Actress Meredith Patterson: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became An Artist

An Interview With Edward Sylvan

Don’t compare and despair. Be Patient & Tenacious. Take care of your body, mind and spirit equally. Invest in personal therapy. Trust your instincts as law.

As a part of our series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became An Artist” I had the pleasure of interviewing Meredith Patterson.

Meredith Patterson is a Broadway, TV & Film actress, best known on TV as the recurring role of Missy Tiggs on ABC’s series “Boston Legal” opposite Tom Selleck and Candice Bergen, and on Broadway for her portrayal of Peggy Sawyer in the Tony Award-winning Broadway Revival of 42nd ST. This year marks the 20th Anniversary 42nd St and in celebration, Meredith released her own memoir “Confessions of An Actress: From Chorus Girl to Broadway Star” about her journey from the chorus to the leading role in her first Broadway musical, and the impact 9/11 had on that journey.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in the city of Pleasant Hill, CA a suburb of San Francisco. I am the youngest of four kids. My father is a jazz drummer, and my mother always wanted to be a dancer. Growing up in a large 4-bedroom house that my mom ran her daycare business out of was chaotic. I had to compete for attention and to be seen in that environment. So, I used to clear the furniture in the family room and dance and sing with wild abandon for anyone who would watch. I would also gather the daycare kids together and put on a show. I was always creating and being expressive growing up. I luckily had parents who encouraged that. I moved to New York City at the age of 18 with dreams of starring on Broadway and being whisked off to Hollywood. I always had old-fashioned dreams of being a part of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the Studio System, that just doesn’t exist today. I have always been told I grew up in the wrong era.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything else but a performer and a star. A defining moment for me, that I mention in my memoir, was watching the MGM movie musical Singin’ in the Rain at the age of 5. I was mesmerized and just wanted to jump inside the movie and dance alongside Gene Kelly. I loved dancing, and it filled my spirit with love and passion. It still does. Hearing people applaud when I performed was also intoxicating and career-affirming. I just wanted to do what made my spirit soar, took people away from whatever ailed them and got people’s undivided attention. Performing has always been part of my identity and where I feel like I am home.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Something I haven’t written about in my book series “Confessions of An Actress” yet, is being asked by the Coen Brother’s to teach movie star Channing Tatum how to tap dance. Channing was to play a tap-dancing sailor for a song and dance scene in the movie Hail Caesar. Tony award-winning choreographer Chris Gattelli was working on the film and recommended I personally coach Channing. The Coen Brother’s specifically asked me to make Channing look like “Gene Kelly”. A near-impossible feat for any dancer, as Gene Kelly is legendary, and it takes decades to learn to tap dance anywhere near his skill. Channing is a phenomenal hip hop style dancer, but he admitted he “had never tap danced in his life”. We were both scared as to how little time Channing had to prepare. The opportunity to teach him happened so randomly, and I was also 3 months pregnant with my son Billy at the time. I agreed to teach Channing of course, and the next thing I know I am in pre-production meetings with Joel and Ethan Coen, and getting in a dance studio with just me, my pregnant belly, and Channing Tatum. There I was with tap shoes on and my little baby belly. It was so much fun, and Channing was a delight to work with! I spent the next 3 months teaching Channing to tap, working him very hard on his technique and style and then guiding him as he filmed the scene in the movie. Channing did a phenomenal job, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the journey.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

