Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Vaganos.
Hi Kristen, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Of course, hi! I am an actor and producer originally from a Greek-American family in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. I began acting when as a child, you know, when your parents sign you up for everything and the sports simply didn’t stick… My hand-eye coordination isn’t really there and aside from cheerleading and gymnastics, which I did love growing up, theatre was the only extracurricular that really excited me. I felt so at home in a place where I could be playful and imaginative and also have all eyes on me, but ONLY when I was in character as someone else. Before I knew it, I was taking the train into center city every day for acting classes, theatre productions, and eventually auditions.
I have endless memories of sitting in my childhood bedroom acting out imaginary scenarios in which I played all the characters. Some people sing in the shower, I break up with my fake boyfriend who I caught kissing my fake best friend whose hair I JUST braided yesterday!
It’s not that I had a traumatic childhood that I needed escaping, quite the opposite! My parents have the happiest marriage I’ve ever seen and my sister and I are so proud and grateful for the way they raised us. But I have always felt immensely more interesting when I’m exploring life scenarios outside my own, feeling the weight of stakes I don’t know, and to put it simply, being someone else.
I think acting is the great gift of life for me because it contains so many lives! As I’m writing this, I just got back from a week-long vacation in Puerta Vallarta and I couldn’t help but imagine the uniquely varied and personal lives of every person I passed. The woman working at the bank who walked a young customer outside and high-fived him -what is their story? Is he finally opening his first bank account, one neither of them ever thought possible? Has she been rooting for him and perhaps working overtime to help him, and in the process, falling in love with the impact of her job all over again? Who knows! But I’d love to dive in, find out and explore that experience.
I am innately an empath… to a fault, every now and again. But I’m grateful for it. Empathy allows me to stay curious, open, introspective, and compassionate toward lived experiences outside my own And wouldn’t this planet turn a little smoother if we all led with empathy? Please hold while I step off my high horse, so sorry.
Anyway, to fill in a couple of gaps: I applied to and auditioned for 24 colleges because I was too indecisive and wanted them to make the decisions for me, only to then apply Early Decision (a binding application) to NYU and throw all the rest away. I got my BFA in drama at NYU and absolutely adored living in the city -endless amounts of people to inhabit on my daily walks to classes, my bartending job, and auditions! I graduated a year early to move to LA. During the pandemic, I learned to produce. And now I audition, I perform, I write, I collaborate, I develop, I produce, I pitch and all the rest with the intention of telling honest exciting meaningful stories with like-minded creatives and artists I respect. I have broken up with many more shower boyfriends and counting!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some moments have been smoother than others. NYU was a dream. I never yearned for the football game, sorority experience of college. I wanted to feel like an adult living, working, auditioning, and taking classes in the city. And that’s exactly what I got! I met my absolute best friends in college, I drove myself wild running to auditions during my lunch breaks, and I starred as the lead in many plays that I still treasure -including a farce in which I fell through 3 doors and accidentally kissed the wrong man directly in front of my parent’s seats. I played Heidi in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles and solidified for myself that I am indeed a raging feminist. I was even lucky enough to originate a role that was written for me in a brand new Lucy Thurber play called East Coast Curriculum.
In an act of willful ignorance and excitement, I graduated a year early to move to LA. The road has been a bit less smooth since and in another life, I’d have stayed in Manhattan a little while longer, I left wayyy before I was burnt out on the city. I’m in love with it still and grateful for every chance I get to go back.
The world and industry opened up in LA. I had to make friends, find my footing, and eventually I realized I was competing with young women who had been acting professionally since they were 13 or 6 or fricken 2! But that’s the thing, I wasn’t even really competing, I felt like I was on the outside watching others compete and perform and succeed and struggle. LA can definitely feel like that sometimes, like there’s a secret code to a door you can’t see where the party is happening that you didn’t know about until you saw it on Instagram the next day. And I mean the work, I don’t really mean a ‘party’ -I long ago acknowledged that my path will never be partying until 4am and meeting that producer who gives me my shot after bonding over bad coke- Not that there’s anything wrong with this approach, I’ve had friends find great opportunities through their social scene, I just simply can’t stay up that late anymore and have never done coke so that’s that.
