Minnich is an Albuquerque actress who appeared in the recently aired series “Better Call Saul.” She played the role of Brenda, the secretary of Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill law firm.
Minnich’s role in the show, which is set and filmed in Albuquerque, had an almost immediate effect on her IMBD.com page. “Better Call Saul” was the most anticipated network show prior to its premier, which broke records as the most-viewed premier in cable network history with 6.9 million viewers tuning in, according to HollywoodReporter.com.
“I’m going to start seeing effects now,” Minnich said. “This is going to be the first week of the rest of my life. I know that sounds really optimistic and hopeful, but things are happening.”
Her role in the series has helped her career considerably, and she is now involved in a film production with A-list actors, she said.
“Better Call Saul” and its sister show “Breaking Bad” also had a major impact on the careers of locals who worked on the other side of the camera.
“Honestly, it’s just great to work with some of the best writers, directors, crew and cast in the TV industry,” said David “Jaxx” Nagro, a UNM alum who worked as a dolly grip on both “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.”
“A lot of the cast and crew are the same as ‘Breaking Bad’s,’ and it’s a great team,” he said. “It has the same feel to shoot as Breaking Bad had, but it’s its own entity and everyone knows it.”
While Minnich’s screen time in the first episode is brief, she said the two lines she spoke during the scene had an impact on her.
“Do you know how rare that is?” Minnich said. “They never keep both of your lines; they always cut something.”
To Minnich, this is the first step in her transition into bigger roles with more screen time, she said.
Minnich has been in front of a camera her entire life. She joked that the first sound she ever heard was the sound of a camera shutter, and in 2007 she made her screen debut in “Dukes of Hazard: The Beginning.” Since then she has had roles in various movies including “Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden” and will appear in the upcoming feature “The Merry Maids of Madness.”
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Her roles have become more prominent in recent months, and she said she credits this newfound success to “Better Call Saul.” She said she has been getting significantly more auditions since its filming.
“I will start getting tears in my eyes if I imagine what it’s going to do to my career,” she said.
Minnich said she has found a new way to further her acting career: pursuing a master’s degree in communications.
“I want to give all of myself to acting because it’s what I do, it’s what I’m passionate about,” Minnich said. “The whole reason I went into graduate school is so I learn to be a better actor via teaching, via communication. What do actors do on screen? They communicate. Well, I’m going to go study communication then.”
Minnich said she believes teaching has helped her become a better actor.
“If you want to become an actor, go be a teacher,” she said. “Get in front of a class with 30 people and keep that class going for an hour and 15 minutes — do that and you can be an actor.”
Fin Martinez is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news @dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @FinMartinez.
