Life & Work with Julia Coulter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Coulter.

Hi Julia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Hanover, New Hampshire and was always interested in theatre, but I was certainly never the star of the theatre department at my high school. I was a scrappy little late bloomer of a kid who played bit parts here and there. I saw acting as more of a hobby than a career. Then, in my junior year, I booked the part of Rizzo in Grease, and it felt as though a switch was flipped. I felt like I might have some real talent, and at that moment, I knew I wanted to pursue acting as a career.

As I started looking at colleges, I became obsessed with the idea of going to drama school in the UK. Drama schools there seemed to have a very high percentage of working actors walking out of their doors, and the idea of being ‘classically’ trained sounded very sexy to my 17-year-old brain. I convinced my parents to let me audition for schools both in the US and the UK, but there was truthfully only one school I wanted to go to; the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. My audition for them was in New York City on an absolutely freezing Saturday in January, with callbacks the same day. I met both the Head of Drama and the Head of Radio at my audition and fell even more in love with the school. As the deadline for accepting a spot at a US school was rapidly approaching, I still had not heard a thing from Royal Welsh. Thankfully, the email came through from them that I had been accepted! In just six months, I would be moving to Cardiff, Wales to learn and train with some of the best actors there.

The three years I spent in Cardiff at RWCMD were very challenging and emotional, but also the most inspiring, fun, and beautiful years of growth for me. The confidence and sense of self I left Royal Welsh with is something I will never take for granted and I dream of the day I can return to the UK and perform again on stage with my old classmates.

I never pictured myself staying in the UK after graduation. I felt my choices were between New York or Los Angeles, and after three years of seemingly endless rain in Wales, Los Angeles was looking cute and I made the decision to move to Los Angeles, where I have been for ten years (or really eight, because Covid does not count).

The first few years in LA, I was a “yes” man. I worked on everything from background acting to PA gigs, to plays, to voiceover jobs, basically, anything I could get my hands on. While I am pickier than I used to be about jobs, I attribute a lot of where I am now and how far my network of friends and co-workers reaches to that 21-year-old, slightly cocky version of myself, who just dove in head first.

One thing early on, that kept my creative juices flowing when PA work was not quite cutting it creatively, was writing. As an actor, I had a natural sense for dialogue and have slowly chipped away at teaching myself through books and classes how screenplay writing structure works. For a long time, I always saw myself as “just an actor.” Then in 2019, I wrote and directed my first short film, and fell in love with the challenging process, from start to finish, of making a film. What I learned on that set changed the way I saw this business, changed the way I saw the role of an actor on set, and fulfilled me creatively in a way I did not expect.

I believe the experience of immersing myself into the world of Independent Film-making also helped me book my first two network TV jobs.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If I were to do the past ten years over again, I do not think there is a lot I would change. Of course, there were mistakes I made along the way, but all my experiences, good and bad, taught me something. Years five and six are probably the ones I am the most frustrated with. I had an agent and a solid part-time job, and I just got comfortable, I was not challenging myself, I was not seeking more and pushing boundaries. I was not set up for success with coaches and self-tape studios when those one or two big auditions came in. I could have been creating my own work, seeing more shows, just generally being more proactive. It unfortunately was not until a family tragedy happened that I really woke up from that comfort. That wake-up call made me realize how short life can be, so you have got to go after what you want with curiosity and drive.

The discovery of the want for me was very important, and something I wish I discovered sooner. It is easy to move to Los Angeles and just want to be an actor – but what type of actor, what type of films, who do you want to work with, and whose work inspires you? If I had answers to all those questions when I moved here at age 21, I think the road would have been a lot smoother. Once I started making my own work, it became very clear. I knew the type of people I wanted to work with, people who understood my style but still pushed me to discover more and to work just a little harder. Success is not some external accolade, (although I would not say no to an Oscar), but is something that is achieved when you are surrounded by like-minded creatives making something that evokes emotion in others and leaves them asking questions or feeling a little more seen.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I used to see myself as an actor first and foremost, but in the past four years, I have gotten more comfortable with saying that I am also a writer and director. All these three things go hand in hand, I have different levels of experience in each. On the acting side, I have worked professionally since I was 19, when I booked my first job with BBC radio while still in college. I have been on numerous Investigation Discovery Channel shows, worked for the voice-over studio Voxx since my second year in LA, and joined the Screen Actors Guild Union a few years ago after booking a role in the final season of Insecure followed shortly by a role in the Showtime pilot The Wood. I am very lucky to have a great relationship with my agent and continue to audition while also focusing on my writing and directing.

On the Writing/Directing side, I have written two short films. The first I directed, and the second I starred in. Both Short Films have gone on to screen at numerous festivals. I have now written two feature films, one of which was nominated into the second round of the Sundance Development Track, and also voted into the top 20% of the 11,000 scripts submitted to the Austin Film Festival this year. With that script, I am making the leap into the Feature Film world as a writer/director. I have started an investment platform for it via WeFunder, with the goal is to raise 300k and shooting the film next summer.

I am very proud of my short film Brothers and even more proud of my feature film script, “Road to L’Etape Du Tour.” As a writer, I explore humor and meaning in the face of tragedy and grief. I have found my voice as a writer during these past two years, and with the help of my years of acting, I find it easy to draw on personal experiences to create compelling, realistic characters.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Work ethic and kindness. What has worked for me is to find like-minded creatives at my “level”, and rise up together. Some people jump into an acting class or writing class and immediately find their crew, sometimes it can take years to find “your people”, but I believe it’s worthwhile to never stop searching! I believe that for all the people who do not respond to emails or flake out at the last minute, there are those who want to help, those who want to keep creating and keep pushing forward, and if you are supportive and kind, and work hard, you will find those people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.julia-coulter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliaqcoulter/
• Other: https://wefunder.com/road.to.letape.du.tour

Image Credits
Leah David, Kirsten McTernan