Santa Fe native finds new home, stardom in Japan

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — After leaving Santa Fe five years or so ago with dreams of acting in theater productions, Santa Fe native Charlotte Kate Fox found herself growing strawberries on the porch of her home in DeKalb, Ill.

Waiting tables, baby-sitting and growing strawberries weren't the career choices she had in mind when she started performing on the stage as a teenager in her hometown or as a student at the former College of Santa Fe.

[...] one day in that summer of 2013, she saw an ad in Backstage magazine soliciting videotaped auditions for an actress to play in a Japanese television series.

During a recent vacation in Japan, Springer mentioned to her Japanese tour guide that she had directed Fox in some shows at the College of Santa Fe -- now the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

"The people in Japan work harder than anyone I've ever met," she said during a recent interview in Santa Fe, at the Greer Garson Theatre on the campus of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

Fox, a graduate of the Career Academy high school in Santa Fe, harbored dreams of being a ballerina, a doctor, a pilot.

Later came Crimes of the Heart while she was studying theater at the College of Santa Fe and the 2005 Fiesta Melodrama at the Santa Fe Playhouse.

By email, Narahashi said that as she considered casting for the part of Ellie in Massan, she saw something in Fox that made her think she had the "mental stamina" to adapt to a weekly television series in a foreign country.

"Charlotte herself has a lot of guts as Ellie, and Charlotte as an actress would need that to get through the grueling schedule, to overcome cultural differences, to adapt to a culture she has never encountered before and, of course, to learn a language," Narahashi said.

The couple want to have children, and Fox is paying close attention to her biological clock.

Other challenges surfaced, including a scandal when nude photos of Fox appeared in the Japanese press.

Some Japanese fans -- particularly men -- made insulting comments to her during public appearances, asking her if she wasn't ashamed of herself and what her television husband would think of her.

In November, Fox will get a chance to show off her sensual side when she gets a crack at playing the lead role of Roxie in the Broadway musical Chicago.

In May, she gave the commencement address to the Santa Fe University of Art and Design's Class of 2015, apologizing to them for not being more famous and urging them to follow their passions and face their fears.