Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathleen Jarvis
Hi Kathleen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For as long as I can remember, I was drawn to performing. I discovered singing first and then theatre and acting followed quickly behind. When I was 9, I began participating in my hometown’s youth theatre company – Performance Theatre for Young Artists. This company did year round musicals for the community; so from the ages of 9 to 15, I was always in a show – whether it be in rehearsal or in performance. I was a very serious kid and already planning my future in entertainment from a young age. I planned on earning my BFA in Musical Theatre, moving to New York, and starring on Broadway. Newsflash – my plan threw me a few major plot twists along the way. While I was gearing up for college auditions, I fell in love with the boy who played my husband in my school’s production of “The Light in the Piazza”. That made my dream of moving across the country a lot more difficult. Nevertheless, I did it and was accepted into The Hartt School at The University of Hartford as a part of their prestigious BFA Musical Theatre program.
Before I went off to school, I remember going to the movie theater to catch a showing of the new movie “La La Land” before I left for Connecticut. This was a turning point, but not one that I recognized yet. Something in my heart changed that day and deep down I began to question why I was leaving my hometown of Ventura (an hour outside of LA) to chase my dream on the east coast. Maybe, just maybe, my dream was waiting for me in Los Angeles. Well, I had to figure that out in my own way. So I kissed my boyfriend goodbye for a while, packed up my life, and began my journey at the Hartt School. Well, it wasn’t long before the universe made it very clear that something wasn’t right. While I was mesmerized by my classes and the skills I was learning as an artist, I was overcome by a deep depression that came from nowhere. I isolated myself from my classmates, barely ate, barely slept, and used exercise as a coping mechanism. Within months, my weight had reached a dangerous low and I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. The seasonal depression hit me like a truck. As a born and raised SoCal girl, I did not adjust well to the winters in Connecticut, which only served to further my downward spiral. When I came home for spring break, the alarm bells sounded to my mom when she saw my emaciated frame. I was taken to an eating disorder specialist immediately and was recommended to enter impatient care – to which I said “Hell no!” Even though I was suffering and in danger, I was determined to finish my year at The Hartt School. So, the specialist reluctantly agreed to let me go back on the condition that I meet with a nutritionist and therapist weekly via Skype and follow a strict meal plan. That’s exactly what I did. By the grace of God, I finished that first year. However, as I flew home with my mom for the summer, the realization sunk in – I would not be going back there.
That summer was my healing summer. I recovered from my eating disorder, my skin (which had become severely broken out as a result of my experiences) cleared, and I was ready to change course. It was that summer when I finally made sense of the feeling I got when watching “La La Land” all those years ago. Broadway was not my dream anymore. Singing, though a sincere passion of mine, didn’t bring me the same joy anymore. I wanted to set my sights on Los Angeles. On film and television. So I scoured the internet for some kind of training program that would continue my artistic education while also introducing me to the LA market. That’s when I found AADA – American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I auditioned right away for the upcoming year and was accepted. It felt different than when I was accepted to The Hartt School – this felt right.
My 2 years studying at AADA were everything I had hoped for and more. Not only did I receive remarkable training as an artist, but I met some of the most incredible people in my professors and fellow students. I was happy there, healthy, and supported. I felt artistically challenged every day and my time there will always hold a special place in my heart. I am so grateful specifically for the training I received in the business of acting and the industry insights I was given. So many of my professors were young and actively a part of the industry and they passed all of their knowledge straight to us. My Voice and Speech teacher – Alexandra Wright, still remains one of my closest mentors and coaches to this day.
More than just my education, I was properly introduced to Los Angeles. Even though I lived on the outskirts of the city my whole life, I had always been too intimidated to explore what it had to offer. Being at AADA, threw me right into the middle of West Hollywood and I LOVED IT. I truly fell in love with the city during those years and it is a love affair that lives on in my heart. Where others saw dirtiness and danger, I saw romance and history. Don’t even get me started on Hollywood history, I will write 10 more pages on Old Hollywood and the people who built it.
As I explored everything Los Angeles had to offer, I found myself stumbling into modeling. It started as filling in for photoshoots with a few of my photographer friends to going out every weekend and shooting with all sorts of different photographers I met along the way. The joy I experienced in this form of artistic expression took me by surprise as my focus had always been solely on acting and singing. However, modeling became a passion of mine very quickly and those early photoshoots are still some of my favorite memories. Not only was it a fun way to explore so many different parts of the city from Beverly Hills to Downtown LA to the beaches of Malibu, but I met some incredible friends that I am still close with today. As this passion continued to grow, I took it upon myself to scour the city for open calls at different modeling agencies. Within a week, I found a match – State Models LA. It was such an exciting step, but one that was quickly put on pause as the COVID pandemic put everything on hold.
During my last year at AADA, it was springtime when COVID hit. Just like that, my glorious journey was given a bittersweet ending. Our much anticipated 2nd year projects were moved onto Zoom and our dreams of a graduation at the Dolby Theater were abandoned. After a lackluster graduation online, I closed my laptop and ended my journey at AADA. There are still friends whose faces I haven’t seen since I walked out of the building that fateful day in March when the world shut down and I hope that one day I will see so many of those people again.
COVID took its toll on me. It required me to move out of Los Angeles for the time being, back to my home in Ventura. It also led to a depression that caused me to fully relapse back into my eating disorder. Woohooo. Once again, I was sick and covered in acne. It was not a good look. Luckily, COVID gave me plenty of time to figure it out. Back into therapy and a meal plan I went, and I found my way. It was hard but I finally was able to dedicate the right amount of time to heal and heal for good. My skin cleared, my spark came back, and back to work I went.
