Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Day.
Hi Olivia, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hmmm…my story. Haha. Well, I always feel like everyone has multiple stories that coincide with their life choices and we just always end up telling the most interesting ones that society will deem acceptable. And since I’ve had a very intense past, I’m not really sure what I want to talk about, but in the spirit of staying true to myself, I’m just going to let it fly and leave it up to you to decide what you want to print. You know, I think it’s human nature to always search for an escape from the mundane. Growing up, some of us got to use our imaginations to simply escape our already wonderful lives just to create another one, while some of us used our imaginations to create a better version of ourselves, of our reality – to heal, to seek validation, to be seen, to escape from trauma. For me, I’m not really sure where and when the two met, but both reasons definitely shaped my love for the craft of storytelling. The escapism, the validation of emotions, the inspiration – it’s a raw exploratory, psychoanalytic, there is no wrong or right art form- and there’s no other therapy like it. You can help yourself and simultaneously help a large group of others. And if you’re lucky enough to be successful at it, you can create an ongoing redistribution to those in need.
As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to create things, and I always wanted to be seen. I loved using my dad’s video camera to create tv shows/films with friends. I reveled in the lens… it encompassed my need for attention, validation, and creative expression all in one 45-minute sitting. When I was ten, I was at the movie theater watching Angelina Jolie, daydreaming/salivating about what it would be like to be just like her….to be famous, to be liked, to be seen, heard, adored, validated; to be just as pretty as her, as talented as her, as emotionally free and as emotionally understood as her. I knew acting was what my heart wanted, but internally it never seemed achievable and family and societal constraints never made it seem logical. I always believed in myself deep down, but my self deprocating demons were always on top telling me otherwise. Circumstances put me through hell growing up, and I put myself through hell when they decided to take a break. Feeling like you’re special enough to go after any goal and actually going after that goal are two different things. And if you sit in the limbo of it, you can sit there for years.
Throughout my adolescence, I struggled internally. Self-worth, self-love, being liked by others, hating myself. Things I think a lot of younger people experience but to me, it felt like life or death.
I did theatre at my public elementary school in Gwinnett County Georgia and I attended a theatre camp over a summer. Middle school life was a smorgasbord of being bullied and hating myself/trying to fit in. I was never someone that just had confidence, I cared about what everyone thought and it made it really difficult to listen to what my internal self was trying to tell me.
In High School, my awkward phase somehow ABRUPTLY ended and thank you dear god bc you can only wear headgear in the hallways of a school for so long. I entered the Miss Freshman Pageant and ended up winning – and won a contract with Click models in Atlanta. I had success in Atlanta so I ended up signing with Elite Models NY and began Modeling over summers there while still attending high school in Georgia.
I don’t really know what to say or how to talk about this area or time in my life, but needless too say, I’m very thankful to be alive and lucky my younger self didn’t take away my future life.
I had a really hard time finding myself and believing in myself after this – nondescript period of my life – so I attended two different colleges after graduating high school. KSU and Georgia Southern University where I majored in Business. 4 years later, I was one semester away from graduating, I hadn’t pursued acting, and I felt emptier than ever. I knew I had to leave Business School and go to an Arts school even if it means 4 years of what felt like wandering a hallway that had no end.
So I applied to SCAD in Savannah, GA and did their 4-year degree program in 2 years, majoring in Film and TV. I accidentally applied to the FILM AND TV program at SCAD thinking they had an acting program within that when in reality only the Performing Arts program did, so I was forced to pick a focus since I was only accepted into the TV and Film Program so I chose writing and directing. Haha Once again, not pursuing acting, but hey, I was used to not pursuing was my soul wanted and at least this time it was in the field I actually loved.
While there, I was lucky enough to act in a few of my friend’s short films, have my heart broken once, and tried to get signed with JPervis in Atlanta but they told me I was too green to get signed, so I basically just gave up on my dream for what felt like the 4th time.
However, don’t let my sob story get you to down, I was really excelling in the writing and directing program and did so well I ended up winning the National Sprite Films competition and was the first female in history to write, direct, and produce a national sprite commercial for the Sprite Films Program. From there I went on to write, direct, produce, and edit my short film called ‘Surface’, and it ended up being nominated for the Horizon award by Cassian Elwes, Lynette Howell Taylor, and Christine Vachon. Yes, I know big achievements for such a winy girl, but again, I was also the type to do really well on the outside but never knew how to take care of myself on the inside.
After graduation, I moved to Los Angeles and found jobs in TV and Film behind the camera. I programmed the film festival Cinema at the Edge. I then worked as a stylist for the show Hollywood Today Live, then as a Producer for Hollywood today Live, then as a Producer for the show The Voyager on NBC that won a Daytime Emmy that year. I then was the Producer for S1 of American Beauty Star on Lifetime and Casting Director for S2 of American Beauty Star, then finally worked as a Producer for Paramount Pictures before finally realizing no amount of money, no amount of success, no amount of anything is going to make me happy if I don’t follow what my heart actually wants. I just needed to say fuck it and go after acting. How was I this successful in all these things but was constantly holding myself back from the one thing I loved. It felt like my soul’s form of self-sabotage.
