Reel

Artist’s Statement

I grew up in a small town in North Dakota that was closer to the size of a small village, to be honest. I explored the world primarily through books and my own imagination. Although my mother described me as “such a little ham” whenever they pulled out the video camera, I didn’t fully discover my love for performing until I started participating in competitive speech, debate, and student congress in high school. Yay, NFL (no that one, the National Forensic League)! Speaking in front of and performing for people was an adrenaline rush, and once I started competing at the national level, I got an inkling that maybe I was pretty good at this “stuff.”

Of course, my path toward being an actor wasn’t a straight line. Having a creative heart but a scientific mind meant I struggled to figure out what I wanted. I come from a very practical community, so I thought studying theatre and being an actor was too far-fetched. I bounced between studying chemistry and education and communications, thinking I’d be a doctor (I loved biology and anatomy) or an English teacher (I loved to read) or a journalist (I loved writing and interviewing people) . When I was about to graduate with a degree in Mass Communications, I realized the thing that was sustaining me was acting in college and community theatre. I was slogging through my classes and internships, just waiting for that evening’s rehearsal. With encouragement from my professors and directors, I applied to grad schools to give my acting training a chance. While I was working my first communications/marking job, I got the call that I’d been accepted to Columbia’s MFA program. I moved to New York City—an enormous place that I had never even visited before—to give my passion a chance to become my career.

Now, I’m equipped with great training and a renewed sense of purpose. As a plus size woman, I am passionate about creating theatre and film that makes space for diverse bodies as well as diverse backgrounds. I’ve always been curious about people and their stories, and I want to play characters that depict the contradictions that exist within every human. I want to give insight into humanity—what makes people tick and what moves them.