Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Christina Fulton Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment Industry

…You really must be your own advocate, your own cheerleader, really look into yourself for what it is that you came here for in any career. I mean, I think, it really is to thank yourself. You know, you are the leader and lean into yourself.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Christina Fulton.

Christina Fulton has worked as a model with Elite Model Management and with LA Models. She was the face of Farlow Jeans and modeled for the “Too Cute” campaign. Fulton has had roles in films like Oliver Stone’s The Doors as Velvet Underground singer Nico, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Dangerous Game, The Girl with the Hungry Eyes, Enemies of Laughter, Lucinda’s Spell and Snake Eyes. Fulton hosts a weekly online show, Playing It Forward.In 2006, Fulton directed and produced the documentary When Giants Collide about the plight of Beverly Hills High School’s wrestling program being on the brink of extinction.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I’ve been acting since I was a kid. My mom said I came out acting. It’s weird because I lived in Idaho, and you wouldn’t think, this girl from a small town in Idaho would go into this field. I always say, when you’re growing up in “God’s country”, there’s very little to do, so you’re always acting and singing. Funny enough, you know, a lot of art comes out of small towns. We are limited in terms of exposure and access, so we’re, we’re drawn to the arts. That being said, I’ve always wanted to be in entertainment.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you into entertainment? Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Well, when I auditioned for “The Doors” with Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan and Oliver Stone, that was a really big day in my life, because, you know, I had been up for a lot of roles. And William Morris sent me there and said, “You’re up for this role.” I look her up. It’s Nico, the famous Nico. We looked alike. So yay, but there were so many girls there. There were 300 in this auditorium in Santa Monica. And I was like, “I’ve never seen so many blondes in my life. Well, what, how am I going to stand out?” But I did. Thank God. But I think that was interesting, scary. And hey, you know what? She stood out, this girl. So thank God, I got the role.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Funny? Well, gosh. Well, I did this show on Showtime. “Red Shoe Diaries” was Zalman King. And he had written this show in the movie “9 ½ Weeks” with Kim Basinger. Right. So, this was like the biggest show out there. I mean, I go to the grocery store, and I got “you’re on that show!” You know, I am very physical in my acting. So I was like slamming my finger around and doing all these crazy antics that all actors usually do when they’re playing, whatever role they have. And I slammed my finger into the gate. And I didn’t know because I was wearing this glove, but my hand was filling up with blood and they cut and then the directors were like, “I think you did something to your finger.” Well, I actually was rushed to the hospital. I had literally severed my finger almost off with these crazy antics. And they were lovely. I went right back to work, they put like a popsicle thing on it, they wrapped it up and I went right back to work as a professional actress. But I learned to like not be so like, there’s a little level to it, like be crazy, but don’t like you know, injure yourself.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Well, I’ll tell you, I was blessed to have met, you know, Nicholas, when I was a kid, we were kids, you know, fell in love. And, you know, he really protected me as a young woman in this city of Los Angeles, trying to make it in the business. So he really gave me that support. I think Nicolas Cage gave me that support a lot to really be careful of the things that could happen to most girls that come here which we know the horrific stories now even more than ever. “Me Too”, that’s real. So I really appreciate that he was there for me to guide me and you know, tell me “No, no meetings after 7 pm” and you know, it really was helpful. I mean, who’s going to tell me that because he was such a, you know, seasoned actor when I met him, he was really young. We both were young. He kind of put that guillotine down and said no, you know?

Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

I would say that, you know, be, be yourself, be kind, be grateful. And I say those things like, it is everything that you should be the fabric of your life, be yourself. My advice would just be, if this is really what you came here for, it doesn’t matter how many rejections you get, or how long it takes you. Because the light would go out in you if you didn’t have that. So what are you really here for? I think that that’s the most important thing. So what do you really want?

What drives you to get up every day and work in TV and Film? What change do you want to see in the industry going forward?

I’m telling you, I’m the same person every day, there’s no hidden power. I mean, I wake up in a good mood. I wake up positive, even with the most incredible things that could be challenges and tribulations that are going on in my life. I just don’t wake up pissed off, like, who wants to wake up mad, and then life happens. But I think that what drives me is how exciting it is to invent and create, and to know that that empire that you’re building, one day will be successful. I think that that’s what it’s just a great feeling to have. I want the stigma of age to be off women, I just, it should be taken off immediately, as much as any of the other challenges that we have in the world, but there is no expiration to your dream. And women should never feel that there is something written up on a chalkboard or wherever it’s written. And that needs to be removed ASAP.

