SPEAKER_00 0:57

But unless you know why you're not getting the auditions, it could be because you've got chameleonitis. You're trying to be everything to everyone. So nobody knows who the hell you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Welcome to Acting Smarter Now. I'm Lydia Nicole, actor, producer, and your acting career coach, dedicated to helping you break through the noise, own your craft, and transform your career from undiscovered to unstoppable. Got a question for you. Would you ever give up an acting career where you were thriving for love? Well, this next guest did just that. Not only did she give up her career, but she moved across the pond, as they say, to start her life with the man she loved. Only to 17 years later, come back to her career bigger, better, and bolder than ever. Her name is Anne Alexander Ceder. She is not only an actress who lives in Munich, but she also has a business helping other actors called Act Bold, where she helps actors take control of their careers. I love this woman. And so without further ado, let's go to the interview. You've said that most actors get stuck because they're fixing the wrong thing and it's not talent. So tell me, what is the wrong thing actors are doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Well, there's there are four possible places to look. It's what I call the sick factor. Because if your career is ailing, something's sick, and we got to figure that out. So the diagnosis is look at skills. And when I say skills, it's not necessarily your acting skills, right? Because we all, or most of us, or we should be working on our acting skills and getting those in place. But do you have the skills that are going to get you the career that you actually want? In other words, if you're aiming for an action career, do you know how to take a fall? Do you know how to handle prop weapons? Do you know how to ride a horse if your dream is to be on Vikings or any one of those things, right? So aligning your skills with the career that you want. The second one is industry proof. So these all turn out to be an acronym for six. So skills, industry proof, connections, and knowledge. So with industry proof, that's always just your materials, your showreel. Do you have the scenes that are there to instill confidence? Because it always boils down to confidence. Are we confident as a production, as a studio, as a casting director, as a director, to recommend this person, to hire this person? So that's what your skills are there for. And if your skills are there and they are if your proof is there and it's it's asking them to infer your talent from less than stellar materials or to just see your potential, it's asking too much. The next one is connections, see for connections. So do you have the connections? And I'm not just talking about like connections, the specific connections that are going to get you to the projects that you want to be working on. And lastly, the knowledge. And again, are you aware of the projects that are shooting in your area? Do you, for instance, if say let's take Vikings, who's shooting that? I think it's over now, but you know what I'm saying. Who's who is shooting that? Who are the casting directors? Who are the directors? Who are the DPs? What is the style? What is the genre? All of those things. And are you versed in all of that? That's what I mean when I say that it's never just about talent. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

I love that. I love I love the acronym SIC. So I'm gonna just rephrase what you've said. So the skills, in addition to your acting, if you're going for action or you're going for musical or you're going for a horror film, those skills that are embedded in the acting.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

You know, you've done a bunch of uh soap opera, say, but really what gets your heart racing is working on something like succession or severance. Each one of those is a completely different genre. They both infuse comedy, right? Especially severance. There's real dark comedy going on there. But there's there's uh an understanding in the way the lines are delivered and being adept at being able to recognize that, deliver the audition that you need to deliver in order to the tone is different.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

The tone is different, the tone is different, yes. And then with the industry, you said it was the industry proof. So I love I love how you phrase it, the industry proof meaning, your headshot, your resume.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Honestly, what I'm talking about here is really just your reel. Is your real sure your headshot? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Well, I think you need, I think you need, because they may not get to your reel if they don't like your headshot. So at least, at least out here in in uh the US, it's all about having that headshot, and then the real backs up what that headshot is selling.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Absolutely, absolutely. I guess that I I'm so used to working with actors that are sort of at a certain level that obviously they have got their headshot.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

And I would say, having worked with actors that are also have been doing it for a long time, that still don't have a clue of the materials that they need to sell themselves. I I just worked with a gentleman about a month ago, and he had been acting 13 years and he couldn't understand why he wasn't moving. And when I saw his packet, I was like, oh, I got it. Sir, you are trying to do 20 million things.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Exactly. That's what I call chameleonitis, when everybody's trying to be everything to everyone.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And then when we get into the connection, break that down for me a little bit more. Uh when you're because when I hear connection, industry connection, I'm thinking I need to know casting, I need to know producers, I need to know, I need to know my industry, not just who they are, but they need to know me. That that's the connection.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

That is exactly right. Yeah. It doesn't matter how many people you know, it matters how many people know you. And it matters if the right people know you. And too many actors are relying on their agent and those casting director connections to get them into the front door instead of learning how to create their own side door. Because there are lots of other ways to meet the people who are actually making the decisions about who's getting a part and who isn't. It's not the casting directors and it's not the agents. So, whatever you can be doing to build real relationships with the actual decision makers or through the ripple effect, people who are adjacent to the decision makers, so that you can get into the room with them is what I'm talking about when I say connections.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Got it. So let's let's park at the side door because I'm a big believer in the side door or the side window or going through the roof. However way you can get in, I'm a big believer in reaching out to the producer, to the showrunner, to the directors.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Well, I mean, those are kind of the obvious choices. First, they're the ones who are making the decisions too.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

But but most actors think only in terms of casting. I watched a video you did uh recently talking about you being at the We Audition as a presenter and seeing people fawning over casting and thinking that that was the only way. And I think it is important for actors to know that they are bidding for jobs or auditioning for jobs just like we do. They they are curating stuff, they're taking the materials of the actors and going, okay, I think this person will be right, this person would be right, not this person for this, maybe for something else. But they are not the ones who uh make the decision to hire you. If you know of the producer or you have a friend who knows the producer, it's always good to say, Hey, can you put in a good word for me? I'd love to come in.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

True. Absolutely. You should use everything you can and trying to hit up a friend to introduce you to someone. But what that does, Lydia, is it puts you in the role of always asking. And that's what I try and help actors to get out of. Like so that you're not always saying to someone, hey, can you do me a favor? Hey, would you would you do this? Or hey, would you consider me? Or hey, could you introduce me? Or whatever it is. I'm a big believer in finding ways to get on eye level with people. And I've got a very kind of specific method, the way that I teach how to do that. But but I think what it does is it levels the playing field because as long as you're the one doing the asking, they're the ones with the power. And what I'm trying to help actors do is to at least even out that power dynamic. I'm not saying to flip it because it's, you know, let's be real, it's not going to flip until you're A-list or something. But you can at least even it out. And yes, a producer, obviously, is a great get. It's a great person to get to know. But in order to get to know that person, when you're coming at it totally from the outside, you're asking people for favors to get you in there.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I'm going to stop you for a second. I hear what you're saying. I think that is valid, but I also think the business is small and referrals are great. I want the audience to understand that whatever way you can get in, and asking a friend to refer you is not necessarily because if you know that you can service the piece, because I hear what you're saying, we don't want to come off as beggars. That is, we never want to come off as beggars.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

But I also find that actors are not real eager to refer actors, not to their agents, not to producers, not to directors.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

