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

Alright, PETRA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

At 22 years old, I signed a 3-year touring contract with Cirque du Soleil for Quidam’s North-American tour! I had my own high-flying act, called the Cloudswing! I enjoyed it so much. Back then I didnt really understand that I’m getting a check every week for my Creative work, because I just came out of Montréal’s National Circus School and in my opionion I just kept doing what I love! It never felt like a job! i didnt understand that i ws “working”! Later I moved to Los Angeles to become a stuntwoman, have been working in the business for two decades now and boy oh boy, I quickly learned that I’m no longer “automatically” getting a check every week!
I wanted to work every week, with the same discipline that I had on tour, but in Hollywood you can’t really decide when you go to work. “We will call you!” Plus as a stunt double, you have to check many boxes and there is not a job for that every week, and on the other hand, some stunts could/should not be done every week, because the body needs time to recover.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Switzerland has a big Circus culture! Being a Circus performer is highly respected! The National Swiss Circus Knie actually serves Champagne and gourmet foods!!! I started at six years old, training and performing for the Youth Circus in my City Basel and even touring, during our long school summer holidays. I did that for 10 years as a kid. Then I transitioned to a Movement Theater schoo in Zürichl, soon realizing that I wanted to do be a professional trapeze artist. The World’s most renouned Circus school is in Montréal, Canada. I auditioned and got in as one of seven international students. There I fell in love with an Aerial apparatus called The Cloudswing! Together with my Russian coach we were able to create an astounding and fearless high-flying, gravity-defying act and next thing you know, Cirque du Soleil has called me with a spot on their new touring Show Quidam! I barely could believe it because I always thought that I would never be good enough for them! Well, God had a plan for me, let’s say! I’m defiinitely proud to have performed this high skill-level act, 10 shows a week, year after year. After this Amercian tour, I moved to L.A. and began working as a stuntwoman. Been doing that for 20 years now and I am working hard with my Acting coach Glenn Morshower, to transition into playing roles for Film & TV. I’m in a time of my life where I feel that I have to pivot and I think that I have something unique to offer and add to my characters, given my background and the many languages that I speak, being a person of color. (Can’t believe I’m using this term!!!) I always simply feel Human! But since we’re here: I’m half Swiss-German, half Nigerian; never met my biological father though, I grew up with my Swiss stepdad.
So now I need to be lucky enough to get a new team together for me; an Acting agent or possibly manager, who have just the right connections for my type, and who believes in me they way I believe in them. I would even be thrilled becoming a Red carpet host, or any type of host or announcer! This lifetime I was born for the “stage”! I love the pressure and the excitment that comes with that. Invisible electricity!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Yes! When I was on tour with Cirque du Soleil, I sometimes had the entire day off, because the shows started at 8PM, or if we had two per day, then the first one would start at 4PM – still a lot of free time on my hands for most of the day to… let’s say: START A BUSINESS???!!! I wish I would have had a mentor teaching me about that and about money also. I mean, I went to museums and things like that, but that I didnt think about starting on-line schooling or buying stocks with those regular checks that I made – and keep in mind that I had zero expenses on top of it all, because Cirque paid for my Coorporate housing, travel from city-to-city and daily 5-Star French cuisine!!! Come on! It couldn’t have been any easier to put money away, but instead I checked out a new island in the Caribbeans every time we had a week off, which was every 2-3 months. I used to go by the Mantra” “Money is always there”! I grew up with always having enough money, always being able to buy anything I wanted and traveling anywhere that I wanted to. I started working at a health food store at 14 just for fun – didn’t have to! But the time in my life came where the money just wasn’t there anymore, because of my spending habits (I like nice things and high quality foods) and irrregular work. When I do work, I am paid well, but I never know where and when the next job will drop down. So I had to learn to become frugal and I’m technically really not that type LOL! What being broke at times has taught me is, that the next time a large job comes in, like a Series regular or something similar – I am now finally trained/prepared to do the right things with that money. I have atteneded every finance class at the Actor’s Fund (Now called Entertainment Community Fund). They have a class called “Money and the Performing Artist” and if you are in that category, you just have a whole set of different rules compared to a person with a “regular job”. People who dont’ work in front of the camera will rarely truly understand that. I know most of my family does not.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It makes me feel good to know that I’m a part of making people’s lives better – in one way or another. I know I can lift people up. Bring them joy. Make them feel good again. I certainly did that when I was a Yoga teacher and now I hope to be doing it with the characters that I’m playing. I wish that during my (future) performances one can esacpe the heaviness of their daily lives for a moment and maybe exactly during that time receive an extraordinary message of what should be changed for the better in their lives and make them confident to do so asap!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.petrasprecher.com
• Instagram: @petrasprecher
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petra.sprecher & https://www.facebook.com/HOLLYWOODPETRA/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrasprecher
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PetraSprecher
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SwissPETRA

Image Credits
Jonas Mohr Photography (Magazine cover, top of ladder shot) David Muller Photography (All headshots) QUIDAM, Cirque du Soleil (Al Seib)