June 11, 2025 • 48 mins
I went to musical theatre school over 10 years ago, and it was a wild ride—from combat and dance classes to putting on shows and filming movie musicals. It wasn’t a walk in the park, but it definitely shaped who I am as a performer.
I recently got in touch with some of my old classmates to see where their career is at now and what they’ve learned since school. If you’ve ever thought about going to musical theatre school or wondered what it actually leads to, this is a real look at what that path can look like.
📍Mentioned Resources:
Follow Will Here: https://www.instagram.com/willvanmoss/
Follow Yasmin Here: https://www.instagram.com/yasmin.schancer/
Follow CorBen Here: https://www.instagram.com/officialcorbenw/
Follow Caroline Here: https://www.instagram.com/carolinepihlwret/
Follow Bru Here: https://www.instagram.com/bruuribeb/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
we had, like, a combat
(00:01):
class where we had to, like,
learn how to do combat
without actually hurting each other.
Like, as part of, like,
our acting classes.
And I was in a group together with Bruno
and a couple other people as well,
and we recorded the entire thing,
and they were kind of like,
I was walking down the street
and they were like
attacking me on the street.
That was kind of like
the setup, whatever.
And then there's
(00:21):
this really funny moment in the video
where I'm like,
kicking Bruno to the wall.
And then he like, he's,
he like, slams into the wall
and then like, literally
looks over at the like back at me
like it's it's just really funny.
I'll see if I can find the clip and,
and insert it here, but it's hilarious.
(00:49):
Hey, VoxStar, and welcome to
From Singer To Artist.
I'm Lara
Chapman, award winning
singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach
and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios.
We help singers
from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them
the three fundamental skills
all singers need
technique, awareness and artistry.
Whether you're looking to go pro
(01:10):
or just develop your voice for fun
My team and I are here to help.
Check the link in the description
to book your first session, or grab
some of our other resources.
All righty.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
shocker,
(01:31):
a lot of people don't know about that.
I went to the New York Film
Academy in New York City,
when I was 18, for two years.
It was a two year program.
It actually
really only took a year and a half,
but it was a two year program,
and I studied musical theater
and acting for film and TV there.
And, had the time of my life,
but did realize that musical theater
(01:52):
wasn't going to be my thing.
Honestly, it was my fault for not,
you know, like,
researching musical theater enough.
I was like,
yeah, why not sing,
act and dance at the same time?
Sounds like a great time.
Perfect. Let's do it.
Totally didn't realize
that musical theater, music
and contemporary music,
(02:12):
like pop music, was very,
very, very different.
So I realized that, okay, maybe
musical theater
isn't quite what I wanted to do,
but I learned so, so, so much.
Honestly,
this is where I really first learned
about storytelling and,
actually caring about what
the song
that you're singing is about
(02:33):
and not just showing off what you can do.
Yeah, I was a late bloomer
in that department.
Took me acting classes at 18 to realize
that singing
is also about telling stories,
not just about showing off.
But for today's episode,
I reached out to some of my former
classmates from,
(02:53):
the New York Film Academy and was like,
hey, it's been ten years.
What is going on in your life?
Like, tell me, I want to know.
And I am sure
you guys would like to know as well,
who are these people
that go to musical theater school or,
you know, school for music?
(03:14):
And acting and dancing as well.
And why did they decide
to go to musical theater school?
And what do their lives look like now?
The New York Film
Academy musical theater
program is not a bachelor's
degree program
where you have, like, all of these,
liberal arts classes as well.
(03:36):
Literally, the only thing you do from
the moment you wake up to the moment
you go to bed,
it's a very strong, like a busy schedule.
You really just focus
on the skills
that are going to serve you
in the real world.
Like you have audition classes,
and just, like,
a lot of that kind of stuff.
(03:56):
So, anyways,
I, got some videos
from my former
classmates, and I was thinking
we could
look at a couple together
so that
you can see who these people are
and where their lives are,
like what they're doing
with their lives now.
of the cool things
about the New York Film
Academy, to me
at least, was how international it was.
(04:17):
It was
when I first moved to the United States.
So I'm from Switzerland originally,
went to the United States
to go to the New York Film
Academy in New York City.
And there were a lot of
other international students as well.
One of them
being, well,
he is originally from Belgium,
if I remember correctly.
So let's have a listen to Will's story.
(04:38):
Hi. My name is Woven Moss.
I I'm an actor.
Accent, speech and dialect coach
living and working in New York City.
I'm originally from Belgium,
I remember correctly,
originally from Belgium.
I'm still in New York City.
Oh that's awesome dialect coach.
That's cool.
So that's
that's one of the cool things,
like when you have, foreign background,
(04:59):
it really opens up
with the kind of roles that you can play,
because then you can, you know, play,
a German speaking character,
a French speaking character,
a Dutch speaking character.
Or, you know, whatever
Russian character is a big one.
And that broadens up
your horizon there
where we'll went with
this is going into the dialect
(05:19):
coaching side of things.
So that's really cool.
but I've lived in western
and southern Europe, and I moved about
ten years ago
to the United States to study
at the New York Film Academy.
So originally I
was a mostly operatic actor.
I started, singing in,
(05:39):
choir when I was six years old.
And from there on, when I was ten,
I moved to the opera in Belgium,
the Flemish opera in particular,
where I sang in various
operatic productions such as Carmen,
Rinaldo, Carmen is like
(06:00):
my favorite opera.
