Rising Stars: Meet Julia Tolchin of West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Tolchin.

Hi Julia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m from New York! It’s important to mention because it definitely tells you a lot about my personality. Whenever people meet me out here and then I tell them that I’m from New York they’re always like “oh that makes sense” and us New Yorkers are very proud of that reaction. We’re vibrant, inclusive, resilient, we definitely wear our hearts on our sleeves. I started acting when I was eight after very passionately telling my mom that I didn’t want to be a ballerina, I wanted to be in a play! Luckily, I have the most supportive wonderful parents in the world so she found me a community theater to be a part of and I just knew it was where I belonged. I then went to a performing arts high school and then went on to get my BFA in theater from NYU Tisch and I’ve been acting ever since. Recently, I’ve carved my way into producing which has opened up a piece of me that I could have never imagined it would have.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I can’t imagine any artists road it smooth. So much of being an artist is getting really comfortable with yourself and that takes time and is maybe ever evolving. Then there are the elements of the entertainment industry that are just a part of the package, lots of rejection, going months in between jobs, not feeling like people understand what you bring to the table. But I think every job or rep or opportunity that doesn’t work out leads you to the one that will, that has proved to be true for me. There were many people who told me early on in my career that I had more work to do to get to where I wanted to go and they were right! You can get rejected and give up or you can get rejected and use that as an opportunity to keep improving your craft and your self and your skills. Something that I know now that I didn’t necessarily understand earlier on is that I never want to be done growing as an artist. I want to be put in rooms where I’m challenged, I want to get those rejections so I know where I can improve. And every time you do the hard work and you do improve or you get a little win, it builds that confidence and you get to know yourself a little deeper. So I know now that I am capable, I am so capable of being amazing at what I do. I truly believe the most important thing is resilience and not turning away from hard work. I think the only way to be truly successful in this industry is to just keep going and just keep growing. Those are the only things within our control. We just have to keep showing up. Also, surrounding yourself with really supportive, loving, kind, people helps a whole lot….both when things get hard and when you win!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Some of the projects that I have had an honor to be a part of include “Life & Beth” on Hulu, “FBI: Most Wanted” on CBS, and a film called “Kaite’s Mom” on Amazon. But the project that I am recently the most proud of is a play called “Burl” that I just independently produced and stared in. It was the world premier of the play which was written by the incredible Amanda Dacks and along with her and my long time creative partner Ana Verde we brought it to life. It was my first time producing theater and that was scary but we just said screw it, we want to do this so we’ll figure it out as we go and we did! Getting to wear both the producer hat and the actor hat simultaneously was by far one of the most transformative and rewarding experiences of my life. I was always encouraged to make my own work since we don’t really get a lot of agency as actors but I really didn’t know where I fit in that since I didn’t see myself as a writer or a director, but I’ve found that I’m really good at bringing the right people together and leading a team. I learned so much as a producer and got to go back to my roots performing in theater which fuels my soul like no other. You really can bring your teams to life! But more than all of that the most amazing part of it was getting to see how our community showed up for us and supported us and it was a true reminder of why we do this in the first place, because art brings people together.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Anyone who knows me knows I have the worst memory of all time but most of my favorite childhood memories of are being in a theater with my friends putting on shows and I just never want to stop doing that. My favorite thing in the world is getting to play with other creative people who inspire me and make things that move people and bring us tougher.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julia_tolchin/

Image Credits
Headshots- Renegade Studios
Production photos – Wylie Rush