Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ilana Kohanchi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ilana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I was 5. And just like most kids, I loved to play. Around that time, I realized this could be a great answer for the very common “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I started answering “I want to be an actress!” this was usually met with shock and awe, or occasionally a concerted effort to redirect “No, sweetie, maybe you want to be a doctor?” Or sometimes the sly remarks to other adults “Not to worry, at her age, tomorrow she will want to be a princess.” Well, my stubborn nature made me hold onto that dream throughout my childhood until I could do something about it as an adult. And I sure did.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After my childhood dreams turned into adult pursuits, and after completing my education, I pushed as hard as I could to get the opportunity to move to LA right after grad school. I’ll save you the family drama surrounding that story, and skip to the happy ending. I graduated early and I moved to LA with stars in my eyes. The first years were much more difficult, because it’s hard to get people to take a chance on someone new. But as I got more credits on my resume, the opportunities became easier to grasp, and I was able to get some fantastic tv shows and movies under my belt. I can’t mention the names of any of those projects, since we are currently still on strike. But I can tell you about the independent productions, that were not governed by struck companies…and maybe give you a little ride through the fantasyland of the characters I’ve played, some of which still live rent-free in my head ;) There was ‘Katy’, the lovely, redheaded, and “perfect” girlfriend whose only flaw was being imaginary, in “Nowhere Girl” a romantic comedy that will make you laugh and cry. (available on amazon prime).
There was Natasha, (well I’m russian so let’s face it, there were many Natashas) but this one being the bubbly and girly but very pushy best friend to the quirky Korean-American aspiring actress ‘Kat Park’ on “Kat loves LA” (both seasons available on Youtube) .
And most recently, there was ‘Jessa’ the smart and punky voice-of-reason in a house full of chaos in “The Second Coming of John Cooper”. (We just wrapped shooting on this one so it will be editing in post-production for a while, but stay tuned!)

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This may not be unique to me. I think many actors face this. But, socially, and in school. institutions and society teach us to withhold our “undesirable” feelings. But they are human. “Don’t cry; you’re a big girl.” “No yelling when you’re angry.” etc… It makes sense to keep society running in an orderly fashion. But those teachings hinder you as an actor. When your job is to bring life to a soul that was written on paper, you need access to everything, your instincts are key. That requires “unlearning” these social lessons, to give your character all the power she needs to be fully human.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Many comments from non-creatives go something like “You know what show you should be on…” or “You didn’t get the role? But you had an audition! What happened?” and unfortunately. even when you do very well in our industry, things don’t go like that. We can’t just pick a tv show and go apply to work on it. The roles have to first be written by writers/showrunners and released by casting directors to Agents who submit their talent, and we receive auditions based on that. Once you beat out the 5,000 other actors who applied for the same role (via agents) you are still up against 10 or 20 or 30 amazing actors who also beat out all those others to get the audition. So booking a role is rare. Unlike in non-creative industries, where if you get a job interview, you are extremely likely to get the job. So it is understandable that people equate an audition to a job interview and have those expectations. But it is not the way it works in our industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ilanakohanchi.com
• Instagram: @ilana_Kohanchi
• Facebook: ilana Kohanchi, Actress

Image Credits
Tony Adams, Michael Viyera, Stephanie Girard