Reinvention at Any Age: Anne Alexander-Seder's Inspiring Journey

Anne Alexander-Seder shares her journey as an American actor who reinvented her career in Germany after following love abroad and taking a 16-year detour through voice-over work and motherhood. She reveals how asking one simple question launched her career and how organizing acting workshops became her pathway back to on-screen performance at age 47.

• Moved to Germany for love rather than career but managed to make both work
• Discovered the power of asking for help when a simple question led to voice-over opportunities
• Built a successful 15-year career as one of Germany's top American voice talents
• Created her own opportunities by bringing acting coaches to Munich when she couldn't travel
• Transformed her perceived limitations (age, being American in Germany) into her unique strengths
• Used workshops as tools for training, income generation, and strategic networking
• Developed a strategic approach to acting as a business rather than just an art form
• Found that "the problem presents the solution if you know which questions to ask"
• Encourages everyone to get comfortable with being uncomfortable
• Believes dreams have no expiration date and it's never too late to pursue your passion

For more information on Anne's work or to download her free workbook on turning passion into profession, visit actboldtraining.com/p2 or find her on social media under Anne Alexander-Seder or Act Bold.

https://mindforcepodcast.buzzsprout.com

Chapters

• 0:49 Welcome to Mindforce
• 1:17 From America to Germany: Anne's Story
• 3:37 The Power of Asking Questions
• 8:32 Finding Identity Abroad
• 15:10 Reigniting the Acting Flame
• 21:47 Creating Workshops and Community
• 31:15 Networking as a Career Strategy
• 36:26 Turning Passions into Professions
• 44:34 Dreams Have No Expiration Date
• 49:16 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

Hi everyone, welcome to Mindforce. I'm your host, nate Shear, and this is the show where love, life and learning come together, because your mind is what matters most here. Today we have Anne Alexander-Seder, and today we'll be talking about reinvention and resilience, creating opportunities, pursuing your passions without limits, without limits. So we're going to start with the easy stuff the who, what, why and where. Who are you, what do you do and where in the world are you and why are you here today?

Speaker 2: 0:50

Yeah, yeah Well, my name is Anne Alexander-Seder. I am an American actor who has been living and working out of Germany for almost 30 years now. I came here for my love, not my career, but I have managed to make both work. In fact, I'm still here working as an actor and I'm still with my husband. So there you go. I don't know which one I'm more proud of.

Speaker 2: 1:17

When I first I was a working actor back in America, I was SAG-AFTRA, working on my equity card meeting. I was making just enough money so I didn't have to work a side hustle as an actor. I even had my health insurance paid for by SAG and you know, I was in my twenties, so I felt I was doing pretty darn good. And then life threw me a curve ball in the shape of a hot German guy, and that was kind of that. And then I ended up here very quickly, pregnant and, you know, starting a brand new life in a brand new country where I didn't speak the language and initially excuse me getting over a cold. I was really excited to be a mom. I've. It's something I've always wanted to do, and so I was. I was very distracted by all of that, was very distracted by all of that, and but you know, after our son was born, a couple of years into it, he started to go to preschool and I started to look around for ways to be more useful, more creative, more fulfilled, to be very honest, and I also don't like being dependent. So I was always looking for ways, you know, to. I didn't want to have to ask my husband every time I saw a pair of shoes I wanted to buy or something. So there were a lot of things that kind of came together.

Speaker 2: 2:35

But I had seen a poster for the American drama group in Munich and I thought, aha, perfect, let me go check them out. So I called them up, I made an appointment, I auditioned, it went really well, and when I finished he was like well, welcome to the family, you know. And he pulls out this touring schedule which I had no idea it was a touring group. So he's showing me. You know, they tour nine months out of the year and that was just out of the question. So I apologized and got up to leave and I was disappointed because I thought well, there goes. You know, that avenue is a dead end.

Speaker 2: 3:12

And then, on a whim, I kind of leaned in and just asked him you don't happen to know anybody here in Munich, do you, that I could talk to? And he gave me two names and that taught me something really valuable that I don't think I had ever learned before, and that is ask, ask and make it easy for people to help you. I don't recall that he even gave me the numbers for these two people. I believe I had to look it up. It was 30 years ago now, almost 30 years ago, but still it was an easy ask, it was no skin off his nose and he was happy to help. So sometimes just having the courage to ask can change everything, and it certainly did in my case. And from that point on I contacted both of them and one of them gave me a shot with a radio play and from there I just started working tons, in fact, so much so that I was probably one of the top American, definitely one of the top female American voices out of Germany for a good 15 years.

Speaker 2: 4:10

But I had a really good run with it, where I was at times working, you know, five different jobs a day. First of all, it was really flexible, so I could show up at the studio with my son and my dog and still be home in time to take my son to the playground and make dinner and do all that stuff. But it was also as much fun as it was, it wasn't creative in the way that I had wanted to be creative, so there was always kind of something missing for me. Missing for me. And the voiceover led to presenting work and I did all sorts of hosting game shows that were broadcast into Canada or doing corporate television for, like Audi TV, for example. I did their thing for seven years and think different things like that, which led to commercials and again kind of like I would feel guilty because I wasn't happy with the way my career was going, and yet I would also feel like I was being ungrateful, like look, you know, there's so many actors that would be thrilled to be making a decent living as an actor, which I was technically, but it just wasn't the kind of acting I signed up for that I wanted and I still had this beautiful family and it was kind of a struggle, I have to say, for about 16 years and I was really looking for something to fill that void.

