Today we’d like to introduce you to Mandy Levin.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mandy. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, growing up in the Woodland Hills & Calabasas areas. At a young age, I fell in love with playing and re-enacting the musical films of my youth for my grandma and my parents – The Muppet Movie, Grease & Fame were my fav’s. I played with my Barbie’s for a lot longer than I cared to admit, re-telling many of my favorite films using the dolls.
When I was about 12, I realized that I could become an actor for a living… and then I was committed! I got involved in Drama class and theatre productions in High School and started taking some outside classes in commercials & scene study. And the summer between 11th and 12th grade, I attended a summer theatre program at Carnegie Mellon University.
As a Senior, we had a career day at school, an agent came to talk to us, and she talked about being an actor and what it took to become a professional. I knew then that the thing I needed to do was somehow get into the Screen Actors Guild, she told us about the magic of getting a Taft Hartley to get into the Union. I didn’t know how I would do it or when, but I knew that was my first step after college… mom & dad really wanted me to go to college, so I figured going to school for acting was acceptable.
For me, it was a good idea because I was tall and at 18, looked more like I was in my 20’s… at 18, you need to look 14 or 16, so you can play younger. So I definitely had some time before my age would match my looks, did I understand that at the time? Sadly, I did not! I graduated from Calabasas High School and went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. I loved living in NYC and going to classes, I felt like I was in the movie Fame.
But, New York City was a little too distracting for an impressionable young girl from the Valley, I wanted to start working professionally… so, I got a manager and agents and went on an audition or two. I had a little too much fun with my roommates, and in my second year, I lost my focus and dropped out. I moved home & transferred to UCLA, graduating with a BA from UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film & Television.
After I graduated I did a bunch of odd jobs, none of which required a college degree: a messenger, a hostess, a waitress, a dog walker, a personal assistant, and an administrative assistant. But, I had no idea how to get an agent and how to start auditioning. While waiting tables, a co-worker told me about this commercial workshop that had an agent night at the end of the six weeks. And when I finished the workshop, I got signed by my first commercial agent in Los Angeles.
Within a few months, I booked my first commercial, and I got my Taft Harltey, and I immediately joined the Screen Actors Guild. I booked a few really great spots, I played a pre- “Malcom in the Middle” Bryan Cranston’s secretary in a Budget Rent-A-Car spot. I flew to Vancouver for a cellphone commercial to work with puppies and then at 27, I was cast as a young mom in a Children’s Motrin commercial. I was fortunate to work fairly often making a consistent living and taking the leap to leave my Administrative Assistant day job when I was 29.
In the 23 years since I joined the Union, I have appeared in over 30 television shows, nearly 100 National commercials and a few films here and there. I have also done several plays along the way. I had the pleasure of performing in a few plays with the award-winning Theatre Tribe, directed by Stuart Rogers and a few other collaborations with fellow classmates at Stuart Rogers Studios. It was always a gift to share the stage with wonderful like-minded artists. They were all fantastic adventures that helped me grow immensely as an actor.
I also had the satisfaction of working on a few very special projects. The first was in 2007, my husband and I produced and starred in the feature film “All Alone” with a few friends.
The film was accepted into The Hollywood Film Festival, The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and The Cleveland International Film Festival and the film received Domestic & International distribution deals. That was a huge accomplishment and something of which I am still very proud. I was also cast in a beautiful short film made by the Institute For Justice based in Washington, D.C. It was a film based on a true story of a woman who struggled to save her daughter’s life and change the rules allowing bone marrow donors to be compensated.
“Everything,” was an amazing collaboration with the uber-talented director J. Daniel Hanna and I had the delight of co-starring with two incredibly talented & generous actors, Kristin Datillo and Michel Gil. Our little film was a festival darling, winning several Best Short Film awards and I was quite grateful to win Best Actress at both the Glendale International Film Festival & Breckenridge International Film Festival.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve had two major struggles in my career – the desire for validation & how to define success and the desire to be shown a clear path to grow my career/business.
First, I’d like to talk about the desire for validation & defining success by my resume. I don’t know if I will do this justice, but I will certainly try to explain myself and how seeking outside validation held me back and hurt me over the years. I don’t think I’m alone because I hear many other people correlate their value & their success in booking jobs. Of course that sounds like the obvious way to think, but I believe that if I am going to be able to live a life as an artist, I have to accept that I may never work again, I may never be a Series Regular on a hit tv show, be the lead in a big feature film, be nominated or win an Emmy, Golden Globe or Academy Award and I have to be ok with that. I have come to believe that success is staying in the game and pursuing what makes me happy.
A lot of people who become actors are looking for some sort of validation or proof that they are talented and of value. I have come to the conclusion, that to have a career as an actor, it is vital to not look outside myself for validation. There are so many reasons why I don’t get the audition, the agent, the role in the tv show or the commercial. There are so many things that are completely out of my control and don’t have anything to do with me. I prepare, I show up on time, I do my job, and I leave. I spent a very long time allowing others to validate me and give me proof that I was good… when they booked me, I was special, I was good, I could be happy! But then when I didn’t book jobs, I would take it personally, and I would get depressed and question my abilities and my value.
