Two worlds. Just one Dana.

You could say Dana Schneider lives in two vastly different worlds.

Most of the time, she is here in Stark County, where she designs and creates jewelry.

At home, she enjoys the peaceful quiet of her lovely Avondale home, where her four cats demand her attention.

It’s here that she watches the seasons change outside her large living room picture window. And it is in this room where original artwork by rocker Marilyn Manson — a client — hangs, along with a framed movie poster from the 1964 movie “Goldfinger,” which she says reminds her of how long she has wanted to be a part of her other world — Hollywood.

Several times a year, she hops onto a plane and returns to Los Angeles, where she lived for nearly 10 years, and works her dream job designing jewelry for major motion pictures and television shows.

Working in film is a collaborative effort, she said, one that includes the costume designer, writers, directors and even the actors themselves. It demands she have the face-to-face meetings that require her to fly to Los Angeles at a moment’s notice.

While there, she stays at the famed Chateau Marmont in the Hollywood Hills, where running into famous people is the norm. In fact, the last time she was there, she opened her window and saw George Clooney heading out on his motorcycle.

But, don’t ask her to dish.

“I couldn’t do what I do if I weren’t good at keeping secrets. They know I will keep things under wraps,” she said.

While at the hotel, she indulges in what she believes is the best room service ever and soaks in the “Old Hollywood” atmosphere.

Here in Stark County, she likes the slower pace, the lack of traffic jams, the lower crime rate, and the fact that she knows her neighbors. She’s even on a first-name basis with her mailman.

And she appreciates the big-city culture of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography.

She moved back to Canton three years ago, after living away for 30 years. Her mother, Rachel Schneider, now lives nearby. Her father is the late Richard Schneider of Schneider Lumber fame.

“Other mothers ask me how I got her to come back,” said Rachel with a laugh. “They want to know my secret.”

Artistic roots

Dana Schneider attended Canton Country Day School, in the neighborhood in which she now resides. When it came time to go to high school, she attended a presentation by recruiters from Cranbrook Kingswood, a high school for the visual arts in Michigan.

“I was awe-struck,” she said of the place she calls an artist’s dream. Students from all over the world inspired her, and she said she got an early start on a career in arts and crafts.

From there, she earned a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she focused on

sculpture. She said her father taught her some basic jewelry skills as a child, but she is, for the most part, self-taught in that skill.

After college, she moved to New York City, where she worked in the jewelry repair department of Tiffany & Co. — a great learning experience, she said.

In the 1980s she created her own line of jewelry, which was sold internationally in places such as Barney’s and in jewelry boutiques.

But it was in 1998, as she watched a movie called “The Matrix,” that her world changed.

As she looked at the jewelry on screen, she knew what she would do. She picked up and moved to L.A. to try to break into the business.

By 2000, she was working on her first movie.

NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS

While Schneider meets her fair share of famous people on her trips to Hollywood, what really excites her is the creative process and what goes on behind the scenes.

For artistic people like her, the movie magic is in the costumes, the sets, and what she calls the art of building whole new worlds.

“It’s different each time,” she says of her movies.

Her most challenging project, she said, is always “the next one.”

That said, this June’s release of “Green Lantern,” starring Ryan Reynolds, will feature a very important piece created by Schneider: the mystical green ring that bestows Reynolds’ character with otherworldly powers.

The design is made with top-secret materials. She said the challenge was creating a stone with very specific dimensions that looked as if it could have come from outer space.

The project took several months and included a trip to the set in New Orleans.

“I also made a belt buckle for (Reynolds),” she said with a smile. “It’s very cute. Great belt buckle.”

The movie “Tron Legacy,” one of her favorite projects, was a challenge because of the process in which she made two sets of prayer beads used by Jeff Bridges’ character. Each set featured 115 hand-carved beads made from vintage Bakelite, a hard plastic material once used for industrial purposes.

Each one had to be cut out, carved, drilled and polished by Schneider’s hand.

“It was a lot of work,” she said, “but they got a lot of nice close-ups in the movie.”

To Schneider, that means she demands nothing short of perfection from herself.

“Nothing scares me more than seeing my jewelry 20-feet-high on a screen and not have it look good,” she said, adding that new high-definition technologies make that need for perfection even more paramount.

She’s next looking forward to seeing her designs next year in the much-anticipated “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

She said she continues to explore new possibilities in jewelry making and tries to be on the forefront of trends. She often gets so excited about her work that it can be hard to sleep.

“My jewelry will be around for as long as the movies will be — that’s pretty great.”