Have you ever wondered how a lesser-known actor all of a sudden appears constantly in the news, magazines and talk shows? It takes the work of a great publicist to turn an actor into a celebrity. A-List publicist Liza Anderson seems to have the knack to not only help turn her clients into major celebrities, but somehow she manages to hold the paparazzi at bay so her clients can have some semblance of a normal and private life.

From Eva Longoria and Virginia Madsen to Michael Emerson and James Morrison, Liza and her extraordinary associates from The Anderson Group are constantly at work insuring that their celebrity clients are well taken care of on both a personal and professional level. I've been fortunate enough to not only chat with Liza, but many of her clients as well and the one common characteristic I've found among them all is the intense love and passion they feel for the work they do. And when you love what you do for a living, everything else in life seems to fall right into place!

Q: What drew you into public relations?

Liza: "I fell into it by total accident. My mom was an actress while I was growing up and she always had a publicist and I thought it was so cool in high school, but I never had any aspirations to be a publicist or even get into the business. I watched her [mother] and thought this is a crazy, crazy business to be in, you have to be half nuts to survive. As an actor or actress, it's all based on rejection and auditions and more rejection - you're too tall, too short, too thin, too blonde, you're too this or too that.

So, I decided to go to the opposite end of the spectrum and get a law degree and become an attorney so I'd never have to rely on my looks. [laughs] Which I still don't by the way, but somehow wound up representing people that do.

I started off as an assistant at a company that I didn't even know at the time, B/W/R (Baker/Winokur/Ryder). The two presidents of the company, Paul Baker and Larry Winokur walked in, sat down and said your resume looks great, but we really don't believe resumes, tell us who you are. They basically hired me on the spot and put me to work."

Q: Do you have a mentor?

Liza: "I do, Paul Baker and Larry Winokur were both mentors to me. They were like mentors and boot camp and fathers and confidants. They were great. Also, one of their associates who runs their lives and the life of the company, his name is Neal Cohen. I still talk to him to this day, almost on a weekly basis. Neal has been there through all of the growth, the good, the bad, everything."

Q: Who was your first celebrity client?

Liza: "One of my first celebrity clients was James McDaniel, who played Lt. Fancy on NYPD Blue. It's actually an interesting story - I went after him as a client because he was the real deal. He did Broadway, he did Six Degrees of Separation, and he played the part that Will Smith made famous. He said he didn't want a publicist and I offered to work for him for free for a month, I'd do anything. I was an assistant at the time and he was like, 'Girl, what kind of scam are you trying to pull on me.' I said, 'I'm not, you need a publicist, I need a client, just give me one month to show you what I can do.' So, I got together his bio, got great pictures and I pounded the pavement and he got more press than he knew what to do with and he was my client through and through to the very end. We're still friends to this day."

Q: When did you decide to start your own agency?

Liza: "I decided about seven months ago. After I worked at B/W/R, I worked for a man by the name of Warren Cowen, who started Rogers and Cowen and he's definitely the Godfather of PR and very much a mentor as well. He has represented everyone from Frank Sinatra to Elizabeth Taylor to Kirk Douglas to Michael Jackson, his career is legendary, beyond legendary. He is the Godfather; he is the 'It' of PR. I worked with him for years and then I decided it was time, I wanted to expand and hire more people, I had all these dreams that have come true over the last seven months."

Q: What is the process for obtaining a new client?

Liza: "It depends on the client, it depends on where that client is in their career. A lot of clients who are already established, it's about working with their image, what their long-term goals are, what their short-term goals are in conjunction with their agent and manager and we formulate a plan. If somebody is new or a breaking star, I sit down with them and try to find out what makes them unique. My big thing is what makes you unique, why are you different from the 250 other people on your network or the 250 people who have movies coming out this month. I believe every person is truly unique. I try to tap into that, I really try to get to know my clients on that level. Everyone is different, everybody has different expectations."

Q: Take us through a typical day in the PR world.

Liza: "There are no typical days, that's the beauty of it. Everyday is different, everyday is crazy. Some days start off with breakfast meetings. Everyday starts with me getting up and running, I've got to run to keep me sane. Everyday is different, it depends - we go through the calls, go through e-mail, there's photo shoots, talk shows, pitching clients, everyday there's a lunch with a manager or client. It's very chaotic, there's different events. You could probably go to two or three different events a night. It's a lot of phones, phones are big. There's a lot of politics involved. I've said it before in interviews, I should probably run for Mayor, not that I'd ever be able to, but there is so much diplomacy involved in what you do as a publicist."

Q: Who are some of your celebrity clients?

Liza: "My biggest female clients are Eva Longoria and Virginia Madsen. I Just started working with the BB Clothing Company. I've got people on Ugly Betty, 24, The Unit, Dancing with the Stars, Lost, Veronica Mars, Men in Trees, Jericho, 7th Heaven, I could go on and on. I've got some on air talent, hosts of shows, I represent musicians and right now, I'm trying to deal with corporate, corporate branding."

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