Rising Stars: Meet Georgia Snow Nicholas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Georgia Snow Nicholas.

Hi Georgia Snow, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Chapter One: Childhood
I am a one-year-old, tiny, butt naked, sporting a blonde bob and singing my heart out while slamming away at the piano. I am seven, in the suburbs of Madrid singing at the top of the jungle gym alone because I think I’m Annie the orphan. I am 12 and blessed with a large family whom I boss around the garden. This is coastal Connecticut’s off-Broadway and it’s all mine. I am a director and my play is starring brothers in drag and dance numbers featuring highly choreographed cousins. I am 15 at a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire, raptured and committed to the theater. I am an actor and on-time means I’m late to rehearsal. I’m always early.

Chapter Two: Savannah
Welcome to Savannah, Georgia. The sultry low country steals my heart. I am 18 and completely naïve. I act and I write and I direct and film and light. I experiment but I am so serious. I am too serious. I am determined not to fail. 21 and I am on a rocket. 22 and I am headed for the moon. Unstoppable. Intensely positive. Anything is possible. Anything! And I believe it and I wake up and I feel the gold of the sun leek into my blood. The art takes over and is blinding. There is no better answer than the pursuit of seeking the answer. The reward is the work itself. June 2017, I am a graduate. Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Performing Arts and Film & Television.

Chapter Three: Los Angeles
Here I am, in the city of angels, empty pockets, no job, no apartment, just a half-baked plan and a whole lot of passion. This is the beginning. Another beginning! I’m gonna make it to the big time. That’s what I tell myself. I am 22 then 24 then 26. This is the now. This is Go-Time. Endless potential lies ahead. I am on a roll and then I am frozen. Or I feel frozen, I am lost…and scared? But this is good. Fear can be good. I find a flashlight, I network, I race around, I flounder, I cry and I eventually find a job. First at an art gallery, then talent agency and now as a writer’s assistant. I go to work to pay my bills, then I come home and work to fill my passion and build my career. I am making films! I am writing! I am acting! I am creating special magical moments in my everyday life and for the people I love, because that is what stories are made of and above all, I am a storyteller.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I moved to LA because I wanted to light a fire under my ass. I could have stayed on the East Coast and had a whole support network at the tip of my fingers but no, I wanted to struggle because I am a crazy person and so I moved to Los Angeles and forced myself into survival mode. Having lived away from home for seven years at the time(boarding school-college) and from my experience on the stage, I knew that I performed my best under pressure, “the show must go on” mentality if you will. So, I moved out here and got exactly what I asked for, my butt was kicked and I went right into flight or fight mode. I chose to fight, of course, and one valuable lesson I learned rather quickly was that it is extremely hard to act and make films when no one knows you are. I’m not just talking about fame or street credit, I’m talking about friendships and creative partnerships. Sure, I could make a movie all by myself with zero crew or put on a one woman show and as a matter a fact, I do actually work on a lot of projects by myself, but at the end of the day, it can be limiting and not as fun. Meeting people took time and patience and a whole lot of energy. Believe it or not, for a while I had to just focus on being social! It took me three and a half years but finally, I have made some wonderful friends and creative partners. There is no better feeling than a successful collaboration and I feel very lucky to have been able to work with all of the people I have since moving out West.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a storyteller! No matter what it is, I am working on my interest and focus is always to tell some sort of story. I specialize in filmmaking and acting and I am known for my use of dark comedy, nostalgia, quirky characters and collage. I am most proud of my ability to generate ideas quickly, I thrive thinking on my feet and improvising. I can find inspiration anywhere and I am always looking for it. In terms of projects, I am proud of them all. Every time I create something it is a learning experience as a result I am usually most proud of my creations while I am creating them, afterwards the pride subsides a bit… What sets me apart from others is my point of view. I grew up abroad, briefly in Hungary and England but mostly in Spain. We lived in Madrid for seven years and so for the majority of my childhood, I saw Americans the way the rest of the world does, a.k.a baseball, hot dogs, star spangled banners and big high schools with cheerleaders, etc. The US felt foreign to me until about two years after my family moved back. I also come from a big family composed of Dutch, Americans and Britts. We are tall and red-haired and super loud. I bring up my time in Spain and my family because my childhood has everything to do with the way I see the world, what I find beautiful or sad or funny and all of that translates into my creative work.

Whether I am working on something alone or collaborating, I feel that my point of view, especially when it comes to moods and characters is ultimately what makes my work different. That said, I try to make a point of approaching each project as an opportunity to try something new. I don’t like to get in my head too much about being on brand etc. I like to think that my brand is just me and if that makes it hard for people to put me in a box and categorize me then so be it! The other thing that sets me apart from others is how hands on I am. When I take on a project, I fully immerse myself in every aspect. For instance, almost everything that I direct, I also produce and write myself and by produce I do not just meet coordinate and strategize and raise money. I mean I am sweating my face off running around painting props, finding costume pieces, and negotiating with musicians. This partly has to do with the fact that I likely have undiagnosed OCD but also that I get genuine fulfillment and joy knowing that I put my entire heart into something I am creating.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For me, success has a lot to do with self-love and ultimately happiness. If I am happy I feel successful. That said, I regularly find myself struggling with the concept of being successful in terms of career. When I think about having success in my career, I think about personal accomplishments. I believe that is an absolutely fine way to do it, but what gets tricky and is making a point of not comparing my own personal accomplishments to the personal accomplishments of another. It is so easy to compare yourself to peers and when you start to think in that mindset, it can be dangerous. It can eat you alive. One thing that I have learned and that I really believe in is that everyone has a different path in life and that no path is better than the other, they are all just different. When researching the lives of various people that inspire me, many of whom are considered true geniuses in their line of work, I found that they all had one thing in common: passion and curiosity. These people received recognition and praise not because they worked to get to the top but because they continuously followed their passion and curiosity. At times this meant choosing something interesting over something that paid more… and in the end those decisions both literally and metaphorically paid off. Basically, what I want to say here is that to me success is about following your heart and achieving goals out of pure curiosity and passion. If that doesn’t take you to where you want to be I don’t know what will.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.georgiasnownicholas.com
• Instagram: @ggrockstar @georgia_snow_nicholas @office_wench_official
• Other: https://vimeo.com/user18292973