We recently connected with Corrie Legge and have shared our conversation below.

Corrie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

One of the most unexpected challenges I encountered in my creative journey turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise. It came in the form of a 17lbs rescue pup named Cooper.

But first, some context. Prior to adopting Cooper, I had only dabbled sporadically in voiceover while primarily focusing on stage and on-camera acting. While I was curious about voiceover, it hadn’t received the full extent of my attention and energy. That changed dramatically when my partner and I decided to adopt Cooper, our first fur baby.

Cooper is an absolute love bug, and we were immediately smitten with him. However, he also brought along a significant challenge in the form of severe separation anxiety. He would howl and cry and scratch at the door anytime we tried to leave, and he was incapable of calming himself down with time.

We lived in an apartment building in NYC, so not only did we fear for Coopers mental and physical wellbeing, we also fears eviction if we let him carry on. We quickly realized that it was going to be a really long process to train Cooper very gently and very gradually ease him into having a routine, trusting us, knowing we were coming back and working on that separation anxiety. And, as the freelancer of the family, it fell to me to train him because my schedule had flexibility where as my partner worked 9-7 every day.

But, New York is expensive! I needed to find a way to make money, from home, and fast.

So I looked around, I was like, how can I make money from home? I already had a microphone plus years of acting training and experience. So I was like, “OK, I’m gonna lean into voiceover”.

And honestly, the rest is history. I went from having never booked a professional job to having a self produced demo and booking work within weeks. Cooper is the reason that I got into voiceover, Cooper is the reason that I have the agents that I have, that I have such an incredible team behind me.

Now, Cooper is the reason that voiceover has become such a mainstay in my work as a creative.

So, thank you, Cooper.

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?

I pride myself in wearing many creative hats. Professionally, I’m an award winning actor, voiceover artist, and creative coach for multi-passionate actors. myself a multi-passionate actor. As an actor and voiceover artist, I’ve appeared in many independent films, national commercials, animation, video games, audiobooks, and more. I’ve also donned the filmmaker cap a few times – writing, directing, and producing several films that have gone on to have successful festival runs.

I strongly believe that living a holistically fulfilled life is imperative for all creatives, and this notion is at the core of my coaching practice. I love helping multi-hyphenate storytellers and performers take control over their dreams and build thriving creative careers without sacrificing the holistically fulfilled life they deserve. All too often, actors are told “if you love something else as much as acting do that instead”. I change the scripts. “If you love something else as much as acting, do that TOO.” A creative life should be full, not restricted.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The last few years of my artistic life have been riddled with pivots, twists and turns.

We all know what happened in March 2020. At the time, I was living in the heart of Manhattan working as an actor and voiceover artist. I still taking a bus to midtown on Friday March 13, 2020 to record a new audiobook voiceover demo. I was the only person on the bus. The streets were empty. The city was quiet. It was incredibly eerie.

Within a few days, the city had officially shut down with shelter in place orders instated. A week later, I found out I was pregnant. Those two little pink lines catapulted my life into change. In a few short months my husband and I packed up our bags, said goodbye through masks to the city that had been my only home in adulthood, and moved to the suburbs of Boston.

Though it’s been four years now since the move, I feel like we’re still adjusting. We’ve since welcomed two incredible children, bought a house, started two new business, made multiple films and so much more.

As we navigate this every changing, exciting, and sometimes terrifying, landscape of change, the one thing that has served best to ground me is “community”. When I’ve felt uneasy, unsettled, unrooted, it’s because I lacked community. When I’ve felt inspired, alive, and creative, I’ve had strong community ties. Time and time again the power of community has shown itself to me.

So to anyone planning or experiencing a pivot, my one piece of advice would be, connect with your community. Know who your people are and lean into them through the change.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Watching the arts be slowly stripped from our school system is breaking my heart, not only as an artist but as a mother. Art is how we connect. Art is how we build empathy, compassion, and understanding. Art is play. Art allows us to process and experience vulnerability and validation in safe settings.

Children need art. Society needs art. We need to do better, for our kids and ourselves. The arts aren’t an afterthought, a hobby that’s only to be picked up when the “real” work is done. Art is crucial to our humanity, so it should be central to our education.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.corrielegge.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/celegge
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corrie-legge-7814bb94/
• Other: instagram.com/creatingwithcorrie