I think it depends on the person. Because I think if you are good friends with somebody and they don't feel threatened by you, then it is a good thing to ask. If you have a friend who is competitive with you, it is not a good thing to ask because they're not going to service you in that way. And it goes back to, I heard you talk about this, and I believe this wholeheartedly because I come from the school of Anthony Robbins, where he talks about you are the sum total of the five people you hang out with. So you want to make sure you're hanging out with five people who are supportive, who empower you just like you empower them, so that there isn't that envy or that jealousy or that I'm not, you know, I'm not, I'm not gonna let Ann know about this because I want it. You know, they are the actors who think uh small. They they think there's not enough of the pie for all of us. But the truth is there's so that pie is so big. And that leads me to the next question I have for you because your program, which I think is fabulous, you talk about the five pillars to a thriving acting career. So give us those five pillars, girl.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

So it's mindset, branding, marketing, networking, and community. And yet it's evolved because that's what I used to teach alone. And it used to be enough alone. And I don't think it's enough anymore. I now think that the industry is changing so quickly that yes, you need to have those things and you need to be really good at all of those things, or at least have someone who can help you be really good at all of those things, but you also need to find a way to make this career sustainable as you are trying to reach your goals. Because the days of like getting cast, you know, in a series and you know, being able to buy your house and put money away for retirement and not worry about your future, they're done. They're just it just doesn't happen like that anymore. And the industry is in this state of con, well, since the pandemic, it's been in this state of constant evolution. And we're still watching that happen. Even like with the development of what's going on right now with all the micro dramas and Disney getting in, and Fox getting in, and Miramax, and I mean all A24, all of these different studios are now jumping on microdramas. And what does that mean for us? So being able to be aware that you're gonna have to wear many different hats if you want to have more control over your career. The days of like getting an agent, getting on the casting director's rosters, and working on your craft, which is what I was taught. And you and I are similar in age. So, what we were both taught, that's that's what I was told again and again and again. And just work on your craft, and they're gonna know you, and they're gonna find that's outdated information. You have got to find ways to get on people's radars. And of course, there's more than one way to get on their radar, but that's what you have to do. So, so yeah, that was a very long-winded way of saying what the five pillars are, and saying that you even have to do more than that today.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

So it's it's expanded. Your five pillars have expanded because I do believe you need the five pillars. You your mindset has to be in that place of you bring value as an actor, you bring value to whatever you do. You have to see your worth, you have to see that you are part of a community that creates. And so the acting is going back to what you were saying, which I have been walking in that since I started acting, of not waiting for someone to give you. How can you create your own path? How can you get to the front of the line? I'm a believer in, I don't want to be in a long ass line. I want to be number one in that line and how you go forward. And mindset is so important, especially when you're getting the nose, right? Especially when it looks like I I used to have this thing when I started said they don't want to let me play in their reindeer games. So I will create my own reindeer games, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

And so you took a really disempowering sentence and turned it into an empowering one, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Absolutely. And that that's going back to your the mindset. And then when you start talking about marketing, that is huge. It is it is huge because you can be the most talented, the most creative actor in the room. But if if you're not marketing yourself, people don't know you're out there, they don't know what you do, it's not going to help you. And how many actors have you seen that maybe in class or you worked with and you say, oh my God, this person is amazing, but they were waiting, they were waiting for their savior to come and deliver them into stardom, and they went home with their tail between their legs.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

I mean, the power starts with you, right? You have to first stop blaming everybody else and say, okay, what is the actual problem? Right? It generally boils down to auditions. I'm not getting enough auditions or I'm not getting the right auditions. So what can you do about that? And then it goes back to, well, why are you not getting that?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Let's talk about what you can do about that. What are a couple of things that you recommend if you're not getting auditioned or the right auditions?

SPEAKER_00 19:45

There is no one size fits all. It's going to depend on you, where you're at, what you're striving for, the market that you're in, the market that you're trying to be in, all of those things. So again, it goes back to the sick factors. First, diagnose, then you can design a solution. But unless you know why you're not getting the auditions, it could be because you've got chameleonitis. You're trying to be everything to everyone. So nobody knows who the hell you are and what you do. Or it could be that they've got a pretty good idea of what you can do, but your materials are showing up as amateur or you know, five and under co-star level or something like that. And even you may be the best actor in the world, but if you don't have the materials to show what you are capable of doing and not just where you've been, then what you are asking by default is please infer my talent and my potential from my subpar materials. Or say you've got all of that, right? Say you've got your your materials, your skills are on point, your materials, you just worked on those, they're amazing. Why are you not getting the auditions? So maybe it's, you know, that your materials are not representing you to your full potential. If you, if your show reel looks like it's made up of student films or five and under co-stars, commercials, it could very well be that you are an actor who's earning your living as an actor, but the materials on your show reel do not look like where you want to go. And that is what they must look like in order to give people confidence to hire you. Or it could be say that all of that is on point. It could be that you are just not good at putting yourself out there because there are only two skills that an actor really needs to have. One is you need to be able to act, duh, right? But you also need to be able to pitch yourself. And pitching it sounds so yuck, no, I don't want to pitch myself. But you have got to find ways to learn how to speak about yourself and what you do in a way that feels good to you and doesn't feel inauthentic and doesn't feel like you're bragging, so that you can do it. And then you've got to find ways to really connect with people where it's not all about you. Because part of creating those connections is creating the relationship. And I mean, just think about your worst dates, right? The ones where you've had a date with someone and all they did was talk about themselves for like an hour and a half, and you're like, when is it over? Geez, ask me something. You know, do you not care at all about me? Right. And because we all love talking about ourselves, okay, that's true. But we also think that the most charming person we meet is the one who is most interested in us. So that is one way to help yourself with marketing, is just be aware that part of marketing is relationship building. And then beyond that, you need to also get into the circles, either vicariously or through the ripple effect, or through your own efforts, one way or another, you've got to get into the circles where those decisions are being made. So it's going to be one of those six factors, and it's usually honestly a combination of those. So if you're not getting auditions, ask yourself, why am I not getting auditions? And those are the four places to look.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

So in the five pillars, I know you've extended it, but you talk about branding. How do you define branding for the actor? And how can branding help the actor?

