by Erika Baxa
Assistant Editor

To see the State Farm “State of Disbelief” ad: Click Here
To see the Head and Shoulders commercial with C.J. Wilson, Click Here
To see Mariel Booth interviewed on Commercial Break on TheStream.TV, Click Here
To see Booth with BriTANicK and Nathan Fillion, Click Here

At 13, big crowds can be a lot to handle. Meeting new professional adults could cause your throat to go dry, your hands to sweat, and your mind to go blank. Even worse would be knowing that your entire future was on the line. Northern alumna Mariel Booth experienced all of these feelings when she auditioned to live out her dream of becoming a model as a high school freshman.

Ever seen the State Farm commercial in which a girl believes everything on the Internet is true, including that her dumpy date is a French model? That’s Booth, now a successful model living in Los Angeles. As her teenage years progressed, her dream of becoming a model grew as well. Through the last 15 years, she went from a small town girl attending Northern High School to living out her dreams at 28 as a successful model and actress.

Like many children, Booth had hopes of becoming an actress when she grew up. She became very interested in theater and participated in many school plays. Because of her young age, she decided modeling would be a good way to get a head start on her goal. “My mother was always very supportive of my interests, and when she heard a modeling convention was coming to Washington, D.C, Model Search America, she signed me up,” she said.

The anticipation rose as Booth and her mother stood in line with about 2,000 others with her head shots waiting to see if her number was called to meet with about 30 of the world’s top agencies. Booth received a call back from one agency, Millennium, telling her she had potential but needed to follow up with them in about six months after she had her braces taken off and grew a little. Braces off and three inches taller (making her 5’9”, the minimum height requirement for mainstream modeling) by the time of the appointment, Millenium signed her.

At age 14, Millennium sent Booth to interviews in D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Her career as a model had begun. That same year, she received her first paid job appearing on the cover of the Baltimore magazine. “I remember being very excited! After that, I started working regularly with the Philadelphia based store, DEB Shops, and doing local runway shows at malls for Tommy Hilfiger, Hecht’s, etc.,” she said. At 15, Millennium thought she was ready to return to Model Search America.

Booth came back two years older, and more mature. “This time, I got 13 call-backs from almost every major national and international modeling agency based out of New York City. My mother and I made a trip up to New York to meet with the different agencies, and I ended up signing with the Next Agency in New York and Miami,” she said. Soon after that, she began working part-time around her school schedule. “That was really the start of my 15-year career and it all happened while I was at Northern,” she said.

Booth did not have a normal high school experience. She graduated a year early and attended three different high schools in three years. She started her freshman year at Northern, but transferred to The Calverton School for her sophomore year. During her junior year, her family moved and she attended Calvert High School. She then elected to take summer school and graduate early in order to pursue overseas career opportunities. “I did miss Senior Prom, because I was never a senior. I am in some ways sad that I missed that rite of passage,” she said.

After six years of traveling and working, Booth decided it was time to go back to school. She applied to New York University and majored in Journalism and Creative Writing. “Modeling is a career that is time sensitive. It is imperative for models to think about their future and where they will go once the jobs start to dry up. It is a harsh reality that we all have to face at some point,” she said. While she kept up with her rigorous course load at NYU, she was able to continue as a part-time model and got back to work full-time after graduating.

One of the perks of modeling is being able to travel the world at such a young age. “I have gotten to go to a lot of interesting places like Australia, South Africa, France, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Iceland, Sweden, Mexico, and Japan,” said Booth. As her career has grown she has worked for major accounts like L’Oreal, Jockey, CoverGirl, Revlon, and has been in many major magazines including Cosmopolitan, Shape, Seventeen, Maxim, Girls Life, and YM.

The usual day for a model can be either relaxed or hectic. When Booth isn’t shooting, she is casting for either print model jobs or commercials. She wakes up at 8:30 in the morning and gets coffee. She makes sure she leaves her house at 10 with her portfolio and is usually wearing slimming jeans, a pair of heels, and lots of black. She says she drinks a lot of coffee and goes to castings and auditions. When everything is done at 5:30 p.m., she goes to drop off her vouchers to accounting, and picks up any checks she might have waiting. “One of the worst things about modeling is there is no regulation when it comes to payment. Sometimes it could take months and months to get paid,” she said.

Booth’s biggest accomplishment so far has been that State Farm commercial which ran on every channel for over a year. “State Farm was a turning point in my career,” she said. “Not only did it supplement me financially, it got a lot of attention and led to other opportunities. I would say it was the catalyst for me moving to Los Angeles to pursue more opportunity in commercial and comedic acting.”

She has had notable roles in commercials for New Balance, Head and Shoulders and a heavily played ad in which she appeared with Los Angeles Angels baseball star C.J. Wilson. She also appeared in a sketch with comedy team BriTANicK and Castle star Nathan Fillion called Sexy Pool Party which has gotten over 12 million hits on YouTube.

At 28, Booth’s modeling career could be coming to an end soon. Although most models only get about ten years of work, she has been able to work for 15 and still feels she has a few more to go. “The girls you see still working into their 30’s and 40’s, like Kate Moss and Heidi Klum, are the exception, not the rule,” said Booth. She is a certified health and wellness coach and would like to do something with that in the future. She also has thoughts of writing a book or publication of some kind.

“My advice to young models would be to remember you are beautiful no matter what! If modeling makes you feel stressed, unhealthy, or less-than, it’s not worth it,” she said.