Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Horn.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christine. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in Bronx, New York, and have always wanted to be a performer for as long as I can remember. Even when other kids in class said they wanted to be an astronaut or a firefighter or a lawyer. I knew, from a very young age, that I wanted to be a performer. My response would always be, “I want to be a singer/actor/dancer.” Period. That’s it. So it was never really a question for me.
I’m so grateful to my mother Valerie who allowed me to take dance class when I was about five or six years old. I started out in tap dance class, then I included ballet and modern jazz, and African dance. My mother would always take me to see Broadway shows. And there was a show that really opened my eyes. It was called, “Mama, I Want to Sing.”
And I remember looking at the little brown girl who was the star of the show, and seeing myself in her and seeing and realizing that, that could be me one day. And I got that confirmation at a very young age, and I’m forever grateful for that. My mother would tell you that I was always drawn to the narrator of any story. I have just been fully immersed in performing arts, and I’m so grateful for that.
The summer before I headed to 10th grade, my mother decided that she no longer wanted to raise any more kids in New York. At the time, my little brother was two years old. I was going on 15 years old, and my little sister was on the way. So in the middle of summer, 1992, we moved to the south. I jokingly say “the south” because growing up in New York, that’s what we would call it.
But we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. And my mother made sure she bought a house, which was wonderful, by the way. I wasn’t happy about it at the time. But she bought a house in the neighborhood of a performing arts high school that was well respected in Atlanta. I attended Tri-Cities High School for the Visual and Performing Arts and completed the rest of my high school years there. And it changed my life forever.
I made relationships that would impact me until this day. I met my mentor, Freddie Hendricks, who literally discovered me walking down the hallway, and told me that I would be a star. He saw something in me and worked with me to help that flourish. He also had a youth theater company called the Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta.
I began performing professionally at the age of 16, with his theater company. After high school, I wasn’t hell-bent on attending a liberal arts college, though I did try. I attended Gainesville College in Gainesville, Georgia, for one semester. And then I left because that school was not the right place for me. And then I took some time off and went back to New York City to attend AMDA, American Musical Dramatic Academy. I became a student of their musical theater conservatory course.
I left after the first year because I was just ready to work, in all honesty. I pounded the pavement in New York City and then went back to Atlanta, Georgia, to get my union card for theater. I joined the Actors Equity Association. I really did a lot of back and forth for a good amount of time after that. I worked many jobs in between; many survival jobs, day jobs, night jobs, you name it. But acting and performing was never far behind.
During my days working a nine-to-five, I would save my money from my night job to go to the studio to record and self-produce my own music. I have two albums currently on iTunes right now that I created with my own money. And I would put on concerts in Atlanta, and get sponsors, and really just fully immerse myself in production. In 2006, I had a big break when I booked an ensemble role in Disney’s “The Lion King.”
I ended up doing five companies of the show: two national tours, Las Vegas. I got to go to Germany and workshop the role of Nala for a little bit. And then I had my Broadway debut in 2008 and even had a chance to perform for George W. Bush at the White House in 2008 with the show, as a select company member. After I finished my time at “The Lion King,” I knew I really wanted to do film and television. So that became my next goal.
When the Las Vegas company of The Lion King closed in 2011, I drove to Los Angeles that night. I found a room for rent, and I was determined to become an overnight star. As you can imagine, that didn’t work out that simply. But fast forward. I took some time off, reset myself, and I now live full time in Los Angeles with my husband, Garland, and our dog and our turtle. I have a thriving career in film and television and it was all because I never gave up on myself, and I was willing to put in the work.
Has it been a smooth road?
There were many, many, many, many, many obstacles along the way. Can I add the word “many” a few more times? Seriously though, I don’t think I’ve ever met an artist or a person who has not faced challenges in their life.
Remember when I told you I left the Las Vegas company of The Lion King and drove to Los Angeles to become a star? Well, I thought that because I had done Broadway, and had been touring with this big popular show, that Hollywood would welcome me with open arms. The unfortunate truth was that TV credits rule this town and it was a rude awakening.
My bubble was totally burst. I landed an agent who never called me. I sat at home, watching my savings dwindle, my health failed and my investments go down the drain. I knew something had to change. The most frustrating thing was I had no clue what I was doing wrong! I didn’t feel like I had a guide, a mentor, a coach, or a friend who could help me out of the hole that I was in. I knew I had talent, but I didn’t know how to let my talent be seen or heard.
I would self submit for projects here and there, and hope for the best, and wait for my phone to ring, which you can imagine is the worst game plan possible. But I did try. I was never a lazy person but I just wasn’t doing all the right things in the right order. It was very challenging. So I stayed in Los Angeles that first time, about a year and a half and I ended up moving back to Atlanta, Georgia when I realized the time had come that I needed to get a regular job again.
No disrespect to anyone who holds a nine-to-five, but for an artist, having a regular job can feel like you’ve failed. So there I was, facing bankruptcy, feelings of failure, shame, worry and my health was in crisis. My mother was sick at the time with a Lupus flare up as well. It was just a lot going on, but I knew I had to reset myself. I moved back to Atlanta, Georgia, to my mother’s basement, to get my life together. I had achieved so much in my time, but I knew I was approaching a new chapter. So instead of thrusting myself into the unknown, I just stayed with my mother so that I could reset without the pressure of having to find a place and spend money that I didn’t have. I’m grateful for that time because, during that time, it was a lot of self-discovery that I experienced.
