Daily Inspiration: Meet Rachael Drummond

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Drummond

Hi Rachael, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started acting in middle school when my friend announced, “we’re going to be actors.” The teen brain craves a sense of belonging so I followed her to a local acting class taught by an amazing actor named Ed Bach. He’d been trained by Eric Miller of “No Acting Please” fame so I got an introduction to craft right away. I started auditioning for local and school theater and fell in love with acting. I did a lot of theater in highschool.

I got a BFA from Boston University where I was in the independent theater studies program. I got to take all the performance classes as well as classes in other colleges within the university. Between the School of Fine Arts, the School of Education and the College of Liberal Arts I designed my own Children’s Theater major.

I moved to New Jersey and did theater in New York for 4 years. I also studied with an incredible teacher, Salem Ludwig, at HB Studios.

Next I headed to Los Angeles, where I’ve been ever since. I started out doing background work and student films and continued to do theater. I discovered improv comedy and it was like falling in love all over again. I studied at iO West, Groundlings and UCB. I always encourage new actors to study improv because I think it helped me hone the skills I use when auditioning for and working in commercials, film and tv.

I’ve also studied with such great teachers: Allan Miller, John Kirby, Stan Kirsch, Amy Lyndon, Margie Haber, BGB Studios, Village Acting Studio and more. I continue to take classes and workshops; they’re great for meeting people, building skills and community and getting a creativity workout.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
What fun would a smooth road be? There are struggles and wins and losses all along the way. There are also new struggles, questions and worries at each level or step along the way. You go from “how do I get an agent?” to “I got an agent now how do I book a commercial?” to “I booked a commercial now how do I know it will run?”

For me one of the biggest challenges is staying active and positive during the lulls in my career and in the industry. The lulls will always come so how do I stay creative, make money, fill my soul, live my life, etc, when I’m not auditioning or on set.

I have things I’m a beginner at like playing tennis and writing. When I do them I feel challenged but in a playful, low-stakes way. I have kids so lulls are actually good for those relationships, we get more time for adventures and arguing about screentime…. And being in class, working on scenes, being in community with other actors is huge.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I play a lot of moms. If I specialize in anything I’d say it’s playing Karens right now. It’s actually great when your niche gets named so clearly. I love playing these demanding, privileged, often clueless bad guys who believe so passionately that they are in the right.

I love comedy but I also do crying-and-dying. Recently I got to combine both as a mourner at a funeral at the end of a Sabrina Carpenter music video. They wanted us to be actually crying and then the director turned the dial way up on the melodrama and comedy of it. It turned out hilarious.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
“The more things change the more they stay the same.” The last 5-10 years have brought huge changes to the industry so I assume that will continue. If I could show my 10-years-ago self what selftape and zoom auditioning looks like today I think she’d panic. But going to a live audition or being on set for a job feels pretty much the same as it always has.

I know there have been huge changes overall due to streaming and AI. But in the journeyman actor’s day-to-day it mainly feels like a slowdown. We’re used to slowdowns. We keep plugging along, studying, playing, exploring side-hustles and looking forward to the next audition, the next job. Our reps do a lot of hand holding, God bless them. A fun new trend is the mass email from your agent saying, “Hey, full client list, yes, it’s slow for everyone, you don’t need to keep calling the office wondering if it’s just you.”

The film/tv/commercial industry is young. But the job of the actors is ancient. So amid all the tumult of the industry there’s a constancy to the people in it and the drive to shed light on the human condition. If AI replaces us in our recorded jobs we’ll spill out onto stages and live venues. Actors love to act.

Pricing:

• Audition Coaching $90/hour

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rachaeldrummondcoaching.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachael.drummond
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rachaeldrummondactor

Image Credits
Unprisoned, Parenthood, Bombshell, 9-1-1, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” music video