Speaker 2: 5:35

And then, when my son was about 16 years old. We had a standing movie date every Friday. And he came to me on Thursday and he was like mom, it's nay on the movie date A or whatever you say, right, I don't want to do that anymore with you, I want to hang out with my friends. And it was like, of course, as a parent, you know, this day is coming, but I had really put my family first for 16 years and I had never really thought just what do I want? Just me alone, what do I want?

Speaker 2: 6:08

And I thought well, you know, I'd love to take an acting workshop. That's my idea of a good time. And so I just sat down on 901, I Googled it acting workshop, munich English and one popped up and it was the next day coach out of LA, one spot open. I whipped out my credit card, I bought it and I left that three days later knowing there was no turning back. It was like a pilot light just combusted and I was on fire. And that's when I told my husband I need to relaunch my acting career. And now I'll pause. That's all. The monologue is over.

Speaker 1: 6:43

I love the Friday movie night. Yeah, we got a few kids over here and, yeah, we love that Friday movie night. One thing I love that you said is you know you got to ask the question. One thing that always drives me nuts a little bit when you know you get a promotion or you get an assignment or you get something that you're looking for and you're happy for, inevitably there'll always be one person that always seems to write on social media or whatnot and they'll use the word lucky, lucky. But you have to ask the question, put yourself in the right spot, do the research. Like you said, you need to track down the phone numbers to get that.

Speaker 1: 7:25

So sometimes I feel like people don't see the grind and the things that happen behind the scenes, which is kind of frustrating, because to me, lucky sounds like it's cheapening it, like it was just luck. But you had to do things to be in the right room with the right people to ask the right questions or even ask the question at all. So I love that you bring that up. One question I wanted to ask you just out of curiosity. You know being out of the country and things like that what's your favorite part of being out of the United States and what are? Some things that are a little more shocking or, you know, are a little more difficult to process.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Well, let's see, I guess it's been 30 years so.

Speaker 2: 7:56

Yeah, it has, and I've. I lived in Italy, I lived in the South of France, I lived in Paris, I lived in London. So I've lived actually in Europe longer than I ever lived in the US. But I go back all the time and you know I'm there at least now it's probably twice a year, sometimes three times a year, but there were times that I was there five times a year, you know. So, just, I still have a very deep connection to America. You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the American out of the girl, absolutely. So what do I love about living in Europe? Well, you know what I love? The proximity to other cultures and the differences in other cultures, and we definitely make a lot of use of that. We go to Spain a lot, we go to Italy a lot, france once in a while. We're going to England next month, so we definitely do make use, and even just like driving distance, like we're in Austria all the time.

Speaker 2: 8:52

I never get tired of the beauty. To be honest, it's a beautiful place and Munich is. I grew up in Detroit and I grew up in Detroit. Detroit was a beautiful city and I think it has the past. You know, it's like the rose that lost its bloom right.

Speaker 2: 9:11

Detroit was the richest city in all of America at one point so, and you can see it in the architecture, in the beautiful turn of the century homes and buildings and all of that. But when I was growing up that wasn't there and it was really like when I would think of Woodward Avenue, which was the main kind of street going through Detroit, I would think of like newspaper tumbleweeds and boarded up stores and that was kind of my memory of Detroit. So, living in Munich and you know, driving my son around this gorgeous city, I mean it really is a beautiful city and I would always say to him you know, you just don't know how lucky you are, but I mean for him it was. Yeah, whatever, mom, get over it, you know, it's completely normal, you know, because it was for him.

Speaker 1: 10:00

I think it's difficult for kids to realize, and maybe that's just as you get older. I think it's difficult for kids to realize, and maybe that's just as you get older. We did a cross-country trip last summer, so we were in Japan, stationed recently or last year, a year and a half ago, and then we did a year in Florida. But to get to Florida we flew in from Japan, landed in Washington, where I'm from, picked up the car from my sister Washington State.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Washington State, nice, that's a beautiful trip.

Speaker 1: 10:25

On the border of Oregon closer to Portland and then we drove the whole way and so it was kind of funny. The kids. We stopped and saw the Grand Canyon and I am just in complete shock and awe and I just want to sit there and maybe I just wanted to be out of the car, but it was kind of funny. They were like okay, we're good.

Speaker 2: 10:39

I was like what I'm shocked, though Because to me as well I drove cross country when I was maybe 19. My then boyfriend we stopped at the Grand Canyon as well. He snapped a picture of me. I was so in awe of the Grand Canyon that the picture he snapped of me there's literally. I don't know how woo woo you get, but there was literally like a white aura around me, and maybe I don't know, maybe it was a film. It was filmed back then, I don't know, but no other pictures have that. I was so in awe of it and I think it was just like literally glowing. It's so gorgeous.

Speaker 1: 11:17

When you're six and 10, I guess it's not that interesting.