SPEAKER_00 24:09

So understanding branding is understanding what you operate from. So there are there are several different things to look at. There is how your first impression, right? This is like the literally just the splits. Second decision that every human being makes when they first meet you. What is your first impression that you're giving off? And there are so many things that I think the average person, actors are probably more savvy about this, but the average person doesn't even realize that they're clocking. Oh, they're smart, they're stupid, they're upper class, they're lower class, they have money, they don't have money. All of these things that we're automatically clocking. So where do you sit in that first impression? The second one is your leading center. So we lead from our head, we lead from our heart, we lead from um our spirit, and we lead from our groin, right? So, and some people nobody is ever one thing cut and dry. My leading center is I lead from my head first with a very close second from my heart. Um, and that will be different for everyone. Um, and it really just depends on like where. So, for instance, if you want to play a party girl, right? These those my days of playing a party girl are done. But if if you're a young woman and you want to play a party girl, party girls, they're not leading from their head. Their head, I'm not saying they're stupid, but that's not where they're leading from. They're leading from their body. They're leading from, they're leading from their body. And their head and their heart might be close behind that, but that's where they're leading from. They're leading from, you know, I want to be in the action, I want to have fun, I want to. If you're the nerdy girl, where are you leading from? That one's easy, right? You're leading from your from your head. If you're the the the indomitable best friend, where are you leading from? You're leading from your heart. So be aware of where you lead from. The set the third one is your access point. That's your vulnerability. What is it that makes you a vulnerable actor? And I'm not talking about being able to cry on cue. I'm talking about your access points. Where are the chinks in the armor? Where is it where your mask falls? And then your your reputation, right? Like what reputation have you created for yourself from those things? Does that make sense? All of that, and then you have to kind of like put it all together and say, okay, what where am I at with this? Oh, and the last one is energy, right? So we all have different, I've got my energy, is kind of and I notice it when I'm with my sister really, really a lot because my sister is so laid back. And not to say that you can't control these to a certain extent, but they all go back to that first impression. And today we're not about, it's not the acting of even 40 years ago, the 80s, where people were allowed to really inhabit other energies and all that. Now we're even seeing like Meryl Streep, she's perfectly capable of inhabiting different energies, but she always brings, especially the last 10 years, she brings a certain self to every role. De Niro, the same, uh, Pacino, the same. The all of the greats, right? The people who we consider our great actors, they're bringing a certain self that we can always expect in the roles they play. And that, so when you put that, I love a good acronym, as you're gonna probably learn in this conversation very soon. So all of what I just described, you can remember that by flair. So that's what I say. That's your flair as you have to figure out your flair for your branding.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Okay, so networking. How do you define networking for the actor?

SPEAKER_00 28:35

Well, networking is again about building relationships, but it's consciously going about, consciously and strategically and intentionally, building the relationships that are turning into professional friendships. I'm not for transactional relationships. I really realizing that we all want something, right? Everybody wants something. No matter what you're doing in life, everybody wants something. So we have to we realize that. That's all you lead with. People feel that, and they don't nobody likes that. Nobody wants to be used. And the real and I also think that that's a very short-sighted way to think of things. What can you do for me now? Think about it in terms of man, I love this person's work, I really want to work with this person someday. How can I cultivate a relationship with them? And while I'm doing that, also do it in a way that also lets them see who I am as an actor, not just as a human being. But at the end of the day, we're all human beings first. So find ways to connect that connect you as a human being, and you both just happen to love theater or film or television or whatever it may happen to be.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

I agree. I think when actors move from that transactional relationship, they are cutting themselves off. They're not encompassing all of the other actor or the other person. It's like you're a person, we go back to the humanity of it. You're a person. What do I like about you? What, oh my God, you you like going to cafes, so do I. Let me give you a list of some of the cafes that I love in town. You are a foodie. Let me tell you my best restaurants and the ones to stay away from, so that you are organically coming to it from a place of giving, not a place of taking. And most actors are so desperate, because that I think that's also connected to mindset. The desperation is that what can you do for me? Because I need to get in the room. What can you instead of going, how can I befriend you, Anne, in a way that we can start a relationship that will be long-lasting, getting into an acting class. Oh my God, I love this actor, I love this actress, I love what they're doing. Let me let me go out, invite them for coffee, or or let me see if I could do a scene with them so I could get to know them, see how they move, because I do think what you just said goes right. It's such a beautiful entry place for community. You're building community at the end of the day, as an actor, you want to build a solid community of other artists, not just actors, but but other artists that you can feed off of. So I I know you've you've changed your pillars, but I still love that.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

No, no, the five pillars are still there. It's just a there's a sixth pillar, and that's like figure out how to create your side door. And that's something else.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

So let's let's go back to the side door. Let's just just so that actors, because this is a big, this is a huge pillar for a lot of actors. It's a scary pillar. It's uh, I don't know if I can do that. I just know how to act, create something. So can you break that down? What that sixth pillar means to you.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Yes. So we all know that an acting career is a ravenous beast. We feed it, we feed it. We take classes, we pay for showcases, we're paying for new headshots every year, every two years, Max. We're we're updating our show reel, we're flying to festivals, we're we're we're always doing something to feed the beast. And we do this all in the hopes of some little tiny dopamine hit of love from the career back to us, the callback, the casting director that responds to your email, the the audition, the the role, whatever it is. But those come so few and far between when you look at the ratio of what you're putting into it as opposed to what you're getting back. In any other context, we would say that's a toxic relationship, you know, get out of that thing, girl. But because we love it so much, we're willing to take this abuse because we think that somewhere down the line, this career is gonna love us back. And maybe it will. I'm not saying it won't. But what they're not realizing is there are ways to support your career and change those dynamics of power as you are trying to reach your next milestone. So part of it starts with, first of all, first of all, let's just even like start with the very first thing, is where are you trying to get to? Because I'm sure you have this too, Lydia. So many actors will say to me, I just want to work. I don't care, I just want to work. But that lack of specificity in your career is just as toxic to your career strategy as it is to your character analysis, right? If you're not specific in the choices that you're making as an actor, well, we all know how flat that lands, right? It's not going to reach anybody, it's not going to touch anybody. And that same amount of specificity needs to be put to your career. So, first, the very first question is what's the objective? What are you trying to get to? Like, where do you want to go? Because if I tell you, like if I come to you and say, Lydia, help me, I'm trying to, you know, I I would love to do dramedies like like uh prestige drama type things like White Lotus and Severance and like Apple TV, and that's what I'm aiming for. And you know, okay, that's very different than if I come to you and say, my dream is to be an actor and in the West End on London. Right? It looks very, very different, and of course, all of the thousand variations in between. I, you know, where if I say I I want to be, I want to be writing, producing, and acting in my own indie indie films, all of that looks very different. And therefore, the the steps that you take to get there are going to be very different. The other thing is once you've identified where you're trying to get to, you can like set your GPS now. You're not gonna fly over that Grand Canyon size chasm and get there. I wish we could, right? Snap our fingers, twinkle our nose, and just be there. That would be ideal, but that's not how it happens. We've got to kind of build the bridge over that chasm one plank at a time. So then it goes back to okay, what is keeping me from just getting that first thing I need to get one step closer? And then this goes back to the sick factors. So, okay, what what is it? It's going to, no matter where you are in your career, it's going to be one of those four things.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Going to earlier in the conversation, when you said the business has changed, and it has. I mean, from the time we started to now, it is a different business. We have to operate as actors, as any any performing artist. We have to be entrepreneurs, we have to be the CEO of our company, and we we can no longer just be the talent. That's not available anymore, people. It's just not available. It you have to come as a business person whose product is talent. That's your product. You are selling acting, but you are not, yeah, you're no longer just the actor. You have to, even with your self-tapes, you have to be the filmmaker because they are expecting much more today from your self-tape.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yesterday I did a self-tape and I was feeling so lazy. I'm like, eh, I don't know. I don't feel like hooking up my microphone and doing this and doing that. And then I watched my just my slate back, and I was like, shit, I need to hook up my damn microphone, you know, because it makes a difference. It brings you in. There's that intimacy that's automatically there when the sound is good. And these were things we didn't used to have to worry about, but we do now.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Right, because someone else did it. You just came in and delivered, but now you have to, you have to create the ambiance of the or the tone of the performance that you want to give. If it's for going back to if it's a soap opera, it's a different tone. If it's a commercial, it's a different tone. If it is a drama, it is a different tone. And they're also asking you to do mini movies in your self-tape now. Can you shoot it in a theater? Can you shoot it in a supermarket? Can you shoot it in a drive-in? They want to see it. And so you have to think of yourself as the um a CEO of your company who can do all these things. If you're gonna do theater, it it may be a little different, but if we're talking anything that is visual, commercials, film, television, microfilms, you gotta bring it. They you have to bring it and you have to embrace it. So I want to talk to you about your. You have a couple of programs that you offer actors, if you can just go through them for us.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

