We recently connected with Jocelynn Only and have shared our conversation below.

Jocelynn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

That question brings back such a vivid memory! I’ll try to paint a picture:

During summer vacation before going into the fifth grade, I remember being so excited about a movie that was coming to theaters before summer break ended. As a way to promote that movie, there was a behind-the-scenes special on TV. Watching that behind-the-scenes special before the movie came out sparked the idea of wondering what it would be like to act professionally even though I had no idea how to make that into a reality. My dad took me to see the movie and I was beyond excited to see the finished product after watching that behind-the-scenes special a couple weeks prior.

When I was in the fifth grade, I performed in my first musical as Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Even though I had done ballet for a brief period when I was three, I feel like performing in Pinocchio skyrocketed my interest in learning more about acting and the idea of somehow doing it professionally someday. With my academic interests being so varied at that age, I knew that I wanted to keep the performing arts in my life regardless of my career path. I continued to take college level acting classes here and there from that point on to learn as much as I could. I was always the youngest student in those college acting classes but that didn’t bother me.

It wasn’t until I was an adult-aged college student that I searched for ways to perform professionally and continue training but the thought of doing so happened when I was very young. Even though I majored in subjects outside of acting, building my performing arts resume and searching for agency representation continued to be something that I pursued on the side; I’m glad that I didn’t give up on that. I love that I am now able to incorporate my non-theatrical degrees into my acting projects from time-to-time.

It’s possible that there were instances prior to the summer before I went into the fifth grade where I got the idea of wanting to pursue performing arts professionally, but I feel like that’s my fondest memory. That’s the strongest, earliest memory that I have in such vivid detail.

Jocelynn, 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’m a model and actress (I do other types of work in between projects but we’ll focus on those two for this article) [laughs]. I am open to traveling for modeling and acting projects; I have my passport ready just in case projects book talent locally but film/shoot internationally. I’ve been involved with acting since 2001 and modeling since 2009. I am currently represented by KIT International Talent. I love my agent, Tabitha; I have grown so much since we started working together a couple years ago!

I’m not sure what sets me apart but I am proud of (and grateful for) the projects that I have worked on as a model and actor. It feels unreal when I think about all of the clients I have worked for, wow! Seeing myself on commercials, billboards, the sides of buses and internet advertisements has been something that I cherish; I’m speechless.

I am also proud of myself for the degrees outside of the performing arts that I have earned over the years. That and my ongoing efforts to improve my foreign language skills on a daily basis. I love being able to work on projects in different languages so training/studying in between projects really means a lot to me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to stay connected with my creative side! Time for leisure and play often gets put on the backburner in adulthood so being able to continue to stay connected to my artistic side in a professional way has been amazing. Even though it can be challenging sometimes, working on sets allows me to combine work with play.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My biggest goal is to continue incorporating the performing arts into my life indefinitely. Decades from now when I am in my “golden years”, I still want to be able to enjoy working on projects and not think of this as something I want to retire from. It keeps me connected with my inner child who once wondered if she would ever have opportunities to work on sets someday after watching behind-the-scenes of a summer movie long ago.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jocelynnonly/

Image Credits

Head shot by Lisa Keating