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

Jasmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Well, performing has always come natural to me. I’ve always danced and performed for family and friends as a kid. I even held dance shows and fashion shows for my friends and family as a little girl. So, I’ve always wanted to perform. But in the 4th grade, I attended a performing arts school. And at that school, my first time ever acting on stage was playing the character, Eveline, from The Wiz. And ever since that moment, acting became my passion. So to better my own skills, I took acting classes. I performed at school and at home by myself in my room as a kid. I later on went to college for acting and I just tried to get as much experience as possible in the field. Thankfully, I eventually learned how to better my craft. Voice-acting, however, came much later for me. My first Voice acting gig was for a student film after I graduated college, and I loved doing it. So again, I learned about the field of voice acting. I started taking voice-acting classes and studied my favorite animations and voice actors like Cree Summers, Tara Strong, Keith David, and Regina King.

I think me learning to explore my own emotions and learning to be curious about the human experience and what we as humans go through were the most essential skills. Of course basics like memorization, improv, analyzing the script, and writing helped me as an actor as well, but I think being able to explore who I am as a person was an essential skill as an actor. On the other side, voice acting contains those exact same skills, but I would add that exploring what my voice could do was most essential. I started off recording myself do weird and funny character voices just for fun, but with that experimentation, I realized that I was actually good at character voices. So I think doing that and also learning how to take care of my voice were essential skills in voice acting.

In terms of obstacles, I think doubt, trying to rush the journey, and experiencing rejection stood in my way, especially with auditioning. As an actor, you audition a lot and you’re happy because you get to perform, but the negative is that you get a lot of no’s and that’s just the business in general. And with acting it’s sometimes worse than a “no” because sometimes you don’t hear anything back for months until you see the role has been filled or you never hear anything, and that’s when you realize it’s a no. And for me, I used to think well maybe I didn’t get this role because of looks or my voice or I’m not a good actor or whatever it is, and you can’t think that way. You just have to be confident in yourself, do your best, and keep it pushing and eventually something will stick. I’ve really worked on not comparing myself to others and seeing auditioning as a way to have fun. I’ve learned to make this job fun because this industry can be really hard sometimes. As an actor or just a creative period, you put so much of yourself into the craft. Focusing too much on rejection and comparisons for too long can really break you down and turn into something ugly if you don’t get a hold of it, and I’ve seen it happen to others. So, it’s so imperative to focus on yourself and see the fun in the journey of this industry. Because we literally get to create and imagine as our jobs. And what’s not fun in doing that.

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?

So for those that don’t know me, my name is Jasmine. I’m an upcoming voice actress, film actress, and overall performer. Like I said in the previous question, I’ve always performed as a kid. As an only child, sometimes I would play with my dolls and create the most dramatic scenes ever like it’s a movie and when I wasn’t doing that I would hold dance performances and fashion shows with my cousins and friends. So I’ve always loved to perform. Now as an adult, I’ve been able to get paid for both my voice work, and my film acting and I just hope to grow my career and share my journey with others. I’ve been able to do short films, commercials, background work, theatre, dubbing and ADR (automated dialogue replacement), and just be a professional actress. And now, I can’t wait to see what’s in store next in my journey.

When people cast me for their projects, I hope that they see a collaborator and a creative. I hope they see me as a vessel to bring their story to life. Because my goal as an actress is to share impactful stories with others. I want to create projects that make people feel something. Feel anything. I alway say when watching a film or project that it’s a chop if it didn’t make me feel something. Because art should inspire us. I want to impact people through different mediums and inspire people to take whatever they get from the project and use it in their real life. I want to entertain others and help them to have fun and laugh because in this current world, we all need that from time to time.

In terms of my own career, there’s definitely still a lot of growth for me to do. There’s more stories that need to be told, but I’m confident that I can be the one to do it and hopefully I can find other creatives that can help me accomplish that as well.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I’ve had to unlearn and that I’m still unlearning is to not doubt myself and instead trust the journey. I first learned that lesson in college. As a freshman, I wanted to be on every student film and every project and I did audition after audition and got nothing. I thought that something was wrong with me. That maybe I just sucked, and that maybe I couldn’t actually act. But by my sophomore year, I learned that:
1) You have more to learn about the industry and acting.

There were so many things that I didn’t know about auditioning and self tapes, and then after I learned these things and applied them in my auditions, that’s when I started booking auditions in college.

2) You have to trust yourself.

I needed to trust in my talents and in myself. I need to believe in myself fully, and once I did that I was on my way.

3) Not everything is meant for you.

Looking back certain opportunities that I wanted were not for me. Had I gotten them, I might have been more miserable or unhappy. I had to learn that what was meant for me, was meant for me, and what wasn’t for me, wasn’t meant for me.

These were all important lessons for me because I really needed to learn them by the time I graduated and got into the entertainment industry. And to be honest, i’m still re- learning this lesson, but I’m better with it now than when I was younger. There is no rule book for this industry. And every one’s journey is different. Your path is going to look different from the person next to you and their path is different from the person next to them. So I’ve had to unlearn rushing my journey and not trusting myself.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal that’s driving my creative journey is my passion and necessity to create and also my love for telling stories. I wouldn’t be who I am without performing and creativity. Performing and acting in general has saved my life and bettered my life and I want the same for others. Other creatives have inspired me and bettered my life from their stories. In the same way, I want people to use my art and my talents to feel empowered and inspired and then use that feeling to go on to empower and inspire others.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminejonet
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/jasmine-j-johnson-actor

Image Credits

Personal Photo: Kendra Frankle

Photo 1 : Jordan Dameron

Photo 2 : Kendra Frankle

Photo 3: Cole Mandras

Photo 5 and 6: Rex Wong

Photo 7 : Georgia Whitfield