From Winnisquam to 'Law & Order' – Jamie Guyer lands TV role

SANBORNTON — Born into a dramatic family, Jamie Guyer’s first acting role came before she was a kindergartener, during a community theater production of Wizard of Oz her mother was directing. By high school, Guyer’s interests had moved on to sports. She was a high school volleyball star, went to college on an athletic scholarship, and built a career in NYC as a personal trainer.

So, how did she get back into acting, and land her first role in one of the best-known television crime dramas in history? It was all because of the pandemic.

Guyer, a 1999 graduate of Winnisquam Regional High School, will make her national television debut on Thursday night, playing a forensic investigator on the “Law & Order” season 21 premiere.

Her story is one that could inspire people considering a career change — or could nauseate someone trying to break into show business. Either way, she acknowledges that she’s lucky, and said she is appreciating the experience.

“As a kid, I was always in shows. I never had any official training, it was just, get on stage and do it,” Guyer said. Her mother, Becky Guyer, was one of the founders of the Streetcar Community Theater company, and her father, Bo Guyer, is a community theater actor. As their only child, Jamie was brought along for rehearsals and put on stage for show time.

But after middle school, it was the volleyball court where Jamie wanted to perform — and she was a standout performer, indeed, earning a scholarship to University of Massachusetts–Lowell.

After college, Guyer eventually found her way into her own fitness business.

Her personal training appointments evaporated when COVID hit New York City, though, leaving Jamie needing to “re-create,” as she said. “A friend of mine suggested that I take a commercial class online,” she said. That was just about a year ago.

With that class, Jamie discovered a latent passion for acting.

“I’ve been head-first with it since,” Jamie said. “I’ve been taking two or three classes a week, reading books about acting, listening to podcasts, trying to school myself.”

Her fitness clients are now back, but Jamie hasn’t dropped acting. Instead, in November, she signed with a management company, and with that came a steady feed of auditions. The part for “Law & Order” was among them, and she recalled that one came in at the last minute, giving her just a few hours to submit a video of herself before the deadline. She knocked it out and moved on to the next thing.

“Then my manager called and said, ‘Congratulations, you got it! – ‘I got what?’ – ‘You booked Law & Order.’ I was on set the next Friday.’”

The episode featuring Jamie — her role lasts about five minutes — is in the “establishing scene” at the beginning of the first episode of a very important season in the show’s run. This season is a return to form for “Law & Order,” with the original cast coming back together. Jamie’s character leads two of those star characters into the case that kicks off the episode’s plot.

She said the shooting was all done within one day in Manhattan. She was assigned to her own room in a trailer, spent the day in rehearsal, then shot her scene that night.

“It was a rollercoaster, for sure,” she said.

Jamie said she wasn’t sure if the ride would include one more surprise drop — as there was always the possibility that her scene would be cut. But then, last week, a trailer for the season was released, which included five seconds of her performance.

“It’s all surreal still, even discovering this trailer, with the blip of me and my voice. I’m glowing,” she said. “It’s been a really fun ride.”

It was actually Bo and Becky who first noticed the trailer and messaged Jamie about it. Becky said she and her husband spent an entire evening rewinding and rewatching the seconds that showed their daughter acting alongside some of television’s most recognizable working actors.

Becky said she’s in awe of what Jamie has accomplished.

“She just got this opportunity and she took it and rolled with it,” Becky said. “We’re absolutely thrilled for her.”