SPEAKER_00 1:17

If you're enjoying this channel, I need you to do me a great favor. Yes, I do. I need you to subscribe to the channel. So if you can, just click the subscription button because it helps us to give you more great content. How's that? You hit the subscription button, I give you more great content. Deal? Deal.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

All these actors, they don't know about this. One of the things about being a young actor pursuing a career is that you have to find a way to be proactive. What does that mean? It means I have a very strong message for actors.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Acting Smarter Now. I am your hostess with the most is Lydia Nicole. I am an actor, producer, and your acting career coach. Oh, yes, I am here to help you cut through the noise, own your craft, and take your career from undiscovered to unstoppable. That's right. And my question for you today is what does a Hollywood unicorn look like? Well, she looks like Michelle Danner. Oh yeah, Michelle Danner is an actress, acting teacher, acting coach, director, producer, businesswoman, entrepreneur, and so much more. Oh, and I forgot to mention mother, number one. She's a mama. So without further ado, let's go to the interview. Michelle, I heard you talk about the development of the actor and how important it is to you. You also said anything is possible, you just have to figure it out. You have the Los Angeles Actors Conservatory and you also have Michelle Danner Acting Studio. Can you tell me what each school and studio is?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yes. So the Acting Conservatory is a conservatory program, actually. It's uh a school where you can get a degree. You can study for two years, either acting or filmmaking. And people come to us from all over the world. And I really, you know, would not be a surprise to you that I believe in acting schools because I have forged relationships that have lasted my whole entire life that I've met, actors that I've met in acting class. The Michelle Danner Acting Studio are it's a session, an individual session of acting classes, either improv classes or on-camera classes or technique. We either do like a Meisner class or a Stella Adler class or a Stanislasky class, the method, so that actors familiarize themselves with the different methodologies, the different philosophies that exist. But I studied with Stella Adler, which of course dates me quite a lot. And I remember and I studied with some great teachers. I studied with Herbert Bergdoff and Uda Hagen, the teacher, uh Steven Strumpel and Karen Rosenfeld, lots of wonderful teachers. But one of the things, when I was a teenager studying a young actress, I always rebelled against the idea of dogma, this idea that there's only one way to do it, that always made me question it. What do you mean there's only one way? There's got to be another way, and then there's got to be another way. Art is infinite, art should not constrict you like that. And so, therefore, you know, I was in Stella's class, and she, of course, you know, was a huge proponent of actors using their imagination, which is a great thing, but not to the exclusion of using something maybe that comes up that's deeply personal to you. And so, therefore, I questioned it in my young mind at the time, and I went, well, this is not possible. You know, I hate when people say this is the only way you should do this. What do you mean? And so I embraced different philosophies of acting, and I started to study them uh in a very uh profound way. And so that is my message to the actor today, this new generation of actors, is to study all the different techniques and then to put a technique for you that you put in your own toolbox, and I call it your own golden box. You're the only one that has the key to it because these are tools that very specifically work for you. Not everybody's the same. This idea of everybody come to the middle, you know, the herd mentality and everybody be the same cannot exist in acting and cannot exist when you have acting schools. Everybody is very unique, and you have to tailor teachings to the unique sensitivity of each actor, of each artist. So those are the beliefs. So the difference between the school is one is a program where you get a degree, the other one are individual classes. People love to come, you know, work out in front of the camera and take scene study classes and monologue classes. We also have fight choreography classes, voice classes, musical theater classes, because the idea is that actors should be, you know, wonderfully well-rounded.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Okay, I want to stop at the conservatory for a second because you also take in a lot of international students. And on our channel, we have a lot of international actors that watch what we do. And so you also have it set up for them to be able to come through visas, whether it's uh 01 or P or TN or whatever it is, but you have them able to come and study with you, which is phenomenal. So, with that program, it's just a two-year, because I went into your uh website and I saw that you had it for three years.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

You can. I mean, people can extend. In other words, you know, you can go at your own pace. You can work intensely and maybe even achieve it in 18 months, or two years is probably a good a good time. But a lot of people have extended it to three years, and you know, they've paced themselves because even here in LA, there's opportunities to be part of independent films and student films, and you know, go on auditions and meet agents and meet managers, and which is very much what people want. But I have a strong message, which is before you go and sit down with an agent and a manager, you want to walk in really owning your craft. So craft is what it's all about. And so I I have a very strong message for actors, which is if you were gonna study to be a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant, you would take the time to learn the craft, the nuts and bolts of it. And uh and it's the same thing with acting. You know, if you're meeting with different surgeons because you have to get a surgery, you're going to, you know, probably pick somebody that uh is experienced and knows what they're doing. And it's the same thing when you go to castings. Uh, not to be said that people are not excited about discovering new talent, because that's what it's all about. But also, and especially, you know, you have to start somewhere when you're young. But also, that is the reason why when people graduate from certain programs, there's a cachet to that, because you know, oh, well, they're they're trained, they have training, they know what they're doing because nobody has the time when you come on set or when you're directing a play to teach acting. You're going to hope that the actor has those skills.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Right. And you teach on the business of acting, which is equally as important as the training. I think I may be, if not as old as you, maybe even a little older than you, because I studied with Stella as well. Um I studied with Stella, I studied with Roy London. I didn't get a chance to study with Uda Hagen, but I I studied with Larry Moss for a minute, which is how I found out about you years ago because you were working with Larry. So one of the things that I am a big proponent of is that actors take classes, not just for a season, but for life. You know that you're always in the gym, you're always working out, but that you also know what it is that you sell. Because I'm sure just as you did when you were in acting class, there were a lot of very talented actors, but they did not know the business and they got eaten up because they were not prepared. You have a class that you teach on the business of acting. Uh, can you share a little bit of what that class is about?

