Meet Isabella Thatcher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isabella Thatcher.

Hi Isabella, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have always considered myself very fortunate to have grown up in an artistic family who has been endlessly supportive of my creative pursuits. I come from a family of professional film musicians, and it was a given from day one that the arts would play a big part in my life. Sure enough, music has been ingrained in me since I was born, and I was learning to read notes as I was learning to read words. I got some of my first professional work playing the cello at a very young age, something that I have continued to study into my adult life. As I continued to build my skills in cello, I also began singing professionally at the age of ten. Music was my life, and I was in love with it.

My passion for acting was actually awoken through singing. Ever since I started my vocal music training, I was always drawn to songs that had large acting components to them. To me, singing and acting have always been intertwined. No matter the piece or song you sing, no matter the style or language it is in, acting it is a huge part of the way you connect with the audience and the text. That love and excitement I had for singing quickly blossomed into a passion for acting in theatre and—later—film and the rest is history!

Some of my first professional work as a singer was with the Malibu Friends of Music at the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture, where I learned to perform in front of an audience from a very early age. By the time I performed in my first musical at eleven years old—Molly in the hit musical Annie—I was used to being in front of an audience. I remember waiting for school to end every day so that I could get over to the theatre for rehearsal and step into that world to live in my character’s shoes even for a couple of hours, in a show that I loved. Finally, sharing it with an audience was a thrill, I have been acting ever since!

I spent many years when I was younger wondering whether or not I wanted to pursue acting professionally. It was something that I loved doing that I was passionate about, and I always had the most fun when I was onstage, but I had been told by many—as is unfortunately typical for those in the arts to hear—that it was a difficult career choice. My parents are professional musicians, and they have always been supportive of my creative pursuits and passions, so I was lucky that I never had anyone in my immediate family trying to tell me not to do what I was passionate about. Nevertheless, there was still a little battle within myself about what I truly wanted to do for the rest of my life. The decision was truly solidified when I was sixteen years old, and I spent two weeks at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Summer Seminar in Ashland, Oregon, where I fell in love with theatre all over again and discovered a passion for the works of William Shakespeare. I was so inspired by all that I had learned, the incredible shows that I had seen while I was there, the people that I worked with and learned from that I knew that this was the career I was meant to have. The career that I truly wanted. I hoped that if I could be inspired the way I was during my time at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, then one day I could inspire someone else to pursue their creative dreams and see the world in a new light the way that I had.

My passion and excitement for my profession grew as I spent four years studying at Oregon Center for the Arts, where I worked with and studied under professionals in the industry, many from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival itself. Not only did I get to learn and grow in my chosen field, but I also studied the many facets of theatre that go into making a production, from technical to design to playwriting itself. It allowed me to broaden my perspective, and I found that putting myself in the shoes of people throughout all different theatrical professions allowed me a new look into my own. It was exciting and enlightening, and I came out with a greater appreciation for theatre as a whole. I also discovered a love for comedy and acting improvisation through my work with The Next Best Thing Improv, the university’s long-standing improv troupe. After an audition process, I was accepted onto the team in my first term as a freshman and performed in a number of shows with them throughout my time at Oregon Center for the Arts. I went on to become captain of the team in my final two years there, and it was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. While performing with the team and then later as a captain, I developed skills that have helped me both in my professional career as an artist and in my role as an educator.

I believe it is important to keep an open mind when pursuing a career in the arts. I am equally interested in acting for theatre, film, voice acting, and comedy. They are all very different mediums that I can learn something new from and utilize different skills for, and that’s intriguing to me. I have always believed that it’s important to take what opportunities are presented to you—as long as you feel safe and well-treated, of course—because they will help you to learn and grow. Having skills in multiple areas will help you in your development as an artist. Acting, singing, writing, and cello have all come in handy in my various creative pursuits and have often gone hand in hand. I have been writing consistently for more than a decade and have been working toward producing and acting in my own work as well. Creating work for yourself is essential as an artist, it allows you to get the stories you want to see out there and to play the roles you want to play.