Oh, what?
It was horrible.
I'm not an opera singer.
I had no idea you did opera.
Well, what the heck?
Richard the Third, the first opera,
and that kind of spiraled my passion
for the theater.
And, after that, when I was 16,
(06:21):
I started doing
pantomime and Shakespeare
and some musicals,
and I was lucky enough
when I was 18 to be able
to, go to college in London, where
I performed in several Western
productions,
in musicals and theater shows.
I did not know any of this.
Oh my God.
(06:41):
Well, it's like I don't know you at all.
What the heck?
He was in London. Okay, that makes sense.
I kind of remember that part,
but West End productions,
how amazing is that?
And that kind of like
ignited my passion for musicals.
And that's really why
I wanted to study musicals,
because I performed in a bunch of them,
and I really wanted to make
(07:02):
that something
that, was part of who I was.
And, my profession.
So after graduating
New York Film Academy,
I went on
and had some struggles with my visa,
just like many other foreign actors do.
Visa struggles.
Been there, done that.
(07:22):
Got the t shirt.
Oh, my God, it's really, really annoying.
When you're a foreigner
in the United States
and you're trying to work.
And so I can definitely,
definitely relate.
But eventually was able
to get a green card.
And since
then, I've performed in two Off-Broadway
Okay, hold on, hold on.
(07:42):
We're going to get
to your Off-Broadway productions.
Well, oh, my God, that's amazing.
But getting a green card
as a foreigner in the United States
is incredibly difficult.
I got one because I married an American.
Otherwise I would have had no chance.
Love you. Grant.
But that's amazing.
But okay.
Two Off-Broadway productions.
(08:04):
Yes. productions.
I, recently, was able to be on season
two of The Knight Agent, on Netflix.
I have performed in several short films,
Hold on.
I know that show.
I haven't seen it now I need to go
watch it. Oh, my God.
I have performed in several short
films, 1 or 2 feature films.
(08:27):
So yeah, that's kind of
what I've been doing as an actor,
but I've also veered into dialect
and accent coaching,
which really, for me,
is a way
to stay connected to the industry.
And because I speak, over
five languages.
That's something that really incorporated
my love for language
and the love for theater and film.
So currently,
(08:48):
I've been working as an accent
and dialect coach for the past
four and a half years.
And I'm currently working
privately as my own business,
but I also work, at the Prep New York
and the Prep New Jersey
with one of our fellow,
students from New York Film Academy,
Jesse Clayton,
who started the prep New Jersey.
(09:11):
So that's kind of what I'm doing now.
So if you ever need that accent
or dialect coaching, you can come to me.
Yes.
Oh, my God, I love that,
I love that, oh, my.
Jesse, Jesse, was, a year above us.
So I that's
that's awesome that they were able
(09:31):
to connect there and,
and get that relationship going.
I love that. And see, this is so smart.
Like,
Will found a way to stay connected
to the industry, right?
By by,
like, doing something else that he loves
and make money that way, too,
because I assume he's not doing this
coaching for free. Right?
So I, I find that so, so, so smart,
(09:53):
like finding other ways
besides just being in front of the camera
or on top of the stage,
to stay connected to the industry and,
and still do something
while earning a living.
So very smart. Well, I love it.
My favorite memory
from the New York Film Academy.
Weirdly enough, the
(10:14):
kind of like lunch slash
dinner breaks
that we all had,
together in the little hallway,
and we would just eat
and then sing songs and just
kind of be crazy.
It was, a fun time to be a student.
And we all just kind of like,
went with it.
And we would sing songs while in lunch
(10:35):
when the next class
would still be another,
lesson where we would sing.
So, kind of those,
those are my favorite, memories,
but also very much the,
the shows we put on.
In the first year we put on chess,
which was huge,
such a big success as well.
(10:56):
And then the second year
I was at the New York Film Academy,
we put on carousel,
where I got to play Jigga.
That was a big role for me.
I had some, voice and accent work done
with someone there,
which also kind of inspired me
to become an accent coach and speech
coach myself.
So yeah,
that's a big, part of what I love to do,
(11:20):
is because really,
I got to play Jigger in Carousel.
So I think those are
my favorite memories.
Oh, I love that.
I do want to go back
to, the the lunch and dinner breaks.
So, you know, usually
you go home for dinner
and then your day is done at school.
Well, not at the New York Film Academy.
You're in school from 9 a.m.
(11:41):
to 7 p.m., and then you have rehearsals
for the shows
that he was just talking about,
like carousel and chess.
And there were other, like,
we did readings and,
what else did we do,
like films,
like actually recording films,
like we did a movie musicals.
So there was a lot
of rehearsals happening
and that we had to do outside
of our actual classes,
(12:01):
which meant that was happening
from, 730 to 10 30 or 1130,
I don't remember, but like,
it was a lot to say the least.
It was a lot.
So, the energy.
Oh my God, yeah,
definitely always loud, always singing.
You would always hear, like,
people breaking out into song
(12:23):
based on a word that somebody else said.
They're like,
oh, that reminded me of the song.
And then they start singing that song.
So there's always a lot happening,
never a dull moment
in a musical theater school,
that's for sure.
We get to hear
Will sing a little something.
Let's listen,
I'd rather be sailing.
(12:43):
Yes, I would,
on an open sea.
Just, not the railing.
If I could, would
ceiling wild and free.
(13:03):
The sun is on my neck.