I really have one program now. It's called the Curator Academy. And this is where I teach actors how to diagnose why they're stuck and design a solution for that that is going to fix those sick factors that they're that they're, you know, that they're having problems with in a way that gets them paid at the same time. So this came about from my own experience. Just I was when I relaunched my career, I had been a SAG after uh working on my equity card actor in Chicago, you know, in my 20s, and was working enough so that I had my health insurance paid for through SAG. So I was, you know, thinking about moving to LA, and then I met my now husband 30 years ago, and ended up in Germany and got pregnant right away, started a family, and thought, well, you know, I guess that's over. You know, how am I supposed to make that all work from Germany? And a couple of years into it, I started doing acting adjacent work. So I was I started doing voiceover, became very prolific doing that, had a really great career as a presenter and also doing commercials, stuff like that. And I thought, oh, just be happy with what you have. You know, just like you've got a beautiful family. A lot of people would be happy to be making the money that you are doing what you're doing. So just be happy with it. But of course, you know, I wasn't entirely. And it wasn't until my son kind of came to me and let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he was done hanging out with me on the weekends, that I realized, wait a minute, okay, now I have a minute to think about me. But at that point, I was 47 years old. I was still an American living in Germany, didn't, didn't and still don't speak flawless German, and was very far removed from everything I had known, even though that had changed, had no current showreel material, no current contacts, no clue. And I thought, okay, if I'm going to do this, and I want to do this, how am I going to get my skills and my confidence back to where they need to be in order to compete on a professional level again? And I knew that the answer to that was just getting training, like investing in my training. But, you know, lo and behold, I looked around, there wasn't a whole lot going on. Um, so I started bringing people in. And my original thought with that was really just to pay whatever I would pay if they had been here. I I was able to find one workshop, which kind of sparked this whole thing. Um, and I thought, okay, well, if I can just, you know, find other workshops, but of course there weren't any. So I started to bring people in thinking, if I can just, you know, bring them in and get a few actors together and pay what I would pay if they were already here, win for me, and I'm happy. But what ended up happening with that was I sold it out. I had hired a great coach for my very first workshop. So I sold it out, um, ended up making 1,300 euros, so about$1,500 in the two-day period. So got my training for free, made$1,500. And the biggest thing for me, Lydia, was like this like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I can use what I need to get what I want. Okay, so let me do that again. And that's when I really was like, and I'm a very like, you know, as soon as I have have a goal in mind, I'm I mean, like, get out of my way. So I thought, okay, so I started bringing in two to three coaches a month. And in between, and these are what I would call my big workshops. And in between that, I was having little workshops where I would invite the actors who had taken part in the big workshops to come in and rehearse what we had learned. But we were also bringing in people who wanted to benefit from what we had learned, but couldn't afford to pay for it. So so I was working out anywhere from a couple hours to sometimes eight hours a day multiple times a week. And I did that for about a year until I was ready to launch my career. And then I thought, okay, I will never do another workshop again because it was just a means to an end for me. But then I looked around and I thought, oh, well, wait a minute. I don't have any showreel material. I need showreel material. So I thought, okay, I'll organize that. So I organized an event around that. And then I thought, oh, I don't have headshots, need that. Did the same thing. Then I thought, okay, now I'm done. I will never organize another workshop again. And by this time, really, I kept thinking that. And I, because it was always a means to an end. It was like that was the vehicle that got me to where I needed to go. And now I'm here. So it's, you know, thanks, Uber Driver. I'm done with you now. Right. But then when I started working, which, you know, so now we're a few years into it. Now I'm working. I've got my agent. The casting directors know me. And I'm getting typecast a lot. So this is this is the first thing. And I didn't, I knew I was being typecast, but I I didn't know enough about brand then to understand what was like what, you know, but I knew innately, well, they're just not seeing what I'm capable of. So let me produce one short film a month until I've got, until they see it, you know, and I'm gonna be putting that out there every month. And so that's what I started doing, and that was working. And I was using workshops then to finance my short films because even when everybody's donating everything, you still have to have great equipment and pay for people's food and travel and lodging and blah, blah, blah. So it's still expensive. So I was using the workshop. I thought, okay, I'll just use the workshops then to finance that. Great. Did that, started getting better auditions. This is when I started getting cast and things like Netflix, 824, Hallmark, those kind of things. At this point, this is when I start teaching as well. Now I've I've started teaching, acting, showing other actors what I know. And now I'm getting invited to festivals, premieres, those kind of things. And there was one day I remembered very specifically. We're all standing around this one poor woman. She's a casting director, bunch of actors around her. And everybody's acting like they could care less, but vying for her attention and hoping that they'll be the one to catch her eye and to be the one to, you know, entice her into a conversation with them. Meanwhile, she's like looking over everybody's shoulder because she wants to have conversations with producers and directors for her next project, but we're oblivious to that. And there was like this like almost like this out of body experience for me. I just was like aware all of a sudden of this neediness around this poor woman. And I thought I do not want any part of this. And then I thought, I wonder if I hired her. And that is what really started to change things. So I started hiring casting directors and directors and producers and screenwriters and just kind of whatever. Whoever I felt I like their work and I could learn something from them. And they could open a door for me. And that method of using what you need to get what you want in a way that gets you paid and supports your acting career as it supports your acting career is what I would say is my sixth pillar now. In fact, it is the pillar that all the other pillars, it's the tenth pole. And all of the other five pillars are around that, supporting it.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

I love it. I want to jump into you taking a 16-year break from your acting and then coming back to it. Many actors, and I get this all the time, you know, I'm too old, it's too late for me. I'm, you know, I'm past 40. I'm I don't know. But at 47, you decided I am going to get back in. Tell me the first couple of things you started to do to get yourself back in the game.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

Well, the first thing I did was get training. That was the first thing I did. I spent a year getting that training.