Speaker 2: 11:19

It's all on the ground, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, you should have rented the donkeys. You know that would have been that's the kicker right there right, no pun intended.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Before we get started with the interview, I'd like to ensure the guests can ask me a question, because I feel like a lot of times these are one directional, so I want to make sure these are organic conversations. Anne, what do you have for me?

Speaker 2: 11:43

All right, Nate. Well, the name of my company is called Act Bold. So when was a time in your life that you acted boldly and something positive came?

Speaker 1: 11:54

OK, this is one that's probably a little controversial, at least maybe in the military sector. I feel like I should avoid it. But I'm going to act bold and not avoid it. But I've been going with facial hair in the military. It's illegal without a waiver for medical or religious purposes.

Speaker 1: 12:10

I've struggled with my skin my whole life and so I've had different agonies and different things, and so for the longest time I was kind of pushing on and cutting through you know the different skin conditions and things like that, because I was trying to look the part and do what I was quote unquote supposed to. But about a year and a half ago I finally went in and got my waiver and it's something that's been really difficult for me, because you walk in a room and you know you're the only one of 30 or 35 when you're in the staff meeting or things like that, and so looking different and sticking out is really difficult. I've always been kind of an oddball so I didn't think it would really affect me because I've always been a little bit different. But the military is such a specific mold and things like that. It just really feels, I don't know feels really ostracized and really on the outside. But I've had at least three people reach out to me in the last year and a half and thanked me for, you know, taking the step and and walking forward, because they were able to go and get help and and not have to cut through things and you build up scar tissue and things like that. So all the days where it's like super painful and hard to walk in the rooms and feel weird and feel on the outside is completely overpowered by the few people that have reached out and said it's really helpful that you took the step.

Speaker 1: 13:23

I didn't think I could, I didn't think we were supposed to and things like that, because that's the exact reason I didn't. I didn't because people that are successful don't do it and things like that. And so I'd like to consider myself somewhat successful within my area, not to like toot my own horn or whatever, but that was kind of. The purpose is to do what's right and hopefully convince people and, you know, try to push through some of these rules and things like that. Rules need to be there. There needs to be standardization for certain things, but I think we should also be taking care of ourself. And that was probably way more than you wanted, but what do you think about that?

Speaker 2: 14:02

Yeah, I think it flies in the face of like what is expected and all that, and it does take courage to be different and to like make us you know I don't know that it's a stand because you did it for your health, I mean really and to feel better literally in your own skin, and so that's a fair point. But as you were talking, I also kind of wondered if, I mean, if you're dealing with acne, that can also make you feel ostracized and feel like you're standing out in the wrong way. So I think, whatever you can do in that situation, we all want to literally feel good in our own skin and we all deserve to feel good in our own skin. And if the shaving was aggravating that, then I think it's. I think it's good and I'm used to like. Being the different one is like a part of my life, you know. So, yeah, it's also a recurring theme, like when I write, like being the fish out of water, different doesn't quite fit and all of that. So I definitely empathize with that.

Speaker 1: 15:05

I'm good with it. We, you know, just walk to the beat of a little different drum. It is what it is. I feel like I've had to overpower it for 37 years and I guess at this point I should just quit, because I'm just going to be a little different.

Speaker 2: 15:17

That's okay, it is what it is and you do grow out of it. You can live forward to that.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Yes, at some point I won't have to, but good stuff.

Speaker 2: 15:26

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 15:27

Well, we'll move into the first section of the show. So we're going to move into reinvention and resilience. So, on the show, I'm huge. I love stories. I feel like that's how we connect with other people and I think for the longest time, cavemans and you know things like that. That's how we pass information. So can you share a story of your acting hiatus and what led you to finally step back into that spotlight after all that time? I think you started to touch on it.

Speaker 2: 15:52

Yeah, I started to tell you. So for me, when I took that workshop there were, first of all, I didn't know If it hadn't been good. I often wonder how the trajectory of my life would be different right now, because I would have been like, eh, that wasn't so great, but because it was so good and the instructor, the coach, could see it. I don't know if you know the movie Reservoir Dogs. His name is called Kirk Baltz. I always give him a shout out because he really is a great coach. He's the one who gets his ear cut off in Reservoir Dogs and he even said you know, you, you and you. You guys are in fire. You need to get together, and I'm still really good friends with one of the women who he said that to.

Speaker 2: 16:40

I didn't know what it meant at the time. I was 47 years old. I didn't know how I was going to relaunch my career, I didn't know anything right, and I didn't have any of the tools that actors need to relaunch their career or to launch their career. So, as an actor, you need headshots, you need a showreel, you need some industry contacts, and I didn't have any of that, and the main thing you need are headshots and a showreel, though, and I didn't have any current showreel material because I hadn't acted in 16 years, not really. So for me, the first dilemma that I saw, or the first challenge that I ran into, was I was rusty and just like an athlete, a singer, whatever you need to keep your instrument in tune, otherwise it's not going to sound or look or be very good, and so I knew I needed some training, and the obstacle always presents the solution if you know which questions to ask. So the first thought was well, okay, let me check into this. I wanted the training to be in English, because I didn't want to add the extra layer of German on top of it. I just wanted my responses to be organic.

