Today we’d like to introduce you to Joanne Baron.
Hi Joanne, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I had always wanted to perform since I was very young. When I was around 8 years old, I competed in a talent show singing “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story, and, although a seven-year-old playing the accordion won, I was inspired. I continued on with my passion and later attended the University of Connecticut, where the head of the drama department told me to go to New York if I really wanted to pursue. I went to New York and took acting classes until I found Bill Esper, the Meisner teacher of fame, and trained for years with him. After I started booking movies and plays, I asked him to train me to teach.
I became the first student Bill had trained to teach long-term with him at his NYC studio. Later, when I moved to LA to act in TV series and films, I opened my own acting studio; some of my performing credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Morning Show, The Lincoln Lawyer, Spider-Man 2 This Is Forty, and some of my students include Halle Berry, Mariska Hargitay, Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, Leslie Mann, Justin Hartley, and also my husband, writer- director D.W. Brown. He co-owns the school and teaches with me, you might recognize him from starring in Fast Times At Ridgemont High with Sean Penn.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every day is a new joy and a new challenge– acting, writing, directing, producing, and running an acting studio continually presents opportunities, but also challenges. It’s only through perseverance and passion does anyone succeed, and it’s only through trials that we are refined.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In my career, I’ve been blessed to be in 150-plus TV, film, and theatre productions.
I’ve created, produced, and starred in several films, like Perfume with Jeff Goldblum, an indie film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Allie and Me, an indie film I created and starred in with Lyndie Benson, Dyan Cannon, Harry Hamlin, and Lanie Kazan. D.W. Brown and I also created an improvisational comedy web series Joanne Brown Is Here starring Robin Wright, Jeff Goldblum, Justin Chon, and Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter of The Roots.
Writer-Director D.W. Brown also wrote and directed On The Inside, starring Olivia Wilde.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
It’s a risk being an artist. Security is not there like with a 9-5 job, but, as they say, no risk, no reward.
This is really true of everything in life.
Your personal life, your business, everything. Being vulnerable is risky, but the reward, even if there’s rejections and failures, is ALL opportunities for growth and learning.
So, not taking risks is the biggest risk of all and can lead to not having a purpose-driven, fulfilling life.
Pricing:
- Classes at Baron Brown range from $350 for month to month classes to $850 for six week intensives
