We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelsey Redmond. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelsey below.

Alright, Kelsey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

When I attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, I was hungry for any and any project that needed an actor. Through the theatre department, I connected with the film school in our School of Theatre, Film, and Television. The film students were in need of actors for projects for classes and thesis films. A lot of theatre actors got roles through word of mouth with the film students and by one e-mail or another I was elated to be cast in a “Thelma and Louise” film scene with my friend from my acting class. I remember feeling it was as if Warner Brothers had called me telling me I got my big breakout role in a blockbuster. I scoured my closet in my dorm room agonizing over what to wear and on the day of the shoot I did my makeup and hair the best I knew how. My friend and I were picked up at our dorm by our film student director in his early 2000’s sedan. I studied my lines (see photo) with butterflies in my stomach the whole way. We headed out through Starr Pass overlooking the beauty of the Sonoran Desert. The three of us found a gorgeous overlook and I remember the scene was shot on a tiny camcorder at golden hour. If you haven’t experienced a sunset in the Sonoran desert, I implore you to do so at some point in your life–the oranges, yellows, reds and purples that paint the landscape are unlike anything I had ever seen. It felt like I was on another planet where painted skies are king. Filming that “Thelma and Louise” scene with my classmate was a pivotal moment in my acting career. It validated that I could do film, that it was fun, and that it was something I wanted to continue to pursue. I hadn’t been in a film before, and this experience validated and solidified something else too; on our way home, our director handed each of us $20 and said, “I believe that actors should be paid.” That twenty was so sacred to me. I had never been paid to act before. Twenty dollars may not sound like a lot to you now, but as a 18 year old college student it was as if I had just been handed a Wonka Golden Ticket. Twenty whole dollars from a film student when he too was in college and struggling with finances was unreal and unheard of. I moved forward with pride that I was now a “professional” actor. I had been paid to work. Throughout the rest of my college career, I worked entirely for free on both college, community, and local films with the voice in my head still saying, “I am a professional.” One thing I learned over many years of study is that money doesn’t make or create a professional. A professional is someone who prepares, who shows up ready to work on time, and someone who you want to work with again and again. I take performing entirely seriously and always want to deliver, be professional, and do my best. With all of this experience, passion, and effort, acting is my life’s artwork. I would like to continue to make it my work. While we do it for the love–acting IS still in fact, work. It is not easy and takes many, MANY hours of study and mental and physical effort. Like my first film project director said, I “believe that actors should be paid.”

Kelsey, 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 grew up in Ventura County, California and I have been acting and singing since I was in elementary school. I studied theatre arts at the School of Theatre, Film, and Television at the University of Arizona because if I didn’t study acting my soul would have shattered into a million pieces and I would have never been whole again. I have been a professional improvisor, a standardized patient, worked at theme parks and as an actor in museums, plays, and films since graduation. I am now working with a fantastic team that consists of my manager and agents to pursue bigger projects. I read Fred Astaire’s autobiography in college and fell in love with vaudeville, cabaret, and burlesque. I was fortunate enough to participate in multiple themed cabarets a year at the University of Arizona in which we danced, sang, played instruments, performed monologues, scenes, SNL skits, puppetry, and so much more. Those performances often meant more to me than performing in plays at school or touring children’s shows throughout Arizona. The work we put into our acts to fit into the theme created magic. We got to bring our art to audiences for one night only and the sheer joy it brought to those of us in the show as well as our audience was addictive. Cabaret is so special to many folks and I am no exception. Once I moved back to California and was pursuing a career in film in Los Angeles, I was obsessed with the idea of continuing the tradition of cabaret with my friends. It took seven years, many meetings, and several false starts for me to finally get a footing and a launching point. I worked with my friends and owners of ImprovCity—Devin and Gina Dugan—to bring the first “OC Cabaret” to Tustin, Orange County. With this theatre, my talented friends, and my hosting skills that I learned from performing with ImprovCity, OC Cabaret was born in 2022! The show did so well the first go-round that I received the offer to make it a monthly installment at the theatre. A year later, my friend Tj Punchard offered me a space in Torrance, CA to bring the show to LA and we now co-host “LA Cabaret” monthly. Producing these two monthly shows as well as a couple musicals so far has given me invaluable production experience. I have named my production company “KELScabaret”–we even have our own Jingle written by the incredible Jackie Loeb! The cabarets have brought in performances that are unforgettable; Magicians, Chinese Opera, puppeteers, musicians, singers, opera singers, new works, percussionists, dancers, songwriters, NY professionals, film and television actors, and so much more! My cast members have been given performance and collaboration opportunities through other directors and casting directors. We have agents, choreographers, directors, and managers in attendance and I and other performers have been signed because of our shows. This has been an incredible gift to continue to put on month after month and I am so thankful for all the folks I have met and worked with because of the shows. KELScabaret has been asked to bring a cabaret to the Anaheim GardenWalk in October 2024 and the fact that I get to bring the magic of cabaret to more and more people each year and each month is incredible. I look forward to seeing how KELScabaret grows from here.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

For those folks who aren’t in the entertainment or a creative, artistic, industry, it may be hard to understand why artists “don’t just get a real job.” Let me start by saying, that is one of the most hurtful things you can say to an artist. Art is a real job. Look at your bookshelf. Look at the paintings and prints on your walls. Check out your playlist on Spotify. What movie did you last watch on Hulu? All of these things were created by artists that you and those around you pay for and enjoy. Try spending a day without any entertainment. It would be a lesser life existence! Art is culture, it is beauty, and it is important. It benefits our minds and our mental health to create art as well as consume it.
Now, if you are an artist, you already know these things. You most likely have that indescribable ache to perform, to create, to make art. A lot of people call that “scratching the itch”–for me it’s an ache. It may sound dramatic but if I’m not in an upcoming show I actually feel unwell. The artist who doesn’t make art is not whole. Art is our heart and our soul.
So the next time you’re at a family dinner, think before you ask how your cousin’s “little show” is going or their “little art piece” is coming along. It is not little to us. To us, it is grand. It is everything.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is that you need a BFA to be a professional actor. I received my BA in Theatre Arts in Theatre Education and have performed in shows alongside many folks in the industry who have BFA’s, MFA’s, and more in theatre and musical theatre performance. I think what helped me unlearn that a BFA was the end-all, be-all was the fact that many of my friends who have BFA’s are learning their way through the industry just the same way I am. We all need survival jobs at some point, we all need to get new headshots, we all have the ability to take the same classes, and we all end up at the same auditions and often in the same shows in both theatre and film. Heck, I know folks in big TV shows who never even went to a University. You can get the best education at the best theatre school, but sometimes the best education is gumption, perseverance, and learning what it’s really like out there in the real world by DOING it. My best education in the industry has taught me: hustle when you’re tired, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and fail, make your own things, and keep going–don’t quit!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kelseyredmond.net/
• Instagram: @kelsey_redmond_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kelseyredmondactress
• Other: KELScabaret: https://www.kelseyredmond.net/kelscabaret-music-art-live

Image Credits

Joanna DeGeneres, Francis Gacad, The Wayward Artist