Daily Inspiration: Meet Diane Foster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Foster.

Hi Diane, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up the youngest of six children in New Jersey, and my parents are still married after 60 years. When I was eight years old, I won the “Little Miss Union” talent contest, and my journey into entertainment began. At 12, I was acting and dancing around the country and started to train professionally in New York City. In my senior year of High School, I won the Rising Star Award for Best Actress in New Jersey, given by the world-renowned Papermill Playhouse for my role as Princess Winifred in the musical “Once Upon A Mattress.” It was a sweet victory against my biggest rival, Anne Hathaway, who was nominated for the same role the same year. It was at that moment that I chose to pursue acting as a career fully. My first big gig was Law and Order: SVU, a standard if you’re an NYC actor, balanced with a few Mike’s Hard Lemonade commercials. After maximizing the opportunities in NY, I got the courage to drive across the country to Los Angeles, chasing my dreams and leaving the comfort of my big family behind.

Those first few weeks in LA were rough. I crashed in a Days Inn Motel and remembered eating a stale TV dinner while watching Halle Berry make history as the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. I knew nothing about LA, so I signed up for a dance class, hoping to make some new friends. One night after class, a woman asked me to be in a new show she was working on that needed top-of-the-line dancers. She gave me no information about what I was walking into. It turned out to be the original PussyCat Dolls and, at the time, a burlesque review at The Roxy in Hollywood. We performed to sold-out celebrity audiences, and it starred Carmen Electra, Christina Applegate, Gwen Stefani, Charlize Theron, Christina Aguilera, Brittany Murphy, Dita Von Teese, and me! I was one of the 12 original girls to do all the burlesque and Fosse style choreography that included dances with hunky sailor boys. It was my first job in LA, and I was immediately thrust into the world of celebrities. At 21, it was not only incredible fun but an amazing experience. I continued auditioning during this time and landed a role in the indie film “Descendant” starring Katherine Heigl and Jeremy London, where I would meet my then producing partner and now ex-husband.

After the Pussycat Dolls shows, I began my foray into producing and creating the documentary “Dying For Meth,” which followed a young girl who survived an explosion while cooking meth in a van, burning over sixty percent of her body. For three years, we followed her and her family’s addiction while watching her struggle to care for her five years old son and thirteen years old sister. We received the Prism Award in Beverly Hills for outstanding documentary and public service work. This led me to star and produce my first narrative feature, “Iowa,” a Tribeca Film Festival Official Selection. On my first day on set, I found out I was pregnant with my son, Golden, and only twenty-two months later had my daughter, Ivy. It was, and still is, the greatest achievement of my life to be their mother.

After “Iowa” dominated independent cinemas in NY, LA, and Chicago, we received a call from Jeff Cuban, owner of Landmark Theaters chain. He suggested that we make a horror film with the success of “Iowa” and its edgy, gory, and very intense subject matter. We began producing the slasher/horror film “The Orphan Killer” that I starred in, creating a cult following of over 500,000 fans on Facebook. The idea was simple. Blood and sex sell. It became an instant cult classic with over 3 million illegal film downloads worldwide. We even sold the mask of “The Orphan Killer” in Sears and Walmart! I was a homeschooling mama by day and gory blood-covered slasher queen by night.

“The Orphan Killer” had us traveling to Europe, Spain, and Italy to premiere at festivals to sold-out audiences. The crowds would stomp, scream and chant at the screen as if they were attending a heavy metal rock show! When we returned, I began boxing at Glendale Fighting Club to get in shape. There, I trained alongside Ronda Rousey, who would enter the UFC years later. We became fast friends as the only females in an Armenian-male gym. I started working on the sequel “Bound X Blood: The Orphan Killer 2” during this time. Submerged in the world of MMA and boxing, we were determined to include that as a part of the sequel securing Ronda and “The Four Horsewomen” as supporting actors along with many other well-known wrestlers and UFC fighters. During filming and a long time coming, my marriage of 17 years fell apart. It began a tumultuous roller coaster ride of divorce, incarceration, and a nearly fatal car accident.

