We recently connected with Geraldine Bielke and have shared our conversation below.

Geraldine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I still knew how it felt when I discovered my passion for acting. I was 14 years old. Actually, I had a glimpse of it when I was 7. I was sitting on a stool, holding a puppet, and a lovely lady took photos of me. The photographer asked me if I was interested in becoming an actress. I wished I could revisit that moment to ask her why she thought that, or I wished I had been bold enough to say, “Yes, I am interested. What are the next steps?” But I just sat there shily and did what the photographer asked me to do. My parents and none of my relatives are in the show business. All of them are pursuing regular jobs. My dad used to be an Ingenieur, and my mom a nurse. The theme of being an actress never came up again.

When I turned 14, I knew I had it in me. I felt such a strong desire to move to the USA and to pursue the one thing I knew I was good at. Many people thought I must have watched too many American TV Shows and read too many magazines about celebrities. But becoming famous never crossed my mind. The only thing I felt was such a strong desire to do what I love the most and what I’m good at. To give stories a heartbeat through the embodiment/art of acting and doing those incredible things all actors I’ve been looking up to were doing. Watching their performance was like magic; it gave me a sense of complete truthfulness and vulnerability that touched me, and I knew I wanted to do that, too. However, I didn’t have the support to become an actress because my environment thought that becoming a professional actress was out of reach. Slowly, I accepted it and obeyed my mom’s wish to become something else that would give me regular income. I climbed up the career ladder, and I don’t know what or how it happened that I neglected my passion. I even completely forgot my desire to become an actress for 15 years. But 15 years later, I was asking myself if this was it. I knew something was missing in my life. Sitting in an office doing my day-to-day job didn’t feel right anymore. I kept asking myself what my soul was trying to tell me, and during a meditation, it hit me like a Tsunami. My whole passion returned, and I knew now or never. Yes, when things go slow, I keep asking myself, what would have been or where would I be now if I hadn’t lost 15 years of acting experience?
My first acting coach asked me where I’d been all these years. (smiling) I still don’t know if that was a compliment or a “kick in the ass” for me to hurry because I wasn’t the youngest anymore when I started acting.

But I know now that everything’s happening for a reason, and it’s always possible to start something new, no matter how old one is. Better now than never, right? Even if I might have missed out on opportunities, I can’t turn back the time and catch up on all those years I pursued something else. Even if it had been the right timing and I had gotten all the support and opportunities as a young actress, I would have never known what it’s like to live a regular life. I may have doubted my acting career when it gets rough and slow and would have asked myself what life would be like if I worked a 9-5…
Having lived both sides, like having a 9-5 job secured by a regular income and leaving the life of a freelancer/actress who’s following her calling fearlessly, gives me a sense of not missing out on anything, and based on that, I never question myself if I’m on the right path. Even though I could return to a “normal” life whenever I wanted, it is too late because I’m too deep in it and so in love with what I’m doing. Metaphorically, I used to be a bird imprisoned in a cave. One day, I found my way into spirituality, and my cave’s door cracked slightly open. The more I found myself through my spiritual journey, the more I realized it was time to break out of that cave to spread my wings, embody art, and embark on a journey that would challenge me in ways that never challenged me before. But a wise teacher told me once, “The bigger the challenge, the bigger the reward”. So I keep reminding myself to get going, to embrace every challenge with gratitude, and that I started my journey on the right divine timing.

Geraldine, 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 made a complete change of career in 2022. During Covid-19, I felt the burning desire to break out and embody the art form of acting. Within only a few months of treating acting as a hobby, I knew this was what I desired to do professionally, and I quit my 9-5 job. I flew across the ocean to Los Angeles in October 2022 and entered the AMDA – College of the Performing Arts Conservatory program in Los Angeles. I attained my Associate of Occupational Studies Degree in Acting for Camera in February 2024, and since then, I’ve been continuing to take acting classes because I love the environment; it’s like a home to go to when I don’t have any bookings. It keeps me immensely inspired. Also, it helps me stay connected and motivated in the best possible way.