You have such impressive work. Tell us about SHINE? Where do see the show heading from here?

Oh my god, I love SHINE so much. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And I’ve done other shows before I did 58 episodes of “Playing it Forward” on YouTube, so I got kind of a little bit of a taste of that feeling. It was kind of set in a cool kind of raw way. Like a Howard Stern, I have guests come in. I have always wanted to shine a bright light on the things that people have done in their life. Whether it’s a celebrity, a CEO, an everyday person, like I want it to be granular though, I want a show that really takes you back and gives you a great education about that person. And where am I heading? Mega! Like mega want to be on a daytime platform out there. Peacock! Paramount! Come on now. You know I’m the right girl for it. You know, I like to make people feel good, and truly educated. That’s what I say in my show. There’s a lot of people In the world, right? We’re not going to know all those people in a lifetime. So you need shows like this that really amplifies the shine-ness of that person, and what they’ve done.

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

Well, it just opens it wide up in so many ways, as we just talked about age, right? So, I mean, we have to embrace all walks of life and all cultures, and I am actually so proud of us. You know, if I was interviewing the world right now, we’re doing a good job. We are changing. And the more that we are open and loving, it’s all about love and acceptance and embracing so watch out world! Then where are we going? It’s endless, the things that we can do now.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

It’s not glamorous. It’s only when you put that dress on and walk down the red carpet. It’s such hard work. Are you ready for the hard work? There’s not always someone there to pat you on the back, and you know, a sounding board. Or, hey, you can do that, you are the cheerleader. I love when Snoop said, “thank you so much to myself, for all the work I did.” I couldn’t stop watching that. You really must be your own advocate, your own cheerleader, really look into yourself for what it is that you came here for in any career. I mean, I think, it really is to thank yourself. You know, you are the leader and lean into yourself.

Can you share with our readers any selfcare routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

Well, I don’t know if you guys know, but I am a certified, degreed fitness guru for over 25 years in Greater Los Angeles. No matter what I’m doing in my life, we have our career, right? We have our dreams or goals, but then we have our hobbies. It’s such a weird thing to say hobby, it’s not a hobby, it is who I am. I’m a fitness of service person. And I have been on a stage, since like, ever, we would call to stage teaching hundreds and 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of people for over 25 years. Fitness will save your life. If you don’t have your fitness, you have nothing. If you don’t have your health, you have nothing. So, you have to really remember, fitness is your health care. So I hand out health care every week, I teach three to four times, no matter where I am in the world and matter what I’m doing, I carve out fitness. And I really push exercise to everyone for your mental wellness. And this is like, I sing my praises. I am a walking example of you know, as a woman that is “growing up” because I don’t like the word old, because we’re just growing up. So exercise all the time. And you will see a huge difference in your DNA.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Well, I would go back to that. You know, “if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.” Imagine, if you were sick, would you be able to have your dream? It’s really changed my life. I was the daughter of a scientist and an engineer. My dad used to play for the Lakers. So I had that kind of dad, he was on the Lakers, and then an engineer. On the side of science, and then a side of fitness, I really thank him for that. Because we were programmed as kids to be out taking care of our body and our wellness and then in school to science. So that’s my, well, that’s my heartbeat. I think.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

Well, I’m doing that right now! I have a foundation called The Mental Health Resilience. I teamed up with Dr. Lawless, you’ve seen him on Dr. Phil. He and I created a “hub”, if you will, where we are creating documentaries, at your fingertips on our platform of stories that can really help people through watching. We can read a lot of things and get lost in a lot of reading. So for me, I’m really out there as an ambassador to the mental wellness that we need right now. Kids, young kids do not have a place to go. I get a lot of emails and DM’s about having nowhere to go. I wish we had a place to go to talk and to interact with other kids. So that’s what we’re doing. We’re doing The Mental Health Resilience, kind of the hub of documentaries because you learn so well by watching. That’s why Netflix and Hulu are so great. Then we’ll be doing these retreats for young kids, which is important to our foundation. Once COVID subsides, I’m really excited to tell you are going to have these events where young kids can come, just be themselves and get all the answers to the things that are bothering them.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why?

Besides my mama, who’s 81, I love her- Mama Fulton. Elon Musk. I’m really drawn to sit down with these masterminds, you know because I have a skincare company called Immortal Beauty, Inc, which is technologically advanced. I lean into science. Cal Tech University works with me. I make everything out of Japan. I’m really proud of it. Here I come ladies! Here I come, gonna slow down the way you feel in your process of growing up! So, Elon Musk and probably Richard Branson, I want to just pick their brains!

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!