At the time, the only focus I had was survival in a now single-mother world and starting my life over. I was in therapy for my PTSD and healing the years of physical, mental, psychological, and verbal abuse I went through in my marriage. It was in therapy that getting back to my roots became so important. My therapist asked me, “besides having your children, when were you happiest?” Well, that was a good question. I am naturally thrilled and positive, but I struggled to remember when I had last felt happy and free. My answer was: I was 18 years old, doing shows, taking extensive acting, singing, & dancing classes, and had just won the Rising Star Award! My therapist suggested going back to acting class, mentioned an acting school I could join, googled it, and auditioned for a week later.

Through that acting class, I met a huge community of like-minded people with whom I’ve created long-lasting friendships and many great projects, including three short films and a feature. Not long after, I starred in rock legend Glenn Danzig’s music video for “Last Ride” and his directorial debut feature, “Verotika”. Everything seemed to be on the right track, and then it stopped at an extreme halt with the tragic accidental death of my only brother, Walter, in 2018.

As we affectionately called him, Wally was fifty-four years old and a father of four. He worked his whole life at the Sunoco gas station in Short Hills, NJ, that he would eventually own. He was an avid softball player and bar fly; simply put, everyone loved my brother. Over 1,000 people attended his wake. Some strangers he had helped during his life came to offer their condolences and praise on what an amazing friend he was to so many. I was angry and upset that this world took him away from us with no notice or reason. His death has had the biggest impact on my life. Since we were kids, my mother always said, “family is first and most important.” My five siblings are my best friends, and we physically lost a son, husband, father, brother, and friend. I now know he. During this time, as I struggled to get back to my reality, I was working odd jobs to support my life and two children on my own and continued getting producing jobs.

For many years, I wanted to start my own production company so my projects could have a banner and a team of people behind them. I thought long and hard about the name, and in one moment, it hit me like a rocket, a childhood name we called my late beloved brother, “WallyBird.” Walter was tall and slim, with a giant smile and an infectious laugh. To honor my brother’s life that was cut too short, WallyBird Productions was born. Since 2018, WallyBird Productions has produced a two-act play, four short films, a web series pilot, two award-winning documentaries, two feature films, and three music videos. We are currently working on a movie musical and a guitar education series.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenges have been overcoming the personal losses of my life and trying to stand out in a male-dominated world. As a female producer, but as a female period, the struggle to have our voices heard and seen is an uphill battle. It’s very important for my children, especially my teenage daughter and the next generation of women, to keep pushing for gender equality and equality in all aspects. A few years ago, I was so taken with the film “Queen and Slim” by Lena Waithe. I posted my feelings about how incredibly well done the film was on my Instagram and said, “It is so important for the conscious collective of us all to support storytelling this masterfully done. I took my daughter, and she so intelligently said she needed to congratulate Lena Waithe and would watch whatever she made. Ivy is the next generation of truth seekers, movers and shakers, warriors, and young activists and already understands as a teenager the value in the voices that are not afraid to tell the stories that need to be told. Congratulations and thank you to the team that created this film frame by frame, as I was intoxicated by it, inspired by it, and feel determined to make a change by it”. That is exactly how I feel about the struggles and challenges we face to get stories heard and shift what has not been represented for far too long. I am determined to change the narrative and work towards having whole teams and crews of badass females, non-represented, racially diverse, and gender fluid creatives working in front and behind the camera.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
WallyBird Productions is a production company committed to producing projects with diverse talent, gender equality, and creating the teams responsible for films that push the envelope with high entertainment value and substance. We set ourselves apart for being a company of inclusion and representing stories and people that are so often overlooked. I am the founder, CEO, and lead producer on the projects WallyBird is working on. We pride ourselves on producing all types of media, in all genres, all over the world. We have so many exciting things ahead and are always looking to collaborate.

What was you like growing up?
I was a delighted child that loved being affectionate and singing and dancing. I was very much a showman from an early age. I loved watching old movies with my Dad with Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey starring in them. Watching Gene Kelly and his dance moves gave me inspiration and thrill and, still to this day, makes me want to be a better entertainer. I knew early on that my destiny was to perform and create. My parents were very into sports, and I came out tap dancing! They tried for a while to put me into sports, including softball, and I put my mitt on my head out in the outfield, so it was not for me. As an adult, I am a much bigger sports fan and player. I feel fortunate that my parents and siblings supported my creative endeavors then and now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wallybirdproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianefosterofficial/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dianefosterofficial
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LadyDiLovesYou
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1xJy5UsRnAcVCyh-beXHlQ

Image Credits
Paul Zimmer