We recently connected with Krosby Roza and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Krosby , thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Being an artist is taking a risk. Even if you have the brilliance of Van Gogh you can die penniless. I attended theater school in New York and was about to graduate when Covid hit. I had been making the rounds of Broadway auditions and was starting to get some bites when the whole world shut down for a little bit. So when I had family in LA that needed caretaking, I packed my stuff and headed cross country. No representation. No bicoastal network. No vaccine yet. It was terrifying, but because I was trapped inside, I turned my focus to training and wound up attending USC’s MFA acting program. And now five years on from that fateful cross country move I have amazing reps in my corner, a network of loving like minded collaborators and the determination to stick with it. The difference between an actor who quits and an actor who works is that one of them quit.

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.

I was the youngest of five children, and they did theater so I did theater. Over the next 20 or so years it developed into my driving passion and my career. I love this work; I love it with all my heart even though I’ll never be rich and famous. Being a very good actor in my mind revolves around letting go of the search for approval, finding teachers and colleagues who spur your desire to create, and just hanging in there. I love coaching actors because I discover just as much as they do, and we discover it together. Probably the thing I’m proudest of as a creative is my incubator theater company: StormSellers. A group of amazingly talented actors led by myself and my dear friend/mentor/genius Peter Marciano. We did an adaptation of Julius Caesar in my yard and it was one of the better pieces of theater I’ve experienced in LA. A great reminder that art is not budget or location or the significance that some fancy person might put on it. Art is a mirror we hold up, and the audience sees their reflection in our eyes.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was doing a production of Evita in New Hampshire when I discovered that I had an auto immune disease. My whole body broke out in lesions, it became painful to walk or eat, and I looked not unlike Frankenstein. It was a turning point for me because I realized I might not have as much time as expected. I wanted to spend the time I had left creating, because it was the only thing that made me feel really alive. Thankfully, I recovered from the attack, but when my body goes down, I can be sidelined for weeks or months. Every time that happens, it is art that pulls me back.

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

I think it becomes very clear to most artists that their work is a marathon and not a sprint. But to everyone else, it can be hard to comprehend why anyone would make this career choice. You’re not gonna make much money, and when you do, it’ll be for weeks or months at a time. You won’t have much stability, in fact, you’ll feel lucky when you get a job and have to fly somewhere unexpected the day after tomorrow. That makes it hard to maintain friendships and relationships so you’ll need an understanding circle of humans. But, and this is a big but, the rush of successfully revealing your inner life to someone else is unlike any high I’ve ever experienced. If you have friends who are artists, or God forbid, you’re on a hinge date with an actor, try to keep in mind that the thing they’re doing takes a lot of courage and that they probably live in a pool of self-doubt. That’s why acting classes or indie projects can be amazing, because they keep us sharp and remind us of how fun this crazy rotten beautiful thing is.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @krosbyjroza

Image Credits

Molly Pan, Craig Schwartz, Peter Ringenberg, Ian Dooley