Speaker 2: 18:00

So I started to look into coaches in London, la, new York, and they're amazing coaches I had always wanted to work with, but that was very quickly occurred to me. It was going to be really, really expensive to be flying around, and also not just money-wise but also time-wise, and even though my son didn't want to hang out with me on Friday nights, I was still his mom. I was still making him breakfast, getting him up for school, making sure he did his homework, grounding him when he broke his curfew, all that stuff. So I thought, okay, again, the problem presents a solution if you just ask the right question. So I didn't have it in Munich. That was the problem. That also became the solution.

Speaker 2: 18:42

So I just reached out to those same coaches that I wanted to work with and I said what's it going to take to get you here? And they told me I thought okay, next challenge what do I need to make that happen? And I figured out that if I just was going to like, my only goal at that point was just to pay what I would pay if they were already in Munich. So if I could just get a handful of actors to take the workshop with me, then I'd be good to go.

Speaker 2: 19:12

And what very quickly happened was I not only was getting the workshops for free, I was earning between $1,000 and $2,000 per workshop, and I was building a community Excuse me, and community back then we're talking 13, 14 years ago was not the buzzword that it is today. And I had no idea how much of a support that was going to be for me. Later on, when I finally did launch my career and I did that for about a year and a half I used to call it when I brought in a coach. That was the big workshop, and then I would organize little workshops in between. So if you took the big workshop, you were invited to the little workshops just to work on whatever we had learned. And the little workshops, I didn't charge anything for them and we just paid for the room or whatever it was.

Speaker 2: 20:04

And so and I was doing that I was doing a big workshop one to two times a month, and then the little workshops, sometimes six days a week.

Speaker 2: 20:13

So I was working out between three and eight hours a day, six days a week. So I was working out between three and eight hours a day, six days a week, and I did that for a year and a half, as I said. So I was really like getting retrained as an actor. But even more than that, I was picking my curriculum. I was curating my curriculum based on what I wanted to learn and what I felt like I needed to learn, and when I felt like I was ready, when I felt like, okay, you know, like my confidence is back, my skills are sharp again, I'm ready to go do this thing, then for me, at that point I was kind of done with the workshops, and so they later did make a reappearance, and maybe we'll talk about that again, because there were many different ways that I learned to use them throughout my past 11 years since having relaunched my career. But the first phase was all about bridging, building a bridge from my passion to making it a truly meaningful, sustaining part of my life again.

Speaker 1: 21:17

That's powerful, they say. You know if you find something you can get paid to do that you love, you never work a day in your life. So you really found a way to merge and bridge the thing that you were already doing and that you wanted to learn about and that you know. If you wanted to learn about it, I'm sure others wanted to learn about it, so you're really able to bring others along with you. You know you also got, you know, a little bit of a discount or made some money along the way, so that's really cool that you were able to find a win-win. I don't feel like there's as many win-wins as we would like in this world, so that's pretty amazing. So that's really that reinvention. I'd love to hear a little bit about resiliency and how resiliency played a role in your personal and professional life especially during those times of uncertainty.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Well, I mean, the reinvention just keeps on going. To be very honest, I'm always reinventing myself right. Part of it is like moving to different countries, you know, figuring out what I'm going to like, when my career was I don't want to say taken away, but it was for a time made impossible, you know, until I found a way back to it, until I found a way to reinvent it for myself here in Munich, going from being, you know, a voiceover actor which is pretty much, you know, voiceover presenter, that kind of a thing back to becoming a working actor again was another time when I reinvented myself. For me, the most powerful thing that I did, honestly, and the thing that I think anybody can do, is find something that they love, because in this day and age, most people think that they need, in order to make a living from what you love, if you're not actually doing that thing right, if you're not, like, just as an actor, sure, I could make a living doing that, I do make a living doing that. But there are other actors, you know, who are also mostly coaches, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Speaker 2: 23:14

But I think often, especially in the creative field, because it can be difficult to make a living, people feel like, well, their only other option is to teach it, and I think you end up running into a couple of problems imposter syndrome because you, you know, we've sort of been sold this bill of goods that you only need to stay two steps ahead of the person behind you, but then you're always kind of looking over your shoulder and making sure that they're not catching up, and it also puts you in the position of not being able to say I don't know, I'm just learning, like you. You know, let me look into that or something, because you feel like you need to have all the answers. So, which feeds into the imposter syndrome. So, with the curating of coaches and experts to whether your passion is, you know, tuning pianos or foraging for edible fauna in the forest, or cake decorating or furniture refurbishment or acting or whatever it may be, you are able to make a living from something that you love. But you don't have to be the coach or the expert. You put yourself in the position of being a beginner or a learner, just like everybody else.

Speaker 2: 24:37

In fact, I really had to fight for not to be put in a position of authority during that year and a half, because I was the one hanging out with the coaches, I was the one organizing everything they were paying me, so I think there was a lot of hesitancy to give me feedback and I was always fighting for it. You know, like, hey, why do you think I did all this? I want the feedback, I want the critique, I want to get better, just like you do, and I can't get better unless I get the feedback. And so there's so much freedom in it, and you will. The more you learn, you will naturally be becoming an expert in whatever it is that you're interested in, until one day, and you will know when you're ready to take on that mantle of coach or expert, if you so choose. Coach or expert, if you so choose. You may not, because you may find that it's super fulfilling just to have a community of people who are into what you're into and learning from other people. But so I think that that is, in a sense, the answer for resiliency, also for me.

