Conversations with Michelle Frei

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Frei.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m Michelle Frei, a Swiss actress based in New York City. Growing up in a small mountain town in Switzerland (Lucerne), theatre wasn’t really part of my world. I studied Business Psychology and expected to follow a more conventional career, while performing remained something I did on the side. I first stepped on stage with Musical Plus in West Side Story in 2016, but it was playing Beryl in Made in Dagenham in 2023, directed by Silvio Wey and Carlotta Jarchow, that made me seriously reconsider where I was headed.

That same year, I came to New York for a six-week intensive at the William Esper Studio and discovered the Meisner Technique. Back in Switzerland, I was on stage in Greatest Days at Le Théâtre alongside Rahel Fischer and Isabelle Flachsmann, whose own journey from the William Esper Studio to Broadway and the Radio City Rockettes encouraged me to take the leap myself.

In 2024, I finally moved to New York and began the William Esper Studio’s two-year professional acting program, training primarily with David Newer and later working with artists including Fay Simpson, Jim Calder, Kathleen McNenny, and Broadway fight directors Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet. Stage combat became a particular passion and eventually led to assisting and choreographing work of my own, including the short film Take Me Out.

After graduating from the William Esper Studio, I began focusing fully on building my career across stage and screen. I worked with Heidi Valkenburg on Directions for Protection and appeared in Agnieszka Gradziel’s short film To Eat a Fruit. More recently, I worked on the feature film Hit House, directed by Christian Sordelet and featuring Juanita Santafe alongside Broadway actor Collin Kelly-Sordelet, whose credits include The Last Ship, The Ferryman and Becky Shaw. On stage, I’m currently making my sketch-comedy debut in A Sketch of New York, for which I’m very exited for!

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?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth road, but I think it would be pretty boring if it were. The bumps along the way are often where we learn the most, and I’ve learned to be grateful for them. Nevertheless, moving from a small town in Switzerland to New York City was a huge adjustment, especially being so far away from my family, and I had to learn quickly how to navigate the city and build a life for myself here.
Pursuing acting professionally also requires an enormous amount of discipline, organization and persistence. There are constant auditions, long days, uncertainty and, of course, rejection. Learning not to take every “no” personally, to keep going when things don’t work out, and to trust that the right opportunities will come has probably been one of the biggest lessons along the way.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work is rooted in acting, but over the past few years, stage combat has become a big part of who I am as a performer. Training and working with Rick Sordelet and Christian Kelly-Sordelet introduced me to a completely different kind of storytelling.

What I’m most grateful for, though, are the people I get to create with. New York has introduced me to incredibly talented artists like Lian Lieber, Daniely Martins and Agnieszka Gradziel, and I’ve learned that the work I’m proudest of usually comes from collaboration.

That is also what inspired me to start creating my own work. I’m currently writing and producing The Callback, an original stage play directed by Christian Sordelet. It follows three actors competing for the same role who find themselves trapped inside an increasingly disturbing callback, where a series of audition exercises begins testing how far they are willing to compromise themselves — and each other — for the opportunity of a lifetime. It combines psychological tension, physical storytelling and some dark humor, and developing it from an idea on a page into a production with people I trust has been one of the most exciting parts of my journey so far.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe luck plays a role, but you also have to give it a chance to find you. One of the best ways to increase your chances of getting lucky is simply to show up. Put yourself in the room, do the work, be curious and stay open to where things might lead. Which I know is easier said than done… But we often see the lucky moment when an opportunity happens, but rarely all the work that came before it. Behind most “lucky” people, there are a lot of moments when they simply chose to keep showing up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mimii.frei/
• Other: IMBD: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm18325555/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Image Credits
Daniel Victor, Arseniy Zagurskiy