at my happiest when I am on a set,” she said.
‘Turn’ is a major milestone for the 24-year-old, one that sparked a flood of tears when the first episode aired to 32 million viewers and she saw herself onscreen portraying Franks.
Now, like many chapters in the life of an aspiring actor, Long has to sit tight and wait to see if the network picks up the series for a third season, giving her a chance to reprise her role.
Until then, said Long, “we’re just saying our prayers and holding our breath.”