Virginia Beach resident becomes commercial success

VIRGINIA BEACH

Fortunately for Chrishonna Shelton, when she auditioned to be in a Virginia Credit Union commercial late last month, there were no snarky Simon Cowell judges serving on the celebrity panel she performed for.

Unfortunately, there was a stony-faced judge who sat seemingly unmoved by her performance.

As Shelton belted out Aretha Franklin’s vocally challenging “Respect,” the Virginia Beach resident couldn’t tell if she’d wowed him or not. There were about eight local celebrity judges serving on the Richmond panel she performed for, but the constant stare of that one judge was the one she remembers most.

“He had a face where you didn’t know what he was thinking. You just couldn’t tell either way.”

“It was kind of ‘American Idol’ish,” Shelton added. “If you went on to the next round, they interviewed you.”

Fortunately, Shelton did go on to compete, and she was selected as one of 12 cast members to appear in the Virginia Credit Union’s new commercial.

However, Hampton Roads residents won’t be able to see her performance on television. This week, the commercial began airing, but only in the Richmond area.

Anyone else interested in seeing it can view a rehearsal and the actual commercial online.  Shelton is the young woman with a bright blue shirt and a white head band, right of center.

Shelton, 28, found out about the commercial audition when she logged into her online account with the Virginia Credit Union. The auditions were open only to current credit union members.

“We had more than 75 members audition for the commercial,” said Glenn Birch, a credit union spokesman. The organization has plans to film a second commercial with another selected 12 cast members soon.

The emphasis in creating the commercials was featuring real members in the 30-second spots, Birch said.

“We were very impressed with the talent our members showed. They were evaluated on their singing and dancing, their star quality.”

Selecting Shelton, he added, wasn’t difficult.

“She just really kind of lights up the stage.”

Last weekend Shelton filmed the commercial in Richmond. It was a three-day process that included rehearsals, a recording segment and filming. Although Shelton has performed in several local plays with Iron Street Productions in Hampton, and she has an upcoming performance in “The Face of Emmett Till” at Thomas Nelson Community College on May 28, she had never acted on film until now.

“It has a ‘Glee’ theme, so it’s a lot of singing and jazz hands,” she said, referring to the commercial. Her professional goal is to become a licensed therapist – she’s awaiting her license and already has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s in social work – but this experience has fueled her desire to become an actress, too.

“It was amazing to see how much work goes into 30 seconds,” she said. “I could only imagine what it would take to do a movie. It was the most incredible experience.”