It takes a minute but alas, I found my footing in LA. I found an amazing acting class that sometimes feels like Church, attended by other actors who are in it for the artistry, like me. I leaned into the improv comedy community of UCB which I’d been a part of back in NYC as well and I still perform there to this day, in a monthly show. I met my boyfriend out here who I’ve been with for 5 years now. I have amazing friends and an apartment bigger than I ever dreamt of back in NYC for less money! I am still happiest when I’m acting but one gift of the pandemic shutting down all auditions was that I leaned into producing.
I have always had too many opinions to be just an actor. I would constantly find myself on set wanting to speak outside of my department because perhaps there’s a smarter order to grab these shots in or because my character’s bedroom really wouldn’t be this neat. And I’m a control freak with authority issues, la dee da! Anyway, it suits me now knowing how to get a project off its feet and I feel much more empowered knowing I have more creative control on the projects I help develop. It also feels good because nobody will go to bat for you quite like yourself, so who better to cast a film I am passionate about with a story I would be honored to tell than me!
I still feel the uphill battle of this industry but I am certainly obtaining more tools in my toolbox as I gain speed climbing the mountain. Every day I strive to do good work, be kind, act with authenticity, and try not to mix up my metaphors.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Hm known for. Well, I have been ‘recognized’ exactly twice in my life. (SO FAR!)
The first time was at the airport by a woman who’d seen me in a Best Buy commercial. I’d be more embarrassed by this if I wasn’t so in love with this campaign directed by Darius Marder, the Oscar-nominated director of the film Sound of Metal, which I absolutely adored! And did I tear up on set telling him how much the film meant to me… yes, yes I did. But did he proceed to tell me how happy he was to be working with me and how much he fought for me in the casting room… yes yes he did!! We had a great time and I’m forever proud and grateful to have worked with him. Hopefully again soon!
The second time was at my local farmer’s market in Studio City where the guy sells who sells artisan olive oils and balsamic vinaigrettes told me he recognized me and I said “yes I come to your stand all the time, I have several of your olive oils in my cabinet right now!” Then he said “no you’re one of my LMN girls” to which I’m sure I stared at him strangely for far too long before realizing he meant Lifetime Movie Network. I have indeed starred in a handful of fun little thrillers on Lifetime and I believe the most popular one is called Obsessed With The Babysitter with yours truly playing the babysitter. I will say, that film was a whirlwind and a challenge because I played a professional dancer and had 2 weeks to learn 4 dances in varying styles, and do it confidently! Natalie Portman has 6 months and a body double on Black Swan! We hustled to wrap production a week before the pandemic and I worked my butt off on that film so I’m glad it’s gettin some love 🙂
What are your plans for the future?
I have a couple of really exciting projects in development right now. I’m working on a sequel to a film I starred in called I Am Lisa (available on Peacock), a pilot about a young s*x worker rewriting her narrative and taking back control, and a comedic murder mystery set at an elite tennis club which we adapted from a novel -to tease a few.
I am proud to announce that I can officially cross ‘play Rob Schneider’s girlfriend’ off my bucket list after working on an awesome film called Dead Wrong that should be out later this year.
Also a gorgeous grounded female-driven dramedy I produced titled Ramona At Midlife should be out later this year. I can’t wait for audiences to see it. The film is written and directed by esteemed playwright Brooke Berman and it illustrates a mid-life reckoning in a way that is so thoughtful and spunky and introspective. I’m very proud of our little engine that could🙂
Having worked gruelingly in the indie space for a while now, I hope to partner with a production company on the next project so as to work with a few more resources and helping hands. That looks like it may be happening soon and hopefully, I’ll have more to say on that shortly!
If you’re reading this and you’ve gotten this far, bless you, and if you have a story you want to tell, want to collaborate, or hire my silly little self, please reach out! And if you’re casting a project shooting in NYC or internationally, bring me with you! Cheers to the curious artists out there!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kristenvaganos.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kvaganos/
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6553508/
Image Credits
Emerson Niemchick, Mahina Choy
