We were lucky to catch up with Christiana Renee recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christiana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Meryl Streep once said, “I’m curious about other people. That’s the essence of my acting. I’m interested in what it would be like to be you”.
I believe this is such a profound statement because it points out the powerful reasoning behind what actors do for a living. To gain a sense of who someone is and then being able to express that affectedly to an audience through stage or film…is pretty powerful. I was blessed to embody several characters and to tell some pretty amazing stories in my career, thus far. However, one of the most meaningful projects that I’ve worked on is a stage production called, “Lipstick Monologues”. In this production, I embodied a woman named “Christian”. Christian was deeply hurt by love and when she got pregnant, decided to have an abortion. The monologue goes into clear details of her experience of having this abortion and the emotional state that she was in. Personally, I’ve never had an abortion, but I’ve had heartbreak in my life. The road to embodying this role wasn’t easy, for I had to do tons of research, talk to various women, and even go to a place mentally that allowed me to see what it was like to have the sadness of losing a child. At first, I wasn’t sure about taking on a role of this caliber because I knew the power it held. This role scared me because of the story I had to tell but after much prayer, I knew this was given to me for a design reason. Portraying a character isn’t always fun and happy-go-lucky. Sometimes the roles we as actors have to portray are dark, ugly and not always a subject that is popular, but it’s needed. There are some issues that need to be address, some stories that need to be told and the issue of “abortion” among women is a consistent topic here in America. I knew that this role would stretch me not just as an actor but as a person. Thus, I practiced, studied and really poured my heart and soul into this character. When it came to me performing the monologue, I brought this powerful story to life creating a powerful statement. At the end of the show, I had women coming up to me… thanking me for telling this story. You never know as an actor, how the stories you portray will touch other people’s lives. For the role of “Christian”, I was able to liberate some women from their pain they held inside, for some I was able to bring up a topic for discussion, for some I was able to give them freedom and for some (including men) I was able to bring awareness. Nevertheless, everyone who viewed this monologue, were able to see a real woman…not a character on a piece of paper. The power behind my words enabled me to bring meaning and life to people. Consequently, this is why when choosing roles, I am heavily story driven. Not everyone can bring a story to life but those of us that can, we have to be aware of the power we hold within our creativity. Our talents come with a voice that makes a statement. We are living in truth without judgment. I’ve come to realize that every story I portray as an actor has a different meaning for everyone who views my work. I was born to create and to tell a meaningful story… this, to me is what acting is truly about. The rewards I get from my creativity are only icing on the cake to the beautiful stories I tell. The real reward from my acting is being able to come together with like-minded individuals to bring a story to life that will have a lasting impression on others. It’s being able to open doors for other creative actors who want to follow in my footsteps in being an actor.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hello, my name is Christiana Renee. I am a Multifaceted artist who prides herself on living her life to the fullest. My story begins in Detroit, MI. where I was born to Paul and Shelly Singleton. I am the oldest of five younger brothers and while growing up, my parents always made sure that we were exposed to music and the arts. I was homeschooled so other than my brothers and close cousins, I didn’t have too many people that I interacted with. I was a very shy and sheltered child; often keeping to myself a lot. However, I always loved playing “make-believe” which sparked my interest in acting. I had a big imagination so when my mother gave me an assignment to act out a character from one of the books that I’ve been reading, I didn’t hesitate to bring a character to life. At the time my father was working at the local YMCA, therefore when I performed my character in front of him, he suggested that I start taking acting classes. After much discussion, my parents took me to my first acting class and the rest is history. Since I loved the arts, my mother found ways in which to enroll my brothers and I into free programs that will stimulate our creativity, around Metro Detroit. These programs led me to Mosaic Youth Theatre summer camp. During that summer camp, my brothers and I learned how to act, sing, and dance. From there I auditioned and got accepted into Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit ensemble, henceforth, I was able to nurture my love for the arts. Mosaic provided a professional based program which eventually led me to audition for Kentucky State University. I was able to be accepted by the University, as well as receive a scholarship. I decided to attend, majoring in English, Creative Writing and Theatre.
