I grew up with Shakespeare, and there are so many wonderful teachings in those plays. The stories are all so unique and timeless. There is just so much learning in that body of work, and that is something I will always go back to.

Juliet Rylance

Categorized in : Work Unique Body Learning

Normally, a TV show shoots episodically.

tv-show show normally tv

I come from a family rooted in the arts, so I think I naturally gravitated towards performing from an early age.

i-think think family age

I think I was about seven when people started telling my parents I would be an actor or a performer of some kind.

parents some think people

Watching my stepfather and mother working in the industry - acting and composing - and seeing firsthand how difficult it is to achieve a successful career in the theater, I thought it might be safer to go to art school with the aim of becoming a painter.

aim mother art school

I did a film called 'Days and Nights,' which is a modern-day retelling of and inspired by Chekhov's 'The Seagull.'

nights days inspired film

I find I have to respond to a character or a story to choose a job.

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I have a really embarrassing reaction to horror films. I break out in a fever.

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It really is individual for everyone, but for me, theater is where I learn and grow, and that is always a good thing.

grow good me always

If you love classical playwrights, seek out companies or places that are doing that. If you love modern playwrights, try to find groups who are writing new plays or working on new plays. If you love television, watch as much theater and film as you can.

new you love television

I love a good corset.

corset i-love good love

In my gap year between college and drama school, I taught art at a hospice and worked at a little coffee shop across the street from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London when everything around it was still a construction zone.

street coffee art school

My first paying job was a in a production of Neil LaBute's 'Bash: Latter Day Plays' at the Union Street theater in Borough. I played the 'Medea Redux' character. That was my first job out of drama school. I can't remember how much I got paid. I'm sure it was pennies.

job day character school

Producing is a wonderful foil to being an actor: acting being largely about getting out of my head, being present, a little irresponsible, whilst producing is the polar opposite. You need other players to act; you can't act in a void, but producing is about making something out of nothing - conjuring a thought or an idea into reality.

nothing thought you reality

I think more than anything, you should do what you love. If you love classical playwrights, seek out companies or places that are doing that. If you love modern playwrights, try to find groups who are writing new plays or working on new plays. If you love television, watch as much theater and film as you can.

do-what-you-love think you love

We work so hard as young artists to further our careers or improve our technique, sometimes it gets so easy to not actually go and see things like a play or a film. I think the best way to get better is to see other actors do what they do well.

better best work sometimes