Rising Star Avaah Blackwell On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry
Simplicity is key. As artists with an exponential amount of input from the world, one of the bravest things we can do is say no to too many influences and just keep it simple. Spend time exploring a few avenues and then pick one (at most two) path that you want to become excellent at. The bravery to keep focused on a few things, rather than spending a copious amount of energy on chasing the latest “thing” will really help you out in the long run and shows confidence.
As a part of our series about creating a successful career in TV and Film, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Avaah Blackwell.
Avaah Blackwell is a multilingual actress, versatile stunt performer and producer. Her recent on-screen credits include Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Discovery, Locke and key, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Avaah utilizes her international training and experience to infuse her work with unique physical, emotional, and mental discipline. Versatile in her character choices, Blackwell is known best for playing strong female leads, as well as interesting supporting characters and creatures.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I grew up in Calgary Alberta, and the surrounding area. As the oldest daughter of two military parents, I was always eager to go on wilderness adventures, camping, compete in obstacle courses, go to outdoor plays, explore new places and meet new people and hear about their stories.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
As a kid, I was actively involved in Music and Martial Arts, and I took any Drama class I could find. I always loved the creative, collaborative process and discipline required for each of these art forms and liked performing with my friends for our peers.
When an opportunity came up to audition for our high school play “Jolly Roger and the Pirate Queen” I jumped on it, thinking I might get a small part as one of the ensemble pirates. All of the drama kids and I auditioned, and it went fine, nothing out of the ordinary. However, when my drama teacher, Ms. Stratulat asked us all near the end of the audition to try out for the part of “Parrot” (a pirate who thought she was a parrot) I was suddenly hit with a wave of inspiration and jumped on stage playing a hybrid of human and parrot. Needless to say, I got the part and you can see the theme that has woven itself into my career playing many creatures and physical parts.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I showed up for what was meant to be one day to replace an actress on this Star Trek: Discovery, and that has led to 3+ seasons and many other roles plus a couple of roles on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, so far.
Also, Anson Mount (Captain Pike) unofficially promoted me to “Captain Squid Head” during his last episode on Season 2 of Discovery (You can catch it on the blooper reel)
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting?
Years ago, when I was first (and I mean first) starting out, I once petitioned for an audition on a project that a friend told me I should be going out for. My agent spoke to casting, and they gave me a spot- albeit pretty last minute. I was so excited. I cancelled my shift at the bar, spent hours researching the project and creating this elaborate character, got dressed up to hint at the period and time that my research determined she was from. They were going to be so impressed. I did my homework, my research, I had the inside scoop due to my amazing internet detective skills. This was it, my big break. FOR SURE. When I arrived at the audition full of confidence, I whisked into the waiting room- to see everyone was dressed totally different than me. I mean like utterly, night and day. Well, that was pretty much to be expected, because the sides didn’t give away much, but I was certain at least one other person would have figured it out. Maybe not- But just to be sure, I re-read the email while sitting in the waiting room. And that’s when panic struck. I was in a frilly white shirt and skirt with my hair done up to suggest a Victorian Era party at a mansion, and literally every other girl was in a sleek Turtleneck, etc. to suggest a fancy dinner at a minimalist modern mansion — which, had I researched the correct project, I would have seen. Turns out, in my haste and excitement, I had misread the title of the project and therefore researched the wrong one in alarming depth for such a short amount of time.
Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Morale of the story — Make sure you are doing the RIGHT research for the correct project. Read and re-read everything haha! To this day, I’ve never made that mistake again. It’s a funny thing the casting director and I now joke about. Apparently, my tape was good and still made it to producers (eek lol), but that didn’t come without me calmly (*cough* sheepishly *cough*) excusing myself to the restroom (backing away slowly and not making eye contact), where I frantically reworked my outfit and audition for a totally different read. And also, don’t try too hard. Relaxed effort gets things done best.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
While Star Trek Strange New Worlds is definitely quite exciting, I love working on my own scripts and projects that I am currently shopping around. It’s very fulfilling to create something that is your own.
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?
Honestly, just get started, and don’t stop even if the going is slow or hard sometimes. Do your best to integrate the things you learn and allow yourself to grow personally and professionally. Create your own work, please stop comparing yourself to others, take regular breaks form social media (don’t scroll to much) and be kind to yourself and others.