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, because that has to be part of the conversation. It's not the studying the craft of acting is a longer conversation. The business of acting is shorter, but however, it would behoove you to be savvy about it and to understand what it takes to give a great audition, put together a self-tape that will get noticed, have a picture and resume that separates themselves from, you know, the hundreds of pictures and resumes that casting flips through when they're casting for a role. You know, how to get everybody's the million-dollar question, how do you get that agent? How do you get that manager? You know, how do you get the team around you to support your career? And so that class is very much about the nuts and bolts of that. Is it one class or is it a series like a it's one class. It's one class that talks about how to navigate through, you know, and and it's what you know people tackle. It's like how do you find the right photographer for you? You know, it's it's always the right fit for you. Not every photographer is for everybody, not every acting teacher is for everybody. You have to find the acting teacher that works for you, the photographer that works for you, the agent and the manager that works for you, and and to understand how to find these auditions. And mostly my big message in that class, I actually I teach them about to teach it next week, the business of acting, breaking into the industry, is to really understand that the moment that you get an agent and you get a manager, it's not like you should rest and sit back and wait for it to come to you. One of the things about being a young actor pursuing a career is that you have to find a way to be proactive. And so, what does that mean? It means a lot of things. It means you have to get out there and find out what projects are being cast, you know, befriend people, develop relationships. I always am a big proponent of going to film festivals and you know, meeting people and having conversations and being part of a group that creates, whether it be on stage or whether it's in front of the camera, you know, web series, student films, independent films, all of this will lead you to having, you know, knock wood, I'm knocking wood for everybody out there, that really wants to have a career as an actor. And I I really believe in saying yes to a lot of things, really staying open, being curious, finding out because things change all the time in the industry, nothing stays the same. And so to really understand how things change.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Okay, you said not every acting teacher is for every student. When you were looking for teachers, what was it that you would look for in an acting class and in a teacher?

SPEAKER_01 14:36

You know, I was interested in going deep inside of myself. I was interested in depth. I was also interested in literature. So when an acting teacher, which we called like a bubblegum acting teacher, you know, would give you sides that were very light, that did not really encourage you to work on good writing, I was always attracted to working on really great writers because I felt like I understood early on, and maybe because I studied with Stella, as you did, that the writing is what's going to elevate you. Working on great writing is what's going to take you to the next level. And so when a teacher like Larry, like Larry Moss, talked about, you know, the writers and respecting the writers and bringing all of you to illuminate what the story is about and the humanity of the story, that spoke to me. Those ideas, those concepts really spoke to me. I didn't like it. And I took a lot of different acting classes in New York and mostly in New York, because in LA, by the time I came to LA, I actually moved to LA in 1990 with Larry, and we opened up the school on the Third Street Promenade. At that time, I was starting to teach acting, but I had had a lot of experience talking about different techniques and taking classes in New York City. HB Studio was like my second home. I would take a lot of classes there and yeah, just really explored what a lot of teachers had to say. I was just really interested in technique. I was interested in going deep in the craft of acting.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Hey Actor, are you tired of being tired of being tired of being tired? Your pictures aren't working, you're not getting into auditions, your agents aren't calling you back, or worse off, you can't even get an agent. Well, if that sounds like you, if it sounds like you are at your wit's end, that you just feel like all is lost, you don't know what to do, come and join us at the Acting Smarter Circle, where we are a community of actors who help other actors. And I am your guide and your coach to help you with a plan, strategy, and your branding. So if you are interested and you're tired of being tired and ready for change, come and join us at ActingSmarterCircle.com. We're waiting for you now. What made you want to expand from being an actor, which you still are, to now teaching it?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

It was, I think, a desire to pass it on. It was really interesting. It happened very naturally. It was a very organic transition. What happened was that I would run Larry's classes, and students asked me to coach them. And so I started to coach. I started, I had a little guest house in Santa Monica, and I was also going out on auditions. So there was one fateful day where I had three auditions that were going to take me out because in LA, of course, you have to drive and there's the traffic. And one of them was in Pasadena, the other one was in Hollywood, and the other one was in a studio, I think it was close to Manhattan Beach. So I really had to drive that day. And I looked at the auditions and nothing was exciting me. And then I had seven people that asked me for coachings, and they needed it like that day. So I had to make a decision. Am I going to work with these seven actors or I'm canceling those three auditions? So I called the agent who dropped me after that and told her that I wasn't going to do those auditions. And that was the turning point. And then after that day, I went walking on the beach, which is a lot of the time where I make a lot of my important decisions, like, you know, switching careers, having a child, whether I'm going to stay in a relationship or not. So I walked to the beach and I made the decision that, you know, I think I wanted to pass down this passion that I had, these beliefs that I had, these skills that I had, I wanted to pass them down to actors that would be interested in listening and studying. And so one thing led to another. And, you know, seven coaches, seven coachings a day led to ten coachings a day. And, you know, one class a week led to four classes a week. And as a matter of fact, by the time I gave birth to my first child, I remember distinctly having to go every break. I had to go pump because uh, you know, I hadn't taken a big break after I gave birth. I just went right back to work. Those are were wonderful times. I teach less now. I teach masterclasses because my life has changed and I have been directing movies. But I love teaching. I just taught a class this weekend. I taught the Golden Box masterclass, which was wonderful. I was in England, in London a couple of months ago, and I taught some wonderful masterclasses there. And I'm preparing to go teach uh in Italy, and I'm gonna go teach in Germany. Uh, so I'm very good. I'm gonna go back to London. So I'm excited about all that. I'm excited to think that this community of actors, this next generation of actors that are gonna touch audiences are worldwide. And so this idea of going to teach internationally has always appealed to me.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