Speaker 2: 25:49

You know, no matter what I face in life, whether it's a serious illness or, you know, difficult times I always kind of look at it as I just got to get through the ring of fire that's what I call. It is the ring of fire and there's no way around it. You just have to go through the fire. But on the other side of that fire it's not going to be burning anymore, you're going to be okay again, and I guess part of it is just faith. I'm kind of an eternal optimist, so I know that. You know the sun will come out tomorrow. And the other thing is, I really believe from the bottom of my heart that every challenge you know we live in a universe of where there's light, there's dark. What goes up comes down Every problem has a solution. You just need to ask the right questions.

Speaker 1: 26:47

Absolutely. I think there's always like the contrast on both sides. I actually just wrote about this on Facebook.

Speaker 1: 26:53

As a kid, I never really liked being cold. I was at a work trip in Lithuania and it was very cold about a month ago I think, and I was out and I was in the Christmas markets and you know, the lights were up and it was beautiful and it just helped me really like stop and reflect, because as a kid I just hated being cold. I always, you know, made the joke that I was born in Northern California, so I came out when it was hot. I'm supposed to be hot all the time, I'm supposed to be in shorts and a flip-flop, but it really was like a powerful moment to stop and reflect.

Speaker 1: 27:24

You have the cold at some times where you bundle up, but then other times you're on the beach and flip-flops.

Speaker 1: 27:29

So you have different things that are happening at different times and if you had everything that was always the same, you wouldn't get a chance to cherish it because it would all be the same.

Speaker 1: 27:37

It'd be kind of boring. And so I think, you know, we say like you can't have the sunny, bright, fun day without having the rain. You know you have to have the different things, the ups and the downs, and so I think that's a really good connection there and I love that you talked about being able to love the stuff that you do and you get paid for. I feel like so often we want to work in an office job and then you do your hobby as woodworking or whatever you do the office mundane thing that you hate to fund the thing that you actually love, that you actually love. But could you just line up the thing that you love if you're good at woodworking or whatever that may be like transform that into the thing that makes you the money and you get to do both, I'm sure you know or learn more and more about it by being the one that's setting up right the workshops and that way, you know.

Speaker 2: 28:25

The other thing was, I did it all on my schedule, right, I wanted to do it so often, but if you want to do it once every two months, once a year, once a week, once a day, it's up to you, you know. So yeah, I think that too many people just don't. I don't know, I'm honestly mind blown that more people don't do it, because it just to me was like the obvious solution. It's like, well, of course you know they're not here. I need them here, I'm going to bring them here, I'm going to get what I need, you know.

Speaker 2: 28:57

So yeah, but the interesting thing was too, like with resiliency you were mentioning that so I kind of had to reinvent myself as an actor as well, because when I left the industry I was a woman in her, and when I came back I was almost 50 at this point, and so the world is not open to a 50-year-old woman the same way it is open to a woman in her mid to late 20s, and I had to first kind of come to terms with where I was and what that means or doesn't mean, you know, like what is all this and who am I as an actor?

Speaker 2: 29:35

And also I started, so I, you know I did all the things that we do, but I as a young woman, even though I was a working actor, I don't think that was down to any strategy, it was probably down to luck. And we talked a little bit about luck in the beginning. And I am not taking away from my talent, because I do believe in my talent and I believe that my talent got me the jobs. But I got auditions because I knew some people and so luck, skill both, I don't know, in any case not repeatable because I didn't know anybody here.

Speaker 2: 30:23

So what I realized here was I needed to have a strategy. What I realized here was I needed to understand what it meant to be in the business of being an actor. And I think as a young woman, I didn't realize not only did I not realize, I don't even think, I wanted to realize that you know, if you are want to make a living at anything, you are in business for yourself. And I think I was like, no, I'm an artist, thank you. But as a grown woman I was like, okay, let's look into this because I really am serious about my career. So I realized there were a couple of things which came to be the five pillars of my course that I, you know, now teach other actors also about the career, about the business of being an actor. I don't teach acting, but I do teach about the business of being an actor. I don't teach acting, but I do teach about the business of being an actor, because too many actors just don't even. They're like I was. They're getting their training, they've got an agent, and then they complain a lot. It's like, yeah, you know, the casting directors only want to see the same people. Whatever it is, my agent sucks, you know, those kind of things. It's like, yeah, yeah, maybe, but there's also stuff that you could be doing. So that's when I really started to look into that.

