Today we’d like to introduce you to Suzie Hinds.
Hi Suzie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always been an Artist. I was 8 years old when I was taught the wonderful world anime drawing by my grandfather, who was a cartoonist. Hours spent with a piece of paper and pencil, developing my imagination. At 12 years old I was training in Fashion Design and Dressmaking with Amy Gifford, a Costume Designer from the London Theatre Companies in the 1940s, then in ’60s & ’70s, being a part of the Theatre scene in Tasmania and Adelaide doing costumes for notable Theatre Companies. Amy & her daughter Joan showed me how to construct a garment in an evening at age 14.
To then follow in the footsteps of my Grandmother, as a Hairdresser, at 17, though my real love was in the world of Fashion. Completing my Degree in Fashion Design at 22 years old. I worked as a Model and Designer with the Modelling agency “A Touch of Class.”
Life takes you on many paths & in a blink of an eye, you are suddenly a wife, mother, and family provider. Though through all my twists & turns, I turned to my creativity in the arts. Designing clothes for my daughter, who was the trendiest 5-year-old on the streets. While raising my children, I started my degree in Photography & teaching at the local Community Centre. Soon after I was employed by Spotlight Australia, the largest store for fabric and homewares. Here I was the Creative Craft Studio Co-Ordinator, creating & teaching classes for all things Artistic.
Learning many other skills from 9 teachers within the studio. Humbled by the talent that surrounded me.
These years were my most challenging, working full-time, restraint orders on my ex-husband due to violence & children growing up forging their own minds & life. I increasingly suffered from depression, stress & heartbreak.
Though always finding peace in my family & artistry. Winning awards for Quilt making, Photography & Graphics were my saving grace.
Things had to change & change they did! After the breakdown of my marriage, in 2011 I returned to school.
Achieving my Diploma in Arts, Crafts & Design in 2012, continuing on to a Diploma in photography, then completing a Diploma in Graphic Design in 2016. A new career pathway opened up, working for Fairfax Media as an Advertising & Co-Ordinator in Pre Press, Newspaper. I had re-invented myself, and with the pressure of the divorce finalized in 2014, I walked taller, stronger & with confidence.
I had a career as a Professional Photographer, working with “the Stage Right Theatre Company” run by the award-winning Producer, Director & Deputy Major of Launceston Danny Gibson. Working with him & 100 child actors, every year to bring Theatre Production to life. Also working with 4 other Theatre Companies, I could photograph up to 6 theatre shows a year, Astonishing. A shining highlight in my career.
Within these years I started my own company “Theatrical Photography & Graphic Design.” This is where I showcased my personal creative talents. From concept drawings to finished artworks. I would develop characters on paper, recycle clothes from Thrift stores & re-propose them. Cast models, adorn them & photograph them, turning them into Artwork. My favorite friend was ‘Photoshop’, we would spend hours together until I considered the piece – masterful.
I received full support from my family, though with the passing of my Aunty Sandra & 18 months later my Mum, I again was at a loss & a crossroads, needing to find myself again. Believing in myself I re-invented again. This time finding the magical world of Film & TV and in 2018 I started studying acting.
I studied with the highly noted Act school ‘The Australian Film & Television Academy” in Melbourne, Australia. This is where I truly discovered who I was. For years I had been running away from my true self, hiding behind the battered wife & disbanded family title. Hiding in my art, whichever form it took. Now I was the art piece, shaping & exploring the hurt & loss I had faced throughout my years. Discovering things about me that I liked & disliked & learning to accept all of these traits, as there was no more running from who I am. To say acting is a challenge for me is an understatement. I have been studying for 5 years now & every class I attend, I learn another piece of me that needs work.
Attending classes with the best in the industry. Listening to Larry Moss’s words of wisdom, advice & guidance – is mind-blowing! Learning from the greats in Australia – is enlightening! It was here that I meet the most inspirational, kindest & hard-working woman I have in my life, Jessica Orcsik. We connected straight away with our work ethics & ideas, & to this day we still work strongly together. I started studying with the prestige’s Australian US-based company “American Arts, Film & Television Academy’ in 2019, my first visit to Los Angeles, US. Here I would work with the best in the industry, Crista Flanagan, Rob Brownstein & Caitlin Well to name just a few of the wonderful people I call friends. In 2020 my company evolved into the production company ‘Devil Punk Productions’ an edgy, renewable, diverse production company, Developing unique women’s stories, set in grand worlds, from a woman’s perspective.
