Sterling sheds “˜Frau’ persona, offers Bruins advice

Mindy Sterling, widely known as Dr. Evil’s shouting
side-kick Frau Farbissina, will share her secrets to success noon
today at Ackerman Grand Ballroom. And she promises not to yell.

Sterling’s presentation is part of the UCLA Campus Events
Guest Speaker Series.

In addition to playing with her 8-year-old son and performing
with the improv group the Groundlings, Sterling is involved with
new projects. Sterling’s latest theater role in
“Beverly Winwards Presents the Actor’s Showcase”
can be seen every Monday at 8 p.m. at the Cannon Theatre through
Nov. 15.

“It’s a bunch of actors that present themselves as
real characters,” Sterling said. “This is what L.A. is
all about, actors trying to showcase who they are and who they
think they are in hopes of getting work.”

Sterling is excited to put aside her stage face for a little
while and share some serious thoughts with her UCLA audience. She
is recognized often by fans after her third Austin Powers
performance, and is accustomed to being bombarded with questions.
However, she is not turned off by such attention.

“I worked hard to get to this point,” Sterling said.
“I’m so friendly, and I’m not so severe that
people are blown away and say, “˜Wow you are so different than
what you do.'”

Sterling is frequently asked to turn into Frau Farbissina
““ and she can do so in a second. But she’s cautious
about future roles.

“There is that trap,” Sterling said. “When you
do a successful character, everybody wants you to recreate it. I
don’t want to do Frau for the rest of my life. I do get a lot
of requests to do the mean school teacher, the horrible
secretary.”

Though she brings her “Frau” persona, Sterling was
unable to bring Austin and instead will tell a plethora of stories
about her interactions with Mike Myers.

“He makes me laugh and I make him laugh,” Sterling
said. “It’s a nice combination.”

When does Sterling like Myers the best? When he’s
portraying Dr. Evil of course. And it’s not just because
Farbissina is fond of getting freaky with the villain.

“I love watching (Myers) do Dr. Evil,” Sterling
said. “That’s my ultimate favorite character that he
does. I think he has the most fun with him. I think he just
connects with him much stronger than the other
(characters).”

Filming the make-out scene with Myers didn’t make Sterling
sick, but one scene taken out of the final cut did inflict
illness.

“We were all in the (Dr. Evil) sub-layer watching one of
the villains being eaten up by sharks. These sharks in the tank
look so real. They were all mechanical,” Sterling said.
“We were all viewing this and we all started getting sick.
All of us, including all the extras in the scene, start projectile
vomiting. From what I heard, they had it in the original film and
they had to pull it because (test) audiences were getting
sick.”

As demonstrated in her portrayal of Frau Farbissina, Sterling
seems to have natural talent. But today she will talk about her
work ethic for UCLA students. For those aspiring actors who
can’t attend today’s presentation, she offers this
advice.

“I think it is really important to have a life outside of
your acting life, so that your whole life isn’t consumed by
acting,” Sterling said. “It can be pretty intense, and
all of the rejection and not working on a regular basis can really
get to you. You have to have other things that bring you joy. Never
stop working. And I mean working by taking classes, studying or
watching people.”

Sterling might yell and scream out commands on occasion, but her
audiences shouldn’t be afraid. Sterling is quick to befriend
her fans ““ including her son’s classmates.

“It’s so funny when I go into my son’s school
and everyone acts like they know me saying “˜Hi! How are
you?'” Sterling said. “I’m pretty friendly
and they really respond nicely to it.”