Basically, everyone thought I was crazy but at this point that started to not bother me as much as it used to. I think my family still thinks I am crazy honestly haha (jk mom and dad I know you love me). BUT I decided to quit everything at 26 and pursue acting. I had two degrees: an AS in Business Marketing and BFA in Film and TV but I was unable to use either of those since that required a full-time position, so I got a job in a gentleman club….Yes, you heard that correctly. Call a woman with two degrees who’s been that successful an enigma but you can be money driven, in power, know how to work a room, successful, determined, hopeful, smart, and have accolades, and still work in a gentleman club, and pursue your dreams, all at the same time. SLAY. SO –
I booked headshots, I started self-submitting every day for two years, would film auditions against my white-walled bathroom like an idiot, and just started using any money I had to go into classes and to learn from people who were successful. Two years into pursuing acting in LA I booked one short film and from there three feature films – all from self-submitting on actors access – and was able to land an agent with a small boutique agency in LA called ‘The Library’. I’m not sure if they even exist anymore but needles to say, out of the 62 agencies I applied to, three called me back, hahaha. But also WOW, it’s actually that hard. I also can’t elaborate on the emotional triumphs and setbacks that happened during this period but loving yourself entirely because you’re pursuing what you love also felt like cutting yourself. I wasn’t safe, but in that vulnerability, I found solace.
Covid ended up hitting, and acting was on pause for almost a year. I moved back to Atlanta bc my parents were older and I wanted to make sure they were ok since it was a time of unknowns and in that period I decided to apply to JPERVIS again, and 10 years after rejecting me they signed me and have been wonderful since. I have acted in 3 feature films and go back and forth between Los Angeles and Atlanta and I signed with Select Models which has only helped my confidence and career as well. Atlanta and life are funny. Never take anything too seriously. The abs and flows of emotions are serious but don’t take life serious.
I would say yes, childhood trauma, a lack of validation growing up, being bullied in school, and never feeling good enough directly correlate with me loving a career path where other people get to decide my worth and income all day haha BUT true rejection is leaving your hearts desire on the side of the road. You have to pick it up and take it with you no matter how much gas it uses. I want to fail at something harder than succeed at something easy bc if I succeed at something easy – I’m either a genius or I’m bored.
Acting has saved me, it has been an emotional outlet it has been devastating, tiring, rewarding, relief, it has been everything that I wish to feel in this lifetime and everything I have yet to feel in this lifetime. I have something to look forward to, something to work towards, something to be proud of. Not just for myself and for others. I pursue intensity. Acting makes you feel everything intensely. If you believe in yourself enough and you study hard enough, only you can tell yourself how good you are and nobody else can tell you that. And when you face so much rejection that everyone tells you no, and you finally get that yes… YOU KNOW it’s because you’ve worked for it, bc you have put confidence and self-love back into yourself. Because you’ve worked for it. It’s not easy, and neither is love. And when you believe in others believe in too. Peace and Love.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Finding your self-worth and building it by using each rejection as a brick to stand on instead of seeing it as a brick that stands on you.
Rejection is in everyone and is constant, so you might as well be rejected doing something that you love and that challenges you.
Telling life what it is going to give you and believing that, and going after that, even though time and time again it tells you that you might not achieve it.
You will win. You will persist. You will believe. You will succeed if you never quit because success is never quitting.
Your past doesn’t make you who you are unless you want it to.
Life is hard for some and easy for others.
Comparison is the thief of joy – Theodore Roosevelt
Go after what you want, and even when it becomes so hard that you think you don’t really want it, don’t believe it.
All of these are quotes that I live by, everyone already knows the obstacles in the industry. But the biggest obstacle is yourself and your view and your beliefs. Nothing else matters.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Olivia Day is an American Actress. She is known for her roles in ‘The Accursed’, ‘Incision’, ‘Lisa Mania’, and ‘One and The Same’ and is currently filming ‘The Deep Dark’. She won Best Leading Actress at the 48 Hour Film Project for her role Danny in Danny/Danielle (2019) and won Scream Queen of The Year (2020) at the Something Wicked Film Festival for her role Casey in the short film, ‘Feed Me Death’. The rest of her work can be found on IMDB.
She originally began cultivating a name for herself in the modeling industry where she was signed with Elite NY and graced the pages of WWD and Zink Magazine and held campaigns for Nike, Goodys, Jet One, Kenneth Cole, and No Nonsense. She is currently signed with Select Models Atlanta and was recently published in Vigour Magazine (2022), Vanguard Magazine (2022), Fienfh Magazine (2022), and 6x Magazine (2022).
What’s next?
To be happy, to make others happy, and to save as many plants, animals, and people as I can during the life and after I’m gone. To use the art of motion picture storytelling to help others see their worth when life interactions just aren’t enough.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
@atlhope Hope Wright @donneashlock Donne Ashlock @James_l_Hicks2photography James L. Hicks II Credit to the night