The impact of the pandemic has taken away a lot of work for artists, me included. It has also created in me the need to take control of my own work, production of work and find a way to create content and residual income digitally and online. I started down this journey prior to the pandemic because I have always been forward thinking about where our business is headed and how to create residual income for myself and my family. I was feeling the impact of being a mother and an actress in this business long before Covid hit. It is a very hard balance and difficult to find steady work. During 2020, I was decisive and emerged as an author for the first time. I launched my own book series last Fall completely self-produced & self-published, “Confessions of An Actress” is available in paperback, hardcover, kindle and on Audible. I have a podcast of the same name that I would like to continue fostering, interviewing other artists and create a brand. Producing those works for myself has sparked in me a need to launch my own production company this year, Merie Productions, named after my childhood nickname and representing the little girl in me who still has big dreams. I have so many ideas and I just need to find a way to educate myself on how to create them. I am currently developing exciting online courses for artists, not just skill-based (acting, singing, dancing) but diving into holistic health & wellness as a performer and tapping into my 30-year knowledge of navigating the business body, mind, and spirit. I am a certified Holistic Health Coach and Educator and have been on a self-care journey for 2 decades. My book series, “Confessions of An Actress,” is expanding in the Winter of 2022. The series starts with my current book release “From Chorus Girl to Broadway Star” and I am currently writing the second book, “Sunday Letters from Moscow” about my 16-week journey starring in a musical in Russia during a Chechen Rebel Terrorist attack.

A story that has sadly become very timely with the war in Ukraine. I have a third book planned which will dive into my time in Hollywood working with amazing celebrities in television and film. I am currently producing live concerts alongside other artist entrepreneurs & friends. Creating work for myself and other talented artists I know, and love has become a new passion of mine. I really want to return to working regularly on stage and in television and film. I have dreamed that my book series becomes a television series someday. Who knows, anything is possible. I have always believed if you can see it, feel it, believe in it, it can manifest in your life. So, I am manifesting every day, and believing something amazing will emerge.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

Some of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure of interacting with have been from my time working with Julie Andrews on the musical The Boy Friend at The Bay Street Theatre in the Hamptons. I was the star of that show, Julie had hand-picked me to star in the role she played on Broadway. It was one of the most glorious summers of my life. Because of the coveted position I had, I was introduced and mingled with some of the most amazing celebrities, artists, and of course, was lucky enough to foster a friendship with Julie herself. The entertainment industry is unparalleled with the exposure to fascinating and incredibly cultured and interesting people. I don’t know any other industry where you can be in the same room mingling with Billy Joel, Alec Baldwin, and Julie Andrews all at once. Yet, there I was. I have so many stories connected with that time that I will write in my book series “Confessions of An Actress.” I think being lucky enough to create and work alongside people I grew up admiring is one of the most interesting parts of being a performer. I would pinch myself every day I got to be in the same room with Julie Andrews. I still pinch myself that I get to do what I love and make a living.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Can you share a story about that?

Life and the lives of others inspire me. I read many memoirs of people from all walks of life. I am currently reading Viola Davis’ book “Finding Me.” I am truly fascinated by people’s stories, what makes us all human beings. I think if I wasn’t an actress, I would be an anthropologist or psychologist. I love the study of people, societies, how and why people are who they are. I am an empath too, so I feel deeply and connect to what happens to others. I feel energy in a very palpable way. I pay attention to moments of inspiration and pause and write, or record a song idea, or mediate and manifest. I have done this from the time I was a child, even when I didn’t know what to call it. I have had moments in my life where I have doubted these instincts or inspiration, but as I have aged in the world, I trust it as law. I always find a way to tap into that magic. One of my favorite books about this very thing is called “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. She says “Do whatever brings you to life, then. Follow your own fascinations, obsessions, compulsions. Trust them. Create whatever causes a revolution in your heart” — that’s what I try to do every day.