I recently had my first experience as a producer on Burn The Witch: The Series, in which I also play the character Martha Goode. It was an exciting and daunting experience to produce a project, especially a full-length series but has ultimately been so rewarding, and I have learned a great deal throughout the process. We have released three episodes with more coming soon, and I have found it to be quite gratifying each time an episode is released to feel that sense of accomplishment of having made something you are proud of. My time with Burn The Witch has been especially fun because I’ve gotten to utilize multiple skills throughout the process. In addition to acting and producing, I have served as a story editor and a singer-songwriter with a song that will premier in the ninth episode. I am looking forward to more of Burn The Witch: The Series and the other projects I have lined up coming soon, and the opportunities to learn and grow that will certainly follow! I am grateful to be doing what I love and hope to continue telling the stories I want to tell.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When you choose a life in the arts, obstacles are unfortunately inevitable, but they aren’t necessarily a bad thing. I am actually grateful for each and every obstacle I have faced because I truly believe they have made me stronger in the end, even though they’re often difficult to overcome. One of the biggest struggles I have faced during my time as an artist is self-doubt. Coming from a family of artists, impostor syndrome is practically genetic, and I often find myself in an internal debate. Am I good enough? Do I deserve to be here? There are so many amazing people in this field, what am I doing here? It is a difficult feeling to overcome and tends to rear its ugly head at the worst possible times, but it is important to know that there is room for everyone. No one will bring what you bring to something because you are the only person who is you, and that makes you completely unique. I don’t like to consider myself in competition with people because when I am going up for the same role or opportunity as someone else, they are completely different from me. They are completely unique, just as I am, with our own sets of skills and knowledge and passions to bring to the table. Everyone is deserving of a place. I remind myself of that often when I am faced with another bout of impostor syndrome. It is essential in this industry that you know your own worth and also to remember that you cannot know everything. You will always be learning and growing throughout your career. The actors and artists that I look up to the most are the ones who are open about not knowing everything, always striving for more, always looking toward a greater goal and potential. It is humbling when we realize that we will never be perfect or the very best, and all we can do is strive to be better. To stay grounded as we learn, both as artists and as people.

A big obstacle that many actors, including myself, have faced is the notion of being put into a box when it comes to the kinds of roles you play. While this can sometimes be helpful when it comes to the roles you can prepare to be up for, it is often very restricting. Because I have a young face and big eyes, people oftentimes want to put me in the “young ingenue” box, and while there are roles within that that I do enjoy playing, I consider myself much more of a character actor than an ingenue. I enjoy getting to be messy, weird, and complex, and I always feel the most satisfied in my career when I can play characters of the like. While I am grateful for any role that I have and take it very seriously no matter what it is, I think it’s important to know the kinds of roles you want to play and explore. I am always inspired by actors who can be so completely transformative depending on their role, who seem almost unrecognizable even though you know it’s them. I hope to do that in the roles I play, and I think a big way to get there and avoid that box is to create your own work. Entrepreneurship is one of the best parts of the arts, and I believe that creating and playing the roles you want to play for yourself will break down the walls of that box and allow others to see what you can do, which can lead to more roles of the like in your career in the future. One of my favorite assignments I was ever given in an acting class was while I was getting my musical theatre minor at Oregon Center for the Arts, and we were told to bring in a song from a role that you would never be cast in. I have always been a fan of Little Shop of Horrors, so I brought in Seymour’s song “Grow For Me.” It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had, and in my head I was like “Well this is the only opportunity I’m going to get to play this role,” but I realized later that there’s nothing really stopping me from playing roles like that. If you create and produce your own work, you can play the roles you want to play and tell the stories you want to tell. It will open your eyes to so many more opportunities, open others’ eyes to what you can do, and more great things will follow.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am fortunate enough to have been working professionally since I was ten years old as a resident artist with the Malibu Friends of Music at the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture. As a performer, I have collaborated with them for over a decade, and I am grateful to them for having given me my start and for always welcoming me back with open arms. During the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, I was able to keep working because of my connection with the Malibu Friends of Music. Since we were unable to bring live concerts to audiences during the time of isolation, resident and guest artists recorded pieces from their own homes, which were then edited together in a virtual concert setting. This then led to a video series entitled “Montgomery Arts House Presents…” available on Youtube, which features video recordings of much of my recent work with the Malibu Friends of Music and kept me performing during a time when very few were able to. I have had many people reach out to me and tell me how much it meant to them that we continued to release music and spoken word performances even when audiences couldn’t attend in person and how it kept so many people going during a time of persistent loneliness. Hearing that meant the world to me, and I was thrilled to be able to return to in-person work with the Malibu Friends of Music this past summer in their two week-long Malibu Coast Music Festival, where I got to work with incredible artists from across the country and perform pieces that I have always longed to perform to full audiences each night. I am thrilled to be collaborating with them again this spring, and look forward to more projects in the future!

When it comes to acting, I consider myself first and foremost a character actor. I love stepping into other people’s shoes, I love playing bizarre characters, I love playing real down to earth people, I love playing anything in between. I love playing. Being an actor means getting to play pretend as your job, and I find myself getting to connect with my childhood spirit a lot because of that. Yet, it’s so much more than just pretending to be someone else, it’s stepping into another person’s shoes and living their life. Seeing the world through their eyes, even when it doesn’t always fit with your own perspective. I will never know what it’s like to grow up on another planet or fight a dragon, but if I am playing a character who does, I have to find truth to that. I have to be able to take those experiences and bring them to life, even if they are unusual to me. Acting helps me learn more about my own humanity as I step in and live the lives of so many other people. You owe it to your characters, your audience and yourself to portray that genuinely and respectfully, no matter the character you play or genre in which you perform.