The wind is in my face.
The sea is incredibly blue.
And,
I'd rather be sailing his side.
Want to go sail and then come home
(13:28):
to you?
Oh, that was beautiful.
Yay!
Well, thank you so much for sharing that.
I like that cut for you.
It sits in a beautiful part
of your voice and,
Yay, those notes up there,
(13:48):
they were so balanced. So.
Yes, yes.
Well, you know how to sing.
Oh, yes, baby, I mean, obviously you do.
You went to musical theater school
and you did opera,
apparently, that I didn't know about.
What the heck?
So I love seeing that,
you know, he's
still in New York City
after figuring out the visa stuff
and, working actor dialect coach
(14:10):
doing different things to fill his cup
and his wallet.
So yes, I love that.
Thank you so much.
Well, for sharing.
Let's move on to the next person.
Let's have a look at Yasmeen.
Fun fact and other fun fact.
Yasmeen was one of my bridesmaids
at my wedding, and, Yeah,
(14:32):
we stayed in touch a lot
after after school too.
So, let's look at what she's up to.
Hi everyone. My name is Yasmeen.
I'm an actress, voice
actress and singer songwriter
currently based between
Canada and Poland. Yes.
So she is,
she's actually originally from Poland
(14:53):
and, split her time
between Poland and Israel.
And now she is splitting her time
between Poland and Canada.
She's just a citizen of the world.
Global citizen, My journey with the arts
started early
because I was a child
performer in Poland,
and my introduction to musical theater,
(15:15):
happened
when I started working
at that theater Roma,
which is one of Poland's
most renowned musical theaters.
And that experience had
everything in motion for me.
After working for a few years,
participating in TV
competitions, doing
voiceover work, acting,
(15:37):
I knew I wanted to try
my luck in New York.
So I applied to the Musical Theater
Conservatory
Okay, so, before we continue, it's
so interesting
for me to see, like,
both Will and Yasmeen did
things, like, lots of things
before they went to the New York
Film Academy.
I had, like, a zero experience.
(15:58):
Like I took voice
lessons and I had recitals
and that was it.
And so it's, it's it's
awesome to see how
much experience they've had.
Yasmeen was like a child actress,
in Poland, like teacher said.
And, you know, like,
I remember her showing
us, like, newspaper,
(16:19):
like little, cutouts of,
like,
you know,
when she was featured in the news
and things like that.
So that's that's super cool.
I didn't know she did TV
competitions, too. That's awesome.
And I believe I'm making
I don't think I'm making this up,
but I think she also played
Glinda in Wicked once in Poland,
if I remember correctly.
(16:39):
That's kind of
cool Conservatory
at the New York Film Academy.
One of my favorite memories
at Nafa was working on carousel
with, very talented
director Chad Austin.
It was,
a beautiful experience
and a beautiful show.
And honestly, I also miss
(17:01):
practicing per wedge
in the hallway of the school.
Just living that musical theater
life with my fellow students.
the pirouettes, the pirouettes.
You guys,
we had to do so many pirouettes,
like in the first semester.
It's like, yeah,
you got to nail a single.
The second semester.
It's like, now you got to nail a double.
(17:22):
And the third semester
it's like you have to nail a triple.
Like you have to be able
to do a triple pirouette period.
And everybody was struggling
except the dancers, except the dancers.
In our class,
Corbin was one of those dancers.
And we're going to have a look
at one of his videos here.
In just a second. He has.
He also sent me something, but, yeah,
(17:42):
practicing pirouettes.
That was a daily,
a daily thing that we had to do.
Or, like,
we had to practice them
because we needed to be able
to do pirouettes.
You know, over the years
I've explored many options.
I've tried film and production,
stage management, even online streaming.
(18:04):
But
eventually I decided to step down
because I thought that perhaps
this path is not for me.
Until about two years ago
when I had someone randomly messaged me,
someone, from the Polish music industry
whom I worked with before,
(18:26):
and they ask me about songwriting.
Now,
I've always been writing songs
ever since I was a little girl, but
it was mostly a form of self therapy,
and I never considered it
to be a real option for me.
However, this conversation
really ignited, reignited
(18:47):
my passion and I gave it a try.
And now I'm writing,
auditioning, and
doing voiceover work again.
Oh, I love that. See, here's the thing.
The music industry, the theater industry,
the film industry,
it's like a little cutthroat.
And when I say a little, I mean a lot.
And it can sometimes be, very much like,
(19:12):
filling you with self-doubt and like,
like Yasmeen said,
maybe,
maybe this isn't the right path for me.
Because it's tough.
It's tough,
and there's so many other people
doing it as well.
And sometimes taking a break
and coming back to
it is the best thing that you can do.
And it sounds like
that's what's happening with Yasmeen.
(19:34):
So she's coming back in or like,
you know, for the last two years already,
she's been getting back into it.
And not just like writing songs
like the new thing that she
and that she started picking up,
but also auditioning again
and doing voiceover stuff again.
That was actually probably
one of my favorite memories from life.
Voiceover work.
We had a class on voiceover, and I really
(19:57):
I really enjoyed it.
I found that a lot of fun to,
you know, just do the acting
just in your voice and,
like, people can't see you
because voiceover is
when you're watching, like, a cartoon
and not actual people. Right.
But you still hear voices
like that's what you're hearing.
Or when there's like a commercial playing
and you hear a voice
(20:18):
talking about something
that's also voiceover.
