Today I graduate from the intensive at Vancouver Acting School. The occasion is both exciting and bitter sweet. Although I am going to miss my classmates, I am really looking forward to continuing on with the next chapter in my life. Besides, the friends I have made over the last 6 months are still going to be around, if not in Vancouver then only a phone call away. We are always going to be close. I have truly formed a very special bond with these people, and for that I am so grateful.

This week I learned that I need to develop a little bit of a back bone. A couple of days ago I double-booked myself because I was too afraid to say no. I spent that day miserable because I was dreading the confrontation that seemed to be coming closer and closer. Before I proceed with the real subject of this post I would just like to impart the following advice. This is your life. Live it with no regrets. Life is about making friends, taking risks, and surprising yourself everyday with the miracle that is you. Life is not about pleasing other people, getting by and living for the weekend, or being safe. This is your life. So take control of that steering wheel, and never apologize for being who you are.

Now, I would like to take this opportunity to impart some words of advice on to my fellow actors:

Acting is about telling a story. It’s not about proving yourself to others, because you don’t need to prove yourself to anyone. You are amazing just as you are. You have a story to tell, and you have a right to share it. In the past, I have looked at the dollar sign behind some of these acting jobs and thought to myself “wow, they’re paying you so much money, therefore this job must be very difficult.” I would then go into the audition room, or into scene study class, feeling as though I needed to show the amount of work I had done in order to be worthy of the pay-off. What I’ve realized now, is that acting is simple. In acting all you need to do is genuinely affect and be affected by the other person in the room, and tell the story to the best of your abilities. You don’t have to “put on” anything. You just need to be. At its core, what this means is that it’s not your work that’s worth something, you are worth something. You are worth whatever dollar sign that you put on top of your head. When people pay money to watch a movie, they’re not looking to watch an actor who worked hard to nail this character, they’re looking to watch an actor embody different and sometimes scary aspects of themselves. To excel in acting you must acknowledge one very important thing:

“You are enough, and you deserve this.”