We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Talyn Edelson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Talyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

From age seven, I threw myself headfirst into acting in theatre and musical theatre in addition to spending all of my time participating in various activities such as martial arts, horseback riding, cheerleading, dance (jazz, clogging, contemporary), basketball, track, club soccer, snowboarding, rock climbing, wakeboarding, etc. I even did competitive acting competitions in high school and enjoyed a stint of being a prosecution attorney in mock trials. Everything I did was consistently related to movement and acting until I left University after attending school at University of Missouri- Columbia and Oklahoma State University.

To be honest, martial arts was pushed onto me by my father, and after taking Taekwondo with my family, I grew to love martial arts more than any other activity in the world. I now cross train over six styles and continued with training ATA Taekwondo under the late Mark Hale when I was younger until I received my second degree black belt and had successfully one-upped my father’s first degree.

I always wanted to be a performer, but it wasn’t until I came to Los Angeles for the first time when I was fifteen and put my hand into Marilyn Monroe’s handprint at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (now TCL Chinese Theatre) after being inspired by Kelly Rowland’s song ‘Stole’ (listen to it– it holds a great message that is still very relevant) that I vowed to move to Los Angeles to pursue my dreams in Hollywood as soon as I could.

Until I moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma for tenth grade, I only knew that I wanted to be an actress. In fact, I didn’t know what stunt performing was! It wasn’t until I met a man named Lloyd Noble Caldwell at one of my high school theatrical productions (his lovely daughter Liz was in school with me) that the profession was brought to my attention. Of course, I had seen action in my favorite shows and films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Underworld: Evolution, and Blade to name a few (I really had a thing for vampires and werewolves), but I had always just assumed the actors did it themselves. Once I knew I could really have a profession doing what I love (especially martial arts and action acting), there was no other path for my life to take. I was hooked and nothing different would satiate me. I needed to become a successful performer or die trying, and there was unquestionably no other option.

Lloyd saw that I was this completely wild bundle of energy and had athletic talent so he gave me the breakdown of what a stunt performer does. Thank you for educating me Lloyd Caldwell. I am eternally grateful for you helping me realize my dreams and encouraging me to pursue them wholeheartedly! I can’t imagine having done anything else with my life so far outside of performing, and I can’t see that changing.

I still carry my freshman class ring on my keychain today– it has drama masks on one side and a martial artist on the other. I am reminded daily how grateful I am to have the opportunity to pursue what I love and live a creative life full of those two things that I love doing more than anything else. I am so proud to know that I still love what I loved as a young girl, and to be fearlessly pursuing my dreams my own way.

Talyn, 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?

I specialize in fighting and weaponry, since I have cross-trained many styles of martial arts and athletics of many kinds. I mostly enjoy doing fight choreography, which is essentially a partner dance in the form of a fight. That is my happy place. I am adept at film fighting and action acting, and my focus is performing although I am simultaneously growing my own brand (www.villainystreet.com) on the side when I am not performing or creating for others, which allows me to produce my own content with my badass teams.

I am able to help Directors and Stunt Coordinators bring their visions to life via my versatile movement, and I bring a no-drama professional approach to the table. I always show up early and come prepared. I am always happy to learn and help out with additional tasks to alleviate my superiors’ responsiblities and I love being on set. I think what sets me apart outside of my unique style, is that I don’t speak negatively about others and I always focus on the content creation. I am happy to let others talk trash while I focus on bettering myself and helping others where I can. I am very respectful, and I think a lot of people I see lack those skills these days.

I am proud that I am able to keep my actresses and myself safe while treating everyone well on set and making sure I leave that production better than it was before I arrived on set– mentally and physically.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I hope to gather enough resources from my performing jobs to be able to give back and tie my future Villainy Street productions to causes via nonprofits that I care about. I firmly believe that creating for catharsis is such a healthy outlet and I want to encourage the world to join that mentality.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As a stunt performer and actress, you must be resilient by nature. You face so much rejection and must learn to not take it personally and to forge your own path. It’s do or die out here, and the entertainment industry really is cutthroat. There are many examples I could list for you of people out here in the business trying to harm and incapacitate me mentally and physically, but I prefer to focus on the positive and the present/future. The moral of the story is to not let the haters get you down and to have the resolve to keep pushing forward, even if it hurts sometimes.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @talynedelson
• Facebook: @TalynEdelson
• Linkedin: Talyn Edelson
• Twitter: @TalynTheTiger
• Youtube: @TalynEdelson
• Yelp: @Talyn
• Other: Visit http://www.solo.to/talyn