Fun fact: I almost grew up in New Jersey, but my parents decided to move back to Switzerland two months before I was born. That could be one reason why I feel very connected to the United States, and I believe that could be one reason why I feel that my acting is the most authentic in English.​

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I keep having one vision in mind and have been meditating on it for a long time. But first and foremost, I want to outline my motto: life starts with doing what we love and, in return, giving it back to the world. How does this correlate with acting? Every movie has a profound message about life and relationships. They make us remember the importance of loving and supportive connections and having unwavering faith in succeeding in something that is extremely important to us. To stand up over and over again, no matter how hard it can get. And there is always something in a story that relates to what we’re experiencing or dealing with in real life. I want to embody the screenwriter’s work in the best possible way so that we actors can touch the audience and spread the writer’s message right into the audience’s hearts. 

Since 2018, I’ve been on a spiritual journey. The real awakening started in Spring 2024. I found the right spiritual coach just in time when I went through a dark night of the soul and faced many shadows. I began to love and feel appreciation for them, and little by little, I healed myself and began to have a new view of life. I learned that everything is in relationship and that living from a heart-based consciousness means understanding that everything is in relationship, like the flower of life, which symbolizes all creation and the cycle of creation, as well as unity and oneness. Giving and receiving are the number one and fundamental rules. Since then, I’d been asking myself, what can I give? And my answer is: First, I want to spread love and kindness. We live in a world where that is needed.  With my upbringing, which wasn’t financially easy, I can relate to talents who want to start an acting career in the United States, get their degree here, and take their chance during their OPT and O1 time. I saw many great talents, but the immense expenses made them stop pursuing their dreams and this breaks my heart. I only could come here because I lost my parents early and was able to sell my parent’s house. So, my mission that drives my creative career is to make great art, as mentioned above, to spread kindness, love, and light, and to build a foundation that will help talented actors worldwide who don’t have the financial access to pursue their calling.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I knew acting was what I wanted to be doing professionally in 2020, I felt a strong push to dive into the unknown. I didn’t let fear consume me. I felt like I finally had a purpose in life. But with that purpose, I knew that many challenges would arise along the journey I was about to embark on. I knew I had to go through a bureaucratic process – applying for schools, getting accepted, and getting the F1 visa. I felt joy after getting accepted at AADA and AMDA and having my F1 visa approved. I was immensely grateful but knew I would face challenges where my love for this art and my resilience would be tested. I was starting a new life in a country I had never visited before and wasn’t fully fluent then. After graduation, I faced both sides – the “bright” and the “dark” sides – of this industry.
What I struggled the most was not to have a regular income like I used to have for 12 years. I had to make a complete change in how to make a living without a 9-5. But I’m getting better at it, and I just have to look outside the box and love the financial business side of being an independent artist. I also had to learn it is not a rejection when I don’t get the job. The role just isn’t meant for me. I don’t like to say it wasn’t the perfect fit. Because if something or someone is meant for you, it/they will be part of you and on your journey in this lifetime. There were times when I asked myself if this was even worth it. At a certain point, I lost hope, and I was questioning myself and my skills. I almost stopped carrying and was about to give up. But then I reminded myself how much acting gives me and that I couldn’t leave without it, and I would regret it if I would just give up when I know there’s so much more to discover and experience. So I kept going and fell even more in love with it. My OPT (optional practical training) year ends in a couple of months, but I don’t fear it because with the right mindset and taking the right risks, I know that I will find a way to stay or come back and continue my acting journey here. What concerns me the most, but in a loving way, is that I would really miss my friends and significant other if I had to return to my home country for a little while, but I’m saying to myself. The past was a lesson, and the future is to trust. Everything is out of my control. I can only control my intentions and actions and accept whatever is ahead of me because God knows the way that is right for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.geraldinebielke.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geraldinebielke/?next=%2F

Image Credits

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