How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I haven’t even scratched the surface of the good I want to put out into the world. The people I want to help and lift up. I have always thought that having success, whether monetarily or influentially should be a tool to give back to the world. I have always worked with Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, in my time working in theatre. I have produced benefit concerts for The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) for decades to raise awareness and to fund research for a cure. In fact, May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month. HD runs in my family and the cause is close to my heart. I wish I could do so much more, and I believe the moment I have any level of success, that cause to cure HD will be fueled right alongside anything I do. I also believe so much in creating opportunities for children and eradicating hunger and poverty for so many families and communities in the world. Lifting them up and creating opportunities for them to thrive is a passion of mine. I have ideas to create scholarships to support young artists. This has always been a dream. I talk about it in my book, how I want to have an annual scholarship for struggling artists and pay their rent in New York or Los Angeles for a full year while they audition and focus on their craft. I think that would create a positive ripple effect into the world of artists that could be palpable. Sometimes people just need time to create, support to do it and the chance to rise above their circumstances. How I long to help people like that.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Don’t compare and despair — Social media can be a wonderful tool, but it can also be a place of despair when you compare yourself to others and see everyone else succeed. Everyone has their own journey, and there is no timeline for artists. Every story of young success has many of success for those artists later in life. You never know when your moment is going to come. We all wish we had security, money, fame, and attention so we can stop hustling and spinning our wheels. But don’t compare and despair, it doesn’t help your mental clarity, inspiration, and faith in yourself.
2. Be Patient & Tenacious — Have patience and work hard. The universe buries strange jewels within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. Success takes time, effort, focus and motivation. You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your success or failures. I know that dedication sometimes doesn’t pay the bills but have patience and do it for the journey…not just the end result.
3. Take care of your body, mind and spirit equally — As a dancer, and in our society, we are taught to take care of our body, our looks and what is on the outside. But what about the mind? The spirit? You must pay attention to your mental clarity just as much as your waistline. Pay attention to your level of joy in every day. Check in with yourself and your mind every day. Just as you would brush your teeth, eat and nourish your body. Nourish your mind and pay attention to what your spirit is telling you that you need.
4. Invest in personal therapy — Going to therapy was something I began when I was 28yrs old. I was young, but I wish I had invested in therapy even earlier than that. I believe so deeply in the power of going inward, it has only made me a stronger artist and human being.
5. Trust your instincts as law — You are the 5 people you spend the most time with. That fact really struck me. I am very protective of who I spend time and energy with. If someone gives you a very strong feeling, negative or positive, trust it. I have made so many mistakes about people who have given me a negative gut instinct. I immediately knew upon meeting them that they weren’t someone I should spend time around. It would be more of a feeling, than an actual thing they said or did. Although sometimes it would be both. This feeling has never failed me. I have never had a negative feeling about someone and their energy and then gone back and realized I was wrong about them, their intentions and their influence. My instincts have always been right. I trust my gut as law now, and I am better for it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I love this question. I feel I have possibly inspired a movement in what I have said already, the ideas in my heart, but I realize bringing the most good to the most amount of people is bigger. A movement I would want to inspire is the change the way the arts and artists in this world are viewed. Arts in public schools and small towns needs to be elevated, properly funded and revered. Famous and successful artists have a place of celebration in the world with being an artist, but the people who are in the trenches, the working performers, need to be elevated and respected as well. To express yourself with music, dance, writing and art is a life not for the faint of heart and a calling that many people have without having the proper resources to fuel their passion. I don’t feel there is enough funding to foster the arts in the world. I want a broader reach, more funding, and much like sports in this country, funding for a state-of-the-art performing arts facility in every city, town and rural part of America. If I saw every public school have a brand new theatre, much like they have brand new gymnasiums or track and fields — I would be amazed!

We have been blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she just might see this.

I have always admired Oprah Winfrey. She is who I would love to have the opportunity to sit down with, have private breakfast, lunch (or just a glass of water) with. Her authenticity, vulnerability, and courage have always been what I admire most about her. I watched her show, and now network of shows throughout my life. I have always dreamed of having the positive influence in the world like Oprah. I have dreamt that my book “Confessions of An Actress: From Chorus Girl to Broadway Star” somehow landed on her desk. She loved it and she chose to interview me on Super Soul Sunday interview and to be in her coveted Book Club. Her philanthropic work in the world is monumental and I hope someday to have a small impact on people’s lives like Oprah. I would have a myriad of questions and advice for her as well. I simply would want to just know her in life and have her mentor me.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

You can follow me on Instagram & Twitter @merpatterson

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!