That's beautiful. So I want to get into the golden box because that sounds so fabulous to me. I want to take that class. And so I'm gonna give you a little pow because on your website there are no dates when those classes are coming up. So you gotta put the dates on because that it sounds like such an incredible class. So let me ask you about the Golden Box class. How is it structured?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

It's two days. It's a two-day, usually it's a weekend intensive, it's six hours every day. And I cover a certain map that I think, a certain checklist that I think actors should have. Because you know, if you're on set and you're shooting something and you're not really feeling like it's clicking, something is missing. It's because something from that checklist is you you haven't explored enough. And then I intersperse in there some film clips, for instance. You know, if I talk about an actor endowing an object and doing it psychologically with a psychological gesture that I show, a couple of examples of that, of Anthony Hopkins doing that, or you know, James Dean doing it, or Meryl Streep. It's not just the great actors that know how to work psychologically with their bodies, but I think it's important for this young generation to, you know, everybody's watching, you know, uh Timothy Chalamet and Marty Supreme or Enora or Obsession, you know, there's hor these horror movies that are out, or backrooms. And I have a son that's graduated from USC and studied film and theater, and every week I sit through at least two horror movies. You know, you have to keep up with those, and everybody, I mean, in class, in the golden box this weekend, I asked who went to see Obsession. Everybody did. Everybody raised their hand. And then I said, you know, who saw Sophie's Choice, and hardly anybody had seen it, and who saw Citizen Kane, and hardly anybody had seen it. So I think it's really important to remind and teach, you know, our our young actors, this generation of actors, that you know, three great actors lived on this earth. James Dean, who did three movies, and Marlon Brando, and Montgomery Cliff. One of the backstories, the biographies that has affected me the most was the one, Monty by Patricia Bosworth, that I've always loved. But nobody knows about, you know, all these actors, they don't know about this. So I think that that you know it's a valuable class. And so I show clips of you know more recent movies and older movies, just to understand how to implement these tools that we're talking about. Because if I say to them, you have to endow an object, well, how do you do that? Or if I say, you know, you have to let the place affect you physically and build a fourth wall, well, how do you how do you do that? You know, how do you work on the defense mechanisms of the character? How do you find a center for your character? How do you build the backstory of the character? So those are all the things that I tackle in this intensive class of the golden box that I also, by the way, teach in different languages. I teach it in Italian and Spanish and in French because I speak different languages. And it always makes me happy to go teach them, you know, to different parts of in different parts of the world.

SPEAKER_00 23:25

So that brings me to you being a unicorn. As I was uh doing my homework on you, you really are a unicorn. You stand separate from all the other acting teachers in LA and in New York, in that you're not just a teacher, an actress, your mom, your producer, you're a director, you're a businesswoman, you're an entrepreneur. I mean, you you truly embody so many different facets of an artist. You know, most artists stay in one lane. You are like, I'm taking the world. I am just doing everything I want to do, and you are not gonna stop me, which goes back to that motto that you have anything is possible, which I love. What impressed me of the conservatory is that it is very robust in all the courses that you are teaching whoever takes the conservatory. Because a lot of conservatories they focus on a technique and they kind of stay there. They don't really venture out, but you are giving them everything. It's like when you leave here, you're gonna know more than most actors that you're competing against. And I find that So incredible, so generous. It's like you are foretelling, hey, you're gonna need all of these things. So uh you having the golden box is like I'm gonna give you the appetizer in this box, but then if you want it, you gotta come and take all these other classes so that you can be fully endowed. So, what made you decide? You know, I have the studio, I think I want to start the conservatory.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

I think that everything, you know, the same way that I transitioned from acting to teaching acting, and then from teaching acting to directing movies, everything has happened organically. And so going from the individual classes to the conservatory was a natural progression of just creating more opportunities, creating more of a well-rounded program for students to grow and to walk away after having studied and really feel that they had something that it could go out into the world with and that could help them to not only have a successful career as actors, but also to have a happy career as actors. You know, I stress a lot this idea of really staying healthy as an actor, you know, really understanding what that means. I I I always ask in class, who smokes cigarettes? One person maybe in 40 people raises their hand or two people. Uh and usually they're from Europe. Uh you know, and then but when you ask that question in the actor studio days, everybody raised their hand but two people. So I think that the tables have turned. You know, people are, you know, drinking. Well, actually, I have one here, you know, kombucha, you know, green drinks, uh, working out, you know, waking up early, meditating. I mean, there's a whole, it's a whole other thing that is going on. People are really taking care more of their mental health. And so they should, because acting is not for the faint of heart, and you have to find a way to protect yourself, whether you are out there auditioning and you're hearing a lot of no's and what that's doing to you emotionally, or when you actually get a job and you're on set and you have to navigate and deal with all these different personalities that are around you. How do you take care of yourself so that you create, you know, a little bubble around you, a little cocoon so you can be the most creative, uh, and then the better risk taker that you can be, which will make you give a great performance. I think actors today are um interested in in more uh well being healthier, right down to smoking cigarettes. Of course, now the the flip side of that is when you're watching a movie and there's a young actor that's smoking a cigarette, you know immediately that they've never smoked by the way they hold the cigarette, and you go, Oh, you've never smoked, so you don't know, but that's not the way, and you should endow the cigarette the way that John Travolta did in the movie Get Shorty. You know, endow that cigarette, let it mean something.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Or in Under the Stairs as Andy Garcia did with that little cigar. That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

And you know, you bring up Andy Garcia, and I adore Andy Garcia. You may know that I've done two movies with Andy Garcia.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Yes, I I saw. I actually saw Under the Stairs and I saw The Italians. I will say, for those of you who haven't seen Under the Stars, you need to see it. It is a wonderful film with wonderful actors, well written. The cinematography is breathtaking. I mean, it made me want to go to Italy right away. But what I loved about that film, you being the director, I loved how you took your time. The characters took their time, the pacing was very well done. So I'm going now to what made you want to start directing?

