Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Actress and Musician Gianna Harris Aims To Inspire People To Accept Themselves

Never give up on your dreams and make sure that you work hard for them to come true. Always practice and always work on your craft because you can never learn too much.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Gianna Harris.

Gianna “Gigi” Harris is a 15 year old singer, stage and screen actress born and raised in New Jersey. Gigi is most notably known for Mighty Oak and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway and Touring Production’s of School of Rock the Musical.

Other works include; “Working in Theater”, “I Have A Voice”, “The O’Clocks”, Sesame Street, Good Morning America and the 70th Annual Tony Awards. Gigi is very passionate about Mental Health Awareness, Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ Equality.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

The story of how I grew up is still being written but I had a pretty normal childhood up until about nine years old. At five years old, I started school and gymnastics and played soccer. I really loved gymnastics, so I started competing and did competitive gymnastics for five years. At nine, I discovered my voice and love for singing so I quit gymnastics and have been working on performing ever since.

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

When I discovered my voice at nine years old my parents took me to a vocal coach to see if what we were hearing was the real thing. They brought me to, Natalie Megules, and she basically started gushing at my voice and told my parents to get me into Broadway auditions immediately. We listened and she was right. I’m so thankful we met her, and that she pushed us in that direction. It has been a really great journey so far.

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

It’s definitely how I auditioned for Mighty Oak. I didn’t know at the time that someone I knew created the story and concept for Mighty Oak. Then I get this call from my friend Tommy’s Dad who I toured with for School of Rock the First National Tour saying that I they can’t wait to see my audition and they thought I was a perfect fit for the role of Emma Biggs. It definitely felt like fate.

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 laugh now but at the time I wasn’t laughing. I was singing the National Anthem at a Monmouth University basketball game and right in the middle of me singing a guy screamed, it was so loud and jarring it startled me and I forgot what part I was on so I just froze and then I ran off the court to my Dad crying. When I got to him he gave me a hug and was like I know you’re upset but can you finish? You will feel so much better if you go back out there and finish, I promise you. He was right. I was so proud that I went back out and everyone was so super excited when I did. I mean I guess it’s not funny but I laugh now.

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?

I’m really grateful for two of my vocal teachers, Natalie and Debra. They were my first two vocal teachers. They didn’t just help me learn how to sing, they also helped me learn how to love to sing and they helped shape my career and I wouldn’t be where I am now without them.

You have been blessed with great 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?

Never give up on your dreams and make sure that you work hard for them to come true. Always practice and always work on your craft because you can never learn too much.

What drives you to get up everyday and work in TV and Film? What change do you want to see in the industry going forward?

I want to tell a story and I want to impact someone’s life with the story I tell. I want people to be able to accept themselves because I’ve shown them that it’s okay to be yourself and always inspire others.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

At the moment I am working with a group of very talents girls, there’s four of us and we call ourselves, enjoithejrney. We sing R&B and pop I’m really excited to see where we go. Everyone brings so much to the group and I think we can do big things together.

We are very interested in looking at 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 and our youth growing up today?

1. Our country is diverse so it needs to be represented that way
2. Every little girl and boy need to see themselves represented in society and not as a cliché
3. The patriarchy needs to be broken down. Enough is enough.

Having a voice in every color, sexual orientation, religion and background is important to everyone’s mental health. We need to be able so see that anyone can do anything.

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. Nothing happens overnight and you must take the time and work for it.
2. Don’t be so nervous all the time and that it’s okay to get embarrassed sometimes because it’s a part of life.
3. Don’t forget why your doing this and always remember the reasons you love it and not the things you dislike about it.
4. ALWAYS stay humble, never let anything go to your head.
5. Remember the people you can trust and can’t trust.

Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

I like to write. Whether its just writing how my day went in a journal or writing a full paper on issues going on in society today. Sometimes I can get a very loud and busy mind and writing usually helps calm it down.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite quote will always be “You are enough” because no matter how hard things get and how useless you feel you always have to remember that you are enough.

You are a person of huge 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?

The fight and equality Black Women because we are the most oppressed. Our voices are usually silenced and I want us to finally have a voice and the opportunity.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I think I would want to have lunch with Beyonce because she has been this amazing voice for black women and just women in general and she’s Beyonce of course!!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes. You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook @thegiannaharris

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!