It is a vicious and dangerous cycle, I used to need people to tell me they thought I was talented or pretty or choose me for the part, but after many years in this business and many a bought of depression because I didn’t know how to value myself, I am proud of the person I am today & I know that I am damn good at my job! I continue forward every day, I chose to get better at my craft, I choose to keep working on my materials, I choose to keep working on myself inside and out, and I feel like I am successful based on who I am, how hard I work and what I have to offer.
And there is no competition with others; we are all on our own journey. I have to be grateful for my journey, the good, the bad & the ugly! And I am unbelievably grateful to be on this journey with my amazing husband, Brice Williams, who is also an actor.
Together we support each other in our careers; there have been times when it was hard to see another person’s success when I felt like I wasn’t getting the opportunities. But, over the years, I was able to adjust my outlook and see it all as OUR success. It’s OUR life, we live it together, and when things are good for him, we celebrate, when they are good for me, we celebrate, when we are down – no matter what – we keep moving forward, together!
As far as the desire for a clear path to grow my career and my business… I love math and a checklist. I love rules, do this, and you will get that. I wasted a lot of time and frustration believing there was a clear path, a road that a young actor gets on and if I stayed the course, I would move up the ladder to bigger and better parts. Well, if that was true in the past, it isn’t anymore. And it could’ve been one of those myth’s that the industry wants you to believe.
I finally accepted that I just want to keep acting and hopefully working and I have no control over opportunities or bookings, but I have control over my enjoyment and what I choose to share with the world. I do my best to believe in possibilities and that I am one job away from leveling up my career, but I have to be content and proud that I do the work and love it all.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am an actor. I really do love doing both comedy & drama, I have appeared in numerous television shows, most recently “S.W.A.T.” and “For the People.” I get to be a mom in an upcoming commercial for Xfinity/Comcast that will be airing soon.
It should be a very funny spot, I got to work with some outstanding actors (Mark Gessner and Brad MacDonald), and the hilarious and mega-talented director, Craig Gillespie (director of “I, Tonya” & “Lars and the Real Girl”). And I have a Mercedes Sprinter Van spot running where I play a caterer who loves her perfectly outfitted Sprinter Van.
I love what I do for a living, I am so grateful to live my life in the pursuit of acting and storytelling. When I am able to completely inhabit a role and take the journey with the other actors, there is nothing like that freedom and abandon, it’s like rafting down a river, together we go where the current takes us, it’s always a great ride, and sometimes the boat flips over.
My commitment and love of what I do makes me always easy to work with, always happy to be on-set, always ready to promote and always ready to do the work! And I think having a supportive community around you is vital. I try to help my friends and fellow actors whenever I can. I am always open to getting together to share my journey with other actors. I love that I have friends who will come over and practice self-taping & auditioning and together we are all excited to learn and to improve.
I love hosting gatherings of like-minded artists, and I love going to support friends in shows. It’s all about creating a community of caring & support. We are not alone, we can cheer for each other when things go well, we can cry on each other’s shoulder when we are disappointed and most important I am always looking for a way to keep us moving forward!
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I love the history of this City: I love walking around downtown and looking up at the buildings and seeing the stone details, such beautiful craftsmanship. I love waking into Clifton’s and Cole’s and imagining what it felt like to be there in their heyday. What was it like to live in Los Angeles when it was being built for the first time? I love driving around Hollywood and seeing old theatre’s, I love walking on a studio lot like Paramount or Twentieth Century Fox, I can’t help but think of the people who have walked on that lot before me, I feel the history of this city and the magic that was made there.
I love to see photos of how things were. The Valley filled with Orange Groves, the Hollywoodland sign. There are some photos at a restaurant called The Sherman on Ventura Blvd., those photos show the 405 being built… that was only in the 1960s. This city has exploded in my lifetime, and it makes me sad to see so many landmarks and pieces of history disappearing. Builders seem to be erasing history.
Even in my neighborhood in the Sherman Oaks, the modest Ranch houses of the 1950s are being torn down to build giant modern homes, that seem to have no character and I question the craftsmanship and if people’s only concern is how much money they can put in their pocket. Will those houses last 50 – 100 years? In 50 -100 years, what of old Los Angeles will still be here? What will be preserved? I admire those who take the care to design or re-design buildings to reflect the history.
I think buildings can be a piece of art as well as history. I love that the Academy of Motion Pictures has taken over the old May Company building at Fairfax & Wilshire, they aren’t going to tear down the old landmark building and the history. Instead, they are preserving the history of our city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mandylevin.com
- Instagram: @mandylevin
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mandylevinactress/
- Twitter: @mandylevin
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0505659/
Image Credit:
Lorenzo Hodges – http://www.headshotsbylorenzo.com
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
