Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Anderson
Hi Molly, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in northern Michigan–y’know, famous for its entertainment industry–and acted my little heart out in community theater and school plays. I started my BFA in Acting in 2019 right before the pandemic hit so the rest of college was a wash. When I was nineteen years old, I escaped to NYC for a summer and swindled a PA job I was entirely unqualified for but taught me more about what I wanted to do than any class ever had. I was fortunately able to graduate early and move to Los Angeles when I was twenty with $500 and a friend’s futon to sleep on in downtown LA. I got every kind of assisstant job under the sun for the first year until my acting career took off at the end of 2023 and I’ve been so thrilled to wake up with my dream job for the past year!
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?
Some days it feels like you can’t win for losing–pandemic, strikes, an ongoing historically slow industry–we’ve all felt these setbacks hard. It’s taken a lot of determination to not let them be nails in the career coffin and find a way to push through. I know that while I’m able to make it work now, there may be more difficult stretches ahead and being proactive while fortune favors me will save me down the line. I think the most important way to do this is financially. It’s a horrible thing to have to prioritize but most people stop being actors because they can’t afford it anymore and money literally buys me more time to keep working towards my goals.
As I’ve grown I’ve had to teach myself how to run a business and in hindsight I wish I had a business or marketing degree! I know a lot about how energies and script analysis but I’m still learning taxes and networking. As a kid, acting was always just my passion, the dream, the hope, and now as an adult, it’s the thing that keeps food on the table. That transition was jarring at first and I had to start taking myself a lot more seriously. The stakes aren’t just a part in a school musical, it’s my time to put my nose to the grindstone and get this career off the ground! That process started with some tough conversations with myself and small steps to reshift my focus out of “hobby” mindset and into being a real fighter in the game.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I started as a little scream queen! Many of my credits are horror and thriller movies which I’ve always been such a fan of. (Sorry, Mom!) I think I have a pretty decent blood-curdling scream that I’m proud of. The past year I’ve falled deep into the world of soap operas and wow are they intense! I think of soaps as a training ground to solidify any shakey skills, they operate with the bottom line “make it work!” so it becomes sink or swim quickly. You get handed a massive script packed with dialogue and often very little time to memorize. It’s fast and furious, you’re shooting so many scenes a day and usually only getting a couple takes to nail your performance. We love soaps for their stylized hyper-drama, but that takes a massive amount of energy. In one day, you’re getting married, being kidnapped, watching a loved one die, getting slapped in the face–its all the height of drama and it’s your job to shake off the last scene and deliver the next twist. A goal of mine months ago was to build up my endurance, being on set is long and hard and stressful and you really have to be able to push past it all and stay present in the work. I credit the soaps with building that up and I can’t wait to see what they’ve trained me for next!
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Determination. Everything else can be overcome.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: mmactuj
- Other: mmactuj on tiktok
Image Credits
Jackson Davis, ReelShort, BestShort, Rutvij, Alta TV
