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The Bittersweet Magic of the Holidays - and the Hope Waiting in 2026

The holidays arrive each year wrapped in twinkling lights, warm gatherings, and nostalgic traditions. They can feel downright magical - a stretch of time where the world seems to soften, where generosity rises to the surface, and where we get to slow down just enough to notice the beauty in small moments. Joy is everywhere: in the glow of decorated windows, in the music that floats through stores, in the rituals we return to year after year. But the holidays can also stir up something quieter and heavier. For many, this season amplifies feelings of melancholy, loneliness, or emotional fatigue. The contrast between the festive world outside and our private inner realities can feel especially sharp. Maybe loved ones are far away. Maybe the year didn’t unfold the way we hoped. Maybe we’re simply tired, stretched thin, or not sure how we fit into all the celebration. These feelings don’t make the season any less valid - they’re a natural part of being human, especially during a time steepe...
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Go For Goals, NOT Results.

I was coaching a student recently and we discussed the difference between being goal oriented and results oriented. We talked about how striving for results can really limit us, because you either get that specific result or you feel like you got nothing at all. But when you move toward a goal, you stay open minded along the way. You’re available for other experiences and opportunities that show up unexpectedly, sometimes ones that are even more exciting or beneficial than the result you originally thought you wanted. This is especially true for actors, because we often slip into being results oriented without realizing it. It usually creeps in during busy audition periods, when your brain starts running the familiar track of “book the job,” “get the callback,” “impress the casting director,” or “finally sign with that agent.” Suddenly your entire sense of progress depends on one very specific outcome. If it happens, you celebrate. If it doesn’t, it feels like failure, even if you actu...
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Living in the Middle: The Gift of Ambivalence

I’ve been thinking a lot lately (again) about ambivalence, that uncomfortable, messy, beautiful space where two or more opposing truths can exist at the same time. In class, I’ve spoken about how frustrating it can feel to live there. We often crave clarity, certainty, and direction. But as actors and more so as human beings, so much of our growth happens right in the middle of that tension. There’s so much to learn from it if we don’t ignore or push it away.  Ambivalence is the place where love meets fear, where confidence meets doubt, where joy and grief can sit side by side. It’s the moment before a decision, the breath before the line, the silence between the beats. It’s the “in-between” that our minds often try to escape. But in acting, and in life, that space is gold. As artists, we are asked to hold contradictions with honesty. To love a character and still see their flaws. To want something deeply and fear what it might cost. That’s the work. And yet, outside the studio, we...
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The Actor’s Greatest Tool: Belief in Yourself

Every actor knows what it feels like to doubt. You walk into a room, open your mouth, and for a split second wonder if you even belong there. It’s a quiet, invisible battle that can completely derail your craft if you let it. We spend years working on technique, text, imagination, and truth, but none of it lands if the nervous system underneath it is wired in fear or self-criticism. Self-esteem isn’t a luxury in this business. It’s fuel. It’s the grounding force that allows you to risk, to stay open, and to truly listen. Without it, you start performing from the outside in, trying to please rather than connect. You can feel the difference right away. When you’re acting from a place of insecurity, your choices shrink. You grip. You protect yourself. The moment-to-moment life drains away. And yet, this loss of self-belief doesn’t happen because actors are weak. It happens because the work demands vulnerability. I’m literally in preview performances of an Off-Broadway play myself right no...
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Believing in Yourself: The Key to Joy in Acting

Acting asks a lot of us, right?! It asks us to be open, curious, imaginative, and brave enough to show who we really are. But when you don’t believe in yourself, that becomes almost impossible. Low self-esteem doesn’t just make you doubt your talent. It quietly shapes the way you approach your work and also life outside of the work. You start worrying about what people think, (you should look into Mel Robbin’s ‘Let Them Theory’)  about being good enough, about how you compare to everyone else. And before you know it, acting stops feeling alive. It starts feeling heavy. When you don’t have a solid sense of self-worth, you begin chasing validation instead of truth. Every note from a teacher or reaction from a scene partner becomes something you read into. You stop taking chances in your work because you’re afraid of being wrong - I think we’ve all felt that at times.  The joy that used to come from discovery and play gets replaced by anxiety and control. You can end up trying t...
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The Nervous System and the Actor’s Craft

Acting is often described as “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.” Yet what determines whether those circumstances feel truthful to the actor - and believable to the audience - is not only imagination and technique, but the actor’s nervous system. The body’s physiological state plays a tremendous role in shaping how present, an actor can be in a scene, whether it’s in class, in an audition, on stage, or on set. At its core, the nervous system regulates the body’s stress response, emotional processing, and capacity for presence. When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, we move into “fight, flight, or freeze” mode. How? The heart can race, breathing becomes shallow, and muscles can tighten. While this can sometimes be useful in high-stakes dramatic moments, more often it pulls the actor out of the present, narrows focus, and makes listening to a partner nearly impossible. Instead of responding authentically, the actor becomes self-conscious or mechanical, trapped in...
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Growth in Acting: Why You Don’t Always Feel It (Even When It’s Happening)

One of the biggest reasons actors take class is a simple one: we want to grow. We’re curious, we’re hungry, and we’re eager to feel like we’re moving forward in our craft and our careers. But - and many of you have heard me discuss these themes in class - growth in acting is rarely trackable in the way we’d like it to be. Unlike the gym, where you can see more weight lifted, or a language class, where you can measure words learned, acting growth often happens quietly, underneath the surface. And because it’s not always visible or immediate, we often get impatient. Or worse, we get hard on ourselves. The truth is, just because you can’t feel your growth doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Part of the reason growth feels invisible is because it happens in small, incremental shifts. Each time you take class, rehearse a scene, take in a note, or attempt a new accent, you’re adding to your craft. But those changes are almost impossible to notice in the moment. Acting is also deeply subjective....
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