(birds chirping) LISETTE HERNANDEZ: Have you ever made a wish?

I make them all the time.

I watch for the first star each night.

Star light, star bright.

(voiceover): I love acting.

Acting is what gives me peace.

It's what makes me, you know... it's my stress relief.

My name is Lisette Hernandez, and I am studying theater arts.

I had only been doing theater for three years, and my senior year, that's when I was part of the Youth Cinema Project.

It helped me realize that theater's going to be my baby.

I know that I want to be either in a film, or on a stage, and I just want to feel the audience.

♪ ♪ When I, you know, perform monologues, or even if I'm just, you know, reciting a monologue by myself, I forget about who I am.

I-I kind of...

I just block her-- I block Lis away.

It helps me just forget about my problems-- that's why it helps me relieve stress.

Because if I am feeling very frustrated, then I just..

I'm saying, "You know what?

"Forget this, forget Lis, forget her problems, I'm going to be someone else right now."

When you're interested in the arts, I feel like it's even harder, because a lot more people doubt you.

You know, if you were to tell them, "Oh, you know, I want to study engineering or medicine," most people are going to be like "Oh, you know, that's a good field-- you should totally do that."

But when you tell them, "Oh, I want to study theater, I want to study music, I want to study dance," you know, most people will often ask you, "Are you sure, are you going to find a job, is it going to be worth it?"

So when I start thinking about all these things, it brings me down, because it just makes me feel like, well, you know, why am I doing all this stuff if I'm going to end up, you know, not having a good job, or having a job that's not related to what I'm studying?

I feel like that scares every college student.

I feel like that's a very scary thing to think about.

So it just hit me one time, and it was, like, 2:00 a.m. in the summer, and I had already been accepted to the colleges that I had applied, and I started thinking, like, "Is this even going to be worth it, just, you know, "four or five years of just studying something that I'm probably not going to find a job in?"

You know, my parents, they were trying to push me towards studying math-related things.

MIGUEL HERNANDEZ (speaking Spanish): LISETTE: I'm actually really thankful for my parents.

They're trying to raise us to be, you know, good people, and successful people.

I want to be able to give back to them, so they don't have to break their backs that much for me anymore.

I want to be breaking my back for them.

(indistinct conversations) CREW MEMBER: Rolling!

VOICE ON RADIO: Rolling and rolling, guys.

CREW MEMBER: Rolling!

LISETTE: The Youth Cinema Project helped me see how different things can be, just being able to talk to, you know, the tutors, and just seeing that they're Latinos, too.

As a Latina, you know, I feel like so many doors are closed.

But just, you know, knowing people that are... were in the same position as you, and now they... they've made it, like, it helps you kind of realize, well, you know, like, I could do it, too.

I'm actually really excited, because I'm going to be taking two theater classes next semester, and a dance class.

Since I'm going to be taking classes that I am really looking forward to, I'm actually going to be enjoying school.

I'm actually looking forward to audition for the plays next semester, and I am hoping for the best.

♪ ♪