Imagine going on 538 job interviews and it will offer a glimpse of the road that led a former Poplar Bluff resident to a speaking role on the popular CBS drama "S.W.A.T."
Sheila Thiele jokes her ability to spit may have helped clinch her place as angry hockey fan Stella on the episode "Imposters."
About 100 people tried out for the role, which had four lines in scenes with series regulars Kenny Johnson and Jay Harrington.
Thiele was one of about seven called back to read before producers, and the only one who took the direction to spit seriously.
She spent a day on set filming for the November episode, in which a visiting hockey player receives death threats.
Both Johnson, who plays Dominique Luca, and Harrington, who plays David 'Deacon' Kay, were really nice, Thiele said.
"They were really cool to work with, just really gracious and humble," said Thiele, who attended Poplar Bluff High School.
The part is one of several that kept Thiele busy in 2017, along with speaking roles in the Emma Roberts film "Billionaire Boys Club," and the Felicia Day movie, "Stuck."
While this path may be taking longer than Thiele hoped when she arrived in Los Angeles in her early 20s, it is one she still loves.
"It's definitely been an arduous journey and ... it's still a challenge," said Thiele. "I just am grateful to be out here and to be on this journey.
"It's definitely not a cake walk, but neither is anyone else's career."
Thiele has tried out for parts on George Clooney films, the Matt Damon movie "Suburbicon," the AMC hit "The Walking Dead," and many others.
Thiele has loved the escapism of acting since she was child, and says her dream would be to make the films she has written and be a series regular on a drama.
"I was always the weird kid pretending to be a wolf on the playground," Thiele said, laughing. "I think a lot of actors feel like that, that feeling of being on the outside."
Acting can be a difficult business to break into, she said, for those that don't come from the business, or have an Ivy league school in their background.
"My dream is just to work and be able to act more and more and keep it in my life," Thiele said.
Between auditions she works as a yoga therapist, a type of physical therapy using yoga, does acupuncture and Thai massage, and is a part-time nanny.
Despite the challenges, Thiele considers herself lucky to have the opportunity to be striving to make her dreams come true.
Thiele also feels when life is uncertain, people are most open to its possibilities.
"The key is attempting to find on a daily basis the serenity to live in those questions," said Thiele. "Maybe I won't act forever, maybe I won't live in LA forever. It makes me more open to something else."