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Sed ut perspiciatis unde.
SubscribeAlright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pamela Mitchell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Pamela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Last year my husband and I decided to uproot ourselves again after 9 years living in Los Angeles, and we moved back ‘home’ to NYC. I’ve been very fortunate to be a working actor for the last 8 years with no other survival job, and I’ve been operating under the assumption it’s easier to accomplish that living in Los Angeles– there just has been more work there by scale for most of my entire professional life.
We both hit a wall in terms of our quality of life though in LA, and really just were homesick for the east coast as our home base, instead of just blocks of time here and there. So after talking to friends, family, and of course my professional team, we decided to take the risk and head back officially. I knew I was going to lose the volume of opportunity that LA provides professionally, but also knew my soul just felt happier back in the gritty, concrete jungle of life that only NYC can give you. So we packed it all up and caravanned across the country, old dog in tow. Thankfully so much shoots in NYC (and the east coast in general) these days, and the level of passion in the filmmakers here has been really inspiring to jump back into. I will always love LA, and hope I get to go back for stretches of time as often as the ‘casting gods’ will let me, but I just am a better human here day to day with my bagels and MTA chaos and just the wonderful energy the city provides.
And though it’s definitely been an adjustment, I feel like the universe was so kind and welcomed me back creatively: I booked a really cool guest star role on Law & Order: Organized Crime that crossed over with SVU, and also a guest star on FBI: Most Wanted just a couple of months in. The most wonderful casting office (huge shoutout to the wonderful Jonathan Strauss team!) was so amazing in trying to make a place for me and gave me such a gift of confidence in my official return. I just wrapped a really wonderful indie film as well, and am just hopeful that this insomniac city I love so much keeps giving me the chance to earn my keep creatively.
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’ve moved a lot in life, which I think has shaped me as a human. As a kid I always lived in VERY small rural communities– I was born in Alabama and lived there till end of elementary school, did a stint in Tennessee, then spent my teenage years in Southeast Missouri before moving to NYC and then LA and back as an adult. I’ve had to learn quickly how to adapt and to make new friends starting from a young age. Though often difficult, I think that helped me be the person I am today. Moving that much has also really exposed me to different people and beliefs and lifestyles, some in a negative way and obviously sometimes in a really positive way. Adapt or die, they say.
I knew I wanted to create from a pretty young age, though I didn’t know exactly ‘how’ to do that as it’s just not a field that people often pursue where I come from (a ‘Nepo Baby’ I definitely am not). In my very rural high school, I was SO fortunate to have two teachers in particular encourage me to pursue a creative field— (shout out to my English and Drama teacher, Mrs. Huntsman, and my Band and Choir teacher, Mr. Kyle). I took their advice and attended college for Musical Theatre for a bit before making the jump to big city life and then pivoting to film and tv. It’s been a long journey to get to where I am today (with so many embarrassing learning moments along the way!), but am so thankful for all of that chaos and encouragement, because it really made me learn to try and find the common ground in everything: every person, every place, every situation. What a gift as an actor to have.
Now from all of that life experience I feel like I have such a well to draw from creatively, even when a character is so different from me personally. Finding the ‘us’ in me, if that makes sense. Since I work primarily in film and tv, I don’t get a lot of time to find these connections with a character, and I am always looking to adopt new things to keep my toolbox full, so to speak. I hope that I get to keep growing and exploring in that sense as a human and then as an actor to accomplish that.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I feel like in recent years we’ve stopped taking chances on new things. Between constant news cycles, algorithms that feed us what we already follow, and the ability to just silence each other when we disagree, it’s hard to discover new people and things. Add to that the insane difficulty of being a ‘normal’ person pursuing this field in any way (meaning not automatically having personal and professional connections to move you steps ahead immediately), it’s so imperative to me that we try and champion the people trying to create despite the odds. Whether that’s discovering writers on indie platforms and bookstores, or seeing standup comedians working their stuff out, plays and movies that aren’t at huge theaters, music at small venues–all of that supports the ecosystem of creativity in a positive way. It challenges us as the viewer, and it supports the person creating to keep going and refine. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we’re all trying to do with life? Keep going and refine?
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I absolutely love the moments of losing myself fully in a character and a scene. It’s so hard to describe, and I am constantly working on making it happen more organically and interestingly. I love the teamwork involved, with the scene partners, director, crew, casting departments…it’s all this magic alchemy of work and imagination and feels so great when it all hits just right. I hear no (or more accurately, hear nothing as a no) so often, so I really cherish those moments where all the lights turn green and I get to inhabit a different reality than my own and help others do the same. That’s the joy of being an actor and why I want to do it as a career. I love knowing that no matter what you do, where you live, what your day was like–you can turn on a screen or head to a stage and just immerse yourself in someone else’s life. Getting to be a part of that is something I will never take for granted, and hope I keep getting the chance to do it and to get better as I go.
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Image Credits
Personal photo: BN Photography, first two additional photos: BN Photography, third: Matt Kallish, and final three are snaps from set (by me or a castmate).
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