Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carolyn Carpenter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Carolyn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I think pursuing any kind of career in the arts can be a risk. How will you make money, how will you survive day to day, will people love and appreciate your art? You put yourself on the line both financially and emotionally. And there’s a lot of rejection involved, especially in the entertainment industry, so you have to have very thick skin. In spite of all this, I think that being an artist is just something that is hardwired into my DNA. It’s in my soul. I can’t help but do it, even when it’s miserably grueling — working very long hours for days at a time. But my worst days as an actor and producer are better than my best days working in a corporate job. Deciding to pursue a career as an actress was a huge risk. There’s no guarantees that you’ll be able to sustain yourself financially, and you have to work very hard because there’s a lot of competition in this industry. Starting my film and television production company was another big risk — more is at stake because the decisions I make as a producer impact people beyond just me. But I always say, “no risk, no reward.” Life would be dull without taking risks. I never aspired to be someone who takes the safest path. I love nature and the outdoors. One of my favorite things to do is hike, particularly on trails that are a bit off the beaten path. You get to see things that the rest of the world misses out on. I embrace that mindset in my career and life too.
Carolyn, 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 am an actress and film/television producer. I grew up in suburban Chicago, and started acting at the age of ten by taking acting classes and acting in local theater productions. After graduating from The Theatre School at DePaul University, I moved to Los Angeles and made the switch from acting in theatre to acting in film and television. It’s a medium I enjoy more. I find it to be a more challenging and intimate form of acting. You’re performing for a camera that is sometimes as close as a few inches away, rather than performing to a huge auditorium full of people. There’s no opportunity to fake it on camera. It picks up right away when you’re not conveying an honest emotion, it sniffs out “acting” from a mile away! I’ve appeared in over 30 films and television/streaming shows. My latest films, “An Ocean Apart,” directed by Alan Shi, and “Oizys,” directed by Kellie Christensen, will be appearing on the international film festival circuit this year. I’ll be back on set for another film in March. I love keeping busy and having a full workload.
From the producing standpoint, my business partners and I started our production company 5 Talent Entertainment many years ago when we were ramping up our careers as actors. We got tired of waiting for auditions, so we decided to capitalize on the downtime by teaming up with friends to write, direct, and star in our own films. Our first feature film, “Sons of God,” won Best Narrative Feature at a film festival in Hollywood, which gave us the confidence to continue producing our own work. This was back before social media and digital filming had really taken off — there was no YouTube or TikTok. Being an independent film producer was much more challenging at that time. But we persevered by finding new ways to make movies and share our work with our growing audience. Fast forward to today, 5 Talent Entertainment has produced six films, two pilot television shows, and two web series.
What sets me apart from others is being okay with not fitting into a box of doing only one thing in the entertainment industry. I love to act, but I also write, direct, produce — you name it, I’m down for trying it. I’m currently writing a feature film and in the process of getting it funded. This is the first feature film I’ve written and I’m excited to see where it goes.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think non-creatives struggle to understand how much time, energy, and work goes into building a career as a creative. I hear people outside of the entertainment industry marvel at how much actors seem to get paid and the lifestyles some celebrities live. They also talk a lot about “overnight success” stories. I find this mindset challenging because after spending most of my life working in the entertainment industry, I’ve never met anyone who was truly an overnight success. It just seems that way because the press only starts talking about creatives once they’ve “made it.” Everyone loves a Cinderella story, so it glamorizes the whole thing to make it sound like someone fell into a spot of good luck and became a star overnight. But research most actors’ backgrounds and you’ll find a string of day jobs, understudy and stand-in roles, and often stories about nearly going broke. Also, a creative career is very much a journey. I don’t know that you ever arrive at a point where you look at it and say, “yeah, I’m here, I did it.” There’s always a new horizon. A new type of character to play, skill to learn, script to write. I think if you reach a perceived destination, you become stagnant and that’s something most creatives can’t mentally or emotionally tolerate. The beauty of it is, your art drives you to keep growing, learning, and staying curious.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I had to unlearn is seeing setbacks as a travesty. When your livelihood depends on booking roles, and there’s so much competition for so little work, it can be tempting as an actor to fall into a fiercely competitive and dark mindset. That mindset can set in due to other setbacks in life too — falling into depression after losing someone, experiencing major life changes. I got to a point where I was looking at the challenging aspects of my life and getting into a victim mindset, constantly thinking “Why is this happening to me?” My mentor/life coach, Samantha Jo Harvey, helped train me to reshape this thinking. I’m learning to embrace life’s challenges and shift my mindset to thinking, “This is happening for me, not to me,” and embracing the lessons and opportunities for growth. My dad died when I was a child. We were close and it was a tough loss. All these years later and I still hadn’t let go of some of the anger and grief around this. I recently joined a screenwriting class and started writing scripts. The feature film I’m writing deals with losing a parent, and it’s amazing how much I’m pulling from my own personal experience. The characters I’m writing benefit from very honest, raw emotions as a result. I’ve learned never to underestimate the brilliance that can come out of our moments of deepest darkness. When you look at life this way, darkness becomes something beautiful and beneficial, something to embrace rather than fear. Without the dark, the stars wouldn’t shine so bright.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.carolyncarpenteractress.com
- Instagram: @carolyn_carpenter
Image Credits
Tiffany Modino