Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Edwards.
Hi Marissa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My life has always been about creativity. Growing up, my parents were pretty strict. We weren’t allowed to watch tv during the week, and we could only hang out with friends if it was part of an after-school club. My siblings and I entertained ourselves by making up games, making movies, crafting, and playing outside. I used to be resentful of this, I wanted to be like the other kids who got to walk around the mall with their friends and be able to talk about the tv shows and movies everyone was always going on about. Looking back now, though, I’m so thankful for those rules. I was able to develop a clear sense of self very young, and very quickly the pressure to fit in disappeared. I have been performing in plays since pre-school, but I fell in love with theatre when I was twelve. I had my first big role as Dagmar in “I Remember Mama” and it was a huge deal for me because I got to say “hell” in front of a bunch of people without getting in trouble. That’s pretty much my first encounter with the power of theatre. I haven’t stopped acting since. I was in every play, musical, and special assembly skit my school had to offer right up to my senior year. I was lucky enough to be a part of a dual-enrollment program where I spent my mornings in high school and my afternoons studying acting at the local community college. There I learned the art of theatre and dance. It wasn’t just about entertainment, it was an exploration of the world and the study of people. I decided to go to college to study acting and was granted a scholarship at Arcadia University in PA.
College was the first time out on my own, with none of my parent’s rules to follow, and I took full advantage of that. Which meant I was not the favorite student among my professors. I was written off as a party-girl and assumed that I didn’t take my work seriously. But every time a teacher presented me with doubt, I made a point to prove that not only am I capable and serious, but I could excel. I remember being pulled aside by my Costume Design teacher to have a serious chat because she thought I was a drug addict or something, but hey man, it was college. I was just having fun. I was so mad at her and the sycophant that snitched on me that I made sure to score 100% as my final grade that semester, which I did. After that, she left me alone about my habits. During my time at school, I was able to travel the world, I studied literature in Scotland, film in Australia, and tourism in Dominica. As I traveled to all these places, I soaked up as much culture as I could, I made art everywhere I went. Wrote little skits, made sculptures out of found objects, put on plays for my roommates, I didn’t know it at the time, but I was developing into a fuller artist, no longer limited to just theatre. Once I graduated college, I packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. I had been dreaming of that move since I was twelve years old, telling myself I would live in Los Angeles and wake up every morning to the Hollywood sign.
Now, we’re sitting in my apartment with a view of the Hollywood sign and it feels like a dream come true for 12-year-old Marissa. I’ve changed a lot since the birth of that dream, and now I have more dreams I want to see through. I’ve grown from being just an actor into a full-blown artist. All these experiences have shaped me into someone that bleeds creativity. I need it to live. Moving to LA has taught me a lot. This is not an easy city to live in, by any means. It’s expensive, it’s saturated with hungry artists, and it’s a very cold-hearted place. But it says something that – even with the odds against me – I still wake up every day and chose art. I chose to look at the world through a playful and curious lens. I create work in any medium I see fit to express my emotions and perspectives in hopes to inspire others to take a break from being so serious, money-hungry, and closed off and just explore the moment.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Hahaha, there is no such thing as a smooth road. The bumps and dead-ends and wrong turns are what make us who we are. Life is a constant struggle in one way or another. As an artist, rejection is part of the job, right? We are prepared for a nonstop barrage of “NO” as actors. And five years out of Uni, those “No’s” are still coming. The belief I have in myself as an artist is challenged every day. But, my biggest struggle is balancing my abstract world with the structure of our society. We are brain-washed into thinking money is the most important thing and that we must accumulate as much as we can. “The more money we have shows how successful we are” and all that other bullshit. I fight that mindset every day, I do not believe money should determine our worth or our work ethic. I struggle a lot with not falling into that trap. and it’s a really hard thing to do when that landlord comes a-knockin’! It’s a hard thing to do in our society to feel worthy of your craft when you’re not swimming in riches. At the end of the day, though, money is a fallacy. It’s about the work you do and how that makes you feel, not how much money you earn from it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a multi-disciplinary artist. My specialties include acting (of course), painting, narrative and non-narrative filmmaking, mixed-media, sculpture, and writing. I use a lot of found items and unconventional materials in my work and my style is in the realm of experimental and expressionistic. I’m known for being a bit of an eccentric, known more popularly as a “Grade A Weirdo”, which is most definitely a compliment. In all of my work, I try to be as authentic to my voice and my perspective as possible, often taking experiences from my life and processing the emotions tied to that experience through art. Recently, I wrote a short film about a sexual encounter I had in college with a friend of mine. I have a lot of confusion surrounding this event and I wrote this movie to get some clarity and connect with other women who may have gone through something similar. Art has definitely been my form of therapy, however, not every project of mine takes on such a serious tone. Except for acting, I really don’t have any training in other mediums. I think this sets me apart because I have no rules or structure to follow, I’m throwing paint at the wall and seeing what sticks. My work comes from my emotions rather than technique, and because only I have lived my life, I can offer a unique perspective no one else can.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Social Media has definitely been changing the game for a while now and the way things have been going. I love that Warhol quote that says, “in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”. Andy was pretty spot on with that one. I think in the past, celebrity was a side effect of being an artist, now you can be famous for doing some basic cheerleader moves to someone else’s voice, and that’s what people are hungry for. To me, Art – when I say “art” I mean everything: film, music, fine art, etc. – has fallen to the wayside and many people are just focused on doing the thing that will get the most attention. Content is different than art. Content is putting things out for the sake of being seen, art is sharing your thoughts and expression because you have something to say. This also comes back to the money thing. I think apps like Tik Tok and Instagram are becoming synonymous with the commercial industry and are abused by the CEOs and Big Business people trying to get free marketing.
In all the excitement of these new ways of the world, we are losing quality for quantity. I get so frustrated scrolling through Instagram, everything is an ad; everyone has something they’re trying to sell you. This is something I want to change. Art isn’t about making sales. I can’t predict what the future for these creative industries will be, but for me, I want to remind people that imagination is more important than money. I want to make connections that mean something again. These creative industries have been and continue to be an exclusive and superficial place that is about profit and gain. There are always exceptions to these opinions, but for the most part, it’s about what you have, who you know, and how you can lift up other people instead of working together to create something beautiful. It’s a status game. I don’t want to be part of that type of workplace, so I’m trying to change my relationship with that. I used to think I wanted to be famous, but if that’s what fame is, I’ll pass. Really, I just want to be free to do what I am passionate about, which is making work and living my life in a way that affects and inspires others,
Contact Info:
- Email: earth2marissa@gmail.com
- Website: marissaedwards.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/iheartyadad
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-33778246
- Other: twitch.tv/iheartyadad
Image Credits:
Yvette Aguilar (for personal photo)
