Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Wagner.
Hi Maggie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Manhattan. I had the typical upper west side childhood. I went to private schools , summer camps , trips to Europe, the whole nine yards! I have a younger brother named Andrew who went on to become a writer and film director . I also have a sister name Emily. Emily went on to also become an actress. She ended up getting a role on ER and was on the show for 14 years.
I was very privileged in that my parents were very supportive and encouraging of anything at all that I wanted to do. I took ballet classes and junior “acting” classes when I was a kid. I went to Trinity High school and then on to Skidmore College.
I will jump, cut all of the details of my youth and tell you that I have always wanted to be an actress from the time.that I was seven years old. I definitely acted all the way through summer camp, high school. And college. I never became professional though as a child.
After seeing the movie, “Funny Girl” in 1972 I literally had an out of body experience. I remember walking down West End Ave. in Manhattan and literally feeling like my feet were touching the ground. I had just seen my destiny . An actress… In a movie.. I had no idea how I would ever get there.! until one day around this time period it dawned on me that my uncle Mark Rydell was a Hollywood movie director ! But he lived in Hollywood and I lived in New York. Well more in that story later ..
It would be many years before I moved to Hollywood so my journey starts or started in New York City. After graduating from Skidmore college, I attended The Neighborhood Playhouse school of acting and it was there that I was told by one of my teachers that I was ready to be on Broadway, I continued my studies after the Neighbourhood Playhouse at HB Studios, and then found my way to the famous Actors Studio in Hells kitchen. It was at the Actors Studio that I bumped into an actress named Sally Kirkland. Sally saw me act in a scene at the Studio way before I ever became a lifetime member and told me that I was gifted and took me under her wing. She and I became best of friends and she becane my acting teacher for many years. She also had acted in a film that my uncle Mark had directed called “Cinderella liberty” so that fact brought us very close together we were definitely inseparable for many years and she remains my best friend to this day as of writing
In 1986 thst Sally was cast in a film called “” Anna” . I was also cast in a small role. The film made it all the way to be nominated for the academy awards. It was my first “Sag” film. After that a Casting director named Todd Thaler put me in a movie called “working girl” and that led to me to moving to Hollywood and getting cast in the film my uncle was directing called “for the boys ” with Bette Midler. I’m leaning out many many details because I know that this article can’t go on forever.
In LA I was seen by Carsey Warner casting and got a roll on “dream on ” which was a TV series on HBO. After that, I became a lifetime member of the Actor Studio. In 2005 my brother wrote a movie called the Talent given us. The movie got into Sundance and starred my entire family. We all went to Sundance together with the movie. It was definitely a life-changing moment. The film was a success and we had stories written about us in the New York Times and all over the country. This was definitely another turning point in my life because people actually knew me and had seen me in a movie in a starring role the starring role being.myself. Yes we all played ourselves in this semi biographical film.
I spent16 years in LA and found myself booking about six or seven independent films among many national commercials, in 2005 I became a lifetime member of the Actor Studio. I still live in both New York and Los Angeles.
And in the last eight years that I have been acting, I have been in New York and both LA. Recently last year I did a film called “Maura and Maggie get a call back”. It’s a story of myself and my friend Maura Campbell, and it won the Kaiser Permanente thrive award at Cine quest in San Jose, California. It also just played last week at the Soho, international film festival and people where are raving about it
I don’t know what the future will bring, but I’m very excited and I feel like the moral of the story is to never give up if you feel like you have something to offer this world . One thing that is always been true is that people have never discouraged me from being an actress. I will say that it’s not for everyone because it’s so awfully competitive, you must keep believing in yourself and that you can really give people a lot of joy and happiness, and I do ….and I have
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road whatsoever. The struggles along the way include many times and months, where I went without work and had to do whatever I could to make money. My suggestion to young people trying to break into show business is to have other things to fall back on, obviously. But keep your eye on the prize. I created several venues of work for myself, which included everything from being an assistant to a movie stars to focus groups to anything I could to make money . I even did extra work for many years and I really recommend doing it if you are not working as a principal.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an actress and I’m not really sure what I am most known for. At this point, I would say I’ve been in several successful projects, including.
Working girl
For the boys
One fine day
The Talent given us
Maura and Maggie get callbacks
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Yes, I have advice for finding a mentor. Go to places where people that know more than you are like the Actor Studio volunteer your time. Work for free. I never took money for work when I was in my 20s when I was working for a movie star or somebody that could help me.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Actressmaggiewagnerofficial
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17BTaFMKCs/
- Other: 213-324-8086