As the pandemic died down, I was itching to get back to work on my career. I did online acting classes and improv classes via Zoom. I mastered my self-tape audition practice. My return to the stage came in 2021 when I was cast as Beth in the West Coast Premiere of Junk Girls with Los Feliz Theatre Co. for the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The production earned multiple awards and was even extended for another week due to demand. During this time, I continued commuting to performances and rehearsals from Ventura. While I missed living in LA, I developed a newfound love for the little beach town that I grew up in. It felt like a little safe haven for me as I challenged myself to chase my dreams in Los Angeles. After Junk Girls. I was cast in a few short films from “In the Wash” and “Wrong Place, Right Time”. I even began to experiment with writing my own work. Oh, and that boyfriend that I met in high school? We stayed together – despite the long distance and all the odds against us, we remained strong through it all. He became an amateur cinematographer and we used all our money to buy a fancy camera. Since then, he and I are constantly developing our skills and brainstorming ideas for our own production company one day.
From 2022 to now, I have continued to ride the rollercoaster of being an artist and a human at the same time. I participated in the development of a new musical “Dark of the Moon” with Rubicon Theatre Company. I took (and continue to take) weekly acting classes at my beloved BGB Studio. I dealt with a resurgence of my acne in 2022 that hit my mental health hard and I had to slow down a bit, but I got through it like I always do. I got married, traveled through Europe, and felt more inspiration as an artist than ever before. I firmly believe that, in order to broaden my horizons as an actor, I have to experience life fully because what is acting if not an artistic expression of the life I live and the lives we all live every day. The beautiful moments, the devastating moments, they all have a place in life and in art. In 2023, I signed with Stone Talent Agency for commercial and print, which was the biggest dream come true. I love my agents with my whole heart and I’m so grateful to be supported in this industry by a team of badass women. I have taken big strides recently in directing and producing some of my own work. I am currently writing a film about my great-grandmother, Pauline. She came to Los Angeles from Iowa to be an actress and found herself in the company of greats like Walt Disney and Spencer Tracy yet was forced to cut her dreams short. Her daughter, my grandmother, had a similar story. She has the voice of an angel and was on track to be a successful opera singer before life pulled her away from those dreams. My whole life, I have felt it in my heart that it is my duty to make my dreams come true, not just for me but for them. In the meantime, I write their story and hope to one day produce it as a feature film.
Looking forward, I am gearing up to level up in my modeling career as well as my acting career. I am working with my agent to break into the New York and Paris markets and I have my eyes on New York Fashion Week. Between auditioning and writing my own work, I am planning some big acting moves as well! It’s just a matter of time until something breaks through. In the meantime, I have side hustle like my new vintage clothing business to work on as well – Katy Scarlett Vintage, coming this spring! While this path is not an easy one, it is so rewarding. Despite the struggles I’ve faced, I persevere and I will continue to work harder than anyone for my whole life. For the 9 year old girl who wanted to be on Broadway, for the 17 year old girl who watched “La La Land”, for my great-grandma, my grandma, and everyone who has supported me along the way.
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?
As I spoke about in my last response, my road has been anything from smooth. My main struggles being a result of my mental health from the eating disorder to the depression to the acne I experienced. When I moved to Connecticut for college and had to change course. When the pandemic cut my education short and so on and so forth. Along the way, I have found it hard not to get angry or bitter when roadblocks appear. However, I look back now and am so grateful for how the struggles helped me to grow and develop not just as an artist but as a person. Before COVID, I was obsessed with my career – so much so that I negated my own life and health to pursue it. I see now that the path to success cannot be walked unless one prioritizes their own well being. I’ve learned that now and I know it is what will allow me to stay in this for the long haul. I won’t burn out and I won’t give up. I am living a full life creatively and personally – I got married, I’m writing scripts, I travel, I audition – it all goes together. Like I said previously, I believe the key to growing as an actor is living fully as a person. Acting, singing, modeling are important to me not just as a career, but as a lifelong passion. Acting has always been one of the most meditative exercises in my life. I can let myself get lost in it and quiet the noise that anxiety plays in my brain. I can escape my world for a while and find myself in another. In my work, I bring everything I am, everything I’ve experienced, and everything my mind can imagine. It is like magic to me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Acting and modeling are my main focus, but I am currently exploring pathways in producing, writing, and directing as well. I am a one woman show and I am constantly learning in every aspect of my industry. Recently, I am most proud of my work in plays like Junk Girls and short films like “In the Wash”. Also, I am proud of my longevity. Despite setbacks, rejections, and roadblocks, I remain fiercely committed to my craft without any intention of giving up.
I believe what sets me a part in this field is my vulnerability. I am an open book, I am imperfect, but I can’t help but be honest about how I feel. I have never been afraid to be seen whether I am experiencing sadness or overwhelming joy. I feel things very intensely and it can be exhausting. I feel like I exist on an emotional rollercoaster, but it is one of my favorite things about myself. I never try to hide or control and everything I feel I channel into what I do. It doesn’t mean I’m not scared. In fact, I am terrified most of the time as I experienced the world with my heart open 24/7. Although, along the way, I’ve learned that every sad feeling has purpose and is always balanced by joy.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory are my early experiences as an artist. From singing on my parent’s karaoke machine to my first leading role in a play at 10 years old. I soaked it all in and allowed it to form me into who I am. I guess if I had to pick one moment in particular, it would be the closing bow of my very first big show. My family ran up to the stage in packs and drowned me in 10+ bouquets of flowers. It is a proper representation of the one thing that has carried me throughout my life – the support of my family, friends, and loved ones.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kathleenjarvis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleeen.h/?next=%2F
- Other: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/kathleenjarvis
Image Credits
Ming Lo @mingtelo
Stephanie Girard @stephgirardphoto
Alanna Gilbert @alannagilbertphoto