Studying online during the lockdown in Melbourne was interesting, though rewarding. I got to further my skills as an Actor, Costume Designer, Director & Producer, with companies like AIF, Side of the Road, Tim Robbins & AAFTA.
My mental health was looked after by Mind Mechanics ‘Change your thinking, Change your life – Trish Speers.
Everything is possible at this point. So when able, before Australia lifted its restrictions, I applied to Homeland security to leave & come back to the US. To further my skills & relationships. Returning to the city that has the most creative force possible – Los Angeles. While here I was offered a position in the school that had been supporting my acting career, AAFTA.
Entering the team as Visual Art Manager, I look forward to working with amazing talented Industry Professionals, in the world of Film & TV. This role will enable me to stretch my creative imagination into creative masterful artwork on the silver screen & help build the school’s ambitions to be the best in the west. I’ll develop my acting skills further with classes with highly respected teachers like Peter Blackburn, Lori Triolo & Ron Orbach. Learning from the best in the costume/wardrobe world from the unstoppably trendy talented Alabama Blonde. We are now in the process of obtaining my visa. This will allow me to stay in a city that feels like home.
Who would have thought that little girl, with a piece of paper & pencil in her hand, from Hobart Tasmania, would have such a ragged & defining road to the creative city of Los Angeles by doing what she loved & being Artistic?
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
When I was 11 years old, my Mother & Father got divorced, it was a very destructive hurtful time for me. I was the eldest of 4 children & took the pressure, that latest for years. So I ran from this straight into a dysfunctional marriage at 18 years old.
Over the years the violence got more frequent, so my mental & psychical health declined. Seeing lots of therapists to ease the load. Soon psychical health became an issue and surfaced into many debilitating qualities. So my biggest obstacle would have been my body breaking down around me.
I have had two close calls with death. Both internal bleeding after surgeries. Both are re-opening to clean up the bleeding.
The last one was in 2013, I was so close to death that the medical team was surprised I lived. I was drowning in my own blood, it had consumed my lungs. I always say ‘ there must be something I need to achieve in this lifetime, that was important enough for me to survive!!”
I spent 4 days in a coma, 2 weeks in hospital & 3 months in recovery. At the time I was studying, working & going through a divorce. I look back now & wonder how I ever got through that year & the many years around that.
Now I have a very strong mental & health routine, that I live by religiously. I refuse to return to the days when I would consider my body a liability, it is an asset that I adorn with my own style of fashion.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work as an Artist in many fields across that banner. I have many Diploma & practice all of them in my working life.
I am known mainly for my Photography though now I’m working in the field of acting. I do a lot of Costume styling & creation for short films including my own.
Back in Australia, I did a lot of Character development & styling. I am very proud of what I achieved in this area. I have an Instagram page I have devoted to these projects. Check it out @suzie_scissorhands_
I have only just got to the milestone of 12 months here in Los Angeles. Still developing my path.
The direction I will take here in this creative city is unknown at this moment. Though I’m sure I have many avenues & options to explore, & challenges to conquer.
People to meet & relationships to build, it’s an exciting time for me at the moment.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Wow!! I would have to think I am the luckiest person on the planet. I have survived trauma, illness & death. I have gained hope, faith & trust in the universe, that all will work out.
I’m a Tasmanian who is sitting in the most amazing city in the world, Los Angeles. Every turn I made had luck involved.
It brought me the right people at the right time, who guided me to where I needed to be on my path.
All with my need for knowledge, skills & drive to succeed, luck helped.
Luck will always be there, while I continue to have the ambition to be the most authentic person I can be, to do want I need to do to achieve a more peaceful world through the art of storytelling. Speaking people’s truth.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://suziehindsactor.smugmug.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suziehindsproduction/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzie.hinds.1/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/suzie_scissorhands_/?hl=en
Image Credits
Steph Girard Photography and Suzie Hinds Photography
