Today we’d like to introduce you to Ovide Van Der Vlist

Hi Ovide, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I have been doing acting all my life, but I just never realized that is what I was doing when I would pretend I was a dog for the hundredth time. Or when I would play for hours on end my Playmobil family was having a fight and it would end in one member standing on the roof and the others kissing in the bathroom (I had always loved scandalous dramas).

This was all acting. When I was eleven years old, I decided to get out of the comfort zone of my own bedroom and act with other kids who also liked overly dramatic family dynamics. I joined the Amsterdam Youth Theaterschool and took dance lessons at Lucia Marthas. I continued to do so throughout high school. After graduating, I took a gap year to travel, but what I really did, is give myself a year to admit that I really do wanted to become an actor professionally.
So after traveling, I took more acting classes at Toneel Meester Amsterdam and joined a theater course at TVA.

When Covid hit, I was at the very lowest I had ever been in my life. This made me think: if I could go anywhere in the world right now, where would I want to be? New York had been my favorite city ever since I’d been there and the only place where I knew I’d come back for more.

So on a very sad and lonely night during lock down I looked up “Acting schools in New York” and after some clicking on the internet I found The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I applied right away, because I had literally nothing better to do. The next morning I had forgotten about it already, when I had an email from them: “You are eligible for a scholarship.” A what? That must not be true. But it was! This made it very tempting to continue with the audition process and so I did. It finally gave something to do during this awful time. I had a purpose! So a couple weeks went by and several monologues, self-tapes and Zoom sessions later, I had gotten accepted.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

I don’t think it’s a smooth road for anybody who is interested in this career path. And I am one of the few lucky people who’s parents are supportive of me having this dream. They have absolutely helped me through some of the hard times.

For me, and I think many people, the biggest obstacle is self-doubt. It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the idea of how many people want to do exactly what you want to do and start seeing these people as competition. Well, they are not. I know, shocker!! This has been my biggest lesson to learn, and I’m still learning it, but no one is exactly like you. Think of your own friends: you feel, talk and act completely different with each one of them, because each of them has a different effect on you. You have a different effect on every person you meet and in casting it’s about finding that person that tells the story they want to tell. If you are not that person, the story isn’t right for you, but another one will. Trust that.

And call your fellow artist friends whenever you’re going through it! They probably know exactly what you’re feeling and will tell you what you need to be reminded of (because you told them the same thing just the other week).

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I’d like to think that everyone is unique, but no one is special. What I mean by that is: I like to find the similarities we have as people, because we have a lot of similarities, and use my unique voice to make the art or tell the story that I want to tell. This doesn’t have to be groundbreaking or never-been-done-before, it just needs to be personal and honest. That is what gets my creative brain going.

I’d also like to say that being ridiculous has gotten me many jobs. And what I mean by that is: every time I’ve just done what I thought was funny (and a little bit embarrassing) I’ve booked the job. I have some very embarrassing self-tapes from commercial auditions that I’ve booked that will haunt me for life, but hey, they also paid for my trip to the Hamptons, so who’s the loser now!?

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Come see the play that I’m in on January 11th at TADA! Youth Theater in Manhattan, New York. See link below for tickets.

And visit my website www.ovidevandervlist.com to stay up to date for some very exciting projects coming up!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/big-wave-the-play-tickets-1115680433209?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZMjNMoLeYOPdzfl57aeV6eIGr3EpFllnx5n8uc_528p7yMDKk7HUlHtx8_aem_f8kASpzxc5X-qZunICmCBQ

Pricing:

• Van den Ende Theater Scholarship
• NL Talent Fund Theater Scholarship

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ovidevandervlist.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ovidevdvlist/

Image Credits

Govert de Roos