Improv comedy is one of my favorite things to sink my teeth into, and I always jump at the opportunity to bring that into the roles I play. Comedy is such a fun genre to play with because there are so many different, unique things you can bring to it. It’s a great space to be able to be outlandish and weird and play a variety of kooky characters you might not get to play in other mediums or genres. I have written and performed in several sketches of my own, and enjoy doing various impersonations. Short-form and long-form improv comedy have always been a place where I have felt comfortable and excited because not only is there a bit of a thrill in the nerve-wracking lack of a script, it also frees your mind to be able to do what comes to mind first, and doesn’t leave you second guessing yourself and your choices. There’s a freedom there that you can’t find anywhere else.

Currently, I have been working as an actor and producer with Enter Three Witches Entertainment on the urban fantasy web series Burn the Witch: The Series, which follows a Coven of witches who come together to solve a sinister mystery when one of their own is killed. I play Martha Goode, an 18-year-old necromancer and the youngest member of the Coven. We have released three episodes thus far and I have been so thrilled with the response the show has gotten, the theories that people have been telling us and sending in, and the excitement surrounding each release. Martha is one of my favorite characters that I’ve ever played because while there’s a lot of whimsy to her, she’s also very grounded, and that’s a really fun dichotomy to explore. When I spoke with our showrunner/writer/director Martha Thatcher about the character when we were first developing her, we decided that she was like a Wes Anderson character met with a Guillermo Del Toro character (specifically Pan’s Labyrinth), and that has been such a specific energy to play that is different from anything I’ve gotten to do before. I am overjoyed that people have been enjoying the show and the characters, and am always honored when people talk about how they feel about Martha Goode and her story. Knowing she is making an impact has meant so much to me.

I also have an upcoming short film that I will be starring in, entitled Tempo Rubato, written and directed by Sonny Newman, in which I play a pianist visited by three ghouls on the night of her eighteenth birthday recital. It takes inspiration from films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon and is unlike any other project I have ever worked on. My character is completely silent and often stoic except for expressions in the eyes, and I am really looking forward to exploring that through movement and countenance. I have also been getting to utilize my musical knowledge in the development of this character, which has been exciting for me because it’s another set of skills I have worked hard to develop that I get to bring in and work with. I am always thrilled when I get to play a character who has musical knowledge or plays an instrument because that’s something I feel I am uniquely suited to. We begin shooting this week, and I am so excited to get started!

In addition to performing, I have also been working as an arts educator for many years. I believe it is imperative for artists to pass on what we have learned to younger generations and hopefully inspire them to pursue their own careers in the arts. The world needs more artists in it—art is what makes us human. This past summer, I worked alongside some incredible artists at “Find Your Voice” in collaboration with T3 Productions LLC to teach improv, theatre history and etiquette, craft and dance to kids from kindergarten through fifth grade. It is always inspiring to watch young artists learn and grow in their fields, and I am excited to have partnered with the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture to create “The Montgomery Arts House Academy of Music and Drama,” in which I will be teaching a variety music and theatre classes and private lessons alongside some truly wonderful artists as teaching faculty, opening in the summer of 2023!

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Some of the best advice I have ever been given was during my time at Oregon Center for the Arts by my film acting professor, Kirkaldy Myers. As a professional in the industry, he gave the class invaluable advice and insight into the business and how to effectively stay sane while pursuing a career in the film industry. He would always say to remember to keep in touch with your mind, body, and spirit. There are going to be people in this industry who are going to want to put you down, to tell you you’re not good enough, or you don’t have the right look. You don’t want to internalize any of that or put yourself down because of it. It is vital that you keep in touch with your mind, body and spirit so that you can stay grounded. So that you can stay true to yourself and your heart while you navigate an industry that can on many occasions, be cruel. If people put you down, know that it is never actually a reflection on you or your artistic merit. It is essential that you know your own worth, be aware of what you can bring to the table, and believe in your own value. If you keep that confidence in yourself, you can tune out all those other bad voices and focus on what is important and the work you have at hand. Trust yourself and your voice, and know that you are enough. You deserve to be seen and heard.

I think it’s also important to remember that you don’t need to choose one thing. If you have a wide range of skills, you don’t need to choose one to be good at. If you are pursuing a career in the arts, all those skills will come in handy. I am an actor, but I am also a musician, a writer, and a producer. Those are all skills that have worked in tandem to help me in my creative pursuits. The more you can do, the more opportunities will come and the more opportunities you will be able to create for yourself. Create your own work, and tell the stories you want to see. Some of the best work out there is that which has been created by the people who star in it. The way that the industry is now, it is important to be making your own work so that others can see what you can do. If you sit around waiting for something to happen, it won’t happen. You have to make the opportunities for yourself so that your voice can be heard, and more will follow.

Most of all, have fun. The arts can be a difficult industry to navigate, but also so rewarding. Make sure you are doing what you love, and that it makes you happy and leaves you feeling fulfilled. The arts are a fundamental part of our humanity. Be disciplined, yes. Take it seriously, yes. But also have fun. Play. Live.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13843044/
• Instagram: isabellathatcher
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabella-thatcher-334a37234
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdz8R9evUmfs43XiRapFrhw
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/@montgomeryartshousepresent2513

Image Credits
Kim Budd, Matt Dine Photography, Martha Thatcher, Katie Herling