Speaker 2: 31:36

But my first problem that I recognized was that I had some limiting beliefs around my age and around my lack of perfect German. And so I because I was trying to, you know, I wanted to be cast as a German woman. I live here in Germany and I'm not, you know, I'm not going to do that, they're not going to do that, and so. But I really fought against it in the beginning, and then I became a life and career coach, initially, only to get over my own limiting beliefs. I knew that if I could really learn those skills, that I could apply them to myself, and which is what I did, and it did definitely help. Now I truly believe that, you know, whatever you think is up, whatever most people think is there, they're the thing that's holding them back, is probably one of their superpowers. So, and that kind of turned out to be my case when I embraced my age and my you know, I'm an American, I live here in Germany, you know, and all of those things, and really started to approach it from that point of view. That's when I started to get a lot more auditions, a lot better auditions.

Speaker 2: 32:44

But again, I kind of ran up against a wall at a point where I kept getting typecasts I don't know if I can swear on this, but you can beep it out, I guess, as the bitch in charge, the witch in charge, the witch with a B in charge, right and I felt like, okay, yeah, I mean obviously right. I mean, if you're seeing this on YouTube or wherever it is, nobody's going to be surprised that I can play that. But what they weren't seeing, what I felt they weren't seeing, was my heart, my humor, my playful side, my maternal side, which is also there. And I thought, okay, again, the problem presents the solution. Well, if they're not seeing this, what can I do to show it to them? And that's when I really set about working on my branding though I don't think I had the words for calling it branding at that point and that's when my auditions and booking started to really become much more three-dimensional, which led to other actors saying, hey, how'd you get this? Who do you know? And that's when I started helping other actors to understand the business of being an actor based on kind of everything that I had made myself learn. But one of the things that I was doing this is kind of back to resilience, I guess to one of the things that I was doing to change my branding was I had decided I guess I'm like a once a month type girl or something, I don't know because I had decided I'm going to shoot a short film once a month, once a month, and so that's going to be on brand for me, and so I did this probably six, seven months.

Speaker 2: 34:22

But filmmaking is expensive. Even when everybody is donating everything, it is still expensive. You still have to pay for food, at the very least for a crew of people, and sometimes you have to rent equipment, locations, pay for lodging, pay for travel, so it can be expensive. So it was like all of a sudden I remembered that I was earning a few thousand doing the workshops. So then that became kind of phase two of the workshops where it was purely like let me make some quick money learning something that is also useful to me. Obviously it was always something to do with what I wanted to learn and that was great and it served its purpose again.

Speaker 2: 35:04

And then I would say phase three, which is what I'm in now and I think I'll probably be in this phase for the foreseeable future, is I still use the workshops, but I use them as a networking tool.

Speaker 2: 35:19

So if there's somebody I would like to work with a casting director, producer, showrunner, director, whatever it may be I'll ask them would you be interested in doing a workshop? And then that way I'm offering something of literal value to them money Also. I'm giving them a platform to share their expertise and their knowledge and to get to know some other actors, and from my point of view, I'm able to meet them on even playing ground. They're not me, this little actor, and then this big casting director. We are two people who are coming together and we both happen to love the film industry and we're having great conversations around that, and some of them have even become really good friends and some others have just become professional friends, but certainly more than just an acquaintance, and so that was also eye-opening that you can use these workshops as a way to network with people.

Speaker 1: 36:26

That's perfect. The next segue is creating opportunities. So the question I wanted to ask you can you share a specific moment when building connections opened a new door for you? Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 36:39

Yeah, right. Well, I definitely have gotten direct requests to audition from, I would say, six casting directors who I can attribute directly to having these relationships with, who might not have even considered me had it not been for our relationship and because of that, not to say that that puts me. What it does is it puts you closer to top of mind, right? So I'm always sort of not saying that I'm they're always thinking of me or anything, but I certainly pop up in their heads when it comes to someone who fits my character breakdown, who fits my character traits, and often even when it comes to people who fit the character traits and they're open to like if they know the director is like open to having someone who's not maybe 100% German 100% German is the wrong word, not natural born German, because I am 100% German.

Speaker 1: 37:35

Now, you are now I have both citizenships now.

Speaker 2: 37:41

But yeah, so that definitely has led to that, I mean. But there's so many things where you know even the first example right of asking.

Speaker 1: 37:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 37:55

Like and I think that it's underestimated you know, just like asking for what you need. Now there is a fine line, because you don't want to be that person who's just like the gimmicky guy.

Speaker 1: 38:10

Takes and takes and takes. Yeah, I was going to say something about that. When you do network and you're in the room, I think we've got to make sure that we're giving and helping with other people and educating and I think a lot of the things you're doing, because, yeah, it would be pretty easy if you're just going to take, take, Then after the third time in a row, the person's like, okay, cool, You're just the one that kind of takes all the time. So if you're going to do something, definitely, you know, make sure you're you're giving and taking. If you're helping somebody with something, make sure there's a little bit of give and take. I wanted to ask a question we kind of touched on it earlier, but maybe a little bit more expansion what advice would you give to someone who wants to turn their passion into work but doesn't know where to start? How do you start?

Speaker 2: 38:54

Well, nate, I happen to have a workbook that they are happy to. You know it will literally get them started to curating coaches. You don't have to want to be an actor. It's really for anything that doesn't require a higher degree, anything that you could learn by curating your curriculum, so to speak, or by taking workshops. So whether that's acting or singing, or woodworking, or meditating, holistic medicine, I don't know midwifing, I don't know if you have to go to school for that or not, but I know that there are a lot of like apprentice type things, right. So I mean being a death doula.