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Again, I think there was the natural progression with wanting to sign the painting. I wanted to be in charge of telling the story. And I had done a couple of independent films, and I always say the theater is the actor's medium. When you get to the dress rehearsal, it's the director. They can say, Here, take the play, it's yours. It's your medium. When you make a movie and it's a rap for your character, it's a rap for you as an actor, then you um can go get postpartum depression because you have absolutely you don't know what's going to be chosen, what takes, how it's going to be put together. So it's not your medium, it's the director's medium. And so, therefore, I think that that's why actors should do plays. I just came from New York, where I saw a lot of Broadway shows, which was very exciting. I I would have to tell you that for whoever has the means to, I would tell them, I would urge them to take a plane and go to New York and see Death of a Salesman. Meryl Streep went viral when she said after she went to see it, and she particularly saw Lori Metcalf, who won a Tony Award, uh, that for that performance, that she would retire from acting. She doesn't know what else she can contribute to acting after seeing that performance. And after I saw it, I was so blown away. I texted all my friends and I said, Death of a Salesman tomorrow, because the day after was the Tony Awards, is gonna cremate every other show. And they did. Uh they won, they made Tony History, they won six Tony's. I mean, the actor, the Christopher Abbott that played Biff, oh my god. And you know, I have seen, I wasn't even going to go see that was the irony of this thing. I wasn't going to go see Death of a Salesman. I had seen it with Dustin Hoffman, with Philip Zymour Hoffman, with Brian Dennehy. I mean, I I'd seen other productions of it, I had seen it. But then my son looked at me and he goes, Well, I'd like to see it. I've never seen Death of a Salesman. See, that's the that's why it's important to have these revivals. And it's such an interesting thing that Arthur Miller wrote a play, I think over 75 years ago, that resonates today as strongly as it resonated back then. I mean, it pierces you through your heart. It was, and and that monologue, oh my god, that uh Christopher Abbott did, playing Biff, you know, I'm a buck an hour, you know. I I went through seven states, I couldn't raise it. Just it was, I am nothing popped. I mean, oh my god, I can't even begin to tell you. He was nominated for a Tony, he didn't get it. The other actor got it, who was in Becky Shaw that I saw as well, that I loved. But I'll tell you, Christopher Abbott, I mean, this was, and then of course Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalfe. And the other actor, I'm blanking on his name, Stephen. He's the the romantic lead in the Gilded Age. He's really good. Yeah, so I'm attached actually to direct next year a Broadway show that I am very excited about, called The Ticket to the Circus. But I do know that when it comes, you know, the last uh dress rehearsal, I'm just gonna have to take it, you know, it's yours. But when you're in the editing room, as I am now, I'm in the editing room with a movie that I shot in November here in Los Angeles called Starstruck, you know, I'm very meticulously really putting all the pieces together and making those choices. That's why I I decided to direct. It's the ultimate signature. You get to sign the painting, you get to make those decisions. You know, it's not easy. I mean, none of this is easy. I don't find it easy.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

And watching the Italians, you took on extra duty. You were wearing a lot of caps uh from directing to also starring in it. Having been uh involved in a lot of independent films, I know how difficult it is just to be the producer. I know how difficult it is just to be the director. But when you take on the acting, the directing, the producing, who helps you when you have to get in front of the camera?