SPEAKER_01 48:04

Now, was this on Zoom? No, no, no, because you're in the U.S.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

I was bringing people to Munich. I was flying them in from New York, London, LA. Yeah, I was flying amazing coaches in and creating workshops around that.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Okay. So you were bringing people in, creating the workshop so you could get the training. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

You know what? Maybe we should just like tap here for a sec, because I think that this is also something that so many actors struggle with. They'll see like the whole range of the Alps. Instead of saying, What's the first thing I need to climb this mountain? A pair of hiking boots and a map. That's what you need. Get started, one foot in front of the other. And when you're looking at the whole range of the Alps, of course that looks impossible. But if you break it down into small steps, it becomes much easier. So for me, it was really just that first thing. What is the first thing I need? You know, this has been my way of probably approaching everything in my life, from like when I I, you know, I used to be a smoker, as many of us were in the 80s. So I was a smoker, and the way I quit cigarettes was cold turkey. But I didn't say I will never smoke cigarettes again. What I said was, I am stronger than this cigarette in this moment, right now. And that became an hour and a day and a week and a month and a year. And then I was done. And sure, yes, at parties, things like that, I've taken a puff, but I've never become a smoker again. So, and I also feel like the way I raised my son was I only ever answered questions in as far as he asked them. So when he said, Mommy, where did I come from? I thought, Well, you came from me, honey. Oh, okay, you know. And it wasn't until he started, you know, like, like, where from you? And this and okay, from my tummy. You know, literally just like answering the question that he had asked me and not trying to, like, how am I going to tell this child about the birds and the bees? You know, he's three years old, right? No. Just give them the answer that they're. And so that's that is also how I have approached the challenges in my life, including my acting career. Let's just deal with the problem that's right in front of me, fix that, and move on. And so the very first one was that. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely was having a lot of like, who am I now? Because I left the industry in my late 20s. I was coming back in my late 40s, and it was like it's a completely different person, right? I mean, in terms of life experience, in terms of how I looked, all of it. And trying to understand what that meant and also reconciling, you know, children of the 80s, the younger people today don't get this because you guys see, you know, people like Lydia and I, who are in our 60s, and we don't look like people's image of people in their 60s. When we were growing up, people in their 60s looked like exactly how you would think people in their 60s should look. So, so that image was in my head too. Like, what does this mean? I'm gonna be 50 years old and I still feel sexy, I still feel vital, I still have energy, I still feel like I'm attracted. You know, like all of these things. And what does that mean? And do I have to cut my hair short? And what is what is where where am I? So it was like coming to terms with a lot of that. And there was also on top of that, this defensiveness about not speaking German perfectly, about wanting to be like insisting that other people accept me for being a member of German society, which I am. I'm a German citizen. But again, I was raging against something I had no control against. And if you don't have a control of the outcome, you are wasting your energy. So the only thing I could change was how I was perceiving how other people perceive me. And just recognizing that some people are gonna see my accent as a flaw, and other people are going to see it as charming or an advantage or flavor or background or whatever it is. Some people are gonna be open to it, some people aren't. And my husband said this really clearly one day. I I love this story. So this is when I was doing a lot of voice work, and so one day, you know, I get a pitch for this job, and it was pretty well paying, or no, it was a pretty big job. And they were asking me what I wanted to charge for it. And I gave them my price or whatever it was. And they came back to me with, well, the Germans don't charge that much. And I remember at the time just kind of being like, I didn't even know how to answer it. You know, it's like, what? What? And I told my husband about it at dinner, and he said, Well, then tell them to hire a German. And I thought, damn, baby, why didn't I think of that in that moment? You know? And that was it was so good, but it also made me realize that the thing that is keeping me out is also my superpower. That goes across the board. So when I finally organically recognized that as an actor and not just as a voice actor, because I had been incorporating that into my voiceover career for some time. But when I recognized that, hey, my age, my life experience, my unique background, these are all things that helped me to stand out and to be very identifiable as the unique USP that I am, as we all are. But it wasn't until I could see them as that that I began to use them as that.

SPEAKER_01 54:16

First of all, I applaud you for your courage to get back in the game, in spite of the fear, the negative talk that was going on in your head. You still persevered and were able to say, okay, this is how I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do this. Your intention, your intentionality of going about getting what you needed at that moment, starting with the step. You know, I'm gonna take this step, then I'm gonna take this step, then I'm gonna take this step. So you're now in Germany. What was is your husband German or very? I I love it. I I'm here for the adventure. So this is excellent. So now you're you're in Germany, you're starting to get yourself back on track as an actor. You're coming from the states, which has a whole different philosophy and different uh way of acting. You're now in in Munich. What is the difference between being an actor in the States and an actor in Europe?

SPEAKER_00 55:27

Oh man, Lydia. That one's actually kind of hard to answer on some levels because when I left the industry, it was the mid-90s in America. And when I came back, it was uh 2014. So we're already talking about these huge differences had already been happening in America as well. So it's hard for me to compare apples to apples. The only thing I can say is now that I've been back and I've worked on American sets and German sets, or you know, European sets, honestly, there isn't that much of a difference. The work is the work, the people are the people. The language changes, but that's about it. And the phrases change. Like I remember the first time that I worked on an American set where they kept saying, fly in this and fly in that. We're gonna fly in that and we're flying a fly that in. And I was like, what? This is like new, a new phrase for me. I hadn't heard that one before. But that was like the biggest, the biggest difference, honestly. Otherwise, it's all the same. I mean, a set is a set. There's there's the hierarchy is the same. It's all the passion is the same. They're all, you know, all the crew is still wearing black. I mean, it's all the same with the tattoos and the long hair and the I mean, none of that changes. And that's great because we are in the business of making connections through the messy, gooey humanity of us all. And it's so beautiful to see that no matter where you go, we are so much bigger than the borders of our countries. We are so much bigger than the languages we were brought up in. We are really all wanting the same things in life. And those things that connect us are so much more than the things that tear us apart. And so, for me at any rate, I look at the things that connect us more than the differences.

SPEAKER_01 57:44

I want to know. Um, you talked about in one of your episodes on your YouTube channel, you talked about being a presenter at We Audition.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

I wasn't a presenter. I had I was doing a keynote speech there.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

What is We Audition? And should actors in the States know about that?

SPEAKER_00 58:05

You don't know about We Audition? Okay, so We Audition is amazing. There are two co-founders, uh, unfortunately, only one of them, and his first name is coming to me right now, Darren. Really nice guy, two guys that started We Audition, which is a self-taping platform to solve the problem of not having a self-tape partner when you need one. And you can earn money on WeAudition by, you know, like if you happen to be someone who works from home, and you could just like log into WeAudition and say, I'm available to be a reader with someone. And if it comes up, then then you read with them and you can earn a little bit of money and also practice, right? And get to know someone. Um, but beyond that, and the reason that it started was really to give actors 24-7 uh a place where they can reach out and find reliable self-taping partners. And I believe there's a nominal monthly fee. I don't remember what it is off the top of my head anymore, but there is a nominal monthly fee.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

So it's a membership. You you pay a membership.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

And uh they also hold all sorts of events at places like Sundance, Caen, uh Bellinale. So yeah, it's bad. They they are sponsors of so the Actors uh Pro Expo used to just be the Actors Pro Expo in London, but now we audition as the main sponsor.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

What was your experience in being a keynote speaker there? What what did you learn? What did you take away as an actor being a keynote speaker?

