Rebecca Faulkenberry was a young Bermudian who wanted to be an actress on the world stage.

She didn’t have any famous friends or family to help pave her way — she put her head down, and got to work.

It’s the advice she gives to anyone with big dreams.

“You can’t be naive to the facts,” she said. “It is a very difficult business. There are way more actors and singers trying to achieve success than there are available jobs. It can be a very profitable year for you and then it can be nothing.

“I have been very fortunate. I have spent the majority of my career being employed — and working pretty hard.”

The 30-year-old has appeared in hit Broadway productions Rock of Ages and Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. She’s also appeared on London, England’s West End and had guest appearances on television shows.

She performed a solo show of Broadway, jazz and pop songs as part of the Bermuda Festival last week.

“I recognised so many people in the audience,” she said. “It took me an hour-and-a-half to say thank you. It is absolutely a different feeling from performing on Broadway.”

She said Bermuda was always supportive of her ambition to act. She didn’t encounter any real negativity until she left the Island.

“When I went to universities to start auditioning for musical theatre programmes, people said to me, ‘Don’t go into this if you can imagine doing anything else with your life and being happy’. That frustrated me because I knew this was what I wanted to do and I felt like time was being wasted with negativity.”

It turned out to be good advice. She’s since discovered the acting life is not always an easy one.

Her first stage performance was at City Hall at seven years old. Although initially interested in musical theatre, she later began to enjoy acting and singing separately.

She left the Island at 18 for university, and graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Scotland in 2007. She moved to London and got the lead role in the hit High School Musical, in 2008.

Other job offers came but they weren’t quite what she wanted.

She was sitting in a cafe when she impulsively decided to move to New York City where she thought there would be more opportunities.

“I didn’t know anyone or have any connections in New York,” she said.

“I went blindly. The first month was hard. I was going to cattle call auditions. In that type of audition, people respond to an advertisement, and line up outside the building starting around 7.30am.”

She managed to find a manager after six weeks.

“That made all the difference,” she said. “He started getting me auditions. Rock of Ages was my first audition.”

She performed on Broadway for two years, starting in 2011, and then went on tour for seven months.

She is now doing voice-over work for television commercials while looking for a gig on the stage or on television.

In between gigs she often returns to Bermuda to teach private acting and voice lessons.

While here last week, she saw a performance of Honk! at her alma mater, Bermuda High School for Girls.

“I have always loved talking to students,” she said. “I can easily picture myself in their shoes, because I was one of those students in Bermuda who wanted to go away and work on a global scale.”

To learn more about Miss Faulkenberry’s acting classes in Bermuda see her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/actingintensiverebecca.