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Meet April Matson of Los Angeles Acting Coach

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Today we’d like to introduce you to April Matson.

April, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been a working actor for several years, most known for my role as Lori Trager on the ABC Family series Kyle XY. I wasn’t an official coach, but during the early years of my career, some of my actor friends became reliant on me to help them with their auditions. Most of my training was with the great acting teacher Andrew Benne, who now owns Acing SD in San Diego. Andrew always said I took to the work like a fish to water and over the years, has encouraged me to teach and coach.

In 2013, I relocated to Boise, Idaho to sort out some family matters. At the time, I thought it would be a six months hiatus, but it turned into six years. While I was there, I opened up an acting studio called Platform Boise and started teaching and coaching local actors, sometimes still coaching LA actors online.

I loved the Boise arts community and spent a lot of time creating in ways that I never did when I was in LA. I wrote, directed and produced short films which deeply informed my approach as an actor and a coach. It profoundly broadened my perspective on storytelling and the filmmaking process. I would have never explored those things had I stayed in LA, as I was always desperately focused on getting another acting job rather than expanding my capacity as an artist.

But after six years, I had a Hollywood-shaped hole in my heart and was ready to re-introduce myself to the industry as an actor with a much purer and more passionate perspective on the craft and the business. I moved back to LA in September 2019 with my husband and partner in Apricott Films, a production company focused on creating short films, comedy sketches and now a web series called Olive and Pepper that can be seen on our YouTube channel.

In Boise, I had fallen in love with teaching and decided to launch LosAngelesActingCoach.com so I could support my coaching clients while I returned to acting again. Being in Boise and working in Salt Lake City here and there made me realize how few great coaches are accessible to actors that live outside of LA or New York. I wanted to be able to reach actors everywhere and give them industry-level training and coaching that was also affordable and convenient.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The biggest struggle has been trying to bridge the gap between what actors are searching for and what they actually need. New actors tend to focus on how to get their foot in the door. They want to know how to get representation or how to get auditions when the first thing they should do is get training. What good is getting an opportunity if you’re not equipped with the tools to impress anybody? The first step to having an acting career is to get really good at acting, and like everything else, you have to invest time and energy into it if you expect to get anything in return. I cannot stress enough how important it is for actors to study the craft and develop technique.

Please tell us about Los Angeles Acting Coach.
LosAngelesActingCoach.com is a training and coaching platform for actors everywhere. There is a blog on the website with helpful articles, tips and tricks about the craft and business. Although periodically, I offer zoom classes, most of my work right now is coaching actors for auditions. I help a lot of actors with self-tapes by recording their side of our online session and sending them their video audition that they can send directly to casting. It’s been very helpful during the recent lockdowns due to the pandemic for actors that have a hard time finding a reader.

The thing I’m most proud of is my focus on technique and encouraging actors to do the hard work of honing their craft, rather than getting actors hyped up about how to break in the business. I think this is an easy industry to make money off people’s dreams by getting them excited about becoming famous or getting discovered and I think that’s dangerous. I have a deep respect for the work and I have no interest in selling delusions to people. What I care about is actors that want to work – helping them get good at it and supporting them as they navigate the complexities of the industry.

Having been an auditioning and working actor for twenty years, I think my most important differentiator is the amount of hours I’ve spent in audition rooms and on television and movie sets. Beyond helping actors develop technique, I can prepare them for the unique challenges that come with trying to get a job and also do the job. It’s one thing to learn how to act, and then another thing to learn how to audition, and then another thing to do what is required of you on set. I think I’m able to support actors emotionally through the difficult parts of their career because I’ve been there and I understand the subtle struggles that come up, internally and externally.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’m a big believer in staying present in the process and reveling in the discoveries that are made along the way, so I don’t usually spend a lot of time thinking about what I coulda woulda shoulda done! Sometimes you have to try something to find out what doesn’t work and there is a lot of value in what we might perceive as failed attempts or missing the mark. Although I’ve been teaching and coaching for many years, LosAngelesActingCoach.com is barely a year old and I’m already gaining new clients every week. I guess if I could time travel, I might reassure my past self that the actors that need me would find me and it’s okay for me to relax and enjoy the ride more!

Pricing:

  • $75/hour coaching via Zoom

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Carrie Hampton (first/main image), Brandon Freeman (candid photos), Emily Sandifer (headshot w/ green sweater and headshot w/ blue blazer) Nyk Fry (book cover art)

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