SPEAKER_01 33:13

I have a wonderful village around me. So I am the oldest of four sisters. Two of them are on set with me. I have my oldest son, who is an aspiring filmmaker. He just finished writing his first screenplay that we're gonna shoot next year. It's a horror movie. Uh and uh, you know, um, he everybody was in Video Village when I was shooting my scenes. I do have the time to come and watch the first take to see what I'm doing, but after that I have to trust, you know, and so I was doing that scene with Laney Kazan, wonderful Laney Kazan, who played my mother. And the reason why I did the Italians, as you saw at the end, it was from my mother Loredana. My mother was Italian, and I just I understood that character very much and and hope that I'll never be that mother when my kids bring home their girlfriend. I don't think I will be. I think I I played a combination and amalgamation of my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother, you know, one of my sisters. They were all combined into this character. I'm nothing like it in real life. I'm going to let them bring whoever, and you know, of course, I mean, if it's a complete psycho woman, then I will have to call it out. But if not, I'm gonna be mellow about it. I'm gonna be non-judgmental, I'm going to be accepting, not like the mother in the Italians. But that scene with Laney Kazan when I went and had it out with her. I did three takes of it. And at the end of the third take, my son came and he had tears in his eyes, and he had a hand one hand on his heart, and he just looked at me with no words, and we just had that moment, and I knew I had gotten it, and we felt good about it. It was a great experience to make that movie. You also have to know that uh the actor that played my husband, Rob Estes, is an actor that I have known for decades on end, and I've done actually many movies with him and many plays. We met doing a play a long time ago in LA at the Hudson Theater in Hollywood. It was after Six Stockings, but during Melrose Place. As a matter of fact, we had all the whole cast, we were sold out. We ran for almost a year. We were 21 people in a goat on stage at the Hudson Theater, and we were sold out every weekend. We ran Thursday through Sunday. Uh, we had all the limos of all the stars that were on Melrose Place with him that would come to see the show, and it was a huge hit. We we really uh him and I had a great chemistry on stage. And you still do, yes. And we took our chemistry and brought it into the Italians, that's right. And we're we're friends. We, you know, we're we're very, very good friends. And he came to uh to Italy to do under the stars as well. And he's in this last movie I'm editing, Starstruck, and he'll be in the next movie. Uh we have a wonderful creative, you know, relationship together. So I mean, I love Rob and I love working with him. He's just wonderful, and he was great in the rose tattoo. He won awards, so that the production we were directed by the wonderful director Deborah Levine, who is now heading the film program in the school in North Carolina. At the time, Larry was also involved, Larry Moss. And so we had uh yeah, we had a great run of that. And that I think was important for the Italians that we had that experience. And so we had a great time doing the rose tattoo. We had a phenomenal time doing The Italians. As a matter of fact, there was one moment when I was there with Abigail Breslin, who was the lead in um Miranda's Victim, wonderful actress, who, if you remember, was nominated for an Oscar at age nine in Little Miss Sunshine. And she does an incredible job in in both movies. Uh, I was there with her and the actor Matthew Dodario, who's the lead in this next movie, Starstruck, who's incredible as well. And there's Matthew and Abigail and Rob and myself, and we're rehearsing one of the scenes together, and I think it was at the dinner scene. And I just looked at them with so much gratefulness in my heart, and I thanked them. I said I could not have chosen better people to do this with, you know, to be able to be in front of the camera, behind the camera. I don't always, you know, play the the leads. I mean, this is actually the first time, but that's because I really understood the character. And I have a great village, creative village to support the work.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

I want to press into this because you are a woman in a man's arena. You know, for many, many years, this has been dominated by men, and you have just come in and and kind of just claimed your spot, not just with the acting school, you also created the Edgemont Center for the Arts, which is now the Creative Center for the Arts. And you raised, was it a million point three, a million point five for it?

SPEAKER_01 38:17

Yeah, it was a million, it was the over 24 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Um which is unheard of.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Unheard of. Yeah. I walked into this place, it was the building designed by Frank Gary, and I snuck in there. I didn't walk in. I snuck in with a flashlight late at night, illegally, that I was looking for a space to build a theater, and there were some other folks that were trying to do it as well. Ed Harris and Amy Madigan and Holly Hunter, and the city, the neighbors, there was such a strong resistance from the neighbors that they ended up walking away. And so here we come and with a dream as well. They had a dream, we had a dream. And I took on these neighbors, these really difficult people. And as it is, we ended up prevailing. We built the theaters, we cut the ribbons. Steven Spielberg and Kate Caps were there, and a lot of well, you know, Helen Hunt, a lot of well-known people. Jason Alexander hosted the event that night. And we had 20 years of magic there, and the neighbors had nothing to worry about. They, you know, it was soundproof. They all that fighting for absolutely nothing. And but in we we existed happily for 20 years, and then COVID happened. And then, you know, it was uh the the city shut it down so we couldn't operate for like a year over a year, but we still had to pay rent after that, and so we had to make a decision. I mean, it was very unfair what happened. There were PPPOs, well, I can't remember what it was at the time that were given, but they didn't really cover the rent. So here you had to, as a not-for-profit, pay for rent that you did were not able to generate income for. And so we left, you know, and it was sad the last day. I was there with my kids, and it was like the last episode of Cheers. We went through each theater. There were two theaters, we went through the art gallery, we went through the dressing rooms, the offices upstairs, and with each room we shut the lights. We went through each room and just shut the lights and walked out and started to remember a little bit all the magic that we had created in all those different spaces, all the plays and the musicals, and we had a film festival for a decade and over a decade, and we had children's classes and children's shows and art gallery events. I mean, we we did a lot. We created so much in 20 years, and we had to say goodbye. And it was sad at the time. It was really sad that it didn't work out, but we were there for 20 years, for two decades. And then we found this space in Culver City. It is a very nice space, smaller, but quaint, with a courtyard that we turned into, you know, an area for classes for the fight choreography classes, a little theater and a classroom and offices and a tech booth. And I just there this weekend and I was thinking, we created something really special here because you know, maybe it's not the location, it's the people that inhabit the location. That's what it's really about. And I had a mural artist paint, you can't spell heart without art, and you cannot make art without heart on both sides. So if you drive on both sides, that's what you see. A mural artist painted that. And that very much, I think, embodies the philosophy of our school. People always ask, you know, our school has a very strong community of actors, that they get to be creative together. And like I said, because of what I wanted to create is what I experienced years ago, which is I forged relationships in classes that have lasted so far a lifetime. And I'm creative with those actors that I've met, you know, decades ago. And I think that that's what can happen. And in addition to going to an acting class and learning the craft, you're around other, you know, kindred spirits and you create those relationships. So I'm happy this is happening that we have this school and that it's a vibrant school. And every time I make a movie, like in November, which I did the movie Starstruck, this romantic comedy, literally all of the students came on set and they worked in the movie in front of the camera, behind the camera. And that kind of experience that students can get being on set is invaluable. And you said, you know, that there is something that separates me from other acting teachers, and there are other acting teachers, I'm sure, that have directed films. Yeah, not 10. Yes, I think it's nine or ten.

SPEAKER_00 42:56

Yeah, I don't think there are a lot of uh there's not a lot of acting teachers who has who has done that.

