ABC-7 Xtra: Borderland actress gives up-and-coming actors the chance she never had

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso native, Nancy Nave, had no acting ambition. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, but realized it wasn't conducive to family life.

Nave says, "I realized, I don't know if I really like that or not."

Her husband, Jason Nave, urged her to try acting. Nave found herself at her first audition, a reality show called, "She's Got The Look."

"I joke that he got me in the industry," says Nave. "So any time I had to leave town or go somewhere...I'm like, this is your fault."

Nave got an agent and soon booked roles in commercials, television shows and films. All seemed to be going well until after eight years, her paychecks stopped even though she was still working.

The relationship with her agent, Kristen Martin, went off track.

Nave says, "So I started asking what's going on? I got the runaround for a month before I started doing my own investigation."

According to court documents obtained by ABC-7, Martin was charged with theft, stealing from clients like Nave.

In 2023, after seven years of litigation, Martin plead guilty to the charges and was ordered to pay Nave restitution, totaling over $37,000.

ABC-7 reached out to Martin's attorney. He has yet to respond.

During hard times Nave relied on Burges Head Volleyball Coach, Connie Vaughan.

"It has really gotten me through my entire life," says Nave. "As to hearing her saying, get up and you can do more and you can give more."

Coach Vaughn says she is very proud.

She says, "Just super resilient, very hard worker. You know, she was a competitor beyond competitor."

The experience inspired Nave to help beginning actors not get taken advantage of.

"I used it as momentum and I was like this ain't going to stop me," Nave says.

Nave launched a business called "the Crafty Actor," a website aimed to coach actors on how to break into the industry.

"It's like eight hours of here's how the business works," says Nave. "Here's what you need to know, here are the red flags; do's and don'ts. Everything that I would have wanted to know coming into the industry."

She's worked alongside big stars on big projects with Paul Walker, John Krasinski, Robert Patrick, Jason George, and Jeff Probst, to name a few.

"In the moment that you walk in, you might be star struck for a second, and then the next moment you realize they're just human beings in there." Nave says.

No matter where she goes or what set she's on, Nave takes a bit of El Paso with her.

"What I take form El Paso is the community, I really do," says Nave. "Because it just seems like everybody in El Paso would always extend a hand to help if they could. I think that's a lot of the reasons why I am the way I am."