Meet Laura Van Yck

Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Van Yck.

Laura, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Belgium and discovered my love for art at a very young age. I started art academy when I was seven, as I was always drawing and painting. I became interested in writing as well and even wrote a movie when I was 12 years old. It was a supernatural action film about spies, a lot of fun! I was just always making up fantasy stories and acting them out as a way to express myself.

The desire to act in my own movie was my trigger to go to acting school. I enrolled in a local drama school, and that is where my entire acting journey started. It was also during that time that I discovered my passion for singing. I reached out to the singing department of my drama school and was trained as an opera singer.

I realized I wanted to move to America very soon and as I wasn’t a native English speaker, I had to go through the process of learning a new language. Luckily we start learning English at school too, so that part wasn’t all too difficult. The hard part was finding the right school in America. After doing research about acting schools in LA, I landed upon New York Film Academy, Los Angeles.

It looked like a perfect match for me, the school was experienced with foreign students. In the few months after my graduation, I worked hard to gain credits. I have been in short films, music videos and have done voice over. As I am a foreigner, I am under extreme pressure to become experienced very quickly. Visa is very hard to get if you don’t have enough materials. And that’s where I am today!

Has it been a smooth road?
The decision to move to America alone and start a new life and career has been the most challenging thing I have had ever done. The fact that I lost my mom two months before leaving, made it all even more difficult. A lot of people around me thought I was crazy to take this step and give up a steady life for a dream. Luckily, a lot of others really encouraged me and wished me the best of luck, which made me feel so happy!

Also, I have a very supportive dad who, even though he didn’t travel with me, helped me through the entire process of starting a new life in America. The first months were hard, I had no family in America and didn’t know any friends yet. I’m an independent person, and I can handle myself, but still, it was all so new and unknown. Luckily, when I started my acting program, I got to know some amazing people and started to feel at home.

Now, I am approximately one and a half years later. Even though I have achieved a lot in a short amount of time, I am still struggling to make it as an actress. When you’re fairly new to the industry, it’s hard to get the door opened. Or to find good representation. All of the rejections and disappointments are hard to deal with sometimes. It becomes very demotivating after a while to never hear “yes.”

But it’s exactly at these moments that you have to convince yourself to take that extra step. I knew from the beginning it was going to be a long and hard road. I came to America to do this, and I would never give it up!

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am an actress, model, and (opera) singer. I am fluent in Dutch and studied Latin in high school. Besides acting and singing, I am interested in photography. I used to organize photoshoots back in Belgium and have helped a lot of my friends here in LA with headshots. Now, I mostly work on fantasy self-portraits. Photography is another way for me to express myself. I also have some experience with pole dancing! It was just something I really wanted to discover.

What I think makes me unique is my specific brand, created by my accent and looks. In fact, I’m not very fond of the word “brand,” and I would rather just call it my personality and the way I present myself. I have Russian roots too and combined with my European accent, I often get mistaken for a Russian girl. It’s something I would love to incorporate in how I market myself though, I could be a Russian spy or perform in a European period piece!

Even though I stay open to different characters, I do have my favorites! I love strong, mysterious women who have some darkness around them. My looks are in favor of these type of characters, and I often hear that I would be the perfect vampire. I do love that, but, I would have the same amount of fun in an all-American, comedic commercial! I really like to experiment with different sides of acting and often go for characters that are not in my wheelhouse.

What would you like to achieve in the next couple of years?
It’s realistic to say that I still have a long way to go! I try to work and make progress every day, but it’s still a competitive industry, and you have to fight for your spot. In the next few years, I would like to gain more significant credits. A feature film and a fun commercial would be great achievements.

Also, finding good representation is important for the next years. Some opportunities can come very unexpectedly, so it’s hard to say what will happen. I just try to concentrate on small achievements too as they can sometimes lead to something bigger.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lauravanyck.com
• Email: vanyck.laura@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivanova_the_terrible/
• Other: imdb.me/lauravanyck

Image Credit:
Steven Chou, Mark Edwards, Kristin Horgen, Hassan Elkreidli, Priyam Sadhukhan

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