The Los Angeles Times

Thursday January 2, 2003

A role she can sink her teeth into
By Jessica Hundley

Being an aspiring actress in Los Angeles, means, invariably, finding a way to pay the bills while you wait for your ship to come in.

"I came here hoping to be a movie star, just like everyone else," says Amy Landers, "and over the past seven years I've had various day jobs, including catering and working in retail stores and just about everything else you can think of. And then, I had this idea."

The idea was toffee. Buttery, caramelized toffee, to be exact, topped with a thin layer of chocolate (dark, milk or white) and a delicate sprinkling of crushed pecans. Landers, who came to Hollywood from Georgia, had always made toffee (culled from a generations-old Southern recipe) as a holiday gift for family and friends. But two years ago, tired of day jobs that required too much time and too little creativity, Landers decided to put her candy-making skills to the test.

"I was working at Ferret, which is a gift shop in Studio City, and I convinced the owner to sell my toffee for the holidays," she recalls. "And people bought it. A lot of it. That's how it all started."

By the following Mother's Day, Landers had formed her own company and called it Lula Belle, her childhood nickname. In no time, word of her toffee spread and she was sending prettily packaged tins (silver and tied with an organza bow) to agents, publicists, and celebrities. Two years later, Landers owns her own candy kitchen, where she still oversees each handmade batch. She sells it via phone, mail, or e-mail orders on her Web site.

"It's been a really wild ride," she says.

"I have a degree in theatre, remember. I didn't know anything about small business. But I needed somewhere to put that creative energy and I just happened to find this niche at the right time, in the right city and in the right industry."

Despite Lula Belle's success, Landers hasn't abandoned her acting aspirations. She had a stint on "Days of our Lives," a recurring role on "Frasier" and as a member of the Actor's Co-op, she was in the company's recent production of "Bullshot Crummond." For the last three months she was performing four nights a week while making toffee during the day, trying to balance her candy-making success with her burgeoning acting career.

"It's been amazing," says Landers. "As an actor, sitting around and waiting for the phone to ring can be so self-destructive. It's the continuing battle for all artists in this town. I just stumbled across something that's challenging and flexible and creative."

"The very ironic part to the story," she adds, "is that I am a horrible cook. My family thinks it's hilarious that I'm in a business that involves food?I can't boil a pot of pasta to save my life, but I can make this Southern pecan toffee like nobody's business!"