It's possible for childhood dreams to come true. In September 2012 my own childhood dream came true. After 22 years of hard work, it finally paid off: I got to meet my childhood idol, actor Michael Dudikoff.
When I was 11, I watched the movie American Ninja. If I remember correctly, together with my brother and the nanny. A quite violent movie for an 11 year old girl in those days. But I didn't see the violence. In the 1.5 hours the movie lasted, I only had eyes for the character of Joe Armstrong. The strong and silent type, because he barely said a word.
Life mission
Years later the movie was on tv again and my heart skipped a beat when I saw him again. I wrote down his name immediately. In the following years in the 90's, his tv show Cobra was on tv every week. I was obsessed. I used to go through all the teenager & movie magazines in those days, looking for information about my idol. He was very popular in Germany. Many of the German teenager magazines contained posters of him. This was in 1994; when I had never been on the internet. My classmates went crazy because I talked about him so much. They ensured me I would never meet him. "You think I won't? Watch me!" And that's how that meeting became my life's mission.
Website about Michael Dudikoff
In 1998 I went to study journalism and got my hotmail email address. Which I still use to this day. I quickly learned my way around the internet. Then I found myself a boyfriend who was working as a web designer. Together we made a website about Michael Dudikoff, because it was still very hard to find information about him online. It turned out that Dudikoff was a very private man so he didn't share a lot of information about his personal life. I also read he didn't own a computer because he was said to be dyslexic.
Community manager
In the meantime I got a membership to my first community: a Yahoo! Group about Michael Dudikoff. After a year, the admin said goodbye and turned the community over to my care. Until the day Yahoo! Groups stopped existing, the community was active with about 200 hard core members from all over the world. It became an online fanclub; the only place where information could be found about him, from several different countries. That's how eventually I got some confidential information from one of the members: the contact info to Michael's agent. Of course I instantly contacted the agent and kept in touch. Which resulted in receiving an autographed picture in my mailbox. "Thanks for all your hard work! Stay Strong!", Michael wrote. My journalist heart needed proof that it was the real agent I had been talking to, because I realized early on that everyone could pretend to be anyone online. With this picture I received the evidence that it was all real. So then I asked if it was ok if my website became the 'Official Michael Dudikoff website', and it was approved!
Several years later I had to give up on the website because I didn't have time anymore. The community kept on existing and part of the hard core members migrated to Facebook. Online friends for life: I even met a few of them in real life. However, I still hadn't managed to meet Michael himself yet!
Michael Dudikoff on Facebook
In 2011 the mister himself was finally on Facebook with an official page that he manages himself. I sent him a message and received one back:
Later on we exchanged email addresses and he sent me 2 signed pictures through snail mail, because the ink in the old picture was beginning to fade. And he promised me to buy me a cup of coffee next time I would be vacationing in Los Angeles. Which would not be until 2013.
Michael Dudikoff in Amsterdam
A member of the online community tipped me in August 2012 that Michael Dudikoff would come to Amsterdam and Germany for an event where a lot of 80's/90's actors would be present. And this was going to happen only a few days after my birthday at the end of September! So then I finally dared to start believing: childhood dreams might very well come true!
Meeting Michael Dudikoff
On Friday September 28th 2012 it was finally time: my childhood dream came true. I met my childhood idol; the American actor Michael Dudikoff.
After a lot of research online, I found some contacts who might be able to help me get a meeting with Michael. Eventually one of the organizers of the Hollywood Event in Germany called me. Because he had heard I was trying to get a meeting with Michael Dudikoff. He arranged for me to go to Amsterdam for a personal and private meeting with Michael, so that I could do an interview with him. As a bonus, I also got to meet the American actor Kevin Spirtas (known for Days of our Lives and Friday the 13th) and the international super model Williams Dostes from France.
Healthy nerves
That Friday morning I had some healthy nerves. Not because I was about the meet the guys, but because I was worried about my trip to Amsterdam. I didn't want any delays, no train issues, no problems looking for the right tram, etc. When I arrived, I felt as if I had mixed the careers of interview king Peter van der Vorst and crime reporter Peter R. de Vries when a black SUV picked me up at the tram stop and the driver waved me to come get into the car.
Introduction
When I came into the apartment, I heard the guys talking in the kitchen. I put my stuff down, took off my jacket and got my camera, notebook and research. Then the guys entered the living room. Williams Dostes introduced himself first. A tall, dark and handsome man gave me a firm handshake and a big smile. Then there HE was - my life's goal of the past 22 years: Michael Dudikoff. He recognized me instantly and he gave me a firm handshake and big hug. I didn't respond like those screeming girls you see on tv, thankfully. I was very professional and sighed something like 'finally...;. Then Kevin Spirtas came around the corner and introduced himself, and we sat down on the couch.
Michael Dudikoff
Michael wasn't how I thought he would be. Honestly I thought he would be a bit shy and quiet. Because of the lack of communication towards his fans and the few words he usually had in his movie roles. He was the total opposite. This was the easiest interview I had ever done in my career. He started talking and told me about all the things I'd been wondering about for years. Apparently his fans mentioned my name when they met him or wrote to him. I was honored, it's very nice to hear about the great results of your work.
Hard times
He spoke very openly about the hard times in his life, like the loss of his mother, sister and father. And the fact that he had been stalked for years and had received death threats. However, it was very clear that this man had a very happy life even though these things occurred. He loves his wife and children and spoke dearly about them. Even though he hadn't had a movie made in years, he wasn't planning on quitting his acting career. He said that the movie industry also felt the financial consequences of the economic crisis; financing was sometimes pulled at the last moment or it turned out to be insufficient. It felt so good to finally be able to ask all these things instead of having to wonder about all these questions.
Goodbye
The organizer had told me I would get 45 minutes to ask all my questions and take pictures. I assume the guys really had fun - as did I - because the 45 minutes turned into over 1.5 hours. I asked them everything I ever wanted and would have been fine spending the entire day with these guys. Thankfully Michael and I said we would exchange our pictures of the day and we would meet up again when I was going to visit LA in 2013. After many hugs, 3 kisses per guy and a wave, that was the end of an extremely awesome experience. I almost floated home and there was one sentence repeating in my head constantly: "I can do anything!".
Proven: dreams do come true
I am so very proud of myself for the fact that I never gave up, worked hard and eventually was able to prove that you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. If you really go for it. Dreams are definitely able to come true. I hope that my story is an inspiration for young people who still dare to dream. I want to tell them: never let anyone tell you that something is impossible. If someone tells you something is impossible, it means they aren't strong enough to do it themselves. It says something about them, not about you. To remind myself of this, I have had the sentence 'Dreams come true' tattooed on my arm since 2015. In the handwriting of Michael Dudikoff. I don't even need the reminder, because I still see and speak to Michael and his family to this day.
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