Rising Stars: Meet Sheila Houlahan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheila Houlahan.

Hi Sheila, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been a performing kid/worked in the arts, but how I got to where I am today has been quite the rollercoaster! I got my start in music and have been singing professionally since I was six. By high school, I thought I wanted to be a professional opera singer, so I went and studied opera at the Manhattan School of Music. In my last year of college, I took a film acting class for fun, and that’s where I really fell in love with the genre. I transitioned to working as an actress for film and TV and began booking major roles in studio and network projects.

Several folks in the business had been asking me to consider adding producing to my skill set, and initially I wasn’t drawn to the work at all. I guess I knew deep down that I’d start producing when the right project came along, and that led me ultimately to producing a “hybrid” feature film about the realities of suicide and what COVID-19 lockdown did to our collective mental health. Now, I’ve got a slate of incredible projects I’m producing that I cannot wait to share with the world.

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?
Oh goodness no! Show Business is hard enough as it is, but working in this town as a young woman of color makes it that much harder. Not everyone is willing to take me seriously and give me a chance as a producer, despite the quality of my past work. I believe that you can’t let that get to you, that you must push through the noise and the bigotry and b.s. if you want to make your dreams come true.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a creative executive producer, actress and writer who specializes in telling stories about marginalized voices and communities and who works to lift those voices up. My work spans across genres, and as a producer I have scripted, unscripted, documentaries, comedy, dramas, tv shows, feature films, you name it, all with a thruline of being content that can change people’s minds and make them more empathetic to folks who may be different from them. I feel it is our responsibility as creatives to create art that can alter the collective consciousness to a more empathetic, accepting and loving place. When lockdown happened in 2020, the people turned to art. I will never forget that, and it has become a guiding north star in how I run my business.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I’ll give you one better, my favorite memory from set:

I tell this story often, but working with Denzel Washington was a life-changing experience. He is so incredibly present and just watching him work taught me so much about craft and filmmaking. He is deeply generous of spirit and kind; to say getting to work with him was a spiritual experience would be an understatement.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sheilahoulahan.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sheilahoulahan/
• Twitter: twitter.com/sheilahoulahan

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Sheila Houlahan with 2022 Webby Award for General & Remote Entertainment and Media – Image Credit: James Hartley Additional Images: Sheila Houlahan at the Tasveer Community Speaks Event – Image Credit: Tasveer Org. Sheila Houlahan – Image Credit: James Depietro Still from ‘Night Mother’ – Image Credit: Trevor Roach