Fort Myers actress embraces Matrix look-alike role

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Deborah Smith Ford with the 9 mm prop she uses to play Trinity from "The Matrix." Deborah Smith Ford is always waiting for her next role to begin. She has performed in more than 30 films — six in the last 2½ years — plus commercials, television programs, modeling spots and infomercials.

Still, her acting life is "feast or famine," Mrs. Ford said. "Actors really need to know how to invest and save."

After "The Matrix" came out, people told her she looked like Carrie-Anne Moss' character, Trinity, so she expanded her repertoire to include a look-alike Trinity. That opened a door into a larger world of look-alike characters.

Mrs. Ford flourished there, making friends in the look-alike community and winning a shelf-full of awards for Trinity. At the Celebrity Impersonator Convention in Las Vegas in 2007, she was honored among hundreds, like Elvis, Marylyn Monroe, Donald Trump and Tom Cruise, snagging the Reel Award for Best Actress.

Mrs. Ford devoted a bedroom in her South Fort Myers house to Trinity, and has other look-alike roles as well: Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina from "Charlie's Angels" and Mary Katherine Gallagher from "Saturday Night Live."

"If I was a singer, I'd be like a tribute artist," she said.

Looking like Trinity takes ongoing work, because she's ready to play her anytime. Mrs. Ford gets her hair styled and darkened like Trinity's hair. Her tailor, Sarah LaSalle, made her an exact replica of Trinity's vinyl jacket. It cost, "more than my first car."

She also stays out of the sun to keep Trinity's pale look. Even so, Mrs. Ford bought a thinner, loose-fitting wedding ring so she wouldn't have a tan line or ring mark on her finger — in the movie, Trinity isn't married.

"I had someone make a comment once," she said. "A fan. If I can correct something simple like that, I will."

One of her most recent appearances as Trinity was in Burbank, Calif., where she appeared at a restaurant to help raise money for people who lost their homes in a fire.

Over the course of her career, Mrs. Ford has played minor roles in Hollywood productions such as "Gone Fishin'" with Danny Glover and Joe Pesci, and larger roles in independent films.

One of her favorite parts was in "Pose Down," a film about bodybuilding. She played Gena, an abusive mother who berates her daughter after her father dies.

She also played a mother to Nick Stahl's (Terminator 3) character in "Bully." It is a film by award-winning director Larry Clark, about a group of vapid teenagers who decide to kill one of their friends.

Mrs. Ford recently finished filming her role in "Beyond the Forest," set in Mississippi during the Civil War. She plays Mrs. Alexander, the wife of a plantation owner opposite Tom Lester, who played Eb Dawson on "Green Acres."

Mrs. Ford was also a spokesperson for Citracal, a vitamin supplement that fights osteoporosis. The national commercial didn't skyrocket her to international acclaim — although she did just return from Norway where she watched herself in the premier of "Beowulf: Prince of the Geats" — but it did garner a small fan base.

"I'm so used to people coming up to me and recognizing me as Trinity," Mrs. Ford said. But one fan at a Starbucks recognized her as "the lady with the straw hat who drives that tractor and sells those pills."

That role as a farmer reflected her own life more than any other, since she grew up on an apple orchard in upstate New York.

Mrs. Ford wrote a children's book about the experiences, "The Little Apple." It will be published next year, and she plans to follow it with a series of children's books about farms — not all of them with animals.

Acting aside, Mrs. Ford has also been an elementary school teacher, a missionary and a dental assistance, plus she holds a green belt in jiu-jitsu. She likes to go hunting and sometimes shoots alligators in her backyard (with a permit).

Her husband, Alton Ford, is a veterinarian and they have two adult daughters.

Mrs. Ford is also the president of the United Film & Television Artists in Lee and Collier County, a nonprofit organization that supports the entertainment and creative industry. Regular meetings are held at her home.

"All people in the entertainment industry are welcome to be a guest or join," she said.

UFTA will be sponsoring Mrs. Ford as Trinity at the downtown Fort Myers Art Walk on Friday, Dec. 5 form 6 to 10 p.m. Trinity will hang out downtown and pose for pictures or dance with her fans.