Deborah Kara Unger

I thought I had a huge crush on a young Canadian photographer who was commissioned to go down to Australia to do a series, so I tried to figure out a way to follow him without getting in trouble with my parents, and that was by auditioning for their National Institute.

When I graduated from high school, I had artistic and academic scholarships, and I was trying to figure out what to do. I decided to audition for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Juilliard and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney, Australia.

In a pine tree behind me, an eagle waits out the rain, hunched into himself, brooding. Crows squabble, a murder chasing a raven. Seals cruise the lines of fishing nets bobbing in the water, hoping for an easy meal, the tender bellies of salmon.