Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christina Marie Leonard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Christina Marie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

When I was a preteen growing up in Omaha, Nebraska I already knew I wanted to act. There weren’t a ton of acting opportunities but I did what I could. I took theater classes at both of the local theaters that offered them and I auditioned for everything I could. Having lived in LA for 10+ years now, I forget how spoiled I am having acting opportunities abound. I’m not saying it’s easy, and it certainly hasn’t been a breezy road for me, but when I moved to Los Angeles, I was grateful that I could just log onto actors access or casting networks and submit for what I wanted. There were hundreds of agents and managers I could email my materials to, or go to showcases with, with the hopes that they would sign me. Again, that part is also a struggle, and I didn’t get representation right away when I moved here either, but the opportunities were always there. That’s why I couldn’t wait to move here.

But at thirteen years old, I knew I wouldn’t get the chance to live in LA, the land of opportunities, for a long time. (I begged my parents and they said no). My mom, however was wiling to help me get what acting opportunities I could where we lived. She somehow discovered that in the entertainment section of our local newspaper, they had a listing every Sunday of auditions. These auditions were mostly for plays, all of which I attended, even if the role was way too old for me. (Apologies to all the people casting plays in Nebraska who had to watch me, 13, read for a 26 year old. Which really happened. A lot.)
I did get the part in some of these plays (not the ones where I was auditioning to play a 26 year old) which led to great experiences. None of them paid though. But the one thing that did was the Nebraska Renaissance Faire.
I had always loved attending the renaissance faire growing up- I especially loved “Drench the Wench” and I’m realizing now that I should probably unpack that in therapy. Why did I so love being taunted by a medieval woman, then throwing a beanbag at a wall until she fell into a kiddie pool? Also I really wanted to be that wench. In fact, over the summers I would sit on the edge of my own above ground kiddie pool and have my friends throw beanbags at me until I fell in. And I was definitely taunting them in a cockney dialect. (Badly, I’m sure, because I hadn’t gotten my BA in theater yet and had not had proper vocal training).
Anyway, between Drench the Wench, the speaking in dialects, and just the overall fact that you get to be in CHARACTER ALL DAY- the renaissance faire was my dream job.
And I got it. At thirteen, acting as a greeter at the renaissance faire was my first paid acting job- my first dollar as a creative. I worked there for 5 years until I graduated high school and turned eighteen (even though I lied on day one and said I was eighteen when I started. My lie was quickly realized when I panicked at the point when I was asked to participate in the “wench walk”. The wench walk is where all the women of the faire walk around singing songs and then stop, put lipstick on, and kiss the nearby men. I had only ever kissed one person in my life and he was also thirteen so I was mortified).
By the time I was actually eighteen and ready to go to college and move on from the faire, I had created my own one person show which started out as a gypsy storytelling show and evolved into a one woman pirate comedy show. I loved doing the show so much that I even flew back once while living in LA to put on the show again at the Midwest Pirate Festival.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started doing plays in Omaha when I was nine, but I really realized that acting is something I wanted to do professionally when I was twelve. I got diagnosed with an invisible illness which really put things into perspective for me. That’s when I realized that while I was involved in a lot of sports, groups, clubs, and activities, acting was the thing I loved most. I had to miss a lot of school during that time and that’s when I started dealing with some pretty bad depression, and watching movies and TV was the only thing that helped. I had been doing theater for a few years but I knew long term that TV and movies was where I wanted to end up because I wanted to be able to help people who were struggling with illnesses, like I was at that time, in the same way that movie and TV actors helped me. I really want to use my art to help people, to inspire, and to take people out of whatever misery they might be going through, even for a moment. That’s why I love to act in projects across all genres. I think we all need something different at different times in our lives. Sometimes we need a comedy so we can feel comfort, sometimes we need a horror movie that is so unrealistic that it takes us on some sort of vacation away from where we are. Sometimes we need a drama so we can cry it out. Sometimes we need action or sci fi so we can feel some excitement, or a biography so we can feel some inspiration. When I write my own projects, they tend to be comedy because I just sort of talk in an amusing way. Honestly, sometimes I’m talking to my mom and I’ll be crying telling her something sad that happened to me, and then she’ll laugh a little and apologize saying “I’m sorry honey, it was just so funny the way you phrased that”. My best friends have that dark comedy aspect to them too and it is one of the things that brings us together. My last short film “Waiting for the Punchline” is a dark comedy about a girl who follows her comedian boyfriend out to LA only to find him cheating on her and has to now make her way in LA- all while imagining murdering her ex. That short film which appeared in nineteen film festival and won awards at eight of them, is one that I am extremely proud of, partially because it was a story that I had put on a shelf for awhile, and didn’t know if I would ever actually make.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I don’t think anyone is fully a “non-creative” but for those not in the creative fields professionally, I think sometimes it is easy to forget that most of us don’t do this for the money. I have had many conversations with my dad, some friends, and even one with a therapist convincing them why I’m doing XYZ even though I’m not making money off of it, and in fact, I’m losing money. (She is no longer my therapist).

Oftentimes we have to put a lot of money into our careers before we get money back. That goes for acting classes, producing a play or film, headshots, demo reels, you name it. It is pretty expensive being an actor (and I know from my friends who are musicians or visual artists that the same goes for them too). This is why a lot of us have multiple side hustles to not only pay the bills and the rent, but to fund our creative endeavors as well.

“Why are you making another short film? That’s gonna cost so much money. I thought you were trying to make money.”
“So why are you doing this play? Are you making money?… Wait, you’re losing money?”
“How much for headshots?!?”
“Why do you need to be in class? You already took a class!.”

The list goes on.
Just trust us- you want us making short films, being in class, producing short films and plays, because otherwise we will be unhappy and unfulfilled. Of course we want to have a roof over our heads and food to eat, but most of us would be happier working two or more meager, yet flexible jobs and living in a tiny studio apartment with an ongoing leak in our kitchen ceiling, as long as we get to act on set, onstage, in class, or even just in our auditions; than living a life where we work 40 hours a week in an office making bank only to drive a sports car home every night where we get to sit in a beautiful house thinking about how we gave up on making our dreams come true.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me the most rewarding part of being an artist is watching the people around me have success. I’ll admit, I struggled with this when I was younger and I used to get jealous when people got opportunities I wasn’t getting yet. But now it is extremely encouraging when I see my friends who have been hustling in this town for a decade going to chemistry reads for series regulars, or my friends who have been writing their own content since I’ve known them starting their own production company, or comedians I’ve been seeing at mics all this time becoming paid regulars at The Comedy Store. It is so inspiring because it shows that the grind does pay off. It reminds me, just keep trying. Just don’t give up!

It’s hard sometimes for me to see my own progress because it’s so gradual, and I’m with myself every minute of the day so I often don’t even notice that I’ve moved an inch toward the finish line. But when I see my friends and comrades achieving success, in an industry that is an uphill battle with road blocks at every turn- that makes me pause, reflect, give them a big “hell yeah”- and realize that I am on the right path too.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.christinamarieleonard.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/christinamarieleonard
• Facebook: facebook.com/cmleonard1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinamarieleonard/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cmarieleonard
• Other: The Road to Nowhere at The Hollywood Fringe Festival: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/10504

Image Credits
All Photos by Darielle Rose- The Awakened Creative Hair and Makeup in all photos by Darielle Rose- The Awakened Creative