Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlene Hoffmann
Hi Marlene, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a working actress, originally from Germany, now based in New York City.
I’ve wanted to become an actress since I could talk – and I did, a LOT! I spent all of my time in the ‘costume corner’ as a kindergardener and then continued by attending acting school at the age of 18. After working for 10 years in the German theater scene I took a leap of faith and relocated to New York City – initially to take a break from theater, but that turns out to be quite a challenge in this city…!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve been very lucky with my career so far. I grew up in a family that was very supportive of my dreams and helped me in every way they could. The hardest part is honestly all the technicalities of my job, especially since relocating to a different continent.
The German theater system is incredibly hierarchy oriented, which exhausted me so much that I needed to take a step away from it after trying to change the system to a more eye-to-eye version of itself for 10 years. The actual acting part was always the best thing about it, but the system in which I could do that didn’t agree with me in the long run.
Since relocating I’ve faced a lot of very new challenges: Visa struggles, language and cultural barriers, different views as to what an actor needs to bring to the table, etc.
I’m always trying to face these challenges head first, I’m focused on not letting these technicalities get in the way of my dream and pursuing my career – it’s not always easy, and a lot of the times very frustrating but at the end of the day I know why I am fighting these battles. I am extremely privileged to be able to say that I am living my dream, I am working as an actress and I am still having fun doing it! And if it was easy, anyone could do it, right?
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think what sets me apart from other people in my industry is that I have a great balance with being disciplined and ready to work at all times while at the same time remaining the fun in it all! I don’t take myself or my job too seriously, which doesn’t mean I’m half ass-ing it. But I’m very aware that we as actors are storytellers, not brain surgeons. I’m always trying to find the fun in what I do, while still honoring the character, script and the story I’m in service of. Rather than breaking character and joking around with my co-stars between takes, I try to find the fun in the scene – which can also mean diving into deep dark emotions, that can also be fun!
At the same time I’m trying to respect everyone’s time by being prepared, staying professional and doing my work.
I’m mainly focussing on my TV and Film work at the moment, which is very different than my long years of theater work. I now get to explore more characters that are similar-ish to myself, almost like a version of me that took a different path at some point in their life, whereas in theater the characters I was cast with were veeeeery different from me most of the times. But I’m embracing both experiences, after all it’s what I love to do most: play-pretend, diving deep into imaginary worlds that give me the opportunity to live as many lives as possible in my own short lifetime.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think I’ll keep this one short and simple: Success is for me when I feel and/or know that I’ve been seen, heard and/or taken seriously.
And when I know I won’t be forgotten, that I’ve made a mark – big or small – I feel that I’ve been successful.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Anthony Chatmon, Jan Pieter-Fuhr, Odinger Mitchell, Josh Li, Sam Lu, Nik Schoelzel