SPEAKER_00 59:50

I'm not sure I had any time to be an actor while I was there because I was so like, you know, I was there to represent my company, which is Act Bold. So um, and it was it's a one-day event, and over 6,000 people move through there in one day. So it's like by the time you leave that thing, I mean my head was just buzzing. Um, and I was exhausted, I gotta say that too. So, as an actor, what I can see that people get out of it is there are all sorts of service providers for actors. So there are coaches, there are um headshot photographers, there are all sorts of different programs. There are the vendors that are there, but there are also rooms where you can audition for really well-known casting directors. There are casting directors holding QAs, there are um well-known agencies. My agent was there last year who was there to view people's auditions for the uh uh for their agency. It's just a great place to network as an actor.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

Since the pandemic, the acting community has become more global. Like you can, you literally can audition for anywhere in the world. You know, do you have the or I should say, is it the same in Europe as it is here where you can audition to be a local for hire and book work in in Europe?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:32

Yes, but there is the caveat of you you need to be able to work here. So it may work for some independent films and things like that where they don't really care, but you know, that that that may be okay, just like it honestly is in the States as well.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:49

So you need a different visa.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

I had a, I guess what you would call like a green card for like 29 of the 30 years that I've lived here. And so I was always able to work within Germany with no problem, and within companies outside of Germany, as long as there was some sort of a German connection. So German co-producer, something, I don't know. But I know that I also, this happened to me a couple of times where I lost roles in Italy because I didn't have the ability to work there. So I'm not sure why Italy was always a problem, but it was. But now that I'm a citizen of Germany as well as an American, now I'm I can work all over the, you know, the European Union without a problem. So like I'm not suggesting people just flock over here without a work permit because you're gonna run into some problems. But if, you know, there are plenty of Americans who can and do have European passports. So it's viable and it's a doable thing if you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

I love it. This is uh very exciting to know that you just have to get the right paperwork and then you can pursue your your career in Europe as well as the states. Or it, you know, in the states you need a visa, you need a certain type of um visa in all the.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:15

If you're not American, yeah. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:18

If you're not American, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Although, you know, there's a uh cat Nancy Bishop, she's a big casting director here in Europe. She's an American based out of London. I just saw yesterday where she was she does her casting tip Tuesdays, where she was telling European actors, don't go to America right now. She personally knows more than one actor. She literally said, white dude who got detained and is in detention as she spoke. So it's not, you know, be careful both ways, but really be careful if you're going from Europe to America.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:59

Good common sense tip, because right now uh we are in in a crazy time in the United States. So um even Americans are in a crazy time in the United States, so you have to you have to proceed with tremendous caution. What is something that you want to accomplish in the next year with Act Bold?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:24

So I I have two big goals for 2026. One is to empower 100 actors to really build their own side doors through the Curator Academy. And that's that's one goal. My other goal is I'm bringing out, you know, I know a lot of actors are really afraid of AI, and rightly so. There's a lot of reasons to be afraid of it. But the fact is, this train is moving, and you got to figure out a way as an actor to make it work for you. And so I'm bringing out a suite of AI tools that are designed to do exactly that, to help actors in the five pillars. I should say the three pillars. So mindset branding, marketing, but then also with performance. So um different aspects of that. And these are all based on my years of teaching my program that I no longer have, which is Get Better Roles, and what I've learned, you know, in the past few years teaching at the for the Curator Academy. So it's based on my 40 years experience in some form or another of being an actor, and my 10 plus years experience of being a coach and a business owner and an entrepreneur. So those are are the two areas that I'm really looking to, or that I am putting a ton of energy in in right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:02

What is it that you love about acting?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:07

Connection. I I think for me it always goes to connection. Like first of all, being able to take the ugly and make it beautiful. That's often something that I have found in my in my career, in my life. But like we have the privilege of taking these horrible memories or whatever they may happen to be, beautiful memories too, but of using all of that, all of those parts of our life in service of our art and in service of showing a facet of humanity that other people on this planet can connect with. And that is something that I just love about uh about being a storyteller. You know, I think it goes for screenwriting, for directing, for acting. Yeah, I would say it's it's definitely the connection.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:03

I love, first of all, actors are storytellers. Um, we just do it in a different way than a writer, but we we are creating stories. I want to go back to something I heard you say in one of your episodes, your YouTube episodes of Act Bold, and that is the investment trap. You talked about actors sometimes falling into the investment trap. Can you break that down for us?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:31

I think that so many actors honestly are afraid to make that commitment to themselves, to take that leap of faith for themselves and actually invest in themselves. But the problem is if you're not willing to invest in yourself, why should the industry, if you're not willing to take a bet on yourself and invest in yourself, why should the industry take a bet on you? So if you want someone to believe in you, then you've got to believe in yourself first. In my experience, I've never invested in myself where I've ever thought, well, that was a waste of time. You know, I've always made sure that I get something from everything that I've ever invested in. Not, yeah, I've done things where I've thought, you know, I think I could do that better or whatever it is. But there, you know, it just depends. But I think that it really comes down to too many actors are like, Yeah, well when I get cast in something that proves that this is gonna work for me, then I can invest in myself. But that's backwards. You need to invest in yourself, you need to invest in your craft, you need to invest in your materials, you need to invest in your knowledge, your skill, all of it. And and when you've done that, when you've put in that work, that is what is paying your dues means to me. And we we all have to pay our dues. Whether you become a doctor, you have to pay your dues. You have to go I mean, would you know nobody's gonna go to a doctor that just is like, you know, I just feel it. I feel like I can do surgery. Okay, well, go feel it somewhere else, dude. Not cutting me open, you know? So why should actors be any different? This is a highly skilled profession. It's not just something that you feel your way into. And so you've you've got to invest in yourself. And I'm sure I I get it once in a while. I generally seem to repel uh absolute beginners, which is good because that that is not my audience. But every once in a while someone will get on, and they you know, even though I have a uh like a 10 question form, like before you can book an appointment with me, you've got to answer these 10 questions. And one of the questions is is what do you invest in yourself on a on an annual basis? And if they're like zero, like what are you doing? And it's it's too many times that people are, I think also they they also there's some people most are not this way, thank goodness. But some people feel very entitled. You know, I saw your YouTube channel, you you said book a call, and so here I am, you know, like give me free coaching. And again, that's not being respectful of someone's time and value. And that's what it goes back to again. If you are not willing to value your own self enough to invest in it, how dare you expect other people to invest in you?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

