Mercer Island grad Naomi Glick lands role in Robin Williams' new movie

Islander Naomi Glick, a student at the University of Washington, spent much of July laughing alongside Hollywood actor Robin Williams. The aspiring actress plays a central role in Williams’ latest drama, “World’s Greatest Dad,” an independent film by You Don’t Know Me Productions.

“It was very entertaining. He’s a very funny guy,” the Mercer Island High School graduate said of Williams.

Interacting with Williams in several scenes, Glick can safely say that this is her first “big break” into the movie business.

The Islander plays the role of a high school student named Ginger, whose teacher, Williams, is also the father of her classmate and friend, Kyle, who dies suddenly. The plot revolves around Williams’ attempt to keep the circumstances surrounding his son’s death a secret through subterfuge and lies, all the while becoming entangled in his own mess of deception.

Glick could not have landed the role without her private acting coach, Cassandra Chamberlain. A resident of Mercer Island, Chamberlain has been teaching film technique for more than 15 years to actors in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii and Seattle. Today she runs the Actors Studio on Mercer Island. Many of her students have gone on to land staring roles in Hollywood. Glick, she hopes, will be the next.

“The minute Naomi joined my class, I knew she had tremendous potential. She’s disciplined, focused, very likable and has great passion to work in film,” said Chamberlain, who has acted, directed, produced and written film. “At some point soon I’ll take her to L.A., get her a top agent and build her career because she’s really good.”

The young UW actress has only been in front of the camera a few times. Most of her experience has been on stage. After realizing that she prefers film acting to stage, Glick switched her major from drama to medical anthropology and global health and began taking private acting classes with Chamberlain.

“I hope to be cast in more movies and eventually earn an Oscar,” Glick said.

During the Seattle audition for “World’s Greatest Dad,” Glick showed both talent and charm, according to Chamberlain.

“Watching her, I was very proud. She’s everything I thought a fine actor should be,” the acting coach said.

Glick finished seven days of filming in Seattle two weeks ago. The movie is set to premier at next year’s Sundance Film Festival.

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