And I really enjoyed that.
I thought that was super cool.
So I'm excited to hear that is Mina's
is doing voiceover
Meanwhile, I'm also passionate
about wellness,
and I'm a
co-founder of Quality of Life Expert,
which is, full transformation
program for chronic pain.
Helping people
(20:39):
improve their quality of life
is something I truly care about.
Oh, I love that, too.
So, you know, it's
this is something I struggle with
when it comes to, like, balance, right?
Like, yes, our passion is our job, right?
Like, I'm a voice teacher.
I love singing, for Yasmeen.
She loves writing and voiceover
work and auditioning.
Right. Like, that's that's her job.
(21:01):
But it's also if you're only doing that,
it's like I'm.
We need something else
in our lives as well.
For me, that's gardening.
And it's more than just a hobby
at this point.
It's crazy.
Yasmeen.
It's wellness.
I remember, like,
she was always running in New York.
Like she was just running
(21:22):
and running and running,
and I'm like, girl, what
are you running from?
I just really don't like running.
But, like, she was always super sporty.
And, And after the New York
Film Academy,
she was also getting
into personal training.
So this,
like being a co-founder of this company
now makes total sense to me
(21:42):
because that was always a passion
for her.
And so, you know, with Will,
he's also doing
the auditioning side of things,
but also, coaching in dialects.
Right.
And Yasmeen is doing the auditioning
and writing part
and also wellness coaching.
So, it's cool to see that
they're both of these examples.
They're doing different,
(22:02):
different things.
An impromptu little song for you.
It's a beautiful love song
by Jason Isbell titled
If We Were Vampires,
and it talks about the fragility of life.
And if you never listen to it
before, I highly recommend
you listen to the original because
breaks the heart.
(22:24):
All right,
chords.
It's not the long, flowing drink
that you're in.
Or the light coming off
of your skin.
(22:46):
The fragile heart you've protected
for so long.
The mercy in your sense
of right and wrong.
It's not your hand searching slow
when the time
(23:07):
of your nails leaving the oven.
What? I'm up.
Oh, it's not the way you took me off
the roof.
Your questions like directions
to the truth.
(23:28):
It's knowing that
this can't go on forever.
Likely
one of us will have
to spend some days alone.
And maybe we'll get 40 years together.
One day I'll be gone.
(23:51):
One day you'll be single.
Only.
Yeah.
So nice, I love it.
I always appreciated this
about Yasmin's voice,
how much character she has.
You know,
sometimes in the musical theater world,
it can be a little bit, not.
(24:13):
I don't want to say cookie cutter, but,
sometimes
it's it's kind of, like, difficult
to keep those,
those little quirks
that we have in our voices.
And Yasmeen was never bothered by that.
She was like, no, I'm.
I'm gonna sing this my way.
And I love that
it was it's it's
great for like,
her own artist project
and for her own original stuff
(24:34):
that she's releasing.
Because it goes a little bit
more into the contemporary side,
the side that I really love.
And she's always had that.
And even though
she has a big musical theater background,
she's always had that.
So I love that.
Yeah. Yasmin.
Happy to see you arrive.
Let's look at one more.
(24:54):
We got core, Ben.
He's one of those dancers
that I was telling you about who can do
triple periods is as.
So let's
see what my little polar bear is up to.
Carbon is originally from Alaska,
and we all called him,
our little polar bear.
So anyways, let's see what he's up to.
Hi, my name is Corbin Williams
(25:16):
and what initially made me
want to get into musical theater.
Honestly, it was a little bit of a fluke
because I just wanted to do film
and TV acting.
I really just wasn't even on my radar.
And then I had a mentor
say to me, you're a dancer.
They can sing.
We'll work on your acting,
but you should consider musical theater,
(25:38):
because what's sincerely going to happen
when you're not doing theater
and you can do film and TV.
What happens when you're not doing
film and TV? Then you can do theater.
What happen
when you're not doing theater?
Maybe you can do voiceover.
What happens when we do?
You see where I'm going with this?
So always having options
in diversifying yourself.
Well, that seems to be a theme today.
(25:58):
Diversifying yourself, I love it,
And once I found that
I had a knack for it
and that I really have enjoyed it,
it's been my bread and butter these past,
this past decade, since I graduated.
And it really has opened
and not only opened my eyes,
but it's definitely humbled me.
(26:19):
What have I been up to since graduating?
That is a good question.
Since graduating,
I have expanded my resume.
I launched a podcast and my own business,
Business in Show Business,
which focuses on the business logistics
of this industry
for a lot of young talent
who might not know.
It's kind of those questions
(26:40):
that you have.
Well,
where do I go
and how do I know what to expect?
So that's what my business,
addresses.
not just like the skills behind it.
Like teaching you
how to sing and act and dance
and all that stuff.
It's more like the business side
of of it, right?
Like, where do you
where should you move to?
How do you audition?
What do you expect?
Like he said,
I think it's so cool
(27:00):
how to business in show business.
I've been a part of,
governance within AA for a time.
That was really eye
opening and humbling again.
So a lot's been going on.
I, I'm married and,
just have continued to grow my life
(27:20):
well, outside of show business.
And he also just, finished his tour,
with, Beetlejuice.
He was in the national
tour of Beetlejuice,
and he, finished that earlier,
this late winter, early spring.
