Life & Work with Jennings Rice

When I was very little, Santa gave me a pair of black ballet slippers. I immediately enrolled into dance classes and always found ways to perform. I was a shy kid, but once I felt comfortable in a space, you couldn’t get me to shut up. I feel like I would bounce off the walls when I would perform a routine. As I got older, I wanted to act more and more, so my Mom took me to an audition and I devastatingly did not get cast. I thought it was the end of the world, no really, I cried the whole night. Fate seems to intervene and when I was in seventh grade, we were required to do theatre, we all wrote our own sketches and performed them. I don’t remember much about my sketch only that everyone died in some insane way. I think I really caught the acting bug when I was Patty Simcox in the 8th grade production of Grease Junior. From then on, I was hooked. When I looked at how I got here, I just kept going. There’s always been a little voice inside of me telling me it was all going to be fine.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
All people have struggles. ALL. Anyone who says otherwise is someone you don’t want to talk to. Personally, I doubt myself multiple times a day and always think, “Maybe I should just give up and move to North Carolina”. When I first moved out to LA, I booked a role and 30 minutes later, they called me and told me they were going in another direction– so I had to call my family, my friends, and my agents and tell them I didn’t actually book it. That will bring you down a couple of pegs. I have had projects not happen, I’ve filmed projects and never seen the footage, I’ve had people promise me a referral only to back out at the last minute. It all happens, and it sucks, but you just have to remember who you love and look to them for support.

I struggle all the time. I’ll have an amazing week,  be on Avail for a National commercial, have the biggest audition of my life  (a movie with Zac Efron!!!!), release a web series and then the next week: nothing, zip, zero, zilch. It all comes in waves and you just have to keep going. I’ve lost a lot of friends on this journey as well, I think you have to get rid of those who do not inspire you or make you feel like Leonardo DiCaprio 100% of the time. I struggle daily, but I always have more good things than bad things in my life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in telling the emotional and badass stories of women. That’s it. I love working with women, I love writing my own work and I love creating stories that make you laugh so hard you cry or you just cry. It’s so important to me that someone feel something when they watch my work, even if they just feel hatred toward me. I specialize in the truth, I seek humor in the truth and I always seek to tell the truth. My honesty in my work is what sets me apart. I think I am most proud of my Web Series, “Trash”. I co-wrote it, co-produced it and co-directed it with my best friend Nina Madzirov. It all came out of a text conversation we had discussing whether or not we were in fact the trash. Working with so many brilliant actors (Kim Fifield, Julie Phillips, Nina Madzirov and Ryan Bertroche) and having the most amazing crew with Kyle Oechslin and Sergio Christolofalo was the highlight of my LIFE.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I think most people don’t know how emotional I am. It’s a very recent discovery for myself as well, so I can’t really blame them. I am a naturally empathetic person and so I cry the minute someone shows me kindness or when I see someone hurting. Sometimes I’ll start crying when I see a Pug on the street because it reminds me of my own pet in Virginia that I dearly love and miss and I get overwhelmed with joy at the sight of one.