Today we’d like to introduce you to Alisha Marks.
Alisha, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have been acting since I was three years old. The bug bit me hard! The first play I did was The Sound of Music. I remember how much I truly loved the feeling of being on the stage for the very first time. It has never left me.
My amazing Grandma gave me my love for performance and art. She was an amazing Dancer, she had a dance studio when I was little, she was an amazing Photographer and I would go to the Gusman Performing Arts Center in Miami pretty much every weekend with her and watch the performances. I would hold her tripod while she shot every performance that came through there. And she was an amazing Painter. She was in many publications all over the world. She taught me that you can do anything and you do not have just have one profession or passion in life as I have many!
Funny Story, I was acting and modeling a lot until… I was 13 and on a shoot in Miami Beach with my Mom. I was walking around like my stuff did not stink, basically acting like a huge brat. My Mom stopped me dead in my tracks and was like! I am done taking you all over for auditions and shoots! If you want to do this you do it on your time when you get a car. Well I got a car at 15, and it sat in my driveway until I was 18! Needless to say, I was a bit of a rebellion!
As soon as I turned 18, I went to my first audition on my own and it was for Pilot for a Tv Show and I booked it, I am still friends with the Director after all of these years. The next thing I did was go audition for a Theater Scholarship for College and I got it. I have 2 Theater Scholarships, one from The Lee Strasberg Tv and Film Institute in NYC affiliated with the Prestigious Tisch school of the Arts and Miami Dade College. I got into doing low budget films while on set in NYC. I learned how to do my makeup, started to do other people’s makeup, got into doing props, being a boom operator, Directing, Producing, got into Casting, working on pre, physical, and post-production. I have been in LA for 14 and a half years. When I got here, I was booking roles here and there. Working in Casting, Producing, and I started my own business teaching Acting to children over Skype worldwide, I have been doing that since 2011 and I have won 2 Awards for teaching acting to kids. I created my own Acting technique called The Marks Method. I use everything I have learned in front and behind the camera plus I do energy work with my students. It’s amazing and I love it! I focus on kids because I see how hard this business can be and I love to teach them while they are young how important it is to have a deep inner confidence. Society teaches the opposite. Everything is surface and to make it in this biz, you need to have inner confidence and thick skin!
After suddenly getting divorced a few years ago, that shook me to the core, I had no idea what I was still doing in LA. I am a Buddhist and I was chanting to figure out what to do with my life because I was the “Wife” many years. After chanting a lot! I was inspired one day and I wrote my first Tv show. I didn’t even have Final Draft at the time, I wrote it on text edit. LOL… Shortly after that, I got my first ever pitch meeting at a Network. Sent them my first Show called Kiddie Star Taxi and they loved it, went in to pitch and they were like ” What else do you have” I pitched a few more shows that were just ideas and they loved them. The Executive told me to write them and get them back to them asap. I was told I was going to have to come back for a 2nd pitch meeting. A few weeks later, I got an email from the Executive at the Network and she said 2 of my 3 shows were with the Head of Programing.
It was the most amazing thing because I did not go to film school and my 1st show came from pure inspiration after hitting such a hard time in my life. I did not sell them to the Network which was a blessing because soon after the Network was shut down. Since that time, a couple of years ago, I have written 3 Pilots and 11 more projects I am working on. I made a few short films and my Film “Puppy Love” which I Wrote, Directed, Produced, Cast and act in with my Furbaby is on a Streaming Network called The No Longer Network and at the end of 2019, it was Nominated for “The Best Film of the Year” that was so amazing for me, as that film came together within two weeks. I was acting on an Untitled Adi Skanker’s Tv Series and sitting waiting to go shoot my scenes and was inspired to write that short. I have had many Producers love my Shows, I have been told over and over I have an amazing voice and talent. I can’t wait till the day when my stories will be made to inspire and encourage others. I have used a lot of my pain from my life and transformed it into inspiration with my shows as my first few are about the Hero hitting walls, always transforming and winning in her life.
I am very lucky as I got into Executive Producing as well. I have Producers from all over the world who keep on sending amazing Films and Tv shows. I have an amazing Film Slate right now with Names attached and interest from and a whole bunch more films and Tv shows I am working on getting funded, and the cool thing is most of them I have negotiated an Acting role which I am so grateful for. I am so lucky, for my personal projects I have had many Producers want to take them on but they wanted me to clean them up, make them more kid-friendly. You would think since I teach acting to kids, they would be but they are not. My first show when I began to write it I was like oh Disney! But I made a shift and let my true voice come through. And I will not filter my voice. Most are dark comedies and I am keep them that way until my Entertainment Attorney has an amazing offer on the table! When that happens, I will change them any way needed to suit the Network or Studio that wants to buy them. And that is where Stubborn Lady Productions came into play. I am known as a Stubborn Lady as I do not give up! I push, some people do not like about me and most in the business do as they see my determination and hard work that comes from me because I am super passionate about everything I am doing.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No not at all!!! Since my Divorce, I have been working to rebuild myself over and over. I have moved so many times with my Pup, I cannot count anymore. I do not let the drama affect me anymore. I use it as fuel to never give up as I have huge goals and I know I am making them all come into my life. I work every day on being the best version of me. I have stumbled and fallen down countless time. I cry, chant and get right back up and keep on moving forward. My story will be in my shows as I do not feel I am a victim as I use my pain to inspire. I have used bits and pieces of my life in each show and I have one show called Changing poison into medicine and it’s all about facing life and doing a deep transformation to win no matter what. Keep on following me and you will soon see my shows.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am an Award-Nominated Filmmaker, Award-winning youth acting coach, Actress, Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Writer, Mentor and Tv Show Creator. I specialize in teaching acting to children. I coach over Skype worldwide ages 3 and up. What sets me apart is that I not only see what is blocking my students from having success and having joy for their craft and the business, I physically feel what is blocking them and I help them remove it! I use energy and I love to be an inspiration for my students as everything they are facing I have faced and overcome. For my Production Company, I am not only Executive Producing amazing Oscar worthy films, I have my own content. I look for stories that make you think, that will allow you to get out of your head and entertain you.
What were you like growing up?
I was extremely shy. I used to doubt words coming out of my mouth. No one believes me as I will go up and talk to anyone now! As a kid, I spent a lot of time alone reading, listening to French music and daydreaming.
Contact Info:
- Website: actingwithalisha.wixsite.com/best-youth-acting
- Phone: 310-428-3569
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/themarksmethod
- Facebook: facebook.com/themarksmethod
- Other: imdb.me/alishamarks , https://www.nolongernetwork.com/FilmmakersList/watch/Puppy-Love
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