SPEAKER_01 43:01

Which is great because what I'm able to to give, what I'm able to pass down, is this idea of you know, how do you work on set? What is it that you need to do to nail these auditions and to keep a job, you know, because one of the secrets that is not talked about is sometimes people book jobs and they lose jobs because either they do a table read that doesn't go well, or they do a first rehearsal that doesn't go well, and people get scared because a lot of people in this business it's all motivated by fear, you know, what gets greenlit, what happens, who gets cast. A lot of it has underlying fear underneath it is like, you know, if I cast this person, I'm gonna fail. And uh and people get replaced. So, you know, that's also a conversation to have with actors is how do you keep a job when you get a job?

SPEAKER_00 43:49

And also knowing sometimes you get miscast. It had none to do with you, you get miscast, and then the chemistry is not right, you know. You did a great performance, or you upstage the lead actor, and the lead actor is not happy.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Yes, all kinds of scenarios can happen, absolutely. Uh, the the behind the scenes. I always wanted to make a movie where I would shoot the movie and then I would really have that behind the scenes look. I love those movies. What was it? Living in Oblivion was one of them. I never can never do room tone ever without thinking of that movie, Living in Oblivion. But um, yeah, you mean you're right, absolutely. There's so many variations of so many things that can happen. That's the reason why, the very reason why actors have to have really uh strong technique, a strong craft, because that can save you, because then you you don't compute all the things that can go wrong on set.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

Right. Hey actor, where are you gonna be in 90 days from now? Is it gonna be with that same old headshot that is not getting you anywhere? That same old story that it's everybody else's fault while you're not booking? Or even worse, depression, because nothing is happening for your career. Well, let me help you. Because in 90 days from now, you can have a whole new set of pictures that are built on your brand. You can have a list of agents that actually would fit what it is that you sell and a plan to have a more prosperous career. Listen, I cannot book you, but I can make you bookable. So if you are ready, willing, and excited to change your circumstances, come and join us at ActingSmarterCircle.com, sign up and get started. We're a weekly community that helps actors get in gear and get the career that they deserve. So when you're directing a film, when you're in pre-production and you're planning stuff and you're in the casting stage, do you bring in some of your actors from show from your classes if you've seen them and you like their work?

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, I did a movie called The Runner. And so I was teaching, we were at, you know, at the Edgemore Center in Santa Monica, and all the lights went out on Main Street in Santa Monica, and there were three scenes left in class. And so I asked the students to hold up their phones with the light because I didn't want to shortchange the last three scenes. They all had prepared, they brought their props, they got in costume, they were ready to go. And so one of the actors did this scene and gave me chills. He completely blew me away. And I was developing at the time a script that I had written. The treatment for called The Runner, which I had seen a news show late at night about how kids were uh pressured by police to wear wires to capture a big drug kingpin of the town, and parents were not notified. And you know, that's a big theme for me in my movies, kids that fall through the cracks, and of course, tragedy happens. And so I wrote the treatment because it really made me made me so emotional. I asked a friend of mine, Jason Chase Terrell, to write the script. And this kid blows me away in the middle of class with the lights go out, and uh his name is Edouard Philippe O'Neill. And so I sent him the script. I said, Listen, I think I have a script for you. He was the perfect casting and he got to play the lead. And then he's got a great story that happened. Two years later, Ridley Scott called me and he said, I saw the movie, I saw the runner, and I loved it. And he went on and on and on about how much he loved it. And then at the last minute of the conversation, he said, And what about Edouard? Do you think he can play this part? And I said, I think Edouard can play anything that he sets his mind to. And he got the part. And then he got signed by a big agency. I was just this last uh month at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and uh John Travolta was showing his movie, which I loved. It was a personal movie, and Edward was in it. He had a small part, he played uh, you know, like uh co-pilot, and uh and he did great. And uh John Travolta gave him a shout-out, he mentioned his name in kind in front of a you know big audience. So the answer to your question, this very long answer. Whether I cast actors that are in my class, the answer is yes, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

What do you love about acting?

SPEAKER_01 48:39

I love so many things. I love that it gets me out of my head, I love that it makes me feel something on the most profound level. I love that I'm able to say something about humanity through the writing. I really love acting and I hope I think I'm gonna be like Ura Hagen, you know. Ura Hagen acted more in the later years of her life because I I don't know why, I'd have to look it up, but she didn't she didn't act as much as she wanted to when she was younger. And she acted more when she was older. And uh it's something very much that I want to do. And I I was thinking about that not too long ago, because life being life and how busy we are, and I travel a lot and I teach and I'm prepping another movie and I'm editing and I'm t you know, everything that I do, I don't want to lose the fact that I like acting. I really do. And I have to find a way to not let that go, you know, by the wayside, and to uh to find a way to do that.

SPEAKER_00 49:47

You have been able to balance, you talked about having a village, which is your sisters, your community, but you have found a way to raise two incredible sons, bring them into what it is that you do while mothering other people's sons and daughters. How do you keep that focused? How do you keep that, you know, it's like it's difficult enough just raising your kids, and then you now are a teacher, now you're a director, now you are a producer, now you have a building that you're in charge of. So there's a lot of things. It's like you're working both sides of your brain, you know, not just the artistic side, but you're also working the administrative side, the solving puzzle side. It was that something that you had as a little kid? Did that come from your parents? Was that something that you kind of had to learn as you went alone?

