We recently connected with Nancy Chartier and have shared our conversation below.
Nancy, appreciate you joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
Oh I have been fortunate to have had so many heroes! I think heroes are vital to helping us forge our path into becoming the best version of ourselves. I will share a few stories from some of them with you now! Growing up in South Florida, and through most of High School, I was painfully shy. My first ‘hero’, was a neighbor who let me call her Grandma, and made me feel like one of her grandkids. She was warm and welcoming, and I slowly opened up to her, and felt comfortable enough to share my limited yet painful experience of life with her. I was nine years old. Over the years, she listened to me and gave me advice. She taught me how to trust her, and myself. She ultimately taught me the importance of telling people that you love them. She died from cancer when I was 14. The imprint she left on my heart was indelible, and changed me forever, I will never forget her.
The next hero I had was when I met Burt Reynolds. It was summer and I was 17, working for free at his theater, (my sister was the scenic detailist there). I was also an artist, and was able to help out the week they had fallen behind painting the set. I met Burt only once, at 1:00 am during the changeover of Babes in Arms. He was absolutely delightful, incredibly generous, and told many stories that night about old Hollywood to any who would gather round to listen. After a while, when the apprentices made their way back to work, (and completely out of character for me), I somehow found deeply buried courage bursting out of me. I shared with him that I knew deep down inside that I could act, but felt that I was being vain, and nothing would come out in the audition, I was so quiet they couldn’t hear me on stage. He told me, “If you know deep down inside you can act, then that is a gift from God and no one can take that away from you.” He then told me about how he and Clint Eastwood were fired from the Studio on the same day, and that he couldn’t remember the name of the guy that fired him, but he was pretty sure that guy knew who he was. At the time, Burt was the number one box office star in the world. And just like that, he unlocked something inside me, and gave me permission to just ‘be’. At that point, I had auditioned every year in high school, and only gotten dancing roles. The next audition I had was for a Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I won the coveted role of Hermia, my first speaking role-Shakespeare. I booked speaking roles in four plays my Senior year, and won Best actress in the UIL competition!
The following year, I was 19 and I auditioned for my first professional play. In that audition, I was handpicked to then audition for Jose Quintero (when he came in town), who is considered the greatest interpreter of Eugene O’Neil plays. I don’t think there are adequate words to describe how beyond excited I was to get the call that I’d won the role! I was both terrified and obsessed, working with him. Terrified he’d think I was a fraud, and obsessed with his creativity and brilliant instinct. I’d never experienced anything like it, even though my high school theater was extremely professional. He was incredibly passionate and opinionated, and enthusiastic when he liked something. But there was one standout moment, when we just weren’t relating to the magnitude and significance of a car ride into town for ice cream. The play was ‘Ah Wilderness’ set in 1914, I played Mildred. And so he sat us all down, and proceeded to share with us an incredibly personal story about his father and his childhood, and openly wept! I was mortified for him, (crying in public was always a thing to be frantically avoided at all cost) but also in awe. He had no shame! He told that story on purpose. He wanted us to feel his vulnerability, but there was such POWER in not being concerned about what we thought, or if we judged his emotion as weakness. In that moment, I remember wondering if I would ever be that strong and powerful, to be able to be that vulnerable. To share everything, without holding back, with absolutely no concern as to what anyone thought of me.
It would be MANY years before I would finally learn to let go, and trust, and to truly not care what anyone thought. I learned to allow myself to get lost in the art of the moment and feel whatever emotions came up for me while I worked, and in life. I got rid of my ‘mask’, the mask we all learn to create at a young age to navigate the world. I didn’t need it anymore.
