Broghanne Jessamine On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
I started booking more jobs when I started to care less about booking the job. Not that I didn’t care but I didn’t focus on the need to book the job. I focused on doing the work for the audition, having fun with it and submitting it. Then forget about it.
As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Broghanne Jessamine.
Broghanne Jessamine is an actor based in New York City. Originally from the North East of Scotland she moved to the USA in 2012 to pursue her career in acting. She is a graduate of The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, a book nerd and a film and voiceover actor.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born in the Northeast of Scotland and grew up there until I was 18 and moved to NYC. I am the 2nd oldest of 4 sisters and our mother always messed up our names so we all respond to our corresponding numbers. I’m number 2, second the best and all that. It is something that our parents’ friends and our families came to adopt as all their ways of referring to each of us.
As siblings, we grew up close to each other and fighting over who stole whose socks and who had the remote for the television. We are still close and still we are not allowed to argue about socks or play Pictionary. I grew up wanting to be an actress, I never really considered another career, nothing appealed to me deeply enough and anything I did think about I discounted because I didn’t want to do that much university or because it didn’t seem fun. Being an actress would mean I would get to play dress up, tell stories and play characters that worked on all the jobs I had considered as a child. Seemed like the perfect job.
I moved to the US, specifically NYC in August 2012 to attend The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts for college. It was the first time I had ever been to the USA, I moved here without ever visiting the country or the college. At 18 it seemed like a good idea. I figured it was college and all I had to do was get through it. If I hated it I would move home and figure it all out. It worked out and I fell in love with the city, fell in love with the energy and being able to take the Q train across the Manhattan bridge and see the skyline rain or shine, day or night. It still fills me with gratitude and joy.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have always loved the theatre. My favorite moment in life is when the lights go down right before a show starts and there is a collective breath, an energy that encompasses the whole space. Whether you are performing, in the crew or in the audience, we all feel it. No matter what, every time I am in a theatre I smile, breathe and let that energy take me.
I started on this career path because my mum put me in Saturday classes for performing. I loved it before, but I really think the reason she did it was to get me out of the house. One child occupied out of 4 is good. Then I was hooked, I wanted to work in musical theatre, and I did, I was in many musicals that came through my hometown. When I was around 14, I realized that I did not have the singing voice to be the lead in the shows I wanted to be lead in. It was something I was sad but I also adore plays and the ever-changing energy and complexity that it takes to hold an audience for 2 hours of storytelling and help them forget the world physically around them.
I didn’t fall in love with film until December 2019. It was late honestly, considering I had been auditioning for film and went to acting school before this. I had been working and auditioning in NYC since 2014. But I fell in love with film when I produced and acted in a short film, A Series on Surviving. It was at the screening, and I had just completed viewing the film and moderating the companion panel when I took a breath. I looked around, and saw people talking about this film, talking about the subject matter, the story, their feelings and I realized that the moment I loved in the theatre — right when the story is about to start, the joy and connection of watching a play or a musical — I felt it right there after watching a film. I thought to myself. This is why I do this. This is my purpose, to tell stories that effect people. That live on in their heads and mine. That connects us all.
Since then, I have focused more on film. There are so many stories to tell and each one works differently and is suited to different mediums. Some need to be performed in a theatre, some as tv series, some as a feature film and some online. That’s the beauty of storytelling, there are unlimited ways to tell a story.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Something interesting? That is oddly difficult to answer. Something that I find interesting and that brought me joy and really shows how small the entertainment industry is: Is that I was cast and filming a role in a feature film in May 2022 and the Director of Photography kept looking at me like he knew me but wasn’t sure how. Now, I’ve met a lot of people, between acting jobs, survival jobs, events, and friends there are so many places you can know someone. By around meal break time we had started speaking and were going through all the various jobs we had done or people who might be mutual friends. It took another couple of hours before he asked me if I had auditioned the year before for a sci-fi feature. I said I wasn’t sure could he give me more of an idea. He gave a vague description and after wrap, I spent the entire train ride home going through my auditions from the last year looking for the subject line or the Director's name. I was almost home when I found it! I had auditioned for his sci fi feature! I immediately messaged him, and he had also just found it. He said he had loved my tape, but they want someone who they already had in mind for the role. I just remember HATING that audition. I thought I had done terribly and was not surprised that I didn’t get it. But it was so encouraging that someone remembered me and my work in a good way a year later from only a self-tape audition. You never know what happens and what audition means even when you don’t get the role.
It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I have made so many mistakes. So, so, so many. I try not to think about them. One that comes to mind is I had applied to a casting for a commercial the role was YOUNG MOTHER or something. One of the other roles was YOUNG MOTHER WITH BABY. When I got the audition request there was an added message telling folks to bring their babies to the audition. I freaked out. I remember standing on the subway platform typing frantically into my phone a message to the casting director that I didn’t have a baby and I didn’t know I was supposed to actually HAVE one to bring to the audition. The casting director messaged back saying to still come in for the audition it was fine for, but it also came through at the same time as a group message again reminding folks to bring their babies and respond with their ages. I responded again that I don’t have a baby. More audition details came through and I declined the audition at that point saying I don’t have a baby. It was then that I got the message from the probably really confused casting director saying that I really didn’t need to have a baby it was the other role that needed the baby, and I could still audition.
I was so embarrassed when I reread the messages, which did in fact state that for the role of a YOUNG MOTHER WITH BABY to bring their baby, but YOUNG MOTHER did not need a baby. This all took place in the span of my waiting for the train to arrive. Reading tiny font on my phone and reading quickly that when I finally took a breath and slowed down to read the messages, I still did not go to the audition, this time because I was too embarrassed.
