We recently connected with Marc Winski and have shared our conversation below.
Marc, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
The physical and mental parts of speaking is something that a lot of people rarely even think about……For people who stutter? It can be a major part of how we are built. As an actor, I always thought I HAD to be fluent (smooth, non-stuttered speech) in order to have a career. I was talked down to, passed on by casting and directors, and was never allowed to be my TRUE self in my acting. A self that stuttered. I always felt that I had to conform to what the “norm” was in order to make it. So I hid. I hid this part of myself within my career. I circumnavigated sentences, changed my words, planned out entire roadmaps of how I was going to uuuuuuuuuse my voice in order to….get it out….fluuuuuuuuently….
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?
THE LIE: “oh, it’s not a problem. I don’t stutter by when I sing or memorize lines, it totally goes away”. This is something I told myself and others for decades. I thought I had to be somebody who doesn’t stutter in order to be an actor and be heard. I started my career in musical theatre because when I sang, my stutter went away. Not a miracle, not magic, just a wild thing that happens with our brians. I. thought that if I just made it to the song…..if I could find a way to trick everyone and be fluent just until the song, I would be great. But I wasn’t fluent……from touring with Broadway Shows like GREASE and Hairspray, to working with the big Mouse himself at Disney, I was terrified and hiding in plain sight in front of thousands of people per night. Even through college, I kept feeding this lie that I had been shown through media and representation (or lack there of). I never auditioned for non-singing plays and the first thing I would look at when I received a new audition was “how many lines does this party have……” I was living my dream…..and being met with crippling fear throughout the entire journey. Directors and agents saying “you promised us you wouldn’t stutter, you need to work harder and quick being lazy to fix that.” Or “what are you going to do about that stutter?” I wasn’t enjoying any of the performing that I had worked so hard to master.
When I returned to NYC after a job, I received an audition callback for GREASE. I knew I was right for the role because I’d performed the show over 1000 times. I had memorized the scene and the song and was ready to go. I had everything SO fluently at home……I went into the audition room, sang my song and knocked it out of the park. Then I heard “ok, that was great. Let’s move on to the scene work.” I was prepared and ready….so we began….”hey! I’ll trrrrrrrrrrrr——trrrrrrade y-y-y-you a b-bbbbbbolonga…….——-“ I blacked out the rest of it…. Then I awoke from the white room*** hearing “ that’s all we need Marc, thanks.”…… I slowly walked out of that room with my head held deep in shame…..I thought to myself….”how could you do that? You F-ed up….you blew it!! You’re worthless…..you don’t deserve any of t———-“ THEN a lightbulb went off in my mind. I Couldn’t do it this way anymore. I wasn’t speaking MY TRUTH with MY VOICE. I wasn’t doing anybody justice by hiding this part of myself…..it was THAT MOMENT that I started to take control of my own authenticity and truth. I went back to acting school and fully committed to 2 years of unlearning all of the tricks and tips that I would do to be fluent….and really act….as me…stuttering and all. Through this further training, I learned how important speaking my own truth was and how much more fun and rewarding it can be! I fell in love with acting for the first time in my entire life and am now on a journey to show truthful representation through theatre, television, film, and social media. By creating educational and witty content on social media, giving keynote speeches and presentations to the world’s largest companies, and bringing stuttering to the imaginary worlds of these characters, i’m honored to continue showing truthful representation and diversity to the world of entertainment. The more we see it, the more we normalize it.
Always remember to Speak YOUR truth. @marcwinski
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission is to make it so that no people who stutter or have a disability are shut out from the entertainment business and higher ups in the studios can see things through a new diverse lens.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Society can relax their minds to new, exciting, and possibly different ways that situations can sound, look, and play out. Hire disabled actors to help end the stigma.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marcwinski.com
- Instagram: @marcwinski
- Linkedin: @marcwinski
- Other: TikTok: @marcwinski (500,000 followers)
Image Credits
Getty images