Well, it goes back to not understanding that art is a business, right? Whether you are a photographer, whether you are a dancer, a musician, it is a business. And I would love for acting schools or or schools that teach the fine art to start the first class should be this is a business. This is what you need to know because we're just taught craft, right? We're not taught, it is a business. And as an actor, we are the business. Going back to what we were talking about earlier. It's a business. And in any business, you have to invest in. If it's uh if you are opening a restaurant, if you are a doctor, if you're a lawyer, if you're a plumber, it is a business. You have to get your cards if you're a plumber, you gotta put out ads, you gotta let people know that you have a service that you do. It is the same with acting. And I love you talking about the investment trap because it costs money to be in the room with people of importance in the acting community. Whether it is a workshop, whether it is an intensive, you know, uh when I started in the business, one of the things that I knew intuitively that I always wanted to be with the best people. And the best people cost money. I didn't want to just take an acting class. I it wasn't it, that wasn't enough for me. That wasn't satisfying. I wanted to be with the best because my my idea of acting was I want to be the best actor. If I want to be the best, I have to be with the best, and the best cost. It costs money to have access to well-renowned people. I studied with Stella Adler for four years. It cost money. You had to pay. It wasn't like, oh, and and there was no YouTube at the time that you could just watch, you know, we have a lot more, we have a lot more available to us as actors today than we did in the 70s, 80s, 90s, because there's a lot of content. But even with that content, you still want to be guided specifically. You know, there's there's information you can get, but you still want to train. Now, you know, I studied with a man named Roy London for nine years acting classes. I was booking work. I was, I could have said, okay, I, you know, I already got what I needed. Now let me just go and work. But as an actor, you are constantly growing, developing, shifting. You talked about how you left the profession at uh in your late 20s, and then you're coming back at 47, and you have to now reinvent yourself and your product. I think actors are usually having to reinvent themselves every four to six years, depending on how you're growing physically. You know, some people put on weight, some people lose weight, some people mature quicker than others. So you have to be ready to pivot. And with that pivot, sometimes you need training, you need guidance, you need a coach, not for acting, but for branding. Okay, what is it that I sell now? I'm selling what I sold in my 20s is so different than what I sell today. But I need somebody who can see from the outside who has that that can be the observant and and be um and not not be prejudiced in that way of, well, you know, I sold this. This is what, you know, as actors, sometimes we get so stuck in, well, this is what I do know. You you need to you need to take that step back and let somebody else tell you this is how you're perceived as. So can you use that? And if you don't like being perceived in that way, how do we help you shift so you can be seen in the way you want to be seen? Because how you are selling yourself is important. And I just think investing, investing, and I want to say something about investing. Be careful where you invest because sometimes we hear a good sales pitch from people. I was thinking about this yesterday, and I and for some reason it made me so mad because I'm a student, I I will take all kinds of classes. I'm still studying you are too. We talked about this.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:23

You and I both are in coaching programs right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:26

Many coaching programs. I I am in about six right now, six memberships in coaching programs. And I've taken other coaching programs where they were full of shit. I took with this with a publicist because I was like, okay, what I know about publicity as an actor is that it is imperative that you have publicity to find a good publicist. If you if you are moving and you're getting traction, take advantage of the momentum. Get a publicist so that they can put you out there. Um, and I know this because years ago, when I first got to Hollywood, I worked at a record company. And part of my job was to also do publicity, to also for our acts and how important publicity is for the performer. Whether you're an actor, a singer, a dancer, you need that. And even though the industry has evolved and we have all these different things, the industry still is just as impressed as we are about press. If they see something, if they see an ad, if they see something intentional. Absolutely. That's right. They're like, oh my God, I gotta, who is this and uh person? I need her. Let me have her come in because they saw a feature on you. That uh, you know, the press is important. And so I hired a person calling themselves a press person, and it was very expensive. So I'm thinking, okay, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna give me some some fresh tools because I already have tools for publicity, but they're gonna give me some fresh tools. I was so disappointed, it was so horrifying. They were so unprofessional. They came with their old resume of what they did, but they were not invested in the actor. One thing I will say to the actor that is watching or the performer that is watching, when you sign up and you have saved your money to take this course, make sure that they are giving you what they said they were going to give you. And if it if you're not feeling like it should be, even though you're in a group, there should be time when you get a little bit of attention yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:56

I've been in in in Mastermind or I've been in these maths once where you're just like five hours later and you still didn't get a chance to have someone look at your material, or they don't have the camera on so they can see you.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:09

They just want you to put it in the in the chat. That's not servicing you. So I just want to say that because I for some reason I woke up mad yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:19

You must have had a bad dream.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:21

And I am big on investing in yourself. I've always been big on investing in myself as an artist because I do believe that when you invest in you and people see what you're doing, then they come on board because they go, oh wow, whether they know you're investing or not. In the beginning, my investments were I produced my own one-person show, I produced a two-person play so that I could be highlighted. You you're always looking to find material that will set you apart. I did stand up for 14 years. So another way to get seen as an actor, you know, if you want to do, if you want to do a rom-com or a comedy series, you know, how are you positioning yourself? But it is imperative that you invest in yourself, you see yourself as a business, and that if you are in a group or you paid for some coaching and they're not giving you what they said they were going to give you, ask for your money back. Ask for your money back right away. Because there are people out there teaching, I'll help you get an agent. And then what they offer is trash. You want to make sure that they are giving you what they said, what this is what I can do for you. This is what I can help you.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:42

You also have to be aware that nobody is going to you look, yeah, I don't have the power to change somebody else's mind. And neither does that person who's saying, I can get you an agent.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:53

Nobody should, and nobody you should not go with anybody who says, I can get you an agent. I can get you a card.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:00

I can get you in the cast. You don't know that. No, they cannot. I'm big on like saying, I make no I know that, you know, from past experience, what I've done has worked, but there's a you know, a large amount of work that you're gonna have to do, and I don't make any guarantees because you also need to be working on your skills. It's gonna depend on that's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:20

You're giving the tools, you're giving the tools. That's and you want to be somewhere where they're giving you the tools, then it's up to you to do it. Uh going back to Anthony Robbins, who I love, I love Anthony Robbins. I am a devotee. But one of the things that Anthony Robbins offers is that he will give you your money back if you did everything he told you and it did not work. So part of that is you have to do, you can't go in, you can't go, okay, I'm gonna take this course and then I'm gonna get it. No, you have to execute what you're being taught. You can't, you know, there because there are people out there who they they consume and consume, but they never execute. And I'm not talking about those, I'm not, I'm talking about if you are doing the work, if you come in, you take the course, you do the work, and you're willing to do the work, but they're not giving you the right information, ask for your money back. So, anyway, I I I just wanted to talk about that because that was something that was in my group yesterday. What would you like to leave actors with about your your service, about what you've learned in Germany so many years? You've been there for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:39

30 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:40

30 years. What you have learned that has helped you, and what you have learned that has given you pause.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:49