SPEAKER_01 50:51

I think, you know, it's my parents. My mother always instilled in us a very strong sense of family. It's all about, you know, watching after, you know, your your sister sisters, watching, you know, being close. You know, there isn't my parents are both, you know, not here, but there was never a holiday that I didn't go home to see them. I spent a lot of time with them. I was very, very close to them. My dad was uh an agent and a producer. As a matter of fact, he was the president of the William Morris Agency for 10 years. He opened their first offices in Europe, in Paris, off the Champs-Élysées. And so when I was a little girl, I'd go play under his desk and was privy to all these big stars that would come and talk about their dreams, their vision boards. But so my dad traveled a lot. He was he was very, very busy. And I remember, I mean, it was in the seventh grade, and he came back, he was closing a deal in Tokyo, but he came back just to take me to school for the very first day of school. I see a black car coming up the driveway a few minutes before I had to leave. He came back, especially to take me to school, and then he got back on the plane right after to go close the deal. And that's something as a child that you never forget. Which basically the message was you're more important to me than anything else. And then wherever he was in the world, he would always call me and he would always, always ask, he'd always remember that test, that person, that event. He always would remember everything. So he was very with me, even though he traveled so much. And my mother always really pushed us to stay close. So I did get that. And so I'm very close to my kids. I'm really, really close to them. If I'm making a movie, I mean, I just remember, for instance, Miranda's victim. They both came with me to New Jersey. Uh, I remember my my 17-year-old now back then, uh, you know, was 14, and he came to Video Village and gave me a hug exactly at the time when he knew that I needed a hug. He was so sweet. I'll never forget that. Max. And and Nicholas, of course, was there and he was, you know, he's growing. He's an artist of his own right. He's watching movies behind me, he's doing his own thing, he's in his own world, his own imagination. One day I had uh we switched script supervisors, so I had a different script supervisor for one day. And Nicholas, who is back doing his own thing, looks and he goes, Luke Wilson is not wearing the right tie. That was great because that would have cost money and visual effects to change the color of the tie. So he, you know, he he caught that. Now, were you a single mom? I am a single mom, yes. Which really works a lot. It works, you know. It works, but I also have listen, I I have my sisters, I have a strong family, I have lots of good friends. Uh, I have a very wonderful, you know, like I say, the village, the community around me. Yes, yes. As a matter of fact, I always long for a little quiet, you know, whenever I I'm not an empty nester, it's not happening right now. Uh the two kids are home, but at one point, you know, life is life. And so they're gonna have their families and they're gonna have their life, and you know, it'll be an empty nest at one point. But I I just feel like I'll be okay with that. I'll be okay with the silence. I will be fine.

SPEAKER_00 54:14

Were you a high achiever as a kid?

SPEAKER_01 54:17

You know, probably. I don't know. Uh, it's so funny because I have this wonderful physician, this doctor, and she sees the two kids as well. And she said to me the other day, she goes, you know, your kids watching being a high achiever. And I'm like, I don't think of myself as that, but I guess. And so, you know, I do like to uh get things done, and I'm not a big talker. I don't like to talk about getting it done, I just like to get it done. Yeah, as a matter of fact, too much talking irritates me.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

I love it because I'm the same way. Don't don't keep telling me what you're gonna do, do it or get off. So you grew up in Paris. When did you and your family move to New York? Because you started taking classes as a teenager.

SPEAKER_01 55:03

15, yeah. We moved back, studied with Stella, studied with Ura, had a New York experience of taking lots of classes with a lot of different teachers, doing plays off off Broadway. I worked a lot at the American Theater of Actors, went to work out at a club that used to be called the Vertical Club in 61st Street. Now it's Equinox. I was there the other day with my sister, and the pool and the sauna hold a lot of sense memory because you know, when I was that age, I would go and we'd have dates and pick up, you know, dates for to go out to Club A, which was close next door, and Studio 54 and all of that.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

I went to Studio 54.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

Yeah, I was just there with the kids. We went to see the Rocky Horror Show lah last week, and the Rocky Horror show is playing in New York City at Studio 54. Oh my god. And that was fun, it was a fun experience, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

Yeah, I was a teenager. I worked at a at a radio station as a teenager from 13 to 18, and one of the perks was I got to go to all the events at at Studio 54, or as many as I wanted to. And so I was there during the heyday of 54, and I always say this to people it there was a lot more hype than there was an actual thing. It was all about, you know, people trying to get in. And the truth was a lot of times it was empty inside. There weren't a lot of people inside. You know, they picked and choose who they would let in. And I always found that hysterical as a teenager. I always thought that is crazy. Anyway, you started taking classes at 15, you're you're doing your craft, you're working. When I was looking at your conservatory, it it reminded me of a 10x version of HB Studio, in that HB Studio is probably one of the few places that I can recall that had the most classes for the least amount of money. Like I remember going and taking classes for like, you know, $15, $20 a class. You didn't have to have the whole tuition. You could come and you know, pay as you go. So with your going back to your classes, the the classes that you teach at the conservatory, do they spill over into the acting studio, like the fighting class or your self-tape class?

SPEAKER_01 57:37

Yeah, so those classes are offered uh both into the acting studio and the conservatory. They both uh sets of students have access to those classes.

SPEAKER_00 57:47

Okay. All right. I I I just wanted clarity on that to know if someone wants to just take classes from you, they can go there. If they want to do the two to three year program, they can come to you. The last thing I want to ask you is what would you like your legacy to be?

