Meet Ally Young-Price

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ally Young-Price.

Ally, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I always feel so silly when I tell people I’ve wanted to be an actor my whole life. Ever since I was a little kid, and before I even knew it, it was an avenue to pursue I was nothing but a ham. Playing pretend and telling stories was an outlet that I learned in my teen years (the hardest years to get through) and it gave me purpose.

I grew up all over Los Angeles, California. My parents divorced when I was super little and both remarried, so my dad lived in Calabasas, and my mom hopped all over Los Angeles opening up Nordstrom stores, putting us in Camarillo, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Calabasas all over. Which at the time, I would scream and cry that we’d be moving, but secretly love it. It was an opportunity to meet new people and go to places I’ve never been to before (which is the gift you get in storytelling).

When I was 12, we moved to Orlando, and when I was 13, we moved to Atlanta where I spent high school and would find a high school theatre teacher that would change my life, Renee Denney. She was the one who really explained to all of us, that if we really wanted to be actors we could. She had previous students that had been doing it on stage and screen and would give us the rough road map on how to get there. It was from that point that I decided this was what I wanted to do with my life.

My parents, (while always incredibly supportive), didn’t TOTALLY agree that I should go to school for acting. In their defense, these acting schools cost a ton of money in tuition and don’t necessarily have the success rate that a med school does for their doctors. So, paying back the student loans would be kinda shot in the dark. So, with that, my dad let me audition for three acting schools. I did, I got into Webster Conservatory in St. Louis, and I went and it was there they taught me all the tools I’d need to really go for this thing.

After graduating Webster, I was offered to do a children’s tour in St. Louis of which I actually turned down because I felt that I needed to get out of St. Louis and move to New York City. It was from there I would go off to work regionally in theaters doing musicals like The Marvelous Wonderettes, Fancy Nancy, Grease and more. But my heart still remained on television.

So, my boyfriend at the time (turned fiancé) suggested one winter that I go back to Los Angeles and see if I could see myself moving back. (I was one of those kids that never wanted to end up back where they grew up, even though my whole family had left LA as well.) I took the opportunity to get out of the New York City winter and went to Los Angeles for a month where I would stay with a family friend and get the lay of the land.

I’m a pretty spiritual person and I believe in signs, and I had quietly made a deal with myself, that if I somehow managed to get a theatrical agent while I was out in LA for the month, I would take it as a sign to stay. Needless to say… a week before my flight was scheduled back to New York, I got a call from an agent saying he wanted to work with me, and I never got on the plane.

I’ve been back in Los Angeles for four years in January and it has been nothing but a roller coaster ever since.

Has it been a smooth road?
No, no, no, no, it has not been smooth. But that’s life, isn’t it? This path kind of lends itself to struggle because it’s always uncertain. It’s filled with a myriad of rejection and false hope, but it also lends itself to giving you the most incredible highs of your life and getting to know yourself better than you ever thought you could.

JUST to name a few (aside from the obvious financial burdens, current uncertainty and having to be your own cheerleader). My two very first TV credits that I had since moving out to Los Angeles were cut in the editing room. Now, naturally this is just a part of this business, and its nothing personal at all. One might even argue “Well, Ally at least, you got the job and got to work on set” But when you work in a field where you wait your whole life for these moments because you just want to be able to say “Hey Mom! Hey Dad! Look, I made it on TV!” It’s only natural to initially take it personally. “Oh, but did I not do a good enough job? am I ever going to make it on TV? How will I make my parents proud?” I mean the negativity continues if you let it. But it’s how I come out to the other side of these silly self-deprecating questions that this business is really all about. And that’s leaning on the community I’ve built out here and letting myself have a moment where I may cry, scream into pillow and wallow for an hour and then move on and try for the next. It’s all a part of the job. It just happens to be an emotional clause.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Well… my business is ME. So, what sets me apart is my DNA, my story, and my perspective, right? So, while I know there are other actors out there who may look like me or may specialize in making people laugh like I do, I know that their story is different, and so is their perspective. So, I lean on that, and It’s seemed to get me to some pretty great opportunities.

Recently, I was a part of the ABC Discovers Showcase and will be on an episode of a new series called Dollface on Hulu. Both opportunities where I got to lean on my strengths of making fun of the human species (which I LOVE to do). The whole reason I do what I do, and why I love to make people laugh is because I think life is too short to be taken too seriously. And the more we learn how to laugh at each other, the better it makes the world.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
This city is full of dreamers. I think it’s a great place that presents a ton of opportunities for artists and actors alike. I think that if our city needs to improve at all, it’s in its overwhelming need for universal support of one another.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.allyyoungprice.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allyyoungprice/

Image Credit:
Joanna Degeneres

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