And,
it's just
(27:40):
so amazing
to see, like, your friends,
the people that you went to school with,
being on off Broadway, on Broadway,
in national tours,
international tours like. It's amazing.
I'm so proud of everyone.
Oh, my God.
My favorite memory
from New York Film Academy, I must say,
has to be.
Meeting an eclectic group of people
(28:01):
that I would not
otherwise have the chance to meet.
I did not go to a traditional school
in that sense.
Being that it's an international school
and they have locations around the world.
It brought in my perspective
because sometimes we as Americans
don't always get outside
of our own bubble.
So to be with diverse thought
that other than the American
(28:22):
white picket fence idea,
was also a breath of fresh air.
Sing a little song.
Okay. Quick little note. Quick song.
The one that got me
the audition for Beetlejuice.
First of all right. Time.
Right place, right fit.
And the business of theater
has really shifted
from musical theater, pop rock.
And it's transitioned into pop rock,
(28:42):
pop rock.
I'll never forget this.
One of my classmates sang this song,
and I was like, what?
Who does he think he is?
But then when I added this song
to my book, I was like, I know who I am.
It's alive by Kim.
And it goes, I had a one way
ticket to the place
where all the demons go with the wind.
Don't change.
Nothing in the ground can never grow.
(29:04):
No hope.
Just realizing it's hard to cry.
No low but awesome.
Get that leg.
oh, did that clip.
No, I did that.
You got it. You got it.
Yes. Corvette.
Oh, my gosh, Corvette is so fun.
I miss his face. Oh my goodness.
He is an incredible, incredible,
(29:28):
incredible dancer.
The man
does not have a single gram of body fat.
He's just muscle
and an incredible dancer.
Obviously great singer,
as you could just hear.
And he was just kind of, like,
not even trying, and sounded incredible.
And, you know,
it's just I'm so proud of all the success
that he's seen in both his personal life
(29:50):
and his business and in his career.
So that's just absolutely amazing.
I'm so happy for you, Corbin.
And,
one of my favorite,
memories with Corbin is we were standing
in a circle,
like, a little massage circle.
And so,
you know,
you would massage
the person in front of you,
and they would massage the person
and behind you,
but massage you, and, And the teacher
(30:13):
was, like, walking us through
where to massage
and how to do it and everything.
And then it came to the buttocks. Right.
And it's musical theater school.
It's just what happens.
And like, obviously
everybody was fine with it
and poor Ben was behind me
and he was like, girl,
your butt is so low.
Because I have really short
legs, like I am all torso, no legs.
(30:35):
And I found that so frickin funny.
But, Anyways, I love it.
Let's look at Caroline.
Originally from Sweden, I believe,
and I think she's now in England.
Let's have a listen.
Hello, my name is Caroline and a reason
that I chose to study musical theater,
(30:56):
Holy smokes, Caroline,
you did not talk like that
in New York City.
Oh, my God,
she sounds like a full on Brit.
Now what?
I did not expect that at all.
Okay.
Yeah, she is in England now.
so I was actually dead
set on working
with horses for a long time.
(31:18):
But I always enjoyed singing and dancing,
and I loved watching
behind the scenes of films.
If I could get my hands on the material.
And then one day I took part
in a little production
at my school of a little musical,
and I realized,
this is really, really fun.
And I would like to do this.
So then I started applying to schools,
(31:38):
and I studied music theater
for a couple of years
in my home country, Sweden.
And then when I
graduated from there,
I was like,
oh, where can I take
this to the next level?
And I started looking
at some schools in the UK,
but then I stumbled upon
New York Film Academy.
So this is amazing.
The hub of musical theater and film,
except for the two year conservatory.
So I got a bit of both,
(31:58):
a bit of festivals
and also, of course,
we have some fantastic teachers,
some who were
and are currently on Broadway.
So big pool yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I remember
like we had the opportunity to go see,
like our,
our teachers,
our coaches perform on Broadway
while we were in school.
I remember
(32:18):
we saw Todd,
when upon air in Cinderella.
I think he was,
at that time we saw Tom in,
The Lion King on Broadway.
Like, it was really cool to go see
your teachers
that you
work with during the day and, like,
see them perform on Broadway at night.
(32:39):
So, yeah,
that was definitely super cool about,
the New
and it was wonderful as well
to, get to study
with people from all over the world.
So that was the big pull for me.
And then
what have I been doing since graduating
from New York Film Academy?
Well,
I moved back to Sweden for a little bit.
And then because it was quite difficult
(32:59):
to stay in the United States,
you need a lot of visas, etc..
So I decided to stay in Europe.
So I went over to the United Kingdom,
where I'm currently based,
and then I auditioned
and got into a company
who would have me perform
in different hotels abroad as well.
So I performed in hotels for a few years
in Turkey and in Greece,
which was really fun.
(33:21):
And then I had a bit of
an unplanned break because of Covid.
And then when Covid kind of ended
and things started to open up again,
I was a singing bartender in London
for a little bit, was a lot of fun
that's cool.
Singing bartender.
That's,
that's something that you have
in New York as well.
The Ellen Ellen something, Ellen Stardust
Diner or something like that.
(33:42):
They do that there too,
and that's super cool.
And also singing in hotels, that's smart.
That's a,
that's a nice, that's a very nice gig.
Cruises
is another one of those
when people, you know, like on cruises,
you have all this entertainment.
And so people go and sing on these,
on these cruises, which is cool.
then I kept auditioning,
(34:03):
and now I have my current job,
which is my current contract,
where I perform in a hotel, hotel
chain called Warners.
