Carolyn Michel speaks at April installment of Salon Series lecture

Carolyn Michel wasn’t always a fearless actor who’s played everything from dad to grandma.

Growing up, Michel was very shy, but that all changed when she got onstage for her first performance. She played a tulip, and when she raised her arms in a blossoming motion and heard the applause that ensued, that was all it took.

“Six years old and I was hooked for life,” Michel says.

Michel told the crowd at the April installment of the Designing Women Boutique Salon Series all about her acting career on April 27 at Designing Women Boutique.

Guests learned that she began her acting career playing mostly male roles at the all-girls school she attended in her hometown of St. Louis, and while pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting at Boston University, the trend switched to mostly elderly roles.

Eventgoers also learned that she always does squats before she walks onstage — it gets the blood flowing and the energy level up.

After her introduction (and a brief lesson of how to put on a wig), Michel performed three monologues — one as famed advice columnist Ann Landers (the pen name for writer Ruth Crowley) and two from the one-woman show “Family Secrets” that she starred in at Florida Studio Theatre in 2010.

After the talk, guests finished their boxed lunches and watched a style show featuring several pieces from Designing Women Boutique.