Meet Anna Christensen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Christensen.

Anna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m a 26 years old actor and model. I was originally born in Denmark, but grew up all over the world – my family moved to Thailand when I was nine years old, and since then I’ve spent time in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, and finally, here in LA. I’ve always loved performing. When I was a kid, I was a competitive showjumper and wanted to spend my life traveling and being a part of the equestrian show circuit. Then, as I got older I discovered musical theater at a primary school play and became obsessed. I’ve always been a singer and trained in opera when I was younger, so for a really long time I wanted to work in musical theater. I was a theater kid in high school, and when I graduated I was lucky enough to be accepted to a musical theater school in Hamburg, Germany where I did my BA. However, the more I worked towards becoming a musical theater performer, the more I realized that t wasn’t actually what I wanted to do.

Before moving to Germany, I had done about a year if vocational training at a school in Copenhagen focused on theater and film, and I missed that style of acting – I still love musical theater and have nothing but respect for the people that work in it, but I realized that my heart was in film. So after finishing my BA, I moved to London and did a one-year course at the London School of Dramatic Art, with the goal of working in film and TV afterwards. Just as I’d finished this course I swiped right on a very fateful Tinder profile, met my now-husband, who’s an American citizen, and now here I am: one of the hundreds of actors living with roommates in small apartments to save money, rushing between auditions and class and side gigs, and loving every minute (except for the around 30 minutes every month I get frustrated and loudly proclaim that I’ve made a mistake, but that feeling very quickly disappears).

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s definitely not always been smooth! A main struggle for me has always been finances: I don’t come from a wealthy family so whatever support they’ve been able to give me has been very limited. I’ve been working full-time jobs pretty much since Ì was 16, and during my drama school training in Hamburg and London I worked two side gigs! But I’ve been lucky that it’s always worked out somehow and that I’ve been surrounded by wonderful, tolerant and kind people who’ve supported me in what I wanted to do and have helped me do what I needed to to make it work. Everything from school administrators being lenient on deadlines for school fees, to bosses letting me pick up extra shifts, and even sometimes teachers having me come over and babysit their dogs for pocket money!

Of course, there’s also always the struggle of worrying about having made the right choice – am I even good enough, is my look too extreme, did I shake that casting director’s hand in a weird way, did I pick the wrong class to go to..? But I’ve gradually learned along the way that I can drive myself crazy worrying, and it generally doesn’t make anything better, so I try to approach things like that with a sense of mindfulness. I’ll remind myself that I can defend every choice I’ve made regarding my career to myself and that it’s okay and natural to feel a little anxious sometimes – so on those particularly anxious days, I’ll try to not fight whatever I’m feeling, be extra kind to myself, and maybe eat some chocolate.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
It’s pretty simple, I’m an actor and occasionally a model. And I guess that because of the way I look, I’d specialize in characters that would look a little edgier – but that’s thankfully a lot of characters these days! I love playing roles that are slightly apart from society… my favorite films are things like “Only Lovers Left Alive” by Jim Jarmusch, “The Witch” by Robert Eggers, or Darren Aronofsky’s “Requiem For A Dream”. I’m also a huge fan of everything Kristen Stewart has done since “Twilight”! Lately, I’ve been playing more and more creature roles as well, which I’m super thankful for – as a lifelong horror fan, getting to be the monster is pretty much as good as it gets! On the modeling side of things, I like to work with brands or people who’s vision overlap with mine. I think it’s great fun, and I always really love how modeling, just like acting, is all about creating a mood and arousing feelings in the viewer!

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Yes, I definitely feel like LA is the place to be for someone who wants be break into the film industry! The opportunities, the support you get from your colleagues, and the amount of brilliant teachers and coaches working here is just unparalleled.

Contact Info:

• Address: 5743 Lexington Avenue, Apt. 6
  Los Angeles, CA, 90038
• Website: www.annachristensenactor.com
• Phone: 8053326549
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna.christensen/

Image Credit:
Julia SH and Satya Linak, Niki Byrne.

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