And it's really, really fun.
We do a few different shows,
cabarets as well,
and evening entertainment, which is
a lot of fun. And then
a memory,
a favorite memory
from New York Film Academy.
(34:24):
I must say, it was amazing to
have all of these international people
from all over the world
and some of them are still
my close friends to this day.
You switch to a bit closer, but,
one of my favorite memories
is we've all divided
into sections
at first
because we were quite a bit class,
so that section Abcde
and I was put in section
A, and section eight
(34:45):
had a little bit of a cult to each other.
So one of us would start section I.
Ha.
And then wherever they were,
in a different room in the hallway
or in the same room,
everyone from that section would go up,
with different amounts
of energy and excitement.
So that's one of my favorite memories.
Oh, I love that.
I was I was not in section A.
(35:05):
Oh, my God,
it looks like I missed out, but
who?
There But
now I'll sing you
a little bit of one of the songs
I do in my cabaret set.
And it is a little
bit of a tale for you,
so I hope you enjoy.
There is no gold
in this river
that I've been washing my hands
(35:28):
in for ever.
I know there is hope
in these waters.
But I can't bring myself to swim.
When I am drowning in this silence.
Maybe let me again
(35:52):
go easy on me.
Baby I was still a child.
You didn't get the chance to
see the world around me.
(36:12):
I had no time to choose
what I chose to do.
So go easy on me.
Oh, beautiful.
Caroline, thank you so much for sharing.
You have a great mix.
(36:34):
Oh, that was really, really, really nice.
And,
I love that you're that you have,
like, a stable contract.
Like, that is something
a lot of performers, wish
they had a lot of, actors.
Singers.
It's it's,
you're always kind of like jumping from
gig to gig to gig to gig,
(36:54):
and it sounds like Caroline has a nice.
And I mean, stable.
It's only as stable as is
the job like that can get.
But, you know,
like something consistent
and that's, that's worth a lot
because most of your time
as an actor is spent on auditioning.
So yay!
I love that for you, Caroline.
Thank you so much for sharing.
(37:14):
And your whole,
like, British accent right
there was like,
oh, my whole hold
on, you did not sound like that
ten years ago,
but that's what living in England
will do for you.
But also she's from, from the, Sweden.
So a little bit closer to the UK.
So that makes sense.
All right, last but not least,
let's have a look, Bruno, let's go.
(37:37):
Hi, my name is blue River.
I am 30 years old.
I'm an actor.
I'm a singer.
I'm a musical theater performer.
I'm also a theater director.
Yeah, I do a lot of stuff.
I think what made me decide
to study musical theater has to do with,
(37:58):
you know, I was obsessed with musicals
when I was in middle school.
In high school.
Also,
this generation
who was obsessed
with High School Musical.
So Okay.
Let's talk about High School Musical.
My entire room in my childhood.
My childhood room,
was full of high school
musical theater posters.
(38:18):
There was not a single spot on the wall
that was empty.
It was all musical theater,
high school musical, posters
and then even on the ceiling,
I had to put some up so that I
went, like, from my bed.
I could see Zac Efron
had a major crush on him.
But anyways, loved High School Musical.
(38:40):
I guess that, you know,
had something to do with me
wanting to do musical theater.
And then in high school, when I was,
like, full on doing musical theater,
I saw my friends, you know,
achieving professional works and working
(39:00):
profession early in, in, in the industry.
So I felt inspired to do the same.
But also I wanted to,
you know, prepare myself,
really, really good.
So I decided to go to New York City
and come
study musical theater,
which was really great.
I am really grateful that I did that.
(39:22):
And also I'm really grateful
that after
that, after,
you know, graduating in 2016,
I've been able to do a lot of things.
Musical theater, of course.
I've been doing photography since 2018.
I do, you know, I, do headshots
for all of my friends and colleagues and,
(39:46):
you know, Another great way
to stay connected in the industry.
Taking headshots for
actors, working people,
staying connected
just like Will in a different way.
people who want
to have beautiful headshots.
And also, I am really glad I've been able
(40:07):
to step away
from the box of musical theater,
and I've been able to do,
different kinds of theater, which I'm
grateful for because I love acting.
I love,
you know, experimenting and not just,
staying in one kind of theater because
(40:28):
I like to be very versatile actor.
And, you know,
that's what I've been doing.
During the pandemic,
I stopped for a couple of years.
I moved, from Mexico City.
I went to a place called Ascari Ocampo,
which is a town that I.
It's like three hours away from here.
(40:48):
It was really nice to live,
among nature.
But in 2023, I came back to the city,
and I been working in theater nonstop,
also with my photography.
So I'm really grateful for that.
One of the most amazing memories
that I have, of nifa, was when,
(41:09):
you know, we were different groups,
same generation, with different groups.
But sometimes when we had our,
you know, showcases
and it was time for us to show our talent
to, you know, our families, our teachers.
We had this, beautiful showcase
and then we could see what song
(41:31):
everyone was singing,
what songs we were singing together.
And I just remember being mind blown
for all the talent that everyone had
in the at that time.
And yeah, I feel like I
will always remember when
I was really
excited about the show
and hearing everyone sing,
(41:51):
and I was really excited to sing,
and then we were singing
beautiful songs as a group together.
It just felt great.
You could feel the electricity,
the talent
and everyone just doing amazing
and what they do.
