By Jim Misunas
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

When Rachel Crane tried improvised duet acting at Macksville High School, she thought she and her friend were “terrible.”
Katie Roenbaugh Schwalb, her friend, and Crane were co-valedictorians who competed together in improvised duet acting at Macksville.
“We were TERRIBLE!” Crane said. “We had no idea what we were doing. But by our senior year, we were definitely commanding audiences at our little 5 to 10-minute performances. We discovered for ourselves what made a scene work.”
From a humble farm-family background in Pawnee County, Crane is carving out a successful acting career in Hollywood, Calif., after developing her professional talent in “improv,” thanks to an assist from her life-long friend.
The 5-foot-9, blonde-haired and blue-eyed actor fits the perfect Hollywood mold.
Crane’s newest commercial recently aired for Kohl’s. Her other commercials are for Verizon Wireless, Cerritos Auto Group, Mattress Firm, Slimful Diet Bars, Gold’n Plump Chicken, Dole Salad Guide, Orange Mobile, Stanley Steemer, The Second City and Gary Lang Auto Group.
Crane’s commercial videos are available at (www.rachel-crane.com/Rachel_Crane/Reel.html). Her IMDB link is (www.imdb.me/rachel-crane). Her website is (www.rachel-crane.com).
After securing two commercials last year, Crane signed six commercial contracts in 2013. Most of her work involves a humorous twist, which is her strength.
“This year has been a really great year in terms of commercial bookings,” she said. “I’ve booked six commercials, which is sort of unheard of. Of those six, the one I did for Slimfuls Diet bars has gained me the most attention because it runs all the time. It has over 3.6 million views on YouTube.
“It’s a little goofy too, so people have definitely commented on it a lot. I also did a big commercial for Verizon this year which ran a lot for a short while. My parents saw it all the time, which was fun.”
She credits her family for blessing her with the gift of comedy.
“I really didn’t have a choice. My dad, uncles and granddad were always just doing bit-after-bit on the farm. They were very funny guys,” she said. “My dad loves going to movies and took us whenever he could. My mom is a natural speaker and orator and is very creative. She is always coming up with cute skits to present a point.
“So, when they wonder why I want to be an actor or do comedy — I say, ‘really guys? Did I have a choice?’ ”
She is the daughter of Roz and Alan Crane and her grandmother, Gloria Crane, also lives in Pawnee County. They are members of First Southern Baptist Church in Great Bend. Her brother, Zachary, works in Las Vegas as a project manager for Whiting-Turner, a construction firm.
She returns to Kansas every summer and drives the combine for her father’s wheat harvest. She taught her husband, Edward, the fine art of driving the combine five years ago.
Crane played volleyball, basketball, and ran track at Macksville. She was a state champion in the mile relay and competed in the 100- and 300 hurdles. Joyce Miller was Macksville volleyball coach assisted by Tuanua Dickson Swartz. Lori Lamb, LeAnne Bryant, and Jamie Arnold guided the basketball teams. Macksville’s track coaches were Joel Miller, Dan Grizzell, David Zachman, and Jennifer Gillespie.
“My favorite sport was volleyball. I still play every week with a group in North Hollywood,” she said. “I can’t get enough of it. I was really lucky to have a great group of girl friends in high school, and we all played sports really well together.”
Her first memory of acting was performing as the Lion in Chicken Little as a first-grader.
But a decision to pursue acting as a career struck her when she was 14. She grew to love “Interview With the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles.”
“I remember seeing Kirsten Dunst — a girl my age, with curly blonde hair like mine — up on that big screen, and I thought, ‘wait a minute, she’s just like me —  ohhh, I could do that too!’ ”
But it wasn’t until she took a child psychology class in college that she learned how children process television and at what point they truly realize it’s not real life.
“At 14, I obviously already knew that TV wasn’t real life, but I don’t think it was until that point that I realized that film and television WAS actually real life,” she said. “They were real people acting those parts as their real-life jobs. Once that clicked, there was no turning back. (And yes, I also did think it would be lovely to perform opposite Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise!)”
Education was always a high priority since her mom Roz taught fifth-grade at Macksville until she retired.
“I always challenged myself to win against myself — like how high of a score can I get on this test? At KSU, I only got two hours of B (which was tragic at the time).”
Crane knew in the back of her mind, she had an urge to act, but needed a backup source of income. She focused on advertising, marketing, and Spanish at Kansas State University. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and a minor in Spanish.
After her freshman year, Crane had her eyes opened when she visited Katie in Chicago, where her friend attended Northwestern University.
“Katie took me to a Second City sketch revue and I was sold — hook, line, and sinker,” she said. “I knew (some day) I had to go to the Second City, which is the world’s premier comedy club/theatre and school of improvisation.”
“Four years later, I took a class at The Second City, where they taught me a few of the things Katie and I had discovered on our own. We gave ourselves a little pat on the back.”
Second City alumni include Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, John Belushi, Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd and Steve Carrell.
“I worked very hard to get an internship at an advertising agency in Chicago the summer after my senior year, so that I could ultimately take classes at The Second City. I took their very first level that summer — Level A.”
Chicago carries fond memories for both women. They met their husbands in Chicago and were maids-of-honor for each other’s weddings. Katie and Micah Schwalb earned Juris Doctor law degrees at the University of Colorado School of Law. They earned Master of Law degrees from Chinese Law at Peking University.
“A semester later, after graduating, I went back to Chicago to finish what I’d started,” she said.
Crane believes proper training is imperative to stay competitive in the acting profession.
“Even the greats still take acting classes or meet with acting coaches. You’re never done learning,” she said. “You always have to keep working at it and try to get better. Staying in class is really important to keep from getting rusty. It’s tough because classes are expensive. But to me, it’s an investment that will eventually pay off if you stick with it. Discover Card has made a lot of money off of me.”
Crane said improv work taught her to not judge herself so harshly, which is difficult for a self-proclaimed perfectionist.
“Early on, I really tried hard to be perfect, but I always wound up crying because I couldn’t play a silly improv game,” she said. “My teacher said, ‘Whoa kid, chill out.’ You can’t be perfect, so just have fun and relax.’
“Some people are really good at it, but no one is perfect. For a perfectionist, that’s hard to grasp. But when you’re in an industry where you’re constantly getting rejected (not always winning), being able to bounce back is imperative.”
In the early years, success was hard to find. But the memory of getting cast in her first student sketch show at The Second City was memorable after Crane auditioned and failed to get cast several times.
“Katie, my roommate at the time, made me a star out of aluminum foil for my bedroom door,” she said. “She was so happy for me and knew how much it meant. I was so happy — you’d have thought I’d scored a major motion picture! So, you do have to remember those times when you succeed against the odds of this business because they’re often few-and-far between.”
(Tuesday) Part II — Rachel Crane makes a move to Hollywood.