SPEAKER_01 58:08

I would like to leave a good um acting Bible for students. And so, you know how Uda Hagen wrote Respect for Acting, and then she wrote Challenge for the Actors. She said, Don't read respect, just read challenge because I've revised my thinking. So I have actually done that several times. And that's the reason why, you know, I haven't published it yet. It's because I keep revising and revising and revising. So I'm gonna leave something, you know, I'm going to leave something in terms of something that I the reason why I also haven't done it's because I've read a lot of acting books, like a lot of them. And I want to make sure that if I publish something, I am able to add something to the conversation and not just say it in my way or in a different way. I wanna say it so that maybe it's something new. Because after all, acting changes, you know. There's I mean I'm asked that all the time, and I think people want to be more real, and like I said, every actor longs to go deeper inside of themselves. And so you have shows like The Pit or Like Adolescence or Legar, and you know, or where where people um where it feels more real, it feels, you know, steps that are more real, and how do you achieve that? And so I want to, you know, wherever I mean, listen, I you know who's an inspiration of mine is June Squid. So I was a little sick in December, but I took a mask, I put a mask, and I went to see her on Broadway, do uh Marjorie. She was in a play called Marjorie Prime. Cynthia Nixon was in it too, and she was wonderful, and she's 95 years old. I love that movie she had called Thelma. I don't know if you saw it. She was wonderful, and she's 95, and she's there she is on Broadway, 95, and so I'm at the airport about a month ago, and she's there. She's at the airport, and so I had to go up to her. I mean, I had to, and I had to say, you know, you're an inspiration to me. And I went to see you on Broadway, and you know, and so she was checking in, so it's not like I talked to her a very long time, but I was just, you know, I loved that. And listen, if I could get to 95, so I I have a while to go. I'm not close to 95. I got a while to go, but if I could get there and if I could, you know, keep doing the work.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

What woman inspired you coming up?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

Uh Meryl Streep. It's always Meryl Streep. It's always Meryl. But it's also Anna Magnani. You know, I loved her. You watched her as a kid? I did. I loved Anna Magnani, all of her movies. Uh, I I loved Barbara Streisand. I I love I was a Barbara Streisand person. I loved Dientel. I love Barbara Streisand. And so uh yeah, I you know, but I'm very eclectic. I watch a lot. As a matter of fact, I'm 30 minutes away from the last episode of the last season of Hacks that I'm gonna watch today. I watch a lot. I go to the movie theaters a lot. So as a matter of fact, tonight we're gonna go to see the Spielberg movie. Very excited, um, especially because I'm very grateful to Steven Spielberg for many reasons. So I'm excited to go see it. And tomorrow and I'm gonna go see the Robin Hood. So I'm constantly, I am constantly going to the theater. I was in New York, I mentioned Death of a Salesman. I also went to see Just in Time because the wonderful actress Olivia Holt is in it. She's playing Connie Francis, and I'm gonna work with her on a movie. And uh, what else did we go to see? Um, well, the celebrity readings, which is quite fun. On Broadway, it's uh produced by a friend of mine, and uh Mary Cantone was in it, and it's um it's about reading the books, the biographies of celebrities. Celebrities are reading biographies of celebrities, a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Oh, that's hilarious. I I'm impressed that you said Barbara Streisand. I know I said that was my last question, but you brought up Barbara Streisand, and Barbara Streisand to me is an example of what a woman doing everything, like because she directed, she made her own movies, she produced, she sang, she really uh was an early pioneer of being able to just tap into a lot of stuff. So I I just I'm just impressed because you you have kind of taken her mantle on on some level and just made it bigger.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

Well, she's definitely an inspiration, and you know, for sure. But uh, but thank you for saying that. I don't feel any of the things you're saying, but it's okay. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:41

Thank you for saying that's okay, but you you know, you are you are very impressive, very, very impressive and and low-key, low-key. So I I wanted to to take this time to just give you your flowers to honor you, to say, I see what you're doing, and uh you have have actually been on my list for quite a while to reach out to. So I just am ecstatic that there's someone like you here on the West Coast making things happen. So thank you for all you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:17

Thank you. I'm happy that I have produced and directed several movies in Los Angeles because you know what? As we know, Hollywood needs production. People need to shoot here. So I'm happy that I was able to shoot, and I was in Manhattan Beach in San Pedro and Los Angeles, and I I love shooting in Los Angeles. I also loved shooting in Italy, you know, under the stars. And I loved beautiful in New Jersey. And this summer I'm going to Croatia because I'm going to explore shooting a movie in Croatia. So I'm going there. And I was just in the UK a few months ago when I was um teaching, and I went to see its studios, the studio, Epic Studio, and Garden Studios and Pinewood Studios. Looks like we're gonna shoot there. Yeah, and you know, it's it's great to be able to travel, but I am a huge proponent of shooting here. Los Angeles needs production, so I'm always gonna push for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:11

Keep going and please get that book out sooner rather than later because you may think everything's been said, but not everything has been said through your eyes. I just wanna champion you with your book. You can always revise it, okay? Like Julia Cameron. My one of my favorite books is The Artist's Way. Oh, okay. And she has revised it a few times, and it's still fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:37

You know, I recommend that book all the time. It's my number one book to recommend. Me too.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:42

Well, thank you so much for for taking this time out for us. Thank you for having me. I love Michelle Danners. She is an inspiration to me, boy, because she is just cooking with gasolina. You know what I'm saying? She's just going and doing so many things. It's amazing. Anyway, I would love to know your takeaways in the comments below. So let me know what you thought. What stood out for you? And while you're there, I need you to like, subscribe, and to share this channel with your active friends. Do not keep it a secret anymore. Tell your friends, share it, share the wealth. And if you can, buy me a coffee because it keeps this show going. We appreciate you. We appreciate the love and the support you give us. And I don't want you to go anywhere because I got another great episode coming right up for you. Check it out.