If that had happened now, I would have gone to the audition and made a joke about it to start a conversation but 20-year-old me was way too anxious, embarrassed and overwhelmed to do it.
So, lesson from this story. Take a breath and make sure to read the entire message and all the instructions and if you are confused read them again, slowly, and then message your questions or confirm/decline an audition. And if you mess up and it’s kind of funny still go and laugh it off.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I have been working on a lot of really exciting projects this year. First is a feature film, The Knife Fighter, that will be coming out in 2023- Directed by Dan Eberle and produced by Insurgent Pictures. I got to spend half of the filming wearing a long bright red wig which I loved! Made me consider dying my hair that color or investing in a gorgeous wig to wear whenever I wanted.
I also worked on Vellanus — produced by Paradox Films- a short film that is currently in the festival circuit which follows a family in Wales during a Viking invasion. I loved working on location for this film and the costume was fantastic.
Red Lingerie may be my favorite project I have worked on this year. The Director is Haruka Yamakawa. She is a wonderful director and the way she worked with me for the character was incredible. The story is beautiful and the rest of the cast also fantastic. I truly hold the character and the story close to my heart and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
It is okay to doubt. It’s okay to not be sure and be scared to fail and to fear succeeding. The fear of what happens if it all works is something that has held me back in many ways, stopped me from committing, stopped me from throwing myself into something and stopped me from trusting myself and my work.
What changed in me and what I actively try to do every day is find the fun in the audition, or the class or the coaching session. Finding the fun in it makes you have more fun and helps in not overthinking or going down in the acting doom spiral. If you do go down it that’s fine — we all do — but make sure to find your way up, one step at a time and that one moment of fun.
We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?
The arts and particularly entertainment are a mirror to society. From long ago we told stories to entertain, to guide others, to escape. That is still true today. The stories that are being told and experienced provide context, provide new perspectives, and provide growth.
We should never aim to stay the same we should be always looking to how we can improve and tell more stories, and represent more folks, both in those performing and those who are working behind the scenes. Having more representation and different stories being told makes people see others as people, helps promote empathy and expands opinions. Helps make people see things differently and plants seeds of thoughts that can grow into wonderful things.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
If you have an accent — that is not from the market you are in- that's okay, still learn the general accent of the area you are working in but you are not less than or going to fail if you also work to use your native accent in your work.
I started booking more jobs when I started to care less about booking the job. Not that I didn’t care but I didn’t focus on the need to book the job. I focused on doing the work for the audition, having fun with it and submitting it. Then forget about it.
Support your friends and be happy for them. Try not to see them as your competition. Everyone’s journey in this business is different and what is for you won’t go past you. If someone else got the role or got the audition that doesn’t take away from your opportunities.
Find directors, and production companies that are creating things. Engage with them. I have gotten auditions and booked jobs because I engaged with their work and spoke with them as though they are people (which they are)
Classes/coaching are helpful, and they don’t mean you are not a real actor or failing. Go to classes, try different classes, and learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Also remember to sometimes not be doing classes and see what happens, trust what you are learning also works in the real world.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I have a habit of overscheduling myself. When I am not on set, I only allow myself to schedule 3 things in a day, they can be professional and personal but if I reach 3 I have to really think about if adding something is a good idea or urgent enough that I should do it. Or I must reschedule something else.
Try to take at least 1 day each week to yourself. It can be hard, especially juggling survival jobs, gigs, social lives, chores and your relationships. But try even try an afternoon or a morning at first. You don’t have to plan something but give yourself the space to have that time for you. I am still working on this, and I move it around each week depending on my schedule.
Try to stay social if you are burning out. It is so tempting to isolate yourself. I make sure to meet a friend for a cup of tea somewhere each week or every other week.
You are a person of enormous 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. :-)
A movement that started before me and I am proud to be a part of in my way is closing the gap in representation in entertainment — both in performing and behind the scenes. Everyone deserves and needs to see their lives, identities and experiences represented in the stories we share through entertainment. To see the full scope of emotions and thoughts and possibilities.
I also feel like it would be amazing for profitable projects after paying everyone a fair and living wage also are able to help causes that the projects they produce are about.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people who have helped me, one is my husband, Levi who have spent years helping me run lines and move furniture so I can film my self-tapes. He has put up with a lot, with my days where I am convinced that I will never get another audition, to celebrate when a book a job or meet a milestone and who spends a decent amount of time having to be completely silent for me to do voiceover auditions. There is my friend Yas, who meets me for tea and coffee and grounds me in so many ways and there is Jackie, who every week reminds me that I can do the things I put my mind to and to take breaks and communicate.
We can never do this alone and having a community that supports you in individual ways is something I am always working on.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have two, one is something I used to say as a kid that I still say to myself in the mirror as an adult and that is “Let’s go” It's not super detailed and it is really simple but I use it to hype myself up before big things and before I perform.
The other started as a joke between a friend and myself but honestly has turned into a life lesson. “I will not reach rock bottom before I make a change” There is a lot that can be taken from it but I always think it when things are not going well and I have been doing the same thing over and over. I make a change.
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 might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Jessica Chastain. I love her work. And I want to see what she is like as a real person. I like to think we would get along and have wonderful conversations about so many things.
How can our readers follow you online?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/broghannejessamine
Website: https://www.broghannejessamine.com
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