You know, I, I really grateful for Nifa
and I am really grateful
for all the people I've met,
(42:12):
and I hope they keep pursuing
their dreams and their, you know,
their passions.
I still do,
you know, sometimes it's really hard,
but I still do,
and I am really grateful for that.
I can say that I am
I really a versatile actor
and I've learned a lot
during the years, school
(42:33):
and professionally. Years.
Now I'm going to sing
a little bit for you guys.
I hope you like it.
And, Laura,
thank you so much
for inviting me to do this.
I am really grateful. Wow.
Oh. Love you.
Brutal.
We're going to go over to the different
singing video here.
And, but before we do, real quick,
(42:55):
one of my favorite memories.
Oh, it was with Bruno.
We were, we had, like, a combat class
where we had to, like, learn
how to do combat without
actually hurting each other.
Like, as part of, like,
our acting classes.
And I was in a group together with Bruno
and a couple other people as well,
and we recorded the entire thing,
(43:16):
and they were kind of like,
I was walking down the street
and they were like
attacking me on the street.
That was kind of like
the setup, whatever.
And then there's
this really funny moment in the video
where I'm like,
kicking Bruno to the wall.
And then he like, he's,
he like, slams into the wall
and then like, literally
looks over at the like back at me
like it's it's just really funny.
(43:36):
I'll see if I can find the clip and,
and insert it here, but it's hilarious.
Action.
How
much time?
Oh.
(43:57):
000000.
000000.
Anyways,
let's listen to a beautiful Bruno singing
I look at you and suddenly
something in your eyes I see.
She soon begins bewitching me.
(44:21):
It's that old devil moon
that you stole from the skies.
Is that all devil moon
in your, eyes?
You are your glands.
Make this romance too hard to handle.
(44:45):
Stars.
And then, blazing their light.
Can't hold a candle to your soul.
That is why you've got me
flying high and wide.
On a magic carpet ride
full of butterflies.
(45:06):
Says, WannaCry.
Wanna croon, want in life like a loon.
Is that, devil
moon in your,
eyes?
(45:29):
That was beautiful.
Such great balance in your voice.
I always loved, hearing Bruno sang.
He just had such a rich and full voice.
And here
he was, just so balanced, so amazing.
Yes, Bruno. Oh.
So good, so good.
And I do want to touch on
one more thing that he said,
(45:50):
you know,
like watching everybody perform
and everybody showing their talent
because everybody was really good.
That's usually what happens
when you leave high school
and you go to college for music.
It's, you know, like,
you might be the best
at your high school or,
you know, like among the best
or whatever,
but it's not
everybody is a singer or
everybody is an actor or whatever.
(46:11):
And then you go to school for it.
And now it's like,
oh my God, everybody's like me.
And, it can be incredibly inspiring.
It can also be a little bit scary
at first because you're like,
oh my God, like, I am not special.
But,
I love that that Bruno commented on that.
And, yeah,
because it's that energy
is definitely there and it's just great
(46:33):
when you're around people
who are all supportive of each other
and not tearing each other down.
So I love that.
And we definitely had a great time
at the New York
Film Academy,
meeting people from all over the world,
as you can see.
Oh my gosh,
everyone was international
except, Corbin.
He was from,
you know, Alaska
(46:53):
might as well be international.
But,
so everybody who sent in a video,
thank you so much for sharing.
For you watching.
I hope this was helpful
to just kind of see who are these people
that are going to musical theater school,
what were their experiences like,
and what do they do now?
Are they still in theater
or are they doing something else?
And it looks like, you know, it's it's
(47:13):
a little bit of a hybrid, like it's
a little bit of theater
and also a little bit
of doing something else,
but still staying, staying connected.
And, you know,
we have other classmates as well
who went on to,
you know, become parents
and still doing theater on the side.
Others who,
you know, started doing something
completely different.
This has nothing
to do with theater anymore.
(47:34):
And that's okay as well.
And also a lot of them,
I see their, now more behind the stage,
you know, like production and management
and all of that.
So that's a lot of,
a lot of our,
like, classmates are doing that too.
So, you know, it's it's just really cool
to see how everybody's lives,
has evolved in the last, 9 to 10 years,
(47:57):
which is, like, crazy to think about.
But anyways, thank you
everybody for sharing.
Thank you for watching.
I hope this is helpful.
You know, having a little bit of a look
into the musical theater world
or the musical theater school world.
Thank you for to the New York
Film Academy.
It was a great school.
By the way,
this is not sponsored
by the New York Film Academy.
I'm just sharing my experience
and so are my former classmates.
We're just sharing our experiences.
We had a great time.
(48:18):
And anyways, that's it for today.
For today.
Thank you so much for tuning in
and I will see you in the next one.
we had, like, a combat
(00:01):
class where we had to, like,
learn how to do combat
without actually hurting each other.
Like, as part of, like,
our acting classes.
And I was in a group together with Bruno
and a couple other people as well,
and we recorded the entire thing,
and they were kind of like,
I was walking down the street
and they were like
attacking me on the street.
That was kind of like
the setup, whatever.
And then there's
(00:21):
this really funny moment in the video
where I'm like,
kicking Bruno to the wall.
And then he like, he's,
he like, slams into the wall
and then like, literally
looks over at the like back at me
like it's it's just really funny.
I'll see if I can find the clip and,
and insert it here, but it's hilarious.
(00:49):
Hey, VoxStar, and welcome to
From Singer To Artist.
