Today we’d like to introduce you to Abby Wathen.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was primarily raised in Lexington, Kentucky but moved around a lot as a kid. I never felt like I really fit in anywhere and therefore had to entertain myself a lot. I had an overactive imagination and I was always making up stories in my head. At one point I even managed to convince some of the neighborhood kids do a rendition of Romeo and Juliet in my mother’s basement.
I knew I wanted to be in the arts at a very young age. Originally I thought I’d be a novelist but then my mother enrolled me in Lexington Children’s Theater one summer and writing quickly took second stage. Pun intended. . . Shortly after I started theater, when I was 11, I became seriously ill. The next 11 years were spent in and out of children’s hospitals. Despite the fear and the constant treatments I met some other amazing, brave kids and I believe in those hospitals I developed a keen sense of how precious life is, and how fleeting it can be. I knew if I ever got better that I would pursue acting with all I had. Between home school, hospital school and brief regular school attendance I graduated from high school, pretended to go to college for about a year at the University of Kentucky and then dropped out and moved myself to New York City. I’ll never forget driving into Manhattan for the first time. No matter what happened next, I had made it! My first day on a real set was playing (one of the) Colby Chandler’s on ABCs All my Children and I was hooked. I knew this is where and what I was supposed to be doing.
My next big job was Michael Showalter”s The Baxter with Michelle Williams, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Peter Dinklage I mean should I go on!? This was light years from Shakespeare in Mom’s basement and I couldn’t believe it was real. It was incredible. After spending 4 years working in New York I stole a silver 1992 Buick LeSabre Designer from my papaw and drove that steady beast out to LA for Pilot season and then never left. I loved NY but it’s so much sunnier in LA. I have been blessed to work with so many wonderful and talented people throughout my career in LA. And then, just a few years ago, that childhood dream of writing sort of sprung up on me unannounced. When my husband and I started trying to have kids it was not as easy as we hoped it would be. I’ve always wanted to be a mom. When I was younger, I wasn’t sure if my illness would prevent that from happening. Now I started to wonder that again. We did everything we could think of, I mean other than the obvious of course! I worked with fertility specialists, acupuncturists, I even came clean to my husband about my belief in crystals and smudging.
And then, In early 2018, after we had started the IVF consultation process, we finally got pregnant! I was literally the happiest I have ever been. This made every set I had ever been on, every dream that had ever come true for me, pale in comparison. But, not too long after we lost the baby. It was so hard on my heart. I have known several close friends to deal with miscarriages but no one really talked about it. It was almost as if it were something to be ashamed of. As if losing a child alone isn’t hard enough! As I was dealing with my loss I just wanted/needed to talk about it. The script just came to me in bed one morning. I wrote it that very same day. Then I sent my dear friend Emily Alpren the rough draft and asked, “can we actually film this?” “Want to direct it?” And boy did she ever! So now we are in the film festival circuit. To be able to connect with not only filmmakers but other people that have experienced loss has been so healing. My film “Trying” premiered at HollyShorts and is screening next at the Mammoth Film Festival and then The Beverly Hills Film Festival.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
What’s a smooth road? All the roads I tend to travel are pretty bumpy! I do believe that that only adds to my determination and drive. I mean who doesn’t have a “struggley” road? My manager actually says that I am one of her “trickiest” clients. When I first moved to New York my then roommates decided they would let’s say, alter for lack of a better word, my rent checks. You know, add a zero here and there. By the time I put it together I was living in a different apartment and bouncing checks all over town, so that was fun! My goal when I moved to NY was to get into SAG, sign with an agent, and to get mugged . . . to get that out of the way (small town view of New York City) within the first year. I accomplished all of those things, and at least the “mugging” was nonviolent.
I have had the normal (actor problem) tell the entire world to watch this episode of tv and only to have been cut out. Talk about viewing party gone wrong! I have been very close to some incredible jobs only to of been told “we are going in another direction”. My pregnancy with my oldest daughter was also pretty scary. I was very sick the entire time, “morning” sickness was a major misnomer in my case. I was sick ALL day long. At 30 weeks my husband and I flew to Kentucky to be with family for the holidays and for my baby shower, the second day we were there I had a placental abruption and was rushed to the hospital and had an emergency c-section. That was the scariest time of my life. I thought we were going to lose this baby as well. She was born at 3 pounds and we spent 53 days in the NICU. When we finally got her home we ended up calling 911 and going back into the NICU because she stopped breathing.
My first six months of motherhood were riddled with trauma and fear. But she’s a very healthy 4-year-old now and we overcame that situation as a family. We’re all closer and more empathetic because of it. I am even toying with the idea of writing about the other side of that experience as my next project. I do think all the failures and struggles are how we learn and evolve. They are all lessons. If we don’t fail that means we aren’t trying. If we don’t struggle how do we appreciate moments of grace. My grandfather’ nickname for me was Bounce. He said every time you get knocked down you get right back up. He called me Bounce until the day he died. I literally would not change a thing about the road I’ve taken. I am where I am today because of the struggles. I have an incredible, not to mention pretty darn sexy husband, two healthy curious little ladies, a beautiful stepdaughter, and a team of agents and managers that believe in me and have for a very long time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an actor, a creator, a wife, a mother. One of my favorite jobs was a film called Permanent with Patricia Arquette and Rainn Wilson, directed by Colette Burson. I played a very pregnant sassy teacher Mrs. Tripp. That was such a fun role to explore. I learned a lot and I gained so much confidence on that set. I am probably most known as Young Sara Garrett in the Emmy-winning show The Bay. I have an Emmy from that show for Outstanding New Approaches Drama Series, which is very cool. I also have a great group of fans from the horror genre from the film “Besetment” If you like a twisted little tale that is the movie for you! I am most proud of my film “Trying” It started as just a way to heal my heart and ended up becoming a beautiful little film that has started conversations about loss and infertility. My next film which is slated to come out in October. It’s called “Bad Fish” a thriller by Brad Douglas.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I am a big Glennon Doyle fan. I loved Untamed. I also am a part of a text chain with some of my most amazing women friends which we named “Resources” We suggest different podcasts, books, blogs that were helpful or inspiring. Most recently I loved Mel Robbins podcast The truth about Anxiety and how to heal. Also Jonah Hill’s “Stutz” was beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: abbywathen
- Facebook: abby.wathen
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1311666/