Speaker 2: 39:37

I have someone who's interested in taking taking my course is called Passion Project to Pro, so who is interested in learning more about being a death doula? Another one who's interested in psychedelics. I mean, really there, there's kind of no end to what it is. But what I would suggest is, when you are, I truly believe that your passion is the key to finding your purpose, and if you don't know what your passion is, then follow your curiosity, because your curiosity is going to put you on the road. And if you just keep following your curiosity, sooner or later you're going to run into something that keeps your interest for a while, yeah, and it may turn into your passion, that's good stuff.

Speaker 1: 40:23

So what I?

Speaker 2: 40:24

would suggest is learn right. First figure it out, because I think a lot of people also think that they want to do something, but because they haven't actually really done it, they don't know. So first figure it out. Do you really want to be a potter? You know they always have dry hands and all that stuff and the clay it's very drying. Do you really want to? You know jewelry design? It's hard on your eyes, I don't know, but do it. This is what I always tell beginning actors who reach out to me. You know and want to be in my course is not geared for beginning actors. It's really geared for trained actors who've been in the industry for at least a couple of years. But I always say go, go, you know, take some workshops, go do it and see if you even like it. You may just have this idea about what it is and it doesn't match the reality at all.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Yeah, I always find it wild that you're supposed to go to college and get this degree. You're supposed to be 18 and at 18, you're supposed to know, like, what you want to do for the rest of your life. I really think there should be a better way where, like, you're not supposed to enter school until 22 or 24. Something where you can go and, you know, try some things. Or, you know, go to the Peace Corps, travel, learn other cultures. I think just going and eating and learning languages and things like that is super powerful. But yeah, it's always been really odd to me that 18, where you're just not very mature at all, you're supposed to. Yeah, I want to. You know.

Speaker 1: 41:57

I'm sure there's, you know, a very few people. Like from the very beginning they wanted to be a doctor and like they went all the way through and made it all the way through and it was exactly what they wanted. And but that's gotta be just a small sliver of people, I think the majority. Like I even went to school for programming, I was like, oh, I want to do computers, that'd be so cool, and I take the first programming class and I'm, you know, in the room trying to do this. It never works and it's, you know, all bugged up and I'm trying to run the code. I'm like this is miserable, but you don't know because you haven't done it, so you go to do it. You're like this is enjoyable at all. You thought from the outside it looks cool. I could do a little HTML in my MySpace page back in the day, but you know that was about the extent of it. But yeah, it's just so interesting to me.

Speaker 2: 42:42

You're supposed to decide so early? Oh my God, do you know? In Germany it's even younger. Yes, when they finished grade school. So they're in the fifth grade. And then there are three different types of schools here. So there's the gymnasium, which would be the equivalent of our ap high schools. Then there's uh, real shula, which is like normal high school, missing grade 11 and 12 though. So it goes up to grade 10. And then there's uh, but they go from sixth grade to ninth or tenth grade, I guess it is. And then there's a Hauptschule. So the kids in Gymnasium, they all go on to university.

Speaker 2: 43:20

The kids in Realschule, they sometimes go on to university. They have to take another step in between to get there, and sometimes they'll become hand workers. Hand workers, do we say that? So you know, they'll work with their hands like carpenters, tile, whatever. It is right, but. But this is a trade. They will become tradesmen. But because they've gone to real shula, then they also have the option to become what they call a meister, which is mean they can also own their own business. And then there are the kids who go to helpuptschule, which is basically like they're always going to work for somebody else doing a trade job, yeah, and they need to figure that out at 10.

Speaker 1: 44:03

Dang 10. That is early.

Speaker 2: 44:07

I mean it's insane yeah that is yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:09

I mean it's insane.

Speaker 2: 44:10

Yeah, that is.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Yeah, and then our last category, as we come to a close, is pursuing your passion without limits.

Speaker 2: 44:19

This is going to be some good stuff, so what's your idea on ideas and dreams that have no expiration date? Well, I think the thing is people have everybody has dreams when they're young, and then life gets in the way and obligations and family and priorities need to be set so that you can take care of those obligations and family and then by the time you have time to think about, you know the kids leave the house or whatever it is. By the time you have a chance to think about what do I want? Like most people think it's just too late, and the truth is it's never too late and what I always really encourage people to do is you remember debate team in high school?

Speaker 1: 45:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 45:06

Yeah, argue the other side, because we are confirmation bias idiots, right, I mean, we will. Whatever we believe, whatever we think, we will look for the confirmation to make sure that that is true and that is right, and we will stick with it.

Speaker 1: 45:25

And the algorithm doesn't help right.

Speaker 2: 45:27

Right, right, that's right.

Speaker 1: 45:29

It only shows you what you like to see.

Speaker 2: 45:31

Yeah, yeah, that's right. It only shows you what you like to see. Yeah, yeah, so true. And so if you play the devil's advocate, argue the other side. Like you know, I thought I was too old to relaunch my acting career, even though I was doing it. But like I had this you know, this limiting voice at the back of my head saying that to me, so it was like I started to look for the evidence of no. There are people who are successful, who have launched their career later in life. Peter Dinklage is always a huge inspiration to me.

