We recently connected with Allison Nordahl and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am incredibly grateful that I’m able to act and express myself in my favorite way, but I have worked ‘regular’ jobs, staffing weddings and as a math tutor, and I know a lot of other actors also have to work other jobs. Unless you’re already a successful actor, getting a regular job is really common amongst the actors I know. I have a ton of respect for creatives that also have a regular job, which stems from my experience growing up in public school and having to balance hard classes and extracurriculars, which felt like a job to me with my responsibilities as an actor. So if anything, I applaud artists and actors that balance a regular job with their true passion, even if we are all happier as creatives.

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?

Well hi! My name is Allison Nordahl and I’m a SAG actress, where you may have seen me on the show Criminal Minds: Evolution. I’ve been acting for over 11 years, where I’ve worked on projects like Little Big Shots with Steve Harvey and Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards, along with commercials for companies like Chevrolet, Home Depot, and Verizon. I didn’t always know I wanted to be an actress; in reality, I only started taking acting classes to overcome my shyness. Yet, it was there I fell in love with it and realized I enjoy acting and the journey of growth it has taken me on. I have had my share of amazing opportunities and projects I got to be apart of, but my role on Criminal Minds has been very special to me, since on my second season on the show, I portrayed a serious issue regarding mental health that is very important to me. I’m so so grateful for the feedback I got from fans of the show about how they felt seeing a serious issue represented on their favorite show. Outside of acting I love playing guitar, learning geography, and helping rescue animals!

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

I think that a large part of your journey as an actor is learning how to deal with rejection. The harsh reality is sometimes you can be so prepared and feel like a perfect fit for a role and you just don’t book it. Because I grew up acting, I had to deal with this rejection at a young age, and at times when it felt so discouraging; yet, I kept pushing myself. One of my favorite testaments to the resilience I’ve developed is that I auditioned for Criminal Minds once or twice throughout my years of acting for single-episode parts, and didn’t hear anything back. Yet, I kept auditioning and staying motivated until years later when I booked a role that I would end up getting to play in multiple episodes, and later, multiple seasons. I realized then how important it is to be resilient and not let yourself get discouraged because you really never know what is in store for you.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think it’s surprising how much of your ‘real self’ you need to put out there in order to succeed in this field. I feel like most people assume that because of how many bizarre or unique roles there are, actors are just playing a part, but ironically, I think you need to be more comfortable being yourself while playing a role than most non-creatives need to be in their prospective jobs. I think the idea of being yourself while you play a part is so important as it is what makes your performance as an actor special, and more importantly, believable. It has helped me a lot in other areas of my life to still be myself even when I’m trying to achieve different goals.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ally.nordahl
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6699061/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Image Credits

Criminal Minds: Evolution