The house lights go dim.  The curtains are drawn.  The lights on stage are afire. A star is born.  Jeff Garza, 20, and a second year student at Skyline, may at first glance look like your average student, but one might be shocked to find out that when not in school, our young Mr. Garza is an aspiring singer and actor. For the interview, Garza and I are crammed into a freezing room in the Journalism office. We are sitting across from one another. Garza sits back in his chair with legs crossed, wearing a gray Tampa Bay Buccaneers sweatshirt, regaling me with all his past play experiences. As I am listening to his accounts, I notice that Garza use his hands often while he is talking, as if it comes second nature to him. That’s when I know that Garza is the real deal, because not very many people use their hands to talk the way that actors do. Currently starring in his eleventh play, Garza is the main character, Sir Harry, in “Once Upon a Mattress,”a remake of the classic story of “The Princess and the Pea,”which is showing now until November 9, at the Pacifica Spindrift Theater. Garza has been acting since the age of seven, having acted in both high school and now with the Pacifica Spindrift Players. Some of the plays that Garza can be credited being in are “The Wizard of Oz,” where he played the Scarecrow, “Oliver,” “Veronica’s Room,” “Wait Until Dark,” and “Peter Pan,” in which he played the main character.Since the age of four Garza has known that he’s wanted to be in the spotlight. Although he enjoys acting, Garza would much rather prefer a singing career to an acting career, having taken vocal lessons for four years now. “I definitely prefer singing over acting, I do enjoy both, but if I had to choose between them, and I could only pick one thing to do for the rest of my life, I would choose singing.”The two biggest influences of his life are Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. “Ever since I saw her [Mariah Carey] first music video for ‘Vision of Love’ I knew I wanted to be a singer.” For now Garza is content with acting. There’s no stage fright for this seasoned actor. Before he is set to perform on stage, Garza has a few pre-performance rituals. “I always drink hot green tea with honey, steam my voice, stretch, and do vocal warm ups,” said Garza. Eventually, Garza plans to move to Hollywood and pursue his acting career full time. Maybe even star on the big screen. When asked which movie stars he would most likely want to someday co-star with, Garza said, “I would Love to work with either Halle Berry, Kathy Bates, or Jack Nicholson.” There’s no doubt where Jeff Garza’s true passion lies. “I have always felt more comfortable on stage than anywhere else.”