The Craft: Actors Ep 1 (Part 2)

From directing and acting to photography and music production, The Craft is a series that breaks down and dissects our favorite artistic practices.

In part two, the actors dive deeper into their personal process and the overall craft of acting. Listen as the group discusses technique, imposter syndrome, scene partners, and character work.

If you would like to listen to part one of the episode, it can be found here.

To read more about the actors and materials referenced throughout the video, see below.

Featured actors:

Stephanie Gong: Stephanie is an actor, producer, filmmaker, and proud advocate for Asian and Asian American representation in the entertainment industry. She also has a keen interest in food styling, makeup and graphic design. Her most recent project, LOTUS, is currently in post-production.

Aileen Wu: Aileen is a junior student with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting at NYU Tisch. Coming from a small town in Eastern China (Jinan), Aileen, at nine years old, moved with her family to Vancouver, Canada where her love for theatre first sparked. She is an actor, writer, director, and musician who is fascinated by questions of cultural relativism and identity. In the future, she wishes to transform modern film and theatre through creating characters and stories that stray away from stereotypes and truthfully reflect the human condition.

Sọma Okoye: Sọma is an actor, content creator, and creative director. Her work takes on many forms but the through-line is to use her artistry to explore the nature of humanity - both through and beyond - her identity as a Black, Queer, Nigerian-American Womxn. She graduated from NYU Tisch School of Arts with a BFA in Drama.

Kristina Paul: Kristina is native New Yorker raised in the magical borough of Brooklyn. A multi-faceted writer, poet, actor, and movement-based performance artist, she graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Performing Arts where she studied the craft of Acting. Her technical and physical training has been accomplished through Stella Adler Art of Acting Studio, Black Arts Institute, NYU Florence Commedia dell'Arte, and International Theater Workshop in Amsterdam. Before Tisch, she attended the Global Citizenship Alliance in Salzburg, Austria to further her learning about global ethics and how politics directly impact storytelling.

Léoh Hailu-Ghermay: Léoh is an actor, singer, model, activist and abolitionist. They were born and raised in Clovis, CA to Ethiopian/Eritrean parents. Léoh is deeply invested in the possibility of achieving a truly equitable version of the world. They feel lucky to be in love with a craft that ignites cultural shifts and facilitates movement in the direction of this world. Léoh holds a double major in Drama and Politics from NYU.

Marisa Razo: Marisa Razo is a third-year student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts studying both Drama and Film & TV Production. She plans on spending her upper levels at the Atlantic Acting School. Currently, she is working on music that narrates her experiences as a 20 something navigating life and love. Hoping to eventually write and act in her own material, she also hopes to write parts that bring light and truth to her community. Marisa was so honored to be a part of a discussion with such talented artist and wants to extend a thank you to the entire round table and the Vagrant Media Team.

Production House: VAGRANT MEDIA LLC

Hosted by: Christiana Miller-King

Video Edit by: Haruka Yamakawa

References:

• LOTUS by Dan Muller & Stephanie Gong // 2020 NYU Film (dir. Dan Muller & Stephanie Gong)

• “The Ramayana” by Ruben Polendo // 2019 NYU Production (dir. Mika Wiley)

• Dreams In Black Major by Nia Farrell // 2019 NYU Production (dir. Talia Oliveras)

• BORN (dir. Christiana Miller-King) // 2019 Independent Experimental Film & Photography