I worked on myself, I read personal development books until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. I listened to audio tapes by some of the most famous thought leaders in the industry. I took acting lessons, specifically for film and television. I took private lessons, I took group classes, I read acting books. I got to know who Christine Horn was as a person. Everything changed, once I got clarity. Once I became grounded, my confidence grew.
All of a sudden I started to see my bookings just increase. I started to see that I was able to have a theater background and transition to film and television. It wasn’t easy; it took training. But it was possible, and I saw it happening in my life. So, I’m grateful for every single obstacle that I went through because it made me the actor and the person and the coach that I am today.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My company is called Chocolate Superstar Productions. It’s a production company and an entertainment company, and also a coaching company. It all falls under one big umbrella of Chocolate Superstar Productions. Under Chocolate Superstar Productions, I produce my own content, but more importantly, in addition to being a working actress, I’m known to many as a Life + Career Coach for Actors. The main subsidiary of Chocolate Superstar Productions is Hollywood Bound Actors.
Hollywood Bound Actors is a global collective of actors who are on a mission to elevate their careers and their lives. They desire to master strategies to book starring roles in film and television, over and over and over again. I specifically work with actors who were like me. I am the coach that I wish I had back in 2011, when I was depressed, alone, without gigs, and without a good agent, and didn’t know what I was doing wrong.
My mission is to teach actors how to be seen, how to be heard, how to create their own way with or without an agent, how to market themselves, how to take charge of their careers, and to be empowered actors and to be giving, genuine human beings. In addition to the Hollywood Bound Actors Facebook group and website and podcast that I have, I run a monthly membership called The Booking Magnet Academy.
This academy is a way for actors who want more than the free option of Hollywood Bound Actors, who want my coaching in a group setting with other supportive actors on the same mission that they might have. In the Booking Magnet Academy, I focus on my four-step methodology, which is Mastering Your “M.A.M.A.” Your M.A.M.A. is what made the big impact in me booking more work. M.A.M.A. is an acronym for Mindset, Acting Technique, Marketing, and Audition Technique.
I firmly believe that to be a successful working actor, you need all four parts of that to stay consistent, and to keep work flowing through and to you. What I’m most proud about for my company is just the fact that I’ve been able to reach actors all over. I have clients in the Cayman Islands, in London, in Atlanta, in Baltimore, Virginia, New York, Los Angeles, and South Africa. And, what is common is that the need for these tactics is essential, no matter what market you’re in.
I’m proud that through the Hollywood Bound Actors Facebook group and online community, and the Booking Magnet Academy, I’ve helped to foster a supportive community of actors … and mainly actors of color … to see themselves in a bigger light, Now, certainly, the community is open to everyone. I’m just really proud that this community is all-inclusive. So it doesn’t matter what color your skin is or what your religious beliefs are.
We are actors, and we’re here to support each other, give each other tips, get feedback and learn together. What sets me apart from some of the other Life + Career Coaches is that I am in the trenches every single day with my clients. I’m not looking at this industry from the outside. I know what it feels like to have last-minute auditions, to have to remember a bunch of copy, to feel nerves and excitement, to feel uncertain, and to have negative self-chatter about auditions.
I know what that’s like, and so I coach from that standpoint. And this isn’t me throwing shade at any other coach. I think having multiple perspectives is imperative to your success. But, I know what makes me different is when my clients talk to me, they feel like they’re looking in the mirror. They feel seen, they feel heard, they feel understood. There’s no brick wall between us.
They know that clearly, I’m doing something right because I’m on so many television shows on any given day. They know they can turn their TV on, or go to their favorite streaming service, and see their coach Christine on TV. And they want to experience that success. They’ve also know my story and that a silver spoon was never handed to me.
They know that I’ve had struggle. I’m very open about my challenges, and I’m very open about my methods. What makes me different is that I teach the exact steps that I take personally to get more bookings, and to become what I like to call a Booking Magnet.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think LA is a great place to start ANY business. Our community is so diverse and vast. There’s certainly a need for what we all do. You just have to find your people and create connections with them.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
To be totally honest, I don’t believe in luck. I believe that things come to me as they have been planned out. I don’t believe that something just coincidentally happened. I’m a student of the law of attraction. I’m very big on manifestation.
I believe that the hard work that I put in and the sacrifices that I’ve made for career, family, relationships, have all culminated to this one big moment where I get to see the harvest. I’ve been planting seeds since I was a child.
So yeah, I don’t believe in luck. I believe that I have been intentional in my desires to do what I do. I’ve been faithful. And I have not given up on myself. And due to that, that is why I see the results that I see in my life.
Pricing:
- Booking Magnet Academy [Monthly Membership] Currently $27/month – no contracts
- DIY Self-Study Programs [Range $97 + up]
- Booking Magnet Academy: Inner Circle [6 month commitment – by application only.]
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hollywoodboundactors.com , www.christinehorn.com
- Email: chris@christinehorn.com
- Instagram: @actresschristinehorn
- Facebook: @actresschristinehorn
- Twitter: @hornchristine
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/CoachChristineHorn
Image Credit:
Christian Yi
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