#dardenintro

BASIC STATS !

Full name: Celine Yeoh Mercier

Age: 18

Date of Birth: August 1st 

Astrology: Leo Sun, Libra Moon, Aries Rising 

Hometown: San Francisco, California 

Family: Faye Yeoh (Mother) Charles Mercier (Father) Thea (Older Sister) Leon Mercier (Grandfather) 

Gender: Cis woman

Pronouns: She/Her 

Sexuality: Bisexual 

Religion: Agnostic

Positive Traits: Ambitious, passionate, theatrical, meticulous, refined  

Negative Traits: Competitive, self-centred, duplicitous, brusque 

Occupation: Freshman at Darden College (Acting Major) / Instagram Influencer 

Likes: Well-lit dressing rooms, glossy headshots, chocolate-chip cookies, the feel of cashmere, watching reruns of bad reality shows, walking through the aisles of Sephora, the look of a marked-up script, playing the lead part 

Dislikes: Gardening, polyester, salted caramel, a quiet Saturday night,  unprofessionalism, being ignored/being given a supporting role (they’re basically the same thing to her yikes) 

Living Arrangements: Leone Winters Residence Hall (roommates with Charlotte Washington) 

Faceclaim: Natasha Liu Bordizzo 

BACKSTORY ! 

The Mercier family is infamous in performing arts circles. Celine’s grandfather, Leon, cut his teeth in the Dramatic Writing Department at the San Francisco Academy of Arts before debuting an Off-Broadway show that launched his career. In a decade, he had established himself as one of the most exciting playwrights of his generation. Her mother, Faye Yeoh, is an acclaimed theatre actress (her turn as Lady Macbeth in a 1999 production at The Globe Theatre is still discussed by critics) and her father is a frequent name in the Best Production Design lineup at the Tony’s. But even before Leon put pen to paper, the Mercier family had long been legacy alumni of the Academy of Arts University. Take a walk on campus, and you’ll find multiple gold plaques and even a theatre department under their name. 

Despite Celine’s natural love of the spotlight (you couldn’t get through a family dinner party without little, eight-year-old Celine gracefully tapping a champagne glass, primly announcing to the adults that they must listen to the song she was practising in choir) she didn’t just grow up in the shadow of her family name — she also had to compete with her older sister, Thea. 

Where Celine’s talent is sharpened by embittered hard work, thousands of vocal warm-ups and scripts marked up to look as effortless as possible — Thea’s talent was always miraculous. After her older sister’s first lead part (Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz - Thea had the entire first row in tears by the end of the third act) her family had decided who would carry on their legacy.

As Thea’s talents extended to composing and writing, words like genius, prodigy, artistic marvel — were declared by anyone who read her work. Meanwhile, silly, frivolous Celine, received indulgent smiles for her “little school plays.” Never mind that she had been in the lead role for almost her entire high school career (save for, of course, that one seriously misguided incident where a director had given her a supporting part). Occasionally, after careful networking, she would land a background part in a sitcom or police procedural (her acclaimed roles included: Mean Girl #1, Teenage Partier #3) but it paled in comparison to the true artistry that Thea possessed. Celine, to her family, though they would never explicitly say it, represented the superficial. Her performances, her obsession with keeping up a social media presence, her complete lack of dramatic writing ability, she was, by Mercier standards, mediocre. 

Faceclaim: Maddie Hasson Age: 18

Birthday: August 5th Hometown: Houston, Texas

Family: Sabrina Rogers (mother) Emily Dalton (aunt) Jack Dalton (uncle) 

Gender: non-binary 

Pronouns: they/she/he 

Sexuality: Bisexual 

Traits: passionate, gullible, adaptable, perfectionist, short tempered, loyal

Occupation: Darden student, barista at the Garden Cafe

Major: Screenwriting & Film 

Aesthetic: baggy t-shirts and short skirts, lots of piercings, shaky hands after one too many cups of coffee, studying in the back room at work, a heavily scribbled in daily planner, late nights in the library, discussing hot campus topics between prog rock tracks on student radio, ‘oh I know an app for that’, reminders scribbled on her arm, giving themselves a new haircut every other week in the dorm bathroom 

Ed was raised by a single mother- her father was never in the picture, and from what Sabrina has had to say about him, that’s no huge loss.

Their mother had an ‘I won’t let you make the same mistakes I did’ attitude, prompting Eddie to make mistakes entirely of her own… For some reason, this didn’t make Sabrina any happier.

