Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shayda. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Shayda, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
This is going to maybe sound really silly, but helping me move-out of my first apartment after graduating from the acting academy in Hollywood. It was my last night to pack up everything, and I had been putting off a lot of it. I’m not good at packaging things. Ok, one time I put a bottle of multi-purpose cleaner in my suitcase without enough packaging that the top twisted off and spilled all over everything. Permanently stained my shorts! So anyways, I am often not good at asking for help when I need it as I feel ashamed for sometimes needing the help and time of others. These two neighbors, both of whom I’ve never really spoken to, came over for like 3 hours and helped me pack up my whole apartment. I was really tight on money, but I offered to pay them and they refused. They said that everyone moving out had family helping, no one was moving out by themselves. And just my luck, the elevator was broken, so these two girls lugged my boxes and suitcases up and down 3 flights of stairs. Maybe each girl totaled 12 flights of stairs? With heavy boxes too! Genuine kindness from strangers I was less than deserving of. I gave them free tickets to my show, but I’ll remember their compassion forever.
Shayda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Shayda (which means “to be loved so much” in Farsi) is an American actor born in Boston, Massachusetts. Shayda began acting in Boston, eventually moving to Hollywood upon acceptance into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Most recently, Shayda has been a model and voice-over artist for a housing company in Downtown Los Angeles. Shayda is a proud member of the American Actor’s Society and the Actors’ Equity Union. Shayda is currently managed under McKenna Management LLC.
To see all completed works and professional images, please visit: IMDb.me/shayda.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Stop using AI (artificial intelligence). No seriously, stop. Not only is it wasting valuable resources, and harming the planet, but it destroying the very art (and human experience) that you admire. Look, I’m all for using aiding and advancing technology, but this chatGPT and AI stuff, is getting too out of hand. I know “artists”, yeah I gave the air quotes, who use chatGPT to write the emotions of characters they are casted in. I’m sorry but if you cannot figure out the emotions of your character based on the text you are provided, you shouldn’t be an actor, period. You can’t sit down and think about how to draft an email? Please. And people brag about this. “Oh yeah, I use chatGPT all day at work to answer client’s questions.” I start to feel the elderly rage, like if you cannot make any choices anymore and grow from your failures, what’s the point of this human experience. Just being a perfect zombie? This current ecosystem has been rough to navigate, so if you really care about art, learn, research and boycott situations that force you to constantly use AI. Creative media is going to keep declining. Artists are exhausted. It might sound like I’m angry, and I am, but at the situation and the current mentality, not directly “you,” you know?
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
When people see a completely different character than they’ve see me do before, to the point that I, Shayda, am unrecognizable. That’s when I know that is has been a success. I’ve played male roles, female roles, non-binary characters, teenagers to elderly, athletes and nerds, a wide variety of characters. If someone is able to see a different person than myself or the other characters I’ve played, that’s magic. I once played this severely bullied British teen boy, like to the point he was eating his own blood, catching forest animals, and unable to form proper sentences. While we had a few similarities, we really did not share the same experiences. I’ve only ever went camping for one night for a film shoot with a whole cast and crew, never mind for weeks by myself. Like this guy was almost murdered by his classmates. It really would change your mental. People came up to me and said that they were so creeped out and in awe of this character.
Image Credits
photographer: Lilova, Lily [2024, IMDb]