Daily Inspiration: Meet Avery Lynch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Avery Lynch.

Hi Avery, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I really trace it back to my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Washington. She was directing a play outside of school, and she encouraged me to audition. 9-year-old me was having a rough time, and this teacher was the first adult outside of my family who noticed that. Not only did she tell me to audition for the play, she really looked out for me the rest of the year. I still site her as the best teacher I ever had; She is the first person that I remember telling me that I was a good actor.
I then made my way through Oklahoma public schools doing school plays and community theater. In Oklahoma, a good portion of the community theater happens in church basements, so I spent a lot of time precociously learning lofty text amidst communion wafers and pictures of Jesus.
High school theater is where I met some of my best friends, and we gave are all for two productions a year. That wasn’t enough of a fix for me, so I also joined our school’s Speech and Debate team. Speech is a form of drama competition in which high schoolers go around in business suits on the weekends and compete against other high schoolers. You found your own material, cut it to a 10 minute piece, and then played all the characters. No props, no costumes, no set, just a classroom on a Saturday morning.
Following High school I went from Oklahoma to Upstate New York for college. I graduated with a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College. I loved spending so much time on the craft of acting. I loved diving into some of the greatest plays of all time. My last few months of school the pandemic hit, and it was a bit of an anticlimactic end, but nonetheless I graduated.
I moved out to LA September 2020. It was a weird time to move to LA. The city shut down and it was very hard to feel at home here. Honestly, I look back on that first year out here and I am just grateful I am on the other side.
As the years went on I started to be able to hop into acting class, I solidified beautiful friendships, I found places in LA I adore, and I started to get paid to act.
I’ve done commercials, plays, vertical series, TikTok ads, short films, modeling, background work and some things in between. I did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ directed by Renee O’Connor, and besides having a blast, I connected with other people and was able to join a theater group. Along with acting, I work in a coffee shop, and I babysit.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Haha no, it has not been a smooth road in the slightest. Acting is the best, but the business of acting is overwhelming. In many ways I feel like I am still trying to figure the business side out. Making money in an inconsistent pattern is strenuous. It is a lot of time and effort on applications and auditions, to turn around and *maybe* get one day of paid work.

I still feel that I am in a better place then when I first moved out here. The first two years I was in LA my dad was very sick, and it occupied so much of my time and energy. In the latter half of my first two years, the world was opening enough to take an acting class, (it was also the pandemic) but in class, half of myself was thinking of home. I felt like the world was shut down, I was feeling guilty and overwhelmed, and the entertainment industry was dead.
At other periods in my life, when things felt like a complete shit storm, acting was a refuge that I had. Beginning in 4th grade, when my teacher taught me that it was a beautiful tool I could use. But those first two years in LA was the first time when I did not even have acting. It took a very long time to feel like myself again after those two years.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an actor. I love stage work and the richness of a good play. I’m obsessed with queer media, and one day hope to make a film that my younger self would’ve squealed to see.
I love the intellect of acting. I love the late night conversations a good script can have me reeling about. Acting feels like a constant opportunity to learn about myself and the world around me.
I have been fortunate enough to see movies, TV, and theater that have profoundly impacted me. And I feel like I am forever chasing the opportunity to make my own art that can impact someone so deeply.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
So many people.
My 4th grade teacher Paula Washington
My family, for always being there.
My best friend, for teaching me how to be the best version of myself.
My siblings, for always making me laugh.
My partner, for making me feel safe.
And many more teachers, mentors, and friends along the way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: avery_shannon_

Image Credits
Lea Huebner