Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Susan Lewis.
Hi Carla, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am a Los Angeles actor, making a full return to the industry after a mid-life career as an academic/psychology professor and nonprofit activist, journal contributor/writer born in NYC. I love wearing multiple hats. We are all so complex and vast within, so I think a good starting point for this story is the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken.” It always made me sad to believe that the famous fork in the road forces a choice of life path that we ultimately travel suggesting that the choice might be one we will regret or be defined by. I always believed we had the largesse within to encompass many roads, maybe not simultaneously, but certainly, other interests and dreams are born and pursued as they grow within.
As a young actor challenged with sustaining myself in NYC, I took what I thought would be a temporary path away from the performing arts (having gotten my Equity and SAG-AFTRA cards at a young age) to complete a Ph.D. in social and personality psychology. At the time, I was mesmerized by individual differences in motivation, behavior, temperament, and emotions and how they played out in larger social spheres and structures. I thought psychology would enhance my acting and also provide a meaningful bread-and-butter plan. Little did I know until a few decades later that really fine acting comes from freedom of the body, the soul, the heart, and though analytic to a degree, it is the stripping down of the mind and living truthfully moment-to-moment under imaginary circumstances that audiences are moved by.
My first transition back towards acting meant putting academia on the back burner. The very back burner. Grateful to have been on national public health studies at wonderful institutions like Columbia School of Public Health and Princeton; my preference for grassroots and community collaboration, inclusion, and action-oriented research led me to the nonprofit sector, highlighting disparities in quality health care, especially for vulnerable populations, like battered women, unstably housed families, the mentally ill The passion for this work endured for decades across organizations like Women in Need Inc. (WIN), The Children’s Health Fund, Urban Resource Institute, Project Hospitality and task forces and coalitions (e.g., NYC Task Force of Domestic Violence Residential Providers, NYC AIDS Housing Network, NYC HIV/AIDS Nutrition Services, National Women’s AIDS Coalition, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence). This work always felt like a privilege to me.
I am especially pleased to be interviewed so close to International Woman’s Day because so much of my prior work was centered on developing initiatives by and for subgroups of women who have been silenced by intimate partner violence, an insidious form of abuse, control, and intimidation, not yet acknowledged in our legal system though it often precedes life-threatening physical violence.
The time had come to return to acting and the industry in Los Angeles, a city I immediately fell in love with for its diversity, beauty, and extraordinary artistic industry.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Acting is ageless. It mirrors life. So, there is no giving up. It is like breathing. This is what we have to remember when there are lags between projects. Luckily, I love the craft and the process so much that it buffers the challenge of disappointments.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I adore storytelling and the opportunity to “live the life” of a character as we find them within ourselves. There is often a thread between myself and what is on the page that gets triggered sometimes subconsciously, and that connection, when it is true, radiates to the audience. My stage work has been invaluable in that way though I have loved transitioning from theater to on-camera work as the camera sees so much more than the naked eye that it forces the work to a standard of truth that is beautiful and revelatory. Much of my work has been in theatre, from Shakespeare rep to contemporary to new play development and, recently, some prime time and film work. I am happily represented by a management team (LA NYC ATL UK) and a very wise agent.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
This city, at this stage in my life, has been a joy. And constant discovery. Inspired by the amazing acting coaches in town and casting artists, and yes, I like to call casting directors “artists” that will finally be recognized as such at next year’s Oscars! It makes me happy to be in CA with my husband and his family and our beloved English bulldog, Giselle.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.CarlaSusanLewis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CarlaSusanLewis
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlaSusanLewis
- Other: https://linktr.ee/CarlaSusanLewis
Image Credits
Sean Hara