So if you want to find me, I'm at Act Bold on YouTube, on Instagram. My name is Ann Alexander Seder, S-I-E-D-E-R. What I've learned, I would say the biggest thing that I've learned that has made all the difference is to realize that your big, beautiful dreams are not waiting for you inside of your comfort zone. It is going to be scary. It is going to have a little bit of uncomfortableness, maybe a lot. It is going to maybe hurt. But in order to expand the boundaries to grow, that's why it's called growing pains, you are gonna be have to be doing work because if your dreams were already in your comfort zone, you wouldn't be seeking them somewhere else. So you've got to keep reaching beyond what you are comfortable with. And that goes for investing, that goes for learning, that goes for your vulnerability, that goes for making connections with people. That's one thing is just be willing to take those steps to get beyond your comfort zone. The next thing is that imperfect action is always better than no action. So it's always better to be doing something towards stretching your comfort zone, towards taking those next steps than trying to perfect it before you take the step. Just take the damn step and you are gonna figure out if you should have stepped right or left or made it backwards or whatever it is in the taking of that step. And you can make your next step after that better. So just keep taking intentional, consistent action. Here was a big learning thing for me. So when I was a young woman, I always thought that when I grow up, fear, I'm not gonna be afraid. Because I think many times as young people, or maybe I'm just projecting, but I definitely was afraid sometimes that I would fail. And my fear of failing was bigger than my want to succeed. And so recognize what what it is. Oh, I know what I wanted to say because this is what my dad always used to say to me. He used to say, Annie, if you chop wood, chips fly. And in the beginning, I was like, Dad, that makes no sense. What does that even mean? I don't know. I don't, you know. And now I kind of get it. And maybe it's just because I'm at the same age he was when he always used to say it to me, but you don't know which one of those chips is gonna fly into the fire and catch. But if you're just standing there, you know, wishing that that wood is gonna get chopped, it's not. You have to start somewhere. It is the taking of the action that creates the confidence, that creates the next step, that creates the momentum and keeps you going. You have to decide whether you have more to lose by not honoring your dreams or by honoring them. And only you can decide that. That's not for anybody to tell you. And if you decide, no, I want this thing, well then, you know, if I were to tell you tomorrow that there was a million dollars buried in your house somewhere, I promise you it's there. You would rip your house down to the studs to find that million dollars. But you're not willing to put the same amount of time, energy, and work into finding the things that are gonna move your own career forward. And you could get so much more than that out of it. Yeah, a lot of different metaphors, a lot of different ways of saying it, but it really boils down to knowing what you want and doing it in spite of being afraid.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:51

Um, I love this conversation. The fear. Use fear to move you forward instead of keeping you paralyzed. Fear and adventure have the same energy. You're nervous, you're like, so instead of looking at like it's fear, look at look at it like, oh my god, I'm getting ready to have another adventure. This is an adventure. You get to decide how you move by how you feel. So, so take that feeling and turn it on its head. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm gonna audition and also see the auditions as a good thing instead of like, oh my god, I can't believe I'm auditioning for this. Oh, but you get to do something. John Frank Levy, who you've also interviewed, um, he I interviewed him a few years ago, and one of the things he said was he watched a couple of actors one day. One was bitching and complaining about that they were auditioning for something he was casting, and he just caught it, you know, he just caught what they were saying. And then he saw another actor on a payphone telling somebody, I got to audition for this. And he saw the different energies. And what he what what came to him was the person who was enthusiastic about it came into the audition owning it. And the person who came into the audition feeling like, oh, I gotta do this, they own that too. And guess who got the part? The one who got to, who felt like I get to do this. And as actors, we have to understand we get to do this. There's so many people that want to act, wish they could act. But if you are going up to bat, if you are auditioning, you are doing it. A casting director that I worked with for years in production, she was our casting director. And I was afraid of her when I was an actor because she was so strict. I was like, oh God, I go in front of her today. And so I was always on my P's and Q's. But when I started working with her, I understood her philosophy and I I so appreciated her. She said, What actors don't understand is the audition is the job. You're not auditioning to get the job. When you audition, you already have the job. Whether you book it is another thing. But the fact that you got into the room, you won. You won. And she really changed how I saw things. It was like, I auditioned. I got it. I have no power if they're gonna hire me or not. But the fact that I got in the room is exciting. The fact that I got to submit myself tape is exciting. And that that using fear as your friend and not your nemesis is like, and also using failure as a success. You know, it it is that thing of we we don't do things because we're afraid we're gonna fail. But if we say, I'm going in, I'm gonna fall, yay, I did it, you develop a marvelous tough skin because you're seeing it as I got to fail again, I got to do this, I got to, oh, next time it'll be even better. I always I I love to say, I've never been here before. If you are living every moment is new, you've never been in that moment before. So how will you execute it? Okay, I did a self-tape yesterday that sucked, and I didn't really put all the energy that I could have, but today I got another self-tape, and I'm gonna kick butt today. I'm gonna do it. As actors, we have to take ownership instead of the hoping. Uh, you said something earlier that really got me to think it's like if you believe you're gonna succeed as an actor, you will. If you are wishing you're gonna succeed as an actor, you won't because your intention is different. You're, you know, if you believe, hey, I'm I'm getting this. I'm I'm I am getting this. Thing of being an actor, and I am going to be successful, and I am grooming myself for the right part. I'm connecting with the right people. I'm doing your mantra. I am with the right people for the right reasons and achieving the right success. Just saying that to yourself every day moves you in a different way. And you create the side doors. When you are showing up and going, oh no, I'm winning, you're going to create your side doors. You're not going to let um one no keep you from doing it. And I think we can speak that we are older. So we know all the stuff that we went through as young people. We know all the fear, all the hope, and I don't know if they like me, the wanting to be validated.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:21

When I was a young woman, I used to I used to imagine fear, my fear, as like a bully. It would stand in front of me and say, Nope, you're not getting any further than here. I'd be like, ooh, okay. Even though I was a very kind of fierce young woman, that my own fears, my own imagination of what the worst thing that could happen, they were bigger than me. And it wasn't until I realized, you know, that when you grow up, it doesn't magically go away. You know, there's no date, you know, like 30, and poof, your fears are gone. Nope, they're still there. You just have to say, okay, I see you, walk beside me, get out of my way. You can laugh at me, you can watch me. And now I also, whereas before I used to see it like as this big monster, like bully type thing standing in my way, blocking me. Now I see it more like a helicopter, mom. You know, like someone buzzing around your head, going, oh, don't fall, don't hurt yourself. And like, I'm gonna be okay, mom. No matter what happens, I'm gonna be okay. So appreciate the love. Know it's coming from a good place, but let me do my thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:28

In the Bible, something that has helped me is there's a scripture in the Bible that says, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And years ago, what I started doing, because I used to walk up a canyon in the Hollywood Hills regularly, and I would get to a certain point, and then I would panic and I would turn back around. And one day I said, you know what? I want to know what's on the other side of that. So I started saying that that scripture. God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And it was up, it was up at the top of the hill, and I had a fear of heights. And so I was determined to get past my fear. Now, the fear was still with me, but I kept walking, saying that. And and for me, it was just taking one step, one step, one step. Not not just, can I just take that one step? Can I take that one step? Let me take that one step. And I made it to the other side. I didn't know what the other side was gonna, where it would land, where I would end up at, but I took it and I got there. And when I finished, I was like, I made it. Now, did the fear go away? No, because I did it, I did it three more times, and the fear was still the same fear was still there, and I kept going, nope, nope, but every time I did it, it kept getting easier and easier.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:04

Because you were you were showing yourself that you can, and that's what builds the confidence.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:10

And the fear is in our head, yeah, absolutely. It's in our head, and we gotta take it down.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:15

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:16

Okay, this was fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time. And for those of you who are watching, you can catch uh Ann's wonderful videos on YouTube, which is how I found her, at Act Bowl. She has incredible information to give you, and you can find her on social media at Act Bowl. Thank you so much for joining us. I so appreciate you taking the time. I look forward to doing it again with you. I am so impressed with Ann Cedar. She is dynamite. Well, that's it for today's episode of Acting Smarter Now. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I want to know what you think. And if today's conversation stirred something up in you, please help this show by buying me a coffee or like, subscribe, and share this video with a friend. And don't forget to catch this next episode coming up where we are giving you more tools to move your career from undiscovered to unstoppable.