While attending College, I was able to explore my love for not only the arts but for creative writing as well. I wrote several poems that were published in the school poetry book, as well as participated in several local theatrical productions. These productions allowed me to be selected by the University to travel to several theatre conferences located in Atlanta, Chattanooga and throughout the Southeast. After graduation, not wanting to go back home to Detroit, I decided to set my sights for Atlanta, Georgia. Upon arriving in Atlanta, I was greeted with several challenges, including not being able to support myself as an Actress. After much struggle, I decided to give up on acting, however God had other plans for my life. God answered my prayers by sending encouragement, opportunities and people into my life who helped inspire me. However, I knew that in order to be successful, I had to first believe in myself before others believed in me. Through this process, I was reminded of a promise I made to God, and I started to revisit my love for the arts. As my commitment to developing as an actress grew, so did my personal commitment to being a better person in life. Since then, I have gained so much growth in this business by taking classes, workshops and stepping out to challenge myself through various showcases. I have had the pleasure of working as a professional actress in numerous productions for both the stage and film. To add on to this accomplishment, I have written over one hundred poems, which are registered with the Library of Congress.
As I seek to expand my career path, I am exploring the opportunity to one day produce, direct and write my own content. Recently, I have been working on several productions, including writing my own scripts. One of my goals in life is to team up with my brothers (who are also in the industry) to create a dynamic family entertainment business. In addition, I am a firm believer of self-care, hence, I take time to live a life full of love, joy, and laughter. I make sure that I am intentional with my purpose, my life goals and growth. I am a firm believer that as I allow the greatness inside of me to surface in my life, I am giving others permission to accept their own greatness. I believe that it’s never too late to live out your dreams and as long as you keep God first, there’s nothing stopping you from achieving your goals. Henceforth, I pride myself on leaving a legacy and inspiring other people with my life.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I believe that society can support actors by understanding this is a “real job”. From my experience, most corporate organizations doesn’t recognize “acting” as being a real job until someone makes it successfully and publicly. I’m this industry, Artist have a challenging road trying to balance life and their artistry at the same time. Being an actor isn’t easy because we are constantly reinventing ourselves. As actors, we are constantly always dealing with rejection, with having to tape a lot of auditions, keeping up with our appearance, spending money to take classes that will cultivate our craft and when we land a job (role) we have to balance rehearsals with our corporate jobs and life etc. Again, it’s not easy but it’s worth it because we are investing in ourselves and in our dreams! Ninety percent of this career is a business and as actors we are our own brand. I find this career to be very personal and worthwhile to me because of the unique gift of storytelling. From my experience, actors, or anyone creative for that matter, need to be encouraged, supported and taken seriously. We need to be celebrated and not just when we make it on “tv”, on “film” or on “stage” for Broadway or other higher professional arenas. Our journey is challenging yet we have been called by God to create life through creativity. In addition, I think society needs to add a sense of grace towards creative souls and a little bit more financial stability in-between our projects. To add on, society can support actors and other creative souls by buying a ticket to come out to shows, sharing our social media posts, giving creatives a platform to create, taking the initiative to learn about what we do as artists and how we can contribute to society as a whole. Artist are like athletes- we practice to be the best while performing; that in itself takes work.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative person is getting together with other artists to create something bigger than ourselves. For myself, when I create, I leave a legacy for others to follow in my footsteps. Personally I have family members who are inspired by my dreams & are pursuing their own dreams in this entertainment industry. In addition, I love the process that I have to go through in order to create a story. I love being in rehearsals, on set and even the process to embody a role; that excites me a lot! I get such a thrill being able to create and seeing other parts and different departments of the creative process to bring a story to life. For myself, the greatest reward of my career is living my purpose the way God intended for me to do. I truly believe that out of my dedication to my craft, my purpose and my passion will bring forth a sense of greatness I can be proud of. I might not have my dream role, “yet”, but I consider myself a professional actress because I’m a working actress! I get up thinking about acting and I take the time to study my craft. Yes, I would love to leave my 9 to 5 and just focus on acting full-time but I personally made the decision to focus on what I need to do to make it happen and sacrifice for my passion by working a corporate job for a little while. I also know that acting isn’t the only thing I’m good at, so I’m currently looking at writing, producing and possibly directing projects. Another rewarding aspect about this career is the audience …. I love people, I love to learn about people and I love the support I get when I see the audience enjoying a good show.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actresscrenee/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianarenee7/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/christianarenee
Image Credits
Ira Carmichael Seward Jartu Ankh Photography Jsharaephotos LS Studios