We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taylor Krasne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Taylor, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
My first job being a stunt double for an actress felt like a serendipitous nod to my childhood. I got the call in January 2021 from stunt coordinator Danny Wayne, who confirmed me to double the lead actress on Disney’s “Bunk’d.” I had only done a couple of smaller gigs and a Nissan commercial at that point since I was still very new to the industry. I was so excited to just work in general during the pandemic, so it was even more exhilarating to receive any sort of work call. As someone whose life completely revolved around my sleepaway camp in my childhood and later being a counselor for 3 years, it was quite full circle to double an actress whose character was a camp counselor. I had discovered my passion for performing at my camp, so the 10-year-old version of me would be extremely happy seeing her dreams coming true.
Taylor, 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?
Before pursuing stunts and acting, I trained full time and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the National Institute of Circus Arts in Australia, specializing in Cyr wheel and single point trapeze. I was then accepted into Cirque du Soleil and was quickly drawn to the stunt industry after moving back to LA while waiting to be placed in a show. I pursued that while still performing cyr wheel for various companies. I’ve since been continuing to strive to be as efficient and helpful of a performer as I can. I’m grateful to have made my acting debut on “Tacoma FD” as well as landing a role in the movie “Soul Mates” that was released in theaters last fall.
I’m passionate about finding opportunities to share and gain knowledge from artists in different fields of the industry, whether it’s a stunt coordinator, director, actor, or even a friend who specializes in a martial art I know nothing about. There’s always so much to learn. Collaborating and learning from people with different approaches keeps me on my toes and reminds me that there’s always work to be done. I hope to be able to offer and contribute my skill sets to projects that are bigger than myself.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was diagnosed as “the sickest person under 25” my doctor had ever seen a month before I moved to Australia to train 8 hours a day for 3 years at NICA, the training school I’d been accepted into. I was diagnosed with an intense case of Hashimoto’s disease, along with tanked adrenals, a chronic gut infection, and later discovered an extremely misaligned C1 vertebrae that was contributing to my chronic pain. Thyroid disease can be heartbreaking for athletes since it affects your energy levels, and for me it caused chronic muscle aches, body pain, constant small injuries, and an inability to properly recover from my long training days. At one point during my second year, I had to negotiate with the board of directors to let me have every Wednesday off from school in order to recover and physically be able to make it to the end of each week. They tried to encourage me to move back to the US and essentially “give up,” but I refused. I’m very proud to have graduated with my bachelor’s degree and acceptance into Cirque soon after.
It was a large test of patience and resilience that challenged every aspect of who I was, mentally and physically. I took advantage of the Australian healthcare system while I lived in Melbourne and would take frequent blood tests, experiment with diet and what was contributing to my inflammation, and ultimately found the root cause of what had started it all. It was a long journey, but I learned a lot about myself on the road back to remission. I’ll never take my health or career for granted since I know the feeling of not knowing if I’d be able to pursue it.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I’d like to be able to contribute my skill set to projects that are much bigger than me, whether it’s in the circus, TV, movie, acting, stunt, or motion capture industry. I want to use whatever platform I have to be able to show others that it’s possible to reach the goals and dreams that you have, and that it’s also possible to heal yourself mentally and physically.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylorkrasne
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/krazykrazne
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@taylorkrasne2.0
Image Credits
Cameron Radice Photography
Terence O’Donnell