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

KJ , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I wish I would’ve started sooner. As a middle school and high school student I was very focused on athletics but I was always singing in the choir and swing choir and that was always my favorite time of the day. I also tried to fit one musical in a year. Then when going to college, no one ever told me that it was okay to go into a creative field. I was a teacher for years and truth be told-that is a lot of performing! BUT it wasn’t true performing. I continued theatre and a fellow theatre actor told me I should sign with the local agency. I didn’t know anything about that side of the business, yet once signed, I found that on-camera work was really where my heart was and best suited my talents. I wish I would’ve known this earlier! Now as a woman in my 50’s I’m really working on my skills in class and love the growth I’ve made-but honestly when I see young actors on set I’m always wishing I would’ve gotten an early start.

KJ , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As stated earlier, I always wanted to sing and perform from an early age, but that didn’t really come to fruition until I moved to California with my husband and didn’t know a living soul. I attended a musical theatre class to try and meet people. My teacher in that class told me that this is what I was born to do and that really propelled me forward. I then moved to Memphis and got into the theatre here, and signed with the local agency. I started learning on commercial sets. Then moved to Chicago and started to get the bug to do theatrical on-camera work. Moved back to Memphis and a few years ago my career really started to take off as I got a new agent who was able to get me seen on bigger projects. My daughters were older and I could devote more time to taking classes and it allowed me to also be able to travel easily. So I started to book more often and network with fantastic film makers and actors and that bring me to today.

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

Being an actor is all about resilience. To be considered a working actor, one must book 10% of the time. And many actors don’t even get there! Think about that for a minute, for every 10 auditions you hear NO 9 times and often 10 times you hear nothing back. You prepare the audition-learn the lines, develop a character, get ready, find a reader, edit the takes and upload your audition. Many times with no booking or feedback. This happens over and over again. It’s very hard on ones’ self esteem. That said, you learn that it really has nothing to do with you–you just need to prepare and control what you can and leave it there. I remember once I did this amazing audition (at least I thought it was lol) But I didn’t hear a thing so I asked my agent if he’d heard anything and the reason I didn’t book was because I looked like the directors ex wife and he hated her! So again, keep doing the work and plugging away–your role will come!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think covid really illustrated how important the arts are to communities at large. During the pandemic-what did we do? We hunkered down and watched shows and movies and read books. It’s what got people through. I think society can best support artists and creatives by attending live theatre and local film festivals-give money to support non-profits that teach kids music and the arts. Society needs to respect the arts as a true career/profession–not everyone can do it! Buy from local artists and crafters. Money talks and many super talented folks aren’t able to focus on their art solely because they have to work a 9 to 5 to pay to live. So I believe the best way is to show up and support in person!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: kj-baker-14
• Facebook: KJ Baker Actor