Are you willing to share the moment, big or small, that made you fall in love with your craft? Was it a movie scene? A stage performance? A conversation? A childhood memory?
Alternatively, when did you realise you were good at it?
For me, I think it was in a Meisner training. I absolutely loved the exercises of connecting on an emotionally intimate level with another actor and being real and true and connected. My experience as a relational therapist made this feel like very comfortable and familiar yet exciting ground. I wanted more and more of it.
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Alexandra Stevens I always wanted to act and create as a kid, but I grew up in a really small town that didn’t have a lot of opportunities for that. Then, when I was about 12, my mom picked me up from school and handed me a newspaper clipping from our tiny town’s paper. It was an audition notice—our local community theater (which normally only did adult plays) was looking to cast one kid role. She looked at me and said, “We’re going to that audition.”
That night changed everything. Not only did I get the role (actually, I got three roles in that show), but I found a community of people who saw my potential and took me under their wings. They became my awkward, dramatic, wildly creative extended family.
From that point until I was about 17, I spent almost every night and weekend at that theater. I was rarely the right age to perform, so I threw myself into everything else—front of house, backstage, props, lighting design, set building, stage crew. When I was 15, I got to Assistant Direct my first musical. By 16, I was the Technical Director, overseeing the lighting and sound team and running crews for each show.
And somewhere along the way, I fell in love not just with performance, but with the entire process of bringing stories to life. My now-husband Jordan actually started working backstage when we were about 14, just to have an excuse to hang out with me. So for me, it wasn’t one specific moment, but one night did open the door to everything I've accomplished as a creative professional. And once I walked in, I never wanted to leave.
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Ashley Renee Smith thanks for sharing, it's good to learn more about you. I wasn't aware you had started out as an actress! Thank goodness for your mum, she sounds like she had a really great attitude to encourage you like that. I can just picture you (from the photo you shared) spending every night at the theatre. I imagine you felt both creatively stimulated and also that you felt like you belonged. And wow, that piece about meeting your now-husband backstage at the age of 14. How rare is that. The universe works in poetic ways. How is your writing process going?
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Hahaha, Alexandra Stevens, Jordan and I actually met when we were 12. We had the same homeroom and English class in 7th Grade. He had a big crush on me, and I stuck him firmly in the friend zone. He started helping at the theater in 9th grade to spend more time with me. He truly became my best friend. It was actually at the theater about a year later that one of my other closest friends pulled us aside and asked us when we were going to stop lying to ourselves and just admit we were crazy about each other. LOL! We've been together ever since. Our 17-year anniversary is in just a few weeks.
And yeah, I basically lived at the theater. I used to keep a pillow up in the tech booth, and I would take quick naps up there when I worked late or for long days on the weekends. It was my second home.
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I’ve always been an artist (visual arts was first love). Also always been a movie buff. And one day while I was drawing, I had There Will be Blood playing. And in the midst of watching the film, Daniel Day Lewis’s portrayal was a life changing experience to me. Afterwards I watched a few interviews of him just to see how different of personality he was from his character. And it was amazing how this reserved, soft spoken man could change into a tornado of a being. And then I watched Lincoln, and The Last of Mohicans, and in my mind was : it’s a craft to be able to show another side of one’s emotions into a character you play and still be yourself outside of that world. Guess that’s telling that he is my favorite actor of all time . And has influenced me tremendously into the acting world. **side bar, sleeper film is The Age of Innocence ** . And I haven’t put drawing away , I will always keep that as a skill , but being able to pick up other skills even for a moment in time, but to show on a screen that will last is incredible and cool to me.
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Chaunsy Ryan White I agree that Daniel Day Lewis is truly talented. I wish you all the best with your acting journey. What are you up to at the moment with it?
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Ashley Renee Smith Ooh your relationship story makes my heart go warm and gooey. How lucky to meet your soul mate so young and be able to journey through life together :)