Speaker 2: 46:03

I mean, my God, if anybody like you could have said, like dude, hang it up, forget it and look what he's done. And he's done it amazingly. And he has not only that, but he's met the rules, like he's gotten cast where it didn't necessarily say you know a tiny person, right? So I think if you know Oprah Winfrey, look at her. You know Davins.

Speaker 2: 46:32

There are so many people who, kind of against the odds, really just kept at it and I think if they can do it, it's just proof that you can do it too. They're not any more special than you are or than I am or than any of us are. They just maybe are more determined and they don't give up on their dreams. A lot of people do. And I really think it's sad because at the end of the day, you know, when we close our eyes for that final time, I want the movie that plays in my head to be one I'm happy to see and I don't want to be like, no, change the channel, I don't. This isn't what I wanted, you know. You know really what it is is we want to matter, we all want to matter, and what that looks like, whether that's for three people, 300 people or three million people, it doesn't matter. But it's why we have these existential questions like what does it all mean? But really, what does it all mean?

Speaker 1: 47:46

so it doesn't mean anything if you don't make it mean something I think one thing we do a kind of a poor job at is defining success. Like we want success to be the car and the house and all these things, and I wish we had a better definition. Where you're content, you have a good home and the movie that plays at the end of your life, is that happy movie, I mean that's really success. It's not the dollar amounts that you can't take with you, it's not the Lamborghini that you also can't take with you. I wish we had that better definition of success and then maybe that is the definition you know, that movie that you are content and and feel great about as you expire, maybe, maybe that's it.

Speaker 2: 48:27

Yeah, and I think you know when it does come down to the people always, because you know, as I said, we all want to matter, but to whom we want to matter? To somebody else.

Speaker 1: 48:43

Yeah, the loved ones, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 48:46

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 48:47

Let's try to bring it all together. I'm curious what's one mindset shift or piece of advice you'd like listeners to take away from your journey?

Speaker 2: 48:58

Okay, so there are actually a couple. One is don't let fear stop you. Recognize that fear. You know, I thought as a young woman, grownups didn't have fear. Grownups just did great stuff. And you know, and I'm talking, home alone.

Speaker 1: 49:16

He's talking to the guy that does the thing and he's like oh, you're too old to be afraid. And he said you're never too old to be afraid.

Speaker 2: 49:22

I love home alone, sorry but it's true, you know, you, you are never too old, it doesn't go away, so you need to make peace with it.

Speaker 2: 49:30

And the way I've need to make peace with it and the way I've kind of made peace with my fears, I used to think of it maybe as a bit of a saboteur, and now I think of it more as like a helicopter mom and it's like you know, I don't think that my fear is trying to sabotage me.

Speaker 2: 49:46

I think my fear is trying to keep me in my comfort zone because that's comfortable, that's safe. It fear is trying to keep me in my comfort zone because that's comfortable, that's safe. It's trying to keep me safe and it doesn't want me to fall flat on my face. It doesn't want me to, you know, do the scary stuff, because that's that limbic reptile brain right, it wants you to be safe and, you know, happy and fat, and that's what it is. So that's the first thing is recognize that and then start making it a daily practice to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Like look for the answers to your challenges within the challenges themselves, because, as I pointed out, I tried to at least again and again the answer was always the challenge, like, if this is the problem, then that's the answer. Just how are you going to do it? That is the only thing left to ask.

Speaker 2: 50:43

That's perfect, yeah, and so just practice taking small steps and stretching the boundaries of your comfort zone a little bit every day. And then what lays you know what scared you yesterday is going to be behind you and you're going to be building that confidence and expanding the boundaries and expanding your life. Because your comfort zone, you know your big dreams, no matter how quietly they're snoring in the background, you know they're not in your comfort zone.

Speaker 1: 51:15

And I think you said that the things that you find are your roadblocks, or the things that are unsurmountable, are the things that are your superpower. So I think that really is a great way to envision that the thing that you think is holding you back is probably the thing that's going to get you through it all. Well, anne, thank you for coming out. It was a great time. I encourage listeners to share their thoughts or let me know if you'd like to be a guest on the show. Please let us know how things are going on social media Facebook, buzzsprout, tiktok, youtube, all those fun things. We'll keep making episodes, episodes. I love you all. See ya. Before we close out the show, we're going to allow Anne to tell us a little bit about where we can find more information and connect with her.

Speaker 2: 51:59

Yeah well, if you'd like to download that free workbook, you can find that at actboldtrainingcom. Backslash P as in passion 2. So small case P2. And then otherwise. Otherwise, I am on all the social medias. My name and Alexander Cedar, or you can also find me under act bold. I'm the one responding in the DM. So if you want to reach out YouTube, I also have my own podcast called act bold. So, yeah, I would love to hear from you.

Speaker 1: 52:28

Awesome, you can contact her directly. It's really her. She doesn't have a social media manager.

Speaker 2: 52:33

Nope.

Speaker 1: 52:34

It's Anne, really Anne. Well, check her out.

Speaker 2: 52:37

Yeah, thank you.