The two were always struggling to get along, and as a result Ed spent a lot of her time down the street at her aunt and uncle’s house, practically living with them during Summer break to avoid spending too much time with their mom.

Despite all their fighting Ed tried their best to impress her as a child, but the injustices present in the halls of their highschool proved to be a more worthy outlet for her passion. They’d often get into fights, defending themselves or some poor underdog, and would forget that their mouth was a lot faster than their fists.

The best thing Sabrina ever did for their child was teach her how to throw a punch the very first time Ed came home from school with a fat lip.

When it came time to talk about college, they toured quite a few places close to home- her mom wanted her to go to the University of Texas and study journalism, but Ed also secretly applied to a few places further away. The furthest? Darden College of the Arts, in California.

When their mother found the acceptance letter, their ensuing fight was the biggest they’d ever had, and the longest lasting. One night Ed packed as much of her stuff as she could into her car and took off for California before school started, leaving a note in their room for their mother to find.

Ed got a job in a coffee shop, and lived mostly out of her car. So it was a relief when the school year began and she had a proper bed again.

Their mother has called a few times since she left home, and the distance helped them both cool off. Sabrina has said she will help pay for college, but Ed shouldn’t plan to come back home after. That is fine by them. Graduation is a few years away yet, they’ve got time to figure it out. Right?

Full name: weston nichols

Nickname/s: wes

Age: nineteen

Date of Birth: october 29th

Astrology: scorpio

Hometown: los angeles, california

Gender: cis man

Pronouns: he/him

Sexuality: pansexual

Religion: agnostic

Traits: stubborn, impatient, bad tempered, fidgety, selectively charming, moody, fast learner, decently good singer ( but incredible with autotune ), introverted, loyal, the best secret keeper you could ever meet, big hands that are good for piano and guitar ( amongst other things ), hopeless romantic

Likes: messing around on his keyboard, feeling like he has nothing to do, riding shotgun in a fast car, the thrill of a crowd of applause, super tangy oranges, things that smell sweet, when his mother doesn’t text him for more than 24 hours, the sound of jazz music playing next to an open window while its raining

Dislikes: gossips, liars, having to play classical music, the film & tv industry, plane rides, listening to his mother rant about the past, being told what to do -- unless it’s coming from a director

Occupation: Sophomore at Darden College of the Arts, double majoring Acting & Music

Living Arrangements: shares an off campus apartment with topher bell 

Faceclaim: dylan arnold

wes has been acting since he was a baby -- like, a literal baby. like, two weeks out the womb he was playing a baby on screen fresh out of one. ever since then, he’s been acting in some capacity, but when he was thirteen he became an outcast in the film industry due to his mothers nightmarish personality.

once he was no longer working in the industry, he and his mother moved from los angeles to san francisco, and wes switched from homeschooling to private school, attending performing arts schools with the intention of getting into academy of the arts university, also located in san francisco. unfortunately wes’ mothers bad reputation has rubbed off on him, and despite his impeccable gpa and brilliant performance of barry’s monologue from season one episode one barry, he just didn’t cut it. darden had been his backup school, and they welcomed the former child star with open arms! 

acting isn’t something wes really loves doing, it’s just something he thinks he has to do. like playing classical piano, and violin, and doing just about anything his mother tells him to. he’s a bit of a mama’s boy -- not in the sense that he wants to do whatever she says, but feels as though he has no choice otherwise. even though he’s nineteen, he’s still living under the mentality that she is his momager, and what she says goes. 

wes is a rather stubborn boy. he’s deeply set in his ways and standoffish most of the time. a lot of that stems from growing up having to stand behind his mother and let her do all the talking when it came to decisions about his life. another part of it comes from going into high school being quite well known, and not exactly well received. the competition was intense, and while wes did quickly rise to the top, he never really liked the view from up there.

if there is one thing wes is grateful to have been forced to do, it’s music. while he hates the classical piano he’s being trained to perform and the violin he can’t seem to master, he loves making music. his own music. and despite the gloomy disposition wes presents to the world, wes secretly loves and hopes to produce a blend of jazzy bedroom pop that will blow up on tik tok and do numbers on spotify. 

wes is a very talented actor. it’s difficult to tell whether or not he’s just putting on another character, or if he’s showing you the real wes nichols. when he does let you in though, he’s exceptionally loyal and would never do anything to betray your trust, because that’s all he could ever hope for in return.