We recently connected with Gabrielle Archambault and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabrielle, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Last year I had the opportunity to work on my most challenging role yet on a show called Second Chances. I can’t speak a lot about the details as the project isn’t released yet, but it led me to researching a lot about the American prison system, and it really opened my eyes to what goes on there. I love researching about characters, especially when playing a villain or antihero, because there is always so much more empathy to be discovered about people and life experience. This opportunity allowed me to really craft a character with so many facets to her, and to find the softness underneath a hard and violent exterior.

One of the most important aspects of being a creative that I’ve learned in the last year, is to identify your why. What drives you as an artist. For me, it’s using my art, whether it’s acting, or writing, to reach out to my audience and help them feel as though they are not alone in their experience. I once read something about how people feel most loved when they feel understood, and so to send your art out into the world, have people receive it, and feel understood is such a great way to spread love. I think when people are hurting, or going through a bad time, it can be hard to feel like you aren’t alone. And even harder to be vulnerable and reach out to say, I’m feeling this way and I need some help. As a storyteller, we can provide people with the opportunity to have a cathartic experience, and to heal, even in ways they didn’t know they needed.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Falling into acting was a happy accident. I never dreamed as a child that I would be an actress, I was very shy, and to be honest, I had no idea it was a real job! I grew up in a rural area and no one I knew was in the arts. I always loved writing, and always would write short stories in my journal. In school, I was always a person who was in sports, but one year I had an injury which prevented me from competing in track and field that season, so my Mom suggested I try out for the school musical. I got in and was hooked. Luckily for me, I have always had a belief I could do something, until proven wrong, which I think is very helpful in the arts, because the main obstacle can sometimes be believing in yourself.

For a time, I struggled with a lack of focus on exactly how to approach my career, because I really, truly, love everything. Acting, singing, writing, filmmaking, and it can be hard to spread yourself thin, into each of these without a plan or direction, especially if you are neurodivergent as many of us creatives are.

However, one of my favorite things that my neurodivergence has given me is the ability to take a big risk. In 2017, I wrote and produced my first short film, and logically, it was probably a totally crazy thing to do, but in the end so worth it. I learned so much from fundraising, to the SAG signatory process, casting, and putting all the pieces together. After doing such a big first project, it really opened the doors to anything being possible. When I see a big challenge, I love to just jump in with both feet. Since then, I’ve made many more short films and am now working to move into the feature space.

Much of my work focuses on dark themes, the expression of trauma or trauma recovery, but I also love comedy. I think there are good opportunities to approach these things, not only in a deep emotional way, but with comedy too.

One of my big favorite movies of the last couple of years was Top Gun Maverick, but not because of the airplane battles (though very exciting) but because the real obstacle in the film was Maverick’s PTSD, and his ability to overcome that. Another passion of mine is history, and I love historical pieces. It is so exciting to explore how people lived in the past, and how different, yet how similar they are. One of my favorite directors is Joe Wright, and I’ve seen his 2005 Pride and Prejudice about 35 times. Each time I watch I discover something new.

When I work on a role, I love to immerse myself in the character, create a little diary of personal experiences from them, as well as crafting how those experiences would have an impact on their voice, and physicality. I have a lot of inspirations in terms of acting method, and one I love is the idea of an animal essence to each character, and where the character leads, holds their weight, and the style of movement. In the research I’ve done about physical manifestations of childhood and traumatic experiences, it is very apparent that the things that have happened to us have a huge effect on how we move, hold ourselves and take up space. I also love to examine the juxtaposition of how a character perceives themselves, and how they want to be perceived by the world. I love that this career allows us to transform, and put our experiences to a whole crazy variety of situations. Changing my look is one of my favorite things to work on as a performer, and molding how the character expresses themselves in hairstyle and wardrobe. Collaborating with the costuming team and hair and makeup is definitely one of my favorite things.

I pride myself in always putting my all into my work. From my perspective, there is no point trying to do something without trying to do it to the best of my ability. And to have a process not necessarily results driven approach. For many actors, I see them fall into a problem of “trying to do a good job” or “trying to get the role” when having that train of thought is contradictory to doing so. The characters we are portraying are not sitting there thinking I want to get the role of myself, and if an actor is consumed by that thought while performing, they will forget to be pursuing the wants and living the essence of the character. Being on the casting side of a film has also been very helpful as an actor because many times an actor is really great, but not right for the role for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with how good of a job they did. But when you see someone who is really great, you remember them. So the audition process should really be about thinking how you can best portray the character and service the story being told.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

One thing I wish I had known earlier in my career is that you do not have to be poor and suffering to be a good artist. Many times early in my career I was worried about having a full time day job because I was concerned it would prevent me from being an actor. Having now experienced both, I can say it has had the opposite effect. Not to say that an artist should just focus on their day job and not pursue artistic opportunities, but having a job that more than pays the bills gives an artist the opportunity to be more selective in the things they are going out for, and to have the funds to create their own projects more easily. Especially in this post COVID world, more jobs are remote and flexible than ever, and you can find a position that removes the fear of not having money for rent, while still having the ability to take time for auditions and gigs. I think that the position of not being able to pay the bills as an artist puts us in is one of desperation, and the emotional toll actually blocks our art rather than feeds it. I would encourage people not to be afraid to take a job that gives them some stability.

In addition, I would advise those suffering from trauma to seek therapy and healing. It is another thing that I hear a lot from people where they are afraid to heal from their trauma because they think it will hinder them, and this is something I feared as well for a long time. But now I have found that healing has allowed me to more fully draw on my experiences without worrying about being overcome by them, and the mental clutter has been removed, allowing more space for the art to flow freely. Those experiences always still live inside of you, but they don’t have to cause daily pain.

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 all people have an ability to be creative, but I think fear often holds people back. Many people often remark about how I can take a risk and jump into something either that I’ve never done before, or just to keep pursuing this without any guarantee of wild success. They ask if I have no fear. In regards to taking a risk and failing, I don’t have fear. I don’t know why, but I think it is because the thing I would fear is not taking the risk and failing, but never having taken the risk at all. Each day I want to push myself to be better than the day before, try something I haven’t tried before. There could be something in trying to reframe the idea of failure. Not that everyone should try to be an artist, but I think that if someone has a dream or a goal, they shouldn’t worry about failing, because just the experience of trying to do it can be more rewarding than standing on the other side of this perceived finish line we can have about “making it” in whatever sense we have of what that is. Is it not a beautiful thing to have a dream and say, “I did the most to make that happen and experience the pursuit of that dream.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.grimabbeyproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabby.archambault
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabigail7130
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@grimabbeyproductions

Image Credits
Molly Pan Photography