Check Out Margie Haber’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Margie Haber. They and their team shared their story with us below:

For more than 40 years, Margie Haber has been known as Hollywood’s top audition coach. Through in-person and online acting classes and workshops, Margie and her fantastic team coach actors from around the world. Margie pioneered the world-renowned Haber Phrasing™, an alternative to memorization that allows actors to remove the stress and anxiety of auditioning. For many of our actors, this has completely revolutionized the self-taping process. An actor, coach, and author, Margie, transferred to Hollywood in the 1980’s. While teaching at the Lee Strasberg Institute, she decided to combine her past experience as a speech therapist with her acting experience to help actors with auditioning. That’s how the Haber Phrasing™ was born. 

Since opening her Los Angeles acting studio way back in 1986, Margie and her team have successfully worked with many well-known established actors, including Brad Pitt, Kyle Chandler, Tea Leoni, Vince Vaughn, Mariska Hargitay, Tiffany Haddish and Halle Berry. 

Margie’s philosophy comes down to one specific goal: BE A COMPLICATED HUMAN BEING. It’s the key to the “creation of life” which allows you to successfully ‘act’ and audition organically and not technically. 

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?
Nothing in life is smooth. I think my personal life of being gay, being Jewish, adopting a baby all contributed to the challenges of creating a massive studio while being a mom. My ambition and my love for my son at times conflicted, but I never taught at night, so I could always be with him. When he had a tennis game or a jazz performance, I would cancel my class to see him. Even adopting him was a struggle. His birth mother would call in the middle of teaching, and I would stop for an hr. to talk with her… My decision to come out as being gay immediately allowed others to share their truths which led me to write my book, F*ck your comfort zone. Obviously, covid changed my life and my teachings as I became an expert on Zoom and self-taping thanks to my talented students. I have always embraced my Jewish heritage, while some of my students from different states came to study with me and had never even met a Jewish person. Helping others to learn, whether you are gay, black, or of any ethnicity, that we are all the same has been the beautiful journey that I have taken over these decades of teaching. 

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?
In 2015, Margie coached and associate produced the feature film Bravetown (starring Josh Duhamel, Lucas Till, Laura Dern, and Maria Bello). She also produced and starred in Hollywood Trials, a Docu/Reality TV series starring Emmett Scanlan for RTE network in Ireland. 

Margie’s European and Australian tours have had crowds of 200-300 plus people on a regular basis while she has taken her transformative “Live the Life interactive sessions” to Brazil, India, New Zealand, Indonesia and China. 

For two years in a row Margie was the Backstage Readers’ Choice Award winner for best acting coach voted by readers and industry panels. 

In 2010, Margie’s innovative app, “Stop Acting,” was launched as an interactive follow-up to her book. The concept of having “Margie in your pocket” was a transformative approach for actors, and sales of 25,000 plus subscriptions quickly followed. In 2018, this was re-designed to allow for more content, and Margie’s online acting studio, The Margie Haber Digital Acting Studio, was launched to enable non-LA-based actors to subscribe and watch Margie teach online. This enables her to reach far more people throughout the world. Whether or not it is a corporate presentation or just doing a wedding toast, everyone is confident because they have Margie in their pocket. 

Margie’s clients have often mentioned her in their interviews, crediting her with being a major influence in their careers, but she has also herself been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, USA Today, and Backstage, and she is an in-demand writer for Casting Frontier, and other major industry publications. She did an interview for CNN and other news outlets. Margie has also appeared on many SAG/AFTRA panels that reach actors in one of the biggest acting unions in the world. 

In summary, whether Margie is working with actors or businesspeople, her unique proven ability to show a huge crowd how to be open, utilize silence, embrace their imperfections and vulnerability, and lead the individual to find their own voice is what sets her apart from her peers. She is a creative communication specialist – It is so much more than a “speech”; it’s all about finding your own humanity and using empathy to reach and touch the center of people. This creates powerful human beings. People trust Margie and, in seconds, can be vulnerable with her – whether that is in the intimate setting of her acting intensives or wielding a microphone in front of hundreds of corporate clients, Margie shows people how to live in the unknown and find the strength and courage to be the lead in their own life. 

Margie also has a popular podcast entitled “F*ck Your Comfort Zone,” which can be found on all platforms. 

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Relationships are everything, and to be in a community of like-minded others is the best way to build them. 

Pricing:

• Weekly classes from $300 a month

Contact Info:

• Website: https://margiehaber.com
• Instagram: @margiehaberstudio
• Facebook: @margiehaberstudio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/margiehaberstudio

Image Credits
Steven Buzzworthy
Richard Ljoenes