Daily Inspiration: Meet Samia Omari

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samia Omari.

Hi Samia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a French actor and performer currently based in the US. My past projects and credits include theater, musical theater, film and commercial work as well as voiceover and dance. I started singing and dancing when I was a kid, sang in Gospel Choirs as a teenager and young adult, and discovered musical theater and theater then came by naturally as the next step. When I started exploring acting in English through workshops in London, I completely fell in love with Shakespeare, how his complex words and body of works can make sense and are an absolute joy and fun to play.

I wanted to learn more thoroughly and experience Acting techniques so I came to study at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and started working in the US when I graduated. I was lucky enough to be able to work on a wide variety of projects: devised theater, Shakespeare plays, readings, commercials for educational companies, original new work, cabaret and dance performances. During my time in NYC, I also did a workshop with SITI Company, who developed fabulous work with the Suzuki and Viewpoints as well as with Frantic Assembly.

The pandemic was the opportunity for me to add a new tool to my toolbox with Voiceover and I performed as several animated characters for a French Virtual Reality App and narrated the episode about the French soccer player Founé Diawara for the Rebel Girls podcast.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I feel that acting and artistic endeavors are generally not a smooth road, it also may be why they are so interesting to artists because they bring variety and novelty to routine. I would say the biggest struggles are the uncertainty of the acting/performance industry – as projects are scheduled depending on funding or the possibility to produce them, or several projects pop up at the same time depending on the time of the year and your schedule can fill up very quickly and have you wish time was expandable – as they are all interesting to say yes to.

You also have to make many compromises and take up time management to manage to take up the opportunities you want to, audition for new work, create your own work and balance your personal life.

The confinement during the pandemic was also a challenge. It was hard being stuck artistically and not have the in-person community and infrastructure to develop material. Thankfully a lot of the organizations or companies I worked with or followed classes from develop online solutions.

I had the opportunity to study choreography, explore and develop some material under the mentorship of Anabella Lenzu, an amazing choreographer and teacher. I also learned from when I was studying at Peridance in New York City.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an actor, dancer, and singer. I especially work in devised and physical theater, voiceover and movement performance. I am especially proud of the first job I booked in the United States: a commercial I got to do in NYC for MapMaster. It was set both in Corona Park, Queens and Dumbo in Brooklyn, we spanned these outdoors iconic location and it was just so great to be on set with this scenery as a background and get to learn so many things at the same time.

And the other one was an adaptation of a Christmas Carol: Everyone’s Carol, for which I brought original material for the audition. I loved that the project called for a multilingual cast. And I keep fond memories from performing at two fantastic venues The Morgan Museum and St-Marks on Bowery, alongside talented actors Austin Pendleton and Arthur French.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
A lot of things! Food, spending quality time with friends and family, spending time in nature, being able to do what I love and the fact that acting and performing constitute such a vast diverse domain that I get to explore new facets of it every time I have a new project to work on. I love that art also fosters a great base to grow as a human and within a community of people whom you can learn from and collaborate with. There is never a dull moment and all the encounters contribute to artistic growth as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: samiaomari.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/samyoushka

Image Credits
Ezra Goh, Carlos David, George Pagan, Michael Antonio/Stevie Boi, Smith-Hage Prod