We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zara Ducrôs. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zara below.

Alright, Zara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk I’ve ever taken would certainly be packing up my life and moving to the other side of the world to pursue acting. When I made the call, I was a 19-year-old girl fresh out of high school in New Zealand. It was a daunting prospect in theory; the thought of leaving everything and everyone I knew to try and make things work completely on my own, and having to do so in an entirely different hemisphere. It was life-changing in every sense of the word. For me, it was something I knew I had to do – the only thing that I could really see myself doing for the long haul was performing. I have been acting and singing since I was four, and no other area of my life quite gave me the feeling, or outlet, that performing does. Truth be told, the thought of being chained to a desk in the corporate world for the majority of my life was more frightening than the chance of my dream not working out. Perhaps it was youthful ignorance that led me on to the plane when I left, but whatever it was I wasn’t really afraid. I’ve now been here for three years, and I want nothing more than to remain here in the pursuit of what I love. I graduated with a degree in Acting for Film & Television from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in 2023 and have been working hard to create as many opportunities for myself as possible in both acting and music ever since.

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.

My name is Zara Smith – though professionally I go by Zara DuCrôs (the latter being my French middle name) – and I am a 22-year-old Australian born actress and musician from New Zealand. I have been living in New York City for the last three years. My decision to go into the field of performing stems from a lifelong passion; I was always in the school musicals growing up, trained as a classical pianist from age seven, and began writing my own music in my childhood bedroom at sixteen. I was drawn to the acting scene in New York after a school trip in 2018 and set my heart on drama school in the creative capital of the world after that.

As an actress, I love both dramatic and comedic projects and have worked in both, though I am particularly fond of comedy. I’d have to say that is my niche; a strong suit for me is my sense of timing and the truth I strive to bring to my work. As a musician I work hard to bring that truth to my music as well – the songs that I write are deeply personal and I think that my best products have come from an outpouring of my psyche. As a songwriter it is important to me that those listening to my music are able to resonate with it, and that it may help them work through or make sense of something that is going on in their lives in the same way that music has helped me to do that. I want my creative work to make people feel seen, and that we are almost never alone in dealing with the human experience.

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

There are so many things about being a creative that make me happy. If I had to hone in on one aspect, I would say it’s the healing quality that comes with making art. This kind of work I do is almost always personal by nature, or some kind of commentary on the young person’s experience. I’ve found that, by extension, producing things that reflect my mental or emotional place at a certain time in my life is the most cathartic way for me to process my life. If there was an absence of therapy in the world today, I think I’d be able to manage without, so long as I could write and perform. It’s also really validating to receive positive responses to the music and/or performances I put up; whilst I know that my art will not be for everyone (nor should it be, and that’s okay), there is something comforting about a warm reception to sharing your perspective on the world. It means a lot when people reach out to me to let me know that a script I wrote truly resonated with them, or the lyrics of my song made them feel seen – there is a certain reciprocity there. In turn, I also feel understood, fulfilled, and as though I can assign reason to the trial and tribulation of young adulthood. Creation has allowed me to stitch up wounds in my life that otherwise might have remained open. That, and it’s the most fun thing to do in the world.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I would argue that entering the industry after a May 2023 graduation from drama school was an exercise in resilience in itself. This was of course right when the SAG-AFTRA strike began its 118-day course, and subsequently dried up every well of opportunity for greenie actors to get their foot in the door. If I were a domestic student I perhaps would not have been as riddled with stress and anxiety over the lack of work, however as an international kid who was about as far away from home as you can get, I knew that I would face a different set of challenges. Staring down the barrel of an already limiting work permit with a quickly nearing expiration date, I had to get creative in order to build any sort of resume that would deem me worthy of staying in the city that I’ve now made my home. Alongside sending in an endless barrage of self-tapes in application for both screen and stage projects, I sat down with my best friend and now writing partner Ailise Beales and began writing the script for our web-series ‘Happy Even After’. We had a lot of fun creating that project together and quickly found that our writing styles were easily intertwined. We went on to win three awards for ‘Happy Even After’ at the New York International Film Awards, including Best Web Series and Best Acting Duo. It’s a piece that both Ailise and I are really proud of, and I think that its success speaks to the importance of the ability to make your own work in an industry that is almost never going to throw you a bone. I can sit here now over a year later, still living in and loving New York City, chuffed with the work under my belt thus far and excited to see what happens in my continued pursuit of this career.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zaraducros.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zaraducros/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zaraducros/videos
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/16gvrEBggrhpyppxDsbvVC
  Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/zara-ducr%C3%B4s/1745240514

Image Credits

Douglas Gorenstein
Maximilian Bieber