We have a TV star in our midst, Union County! Kara Cooke was modeling when she graduated from Union County High School in 2018. She then enrolled in classes at Gage talent agency in West Knoxville, going once a week for a couple of months where she learned skills such as working the runway, how to pose for the camera, and how to apply make-up. She also took acting classes. One of her instructors started The STAIR Agency for models and actors and she followed him. Her career took off after auditioning and being selected for a spot in Knoxville Fashion Week. A fashion show coordinator gave the Discovery Plus production company her name recommending her for television. She landed a role in the new series American Detective (Cooke is in season 1, episode 8 What She Saw, which originally aired 02/10/2021). Although this is her first acting job, it is a lead role; not bad for her first acting gig!

When asked what she thought about working on a crime show, Cooke responded “It was pretty cool, we got to watch the fight scenes! They seemed so real, this show is full of action!” She states that her personal goal is to become an inspiration to others, “like even though I’m in a wheelchair, besides the fact that I can’t walk that good, I want to let the people know that they should not let anything hold them back, they can do anything that they want to!”

Kara Cooke relies on a wheelchair for mobility due to living with Friedreich's ataxia. Cooke explains it as a very rare neuromuscular disorder with signs and symptoms that vary, but for her began with a loss of balance and later caused a heart problem. In clinical terms, Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA or FA), is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that causes difficulty walking, a loss of sensation in the arms and legs, and impaired speech that worsens over time. Symptoms generally start between 5 and 20 years of age.

When Cooke was first diagnosed around age 13, she just stayed in her own world and initially found it difficult to talk about. Her goal was to become a nurse, so she took many health classes when she began high school. But as she progressed to “hands-on” clinical experiences, she realized how physically demanding nursing is. She was not involved in activities at school as much of her time was devoted to therapy. Her disease progressed from needing a walker during her last two years of high school to being wheelchair-bound since graduation. Although this condition affects her mobility, it does not have control of her life.

Right now, Cooke is just taking life one day at a time, setting and achieving small goals. She has just returned home from a clinical trial in New Jersey aimed at finding new medication for FA sufferers and she is hoping that “something will come out of it that can help make things a little bit easier”.

Her advice to others interested in acting/modeling: “Don’t think that just because there is something wrong that you can’t do this too, because there’s no such thing as perfect anyway!”