Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Heyn.
Hi Megan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
By age two I knew I wanted to be an actor. I would pretend to be Sleeping Beauty and I remember thinking, ‘I want to pretend for the rest of my life.’ It wasn’t until I was fourteen, when I attended a high school with a theatre, that I finally got to scratch my acting itch. Before that it was all fantasies, I could stare into space and dream of the movies I’d shoot in the future for hours.
Reality was harder. I was an awesome performer in my head, but a shy, quiet, reserved girl with sweat stains in the real world. I feared I’d never learn how to get what was on the inside of me to the outside. I spent my freshman year bashfully auditioning, not getting cast, showing up for stage crew, and sneaking away when I realized I was too scared to use a drill or talk to people. Fortunately, I came out of my shell bit by bit (still working on this even today), got cast and was even president of the drama club, think there was a pin involved. From there I rushed through my college drama education in 3 years at UCI and then sprinted up to LA to become a “star”!
I did not find stardom (yet), but I did find a home performing at Upright Citizens Brigade and shot a lot of TV and film. I’ve been lucky enough to work for NBC, CBS, FOX, AMC, etc., collecting a myriad of eclectic memories only an artist can cultivate… When I shot a John Mulaney project, I watched Martin Short do take after take and somehow each of them were different and hilarious. At a night shoot in Austin, I spent an hour discussing the lack of voice work in American drama training with Pierce Brosnon. During a lunch break on a movie shoot, I listened to Amy Poehler recount her SNL experience. Every job has been its own precious gem and I’m grateful for each one that’s come my way. But I’ve found that, for me at least, the actual <i>acting</i> is only a small portion of my greater path. I’m still that uncertain high school theatre nerd learning how to display my insides to the world. That’s the real mountain I’m climbing. And the higher I get, the better artist I become.
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?
I’d say my road has been bumpier than a hormonal teenager’s t-zone. My main struggles centered around my health and lack of confidence. For years I thought I was beholden to being chosen by the Hollywood powers that be, constantly waiting to be told ‘yes’ or that I was ‘good enough.’ And unless I was hearing that, I felt like a piece of shit. I auditioned like crazy, worked, didn’t work, constantly felt like I was never getting anywhere. My frustrations turned into orthorexia. My orthorexia led to an autoimmune disease. I got so sick I spent a year on the couch. It was a mess. Took three years from diagnosis to reach remission.
After I was lucky enough to restore my health, I started therapy and writing. I liked both! I began to understand what my perspective can offer the world, both in my acting and my writing, and I started to feel good, even when no one from Hollywood was saying ‘yes.’ OK, fine, having a stellar husband and daughter may have also added to the expansion of my happiness. But if I’d found the success I sought right off the bat it would have been disastrous, I didn’t have the foundation of worth to maintain it. Of course, I still have my moments of artistic disappointment, but ultimately, I’m grateful for my journey’s pimply teenage punim.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an actor/writer/creator. Comedy is my go to. If an idea comes to me, a stream of jokes related to said idea comes along with it. I also enjoy being revealing about myself, that whole extracting and exposing my insides thing again, so I always create around my real life experiences, but by turning them way up or way down. Currently, I’m working on a web series I wrote that I’m shooting this winter. In preparation I’m releasing comedic mini-sodes to learn more about the characters, they can be found on my socials!
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
I’m obsessed with TBM, the app, their podcast Expanded, all of it! The CHANI app. The Screenwriting Life podcast.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megheyn/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MeganHeyn
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@megheyn
Image Credits
Theo and Juliet Robyn Von Swank
