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

Natalie , appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I have had a career in the entertainment industry for almost 30 years. In those 30 years (give or take), I have had a lot of ups and downs, wins and loses, and definitely highs and lows. When I was younger, I had a very different idea of what success would look like after 30 years in show biz. I’ve seen a saying recently, that goes something like this; “If your younger self could see where you are now, they’d be so proud.” Honestly, I think mine would be a disappointed. And I don’t mean that in a self pitying way! What I mean is, my younger self’s idea of success is completely different than what mine is now. I grew up in a family that had A LOT of success in the entertainment industry, so of course I thought ‘success’ meant Oscar nominations, a network series, and invites to Paris Fashion Week. Now don’t get me wrong, I would happily accept all of those things into my life, but just because I don’t have them, doesn’t make me less successful. Success can be as simple as having long friendships, a supportive partner, and just getting out of bed every morning! Something I didn’t know was success, in my field, is earning enough as an actor to get insurance! Not a very exciting dream for a kid to long after, but every year I achieve that, I feel very successful. Sometimes I wonder, if I hadn’t had been born into my family, what would my definition of success be? Would I have gotten a ‘regular job’ and have been satisfied? Or as humans, do we always want more than what we have. And is that the thing that actually drives that keeps us going? They say you have to ‘see to believe’ and I was very lucky to see so many people in my family achieve so many incredible things. Which in turn, makes me want to achieve those incredible things too, it just might take me a little longer than 30 years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

So now a little more about my actual successes as an actor. I got my start in the Voice Over world at the age of nine. Since then, I have voiced many roles in video games and animated series. One of my most favorite roles to play was Goldie Locks in the Disney Junior series, Goldie & Bear. Not only was I playing an iconic character that most kids grew up with, I now found myself as a character in the Disney universe, which I truly dreamed of as a kid. In addition to Voice Over, I’ve gotten the chance to work on camera and on stage. Most recently, I completed a run on a one-woman show that I wrote, produced, and starred in. Creating my own work has been so creatively rewarding.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As someone who has been pursuing acting for as long as I have, I sort of forgot that I had other skills. Since the pandemic and the strikes in the industry, earning a consistent living as an actor has been temporarily strained. This year, I produced a gala for a non-profit as a volunteer. While it was absolutely grueling, I learned that I have a knack for event production and I’ve started to get hired on other projects. So far, this has been a really great fit for me. Since it’s freelance and I work from home, most days, I’ve been able to juggle being an actor and an event producer quite easily. It’s given me the variety in my life that was was carving and I’ve found a new sense of purpose.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding part of being an creative is learning how to leverage the unknown. Since there are so many things out of my control, I have been forced, for lack of a better term, to learn how to let go. By letting go, I end up having more opportunities fall into my lap. On days where I have no cue what I’ll be doing, I just remind myself that they’re are infinite possibilities. I feel so lucky that my creative career has taught me that lesson in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.natalielander.com
• Instagram: Natalie_Lander

Image Credits

Morgan Demeter, Abel Arams