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?
1.) Empathy/ Connection- it is important that everyone see themselves represented along with other people. As human beings we need to feel seen and heard.
2.) Inspire creativity
3.) Drive innovation It can affect our culture positively
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.) Develop a simple daily practice to keep you focused. There are slow times and busy times. A simple daily practice will help you to ensure your abilities stay consistent and grow over time. A 5 min daily vocal warm-up, physical routine and reading over a scene a day can do wonders for our art.
2.) Simplicity is key. As artists with an exponential amount of input from the world, one of the bravest things we can do is say no to too many influences and just keep it simple. Spend time exploring a few avenues and then pick one (at most two) path that you want to become excellent at. The bravery to keep focused on a few things, rather than spending a copious amount of energy on chasing the latest “thing” will really help you out in the long run and shows confidence.
3.) Eat healthy and exercise. Mind body and soul. We need those things to run efficiently to be able to do our best work. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a well-fueled and well-maintained body and mind will do for you. It sounds obvious, but its most definitely worth mentioning. It’s also worth mentioning that it is definitely a practice and will likely not look the same every day (especially 16 hours into a long stunt day when crafty is offering hot baked mac and cheese with chocolate chip cookies for dessert at 2:00 am) Well, you can enjoy a little bit to keep you satiated, you’re better off having some electrolytes and protein first so your body doesn’t go haywire. On days you are not working, simple, nutrient-dense, whole foods are best. (With one cheat day per week!)
4.) Only compare yourself to the person you were yesterday. This industry is extremely competitive no matter which way you cut it. It often doesn’t make sense and is rarely “fair”. Choose how you want to compete. I suggest only competing with yourself, which is the hardest because it forces you to take accountability for a lot of things that you can otherwise hide behind comparing yourself to others. We live and die by our choices- and making good choices takes some trial and error, and well, just practice. If you focus one being better than you were yesterday, that is the key to long-term fulfillment in my books.
5.) Play the long game. If this is what you want to do for the rest of your life, the long game is key. Keep that in mind when making decisions about relationships, finances, taking jobs and career moves.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Keep is simple, keep some sort of small consistent routine for yourself, and roll with the punches as best as possible. And get off social media whenever possible.
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. Well, thanks, I think enormous influence is a very generous statement, however, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of being kind to yourself and others. As Co- Chair of the ACTRA Toronto Green Committee I would also suggest doing whatever you can to help support and implement sustainable practices in your personal and professional life.
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 have so many people that I am grateful to, Everyone in my Star Trek family, including Tunde, Chris, Jennifer, Doug, Hugo, Sonequa, the list goes on and on.
A story about that is on Star Trek: Discovery, I started in a small role as my alien character “Osnullus” I worked really hard and did my best to show up in the best way possible for the show and be patient in these very uncomfortable prosthetics. Eventually, a little larger alien role came up, they gave that to me and then another one and another one, until eventually a larger human principal role came up “Lt. Ina” and they gave that to me too! Very kind of the team to think of me and I am very grateful!
Stunts is so community-minded, we really can’t do anything without one another. I have a lot of people to thank in the Stunt community, and if I named everyone, this article would be thirty pages long, so I’ll just say — if you have helped me along the way on my incredible journey, thank you so very, very much! I owe you my debt of gratitude — whenever and however I can reciprocate, I will always endeavor do so!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Trust the Process” From Olatunde Osunsanmi Exec producer on Star Trek: Discovery has been great advice.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I’d love to have a conversation with anyone in VC funding / Acquisition either privately or at one of the big streaming companies. I have two great projects I’m currently shopping around. An action-comedy feature (Pineapple Express meets Mars Attacks and Zombie Land) and an action adventure sci-fi series. (Blade Runner meets Walking Dead and Terminator) I’d love to see these two stories get told, as they highlight the incredible strength that diversity in casting brings to story, as well as the strength of the human spirit (with some cool creatures and sci fi thrown in for good measure). Netflix — I know you have a big shiny new studio in Toronto that would be perfect for these! Amazon, Paramount, Apple would love the sci-fi series.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can follow me on Instagram: @avaahblackwell
Cameo: @avaahblackwell
Twitter: @avaahblackwell
IMDb: imdb.me/avaahblackwell
Website: www.avaahblackwell.com
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color. In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction. Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business. With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
