Show&Tell: Meet Desiree DeFrancesco of ‘V’
Q: How long have you been dancing?
A: Since I was 3. … My mom owns a dance studio, so she put me in early.
Q: Your idea or your mom’s?
A: I think my mom just put me in it to be busy, and I ended up loving it. … I went to West Chester University, and I graduated with a minor in dance and a major in communications.
Q: You also did some modeling around that time?
A: I did a couple of commercials. … After college, I started modeling for QVC (shopping network) full time.
Q: What’s the weirdest thing you ever pitched on QVC?
A: Dolls. (Laughs) Like, baby dolls. And socks.
Q: Dolls?
A: I looked young. A lot of times when they get little kids, they get scared and don’t want to go on camera. I looked young and I wasn’t scared, so I’m, like, rocking away with a doll (laughs). I was 24 and playing with dolls.
Q: Then what?
A: Then I came out to Vegas for vacation with my mom and my sister and a couple of girlfriends. We saw “Peepshow” with Holly Madison and I thought, “I have to do this. I’m going to do this. I don’t know what show I’m going to do, but I’m going to do this.”
Q: So you started auditioning?
A: I looked up auditions and saw one for a magician’s assistant for Melinda (in “V – The Ultimate Variety Show”). I was going to be out in Vegas at that time, so my dad basically said, “I’ll put you up in the Palms for one month, and if you get a job, you can stay. If you can’t – if you don’t get a job – you’ve got to come home, because Daddy’s not paying the rent anymore.”
Q: So you had a whole month to land something.
A: A month to land something. I was scheduling all these auditions and I moved out here – I had two suitcases in a Palms studio apartment with my sister in really close quarters – and I went to an audition (for) Melinda … and they were like, “You got it.” So four days into my stay, I had a job.
Q: What do you do when you’re not dancing in “V”?
A: I also work at Haze nightclub. I go-go there. So I work seven days a week.
Q: Go-going must be a nice change from the precision of magic.
A: Right. I get to let loose and kind of feel free to let my hair down and move how I want to move.