International Star Actress and Model Katrina Spencer: “Train. Be open and vulnerable. Always be kind.”
A Bit About Katrina
Katrina Spencer is a professional Model and Actress. She is known for known for Private Life (2018) on Netflix, The Last O.G. (2018), Unspoken (2019) and Rhie: The New Sovereignty (2015).
Thank you so much for interviewing with us! Can you share your story on how did you get started in the film industry?
I was a model and started doing commercials through modelling. And I became a part of the Screen Actors Guild. It is a union in the USA and you become eligible after three commercials. So I started taking some classes in New York with David Gideon. He was Lee Strasberg’s understudy and lived with him. He used to teach on Wednesdays in ‘The Acting Class’, and I learnt about movement, relaxation, foundations of acting. I don’t consider myself a method actor; I incorporate what I learn into what works for me. I believe that this is my instrument to tell stories, and I have to be relaxed before you start a project, scene or memorisation of lines. It is vital to take care of your body and your mind. We also studied sense memory, where I learnt about things stored in my mind and memory since I was a kid.
I was born in Jamaica and left it when I was ten years old. My aunt had a mango tree, so if I eat a piece of mango like I used to eat when I was little, I can remember where I was walking when I was eating it, who I was around. The process applies if I hear certain songs. For example, one that my uncle used to play when he was driving me to school brings me to a place, so I use a lot of music with my acting. The more I study, the more and more I fall in love with acting because you have to dig so deep in yourself!
Who are you grateful towards your success?
I am grateful for the learning process. For all my life experiences. I am using this in my art now. I am using the tough things. I know how to have empathy and sympathy and how to be truthful. Even though some characters you get are not anything you’ve been through, you can simultaneously compare the emotion like the pain of something you’ve been through. Or happiness, joy or whatever. Yes, I am grateful for my life experiences. I am grateful for everything I’ve been through in my life. If I don’t make it personal, it does not work. It has to be personal, where it’s in my soul. I’m telling the story, and even though I’ve created that person, it has to come together with me for me to be truthful. I am resilient, and I believe everything in life happens for a reason. I have a lot of faith and God, so my beliefs keep me grounded.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Well, when I was 20-years-old I moved to New York by myself. I am from Jamaica but then I was raised in South Florida, the Miami area. So I got recruited to model and I moved by myself. I had like one friend that lived in New Jersey. When I got there, it really was not what I thought it was gonna be. The agency that recruited me was kind of flighty, so I decided that you know I want to do this as I am already here. So I would go every day with my portfolio and knock on agencies doors. I am only 5'7'’ which is considered short for a model — usually, models are about 5'9'’, for runway especially they want you to be a little taller. But I was just determined this is what I am going to do. And I got turned down by a lot of agencies. They were like “you are pretty but you’re short, why don’t you try acting instead”. At the time I was not really thinking about acting because I was focused on modelling, I did not understand acting yet! And then I went to Ford agency which was the biggest in the world at the time. They took me in and started modelling work. It was my full-time job for many years.
To be honest, I learnt that I was acting all along. I used to get teased in school for being an immigrant. And, in order to survive, I felt I had to fit in. So, I was mimicking all the American girls, like similar hair style, clothes, even their voice accent. It was a character but it was truthful because I was living it. I was taking on characters and I did not even know it until I moved to another part of Florida where there were more Jamaicans. I got to be myself again, to neutral self, and it felt amazing! When I think about it — what is self, what is your true character…I don’t know…Self is everything you have been through in life as a compilation.
What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far?
The most challenging part of this business that I have experienced is the highs and lows. There’s a lot of rejection, and sometimes you have to hear a lot of no’s until you get to one yes. Sometimes you get an avail, and it’s between you and another person. It can be challenging to keep picking yourself up after rejection, but if this is what you love if this is your calling, you have to keep going!
What else do you do to prepare for your role?
Self-care. Alone time. Try to break it down, sit still with the script and do a lot of research on the character. To be honest, when I get the script… The first thing I do — I read it and see if I have anything in common with it. To see if there is anything that I can relate to. I don’t always like to use personal stuff, I try to do it like I don’t know the person and get to know them. I can’t always play myself, but there are bits and pieces of character that I can identify. I do this pyramid thing I learnt in class. You put how are you alike with the character, and how are you different. So you take a triangle with a line in the middle and see religious beliefs, age, race, how was the upbringing, whatever it is you know that you can identify with.
For things that are different — you do a lot of research and compare it with something that you know. For example, I studied one character that had a drug addict mother. I was not raised in that type of environment but I know what it is to be displaced a bit. I came here from another country and things were not stable. So I can identify the feeling of being unsure, unstable, not having a strong foundation and making some bad choices because you are trying to find yourself. She was a single mother, I know what that feels like, but even if I wasn’t, I know what it is to try to make the ends meet based on not having enough resources. So breaking it down, who is she, what things has she been through, what developed her psyche of what she is, why her choices are like that and then looking at myself thinking how can I understand this person. It is like a connecting bridge. It is useful because then you start getting empathy for that person. Sometimes it feels that it’s hard and on the surface, you have nothing in common, but in order to play the character, you have to see what you can compare and bring it together to be truthful about it.
You also have to be careful with the roles you choose because the audience sometimes judges you by the characters you play. That’s what I love about storytelling, it is a brilliant way to reach people. Everybody wants to play the hero, but sometimes you don’t get the hero. Acting lets you explore things that you cannot do in real life. Acting is being private in public, that’s all it is. To be vulnerable. Why I love this work is because when I am in modelling it is all about being pretty and selling the product. And being creative, taught me how to be comfortable with the camera, so it is useful for acting, camera is my friend, I don’t even see it because I have been doing this for so long. And how to be on set, and all that, and it really is about selling something. And when I come to class, it is me on a regular day, I am able to strip away all of the glamourous things and be truthful and really tell somebody’s story. Somebody is watching what you are doing and identifying with that, and if you are not truthful, you don’t do them justice. If I am playing who is sexually abused and I am not telling that story as an abused person and still a victim…that’s the most important thing, you have to let people cheer for you and someone who relates can say to themselves — I don’t have to be a victim, I am strong, I still matter. We are using our bodies to tell the story. Sometimes you have to feed yourself positive information to build yourself up to keep going in your life, no matter what, to always have hope and think it will be alright.
What are your top tips for actors that are starting out?
I don’t like to give advice but as tips, if I was just starting out… Train. No matter how good you think you are, training is very important. You are going to tap into places that you don’t know, new terminologies with different tutors. And be open and vulnerable.
What movie would you recommend watching and why?
Godfather — especially parts 1 and 2. Part 2 is my favourite. The acting- the storytelling — the truthfulness. It’s more than a gangster movie — it’s an immigrant movie. It’s powerful.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Always be kind to everybody.
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