If you are still reading, I will share one more story. Vincent Gardenia, (He played Cher’s dad in Moonstruck, and maaaaany other memorable roles) was a brilliant actor who often worked at the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater. I can still remember his heart rending and poignant performance as Willie Loman In ‘Death of a Salesman’; I saw every performance I could. He took me under his wing when I was 18. He’d found out my sister had been in a near fatal car accident, and so whenever he’d see me there he’d make a big deal and make me feel special. I was still painfully shy, so this was incredibly conflicting, I loved it but didn’t think I warranted the attention. A year later, I think when I was 19, he was in town driving to one of Burts’ condos, and I was biking in the rain. It was Florida, and the joke is, if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change. He drove up beside me and joked, “Don’t you know enough to get in out of the rain?”, I laughed and was so happy and surprised to see him there, it was just so random. He ushered me to follow him where I waited out the rain, while he made me tea. (I don’t actually like tea, but didn’t want to tell him that.) We talked, and he wanted to know what I was up to. All excited, I told him I was in college, doing a play with Jose Quintero, and had two jobs. And he said, “But what are you doing?” I was confused. I said, “Um, not sleeping?” He said, “Nancy, how do you expect to be a great actress if you don’t experience life. You need to get out there, fall in love, travel, get your heart broken. Life is messy. You have to have something to draw from”. I took that to heart. That prompted me to plan a trip to Europe. It needed to be big; my mom always wanted to travel and never had. I thought now is the time. I saved up and at 21, it was going to be two months with a friend staying in youth hostels. It ended up being six months, alone, with a bike, a tent, a Eurail pass, and youth hostels. Vincent was right. Completely changed my life. I started out excited, which quickly devolved into sheer terror, questioning everything, doubting myself, and eventually turned into many adventures and misadventures and mainly self discovery. But I learned I had resiliency, and was stronger than I had realized. It’s been one of my favorite life changing experiences so far.
All of these people, Gramma, Burt, Jose, and Vincent, had unlocked a powerful source inside of me. They gave me the gift of discovering who I really was, hidden underneath all the fear, self doubt and uncertainty. And now I still get to act, but also am able to help guide actors that choose to study with me on their journey of unlocking their power and passion and true selves without any guise. Many of my actors are also writing, creating and producing wonderful works of art. One of my former actors just got nominated for an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor. I LOVE seeing people I have worked with thrive, knowing that all of those beautiful gifts these people have shared with me, are legacies to be passed on to others.
Nancy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have been acting since I was 14, and coaching since 1995. I am represented by the fabulous Linda McAlister Agency, and am a S.A.G. actor. I love my Studio, and we have just started back in person for the fully vaccinated in November, though still Zooming for those that can’t or live far away. I have to be especially careful, my mom lives with me and is about to be 102! My coaching style is Meisner based, which to put simply, means I coach actors to listen to and trust their instincts and utilize their imagination instead of digging up your dead grandmother, lol. I love that my Studio is a safe environment to grow and risk and play. I have wonderful actors that are very positive and supportive and encouraging of each other. Last year, I was asked to marry two gorgeous couples who met in my classes and I love dearly. Those were two of the absolute highlights of my life! In addition to on going classes, I also offer coached, taped auditions for actors. my website is www.nancychartierstudios.com
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I would say Pandemic 101- In the second week of March 2020, I quickly pivoted and asked my tech students the best program to utilize while we wait the ‘two weeks’ (ahem), and they offered several choices, but then Kyle Lancaster said Zoom was most user friendly with the least bugs, and I said SOLD! (Good choice Kyle). Mike Garcia showed me how to set it up, thank you Mike! (I am NOT the most tech happy person). Then I had to adapt all my in person classes exercises to online, while trying to energize actors who’ve been traumatized by the world shutting down and toilet paper panic, along with other scary things, like people getting really sick. If people lost their jobs, I wasn’t going to let them lose their class too. We had to stick together.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 1995, my acting coach asked me to be her associate coach. I had been feeling stuck, and two days before, I had just asked God what he wanted me to do and to put it on a billboard so I didn’t miss it. Michele Condrey walked in and said her waiting lists were too long, and after several suggestions from actors, she turned to me and asked if I wanted to teach, I was the only one qualified. And so I said yes, because, you know, God. Big pivot for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nancychartierstudios.com
- Instagram: nancychartierstudios
- Facebook: nancy chartier studios film and television acting
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/nancy-chartier-studios-dallas
Image Credits
Headshot- Flygirl Photography Debi Patton