I'm Lara
Chapman, award winning
singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach
and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios.
We help singers
from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them
the three fundamental skills
all singers need
technique, awareness and artistry.
Whether you're looking to go pro
(01:10):
or just develop your voice for fun
My team and I are here to help.
Check the link in the description
to book your first session, or grab
some of our other resources.
All righty.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
shocker,
(01:31):
a lot of people don't know about that.
I went to the New York Film
Academy in New York City,
when I was 18, for two years.
It was a two year program.
It actually
really only took a year and a half,
but it was a two year program,
and I studied musical theater
and acting for film and TV there.
And, had the time of my life,
but did realize that musical theater
(01:52):
wasn't going to be my thing.
Honestly, it was my fault for not,
you know, like,
researching musical theater enough.
I was like,
yeah, why not sing,
act and dance at the same time?
Sounds like a great time.
Perfect. Let's do it.
Totally didn't realize
that musical theater, music
and contemporary music,
(02:12):
like pop music, was very,
very, very different.
So I realized that, okay, maybe
musical theater
isn't quite what I wanted to do,
but I learned so, so, so much.
Honestly,
this is where I really first learned
about storytelling and,
actually caring about what
the song
that you're singing is about
(02:33):
and not just showing off what you can do.
Yeah, I was a late bloomer
in that department.
Took me acting classes at 18 to realize
that singing
is also about telling stories,
not just about showing off.
But for today's episode,
I reached out to some of my former
classmates from,
(02:53):
the New York Film Academy and was like,
hey, it's been ten years.
What is going on in your life?
Like, tell me, I want to know.
And I am sure
you guys would like to know as well,
who are these people
that go to musical theater school or,
you know, school for music?
(03:14):
And acting and dancing as well.
And why did they decide
to go to musical theater school?
And what do their lives look like now?
The New York Film
Academy musical theater
program is not a bachelor's
degree program
where you have, like, all of these,
liberal arts classes as well.
(03:36):
Literally, the only thing you do from
the moment you wake up to the moment
you go to bed,
it's a very strong, like a busy schedule.
You really just focus
on the skills
that are going to serve you
in the real world.
Like you have audition classes,
and just, like,
a lot of that kind of stuff.
(03:56):
So, anyways,
I, got some videos
from my former
classmates, and I was thinking
we could
look at a couple together
so that
you can see who these people are
and where their lives are,
like what they're doing
with their lives now.
of the cool things
about the New York Film
Academy, to me
at least, was how international it was.
(04:17):
It was
when I first moved to the United States.
So I'm from Switzerland originally,
went to the United States
to go to the New York Film
Academy in New York City.
And there were a lot of
other international students as well.
One of them
being, well,
he is originally from Belgium,
if I remember correctly.
So let's have a listen to Will's story.
(04:38):
Hi. My name is Woven Moss.
I I'm an actor.
Accent, speech and dialect coach
living and working in New York City.
I'm originally from Belgium,
I remember correctly,
originally from Belgium.
I'm still in New York City.
Oh that's awesome dialect coach.
That's cool.
So that's
that's one of the cool things,
like when you have, foreign background,
(04:59):
it really opens up
with the kind of roles that you can play,
because then you can, you know, play,
a German speaking character,
a French speaking character,
a Dutch speaking character.
Or, you know, whatever
Russian character is a big one.
And that broadens up
your horizon there
where we'll went with
this is going into the dialect
(05:19):
coaching side of things.
So that's really cool.
but I've lived in western
and southern Europe, and I moved about
ten years ago
to the United States to study
at the New York Film Academy.
So originally I
was a mostly operatic actor.
I started, singing in,
(05:39):
choir when I was six years old.
And from there on, when I was ten,
I moved to the opera in Belgium,
the Flemish opera in particular,
where I sang in various
operatic productions such as Carmen,
Rinaldo, Carmen is like
(06:00):
my favorite opera.
Oh, what?
It was horrible.
I'm not an opera singer.
I had no idea you did opera.
Well, what the heck?
Richard the Third, the first opera,
and that kind of spiraled my passion
for the theater.
And, after that, when I was 16,
(06:21):
I started doing
pantomime and Shakespeare
and some musicals,
and I was lucky enough
when I was 18 to be able
to, go to college in London, where
I performed in several Western
productions,
in musicals and theater shows.
I did not know any of this.
Oh my God.
(06:41):
Well, it's like I don't know you at all.
What the heck?
He was in London. Okay, that makes sense.
I kind of remember that part,
but West End productions,
how amazing is that?
And that kind of like
ignited my passion for musicals.
And that's really why
I wanted to study musicals,
because I performed in a bunch of them,
and I really wanted to make
(07:02):
that something
that, was part of who I was.
And, my profession.
So after graduating
New York Film Academy,
I went on
and had some struggles with my visa,
just like many other foreign actors do.
Visa struggles.
Been there, done that.
(07:22):
Got the t shirt.
Oh, my God, it's really, really annoying.
When you're a foreigner
in the United States
and you're trying to work.
And so I can definitely,
definitely relate.
But eventually was able
to get a green card.
And since
then, I've performed in two Off-Broadway
Okay, hold on, hold on.
(07:42):
We're going to get
to your Off-Broadway productions.
Well, oh, my God, that's amazing.
But getting a green card
as a foreigner in the United States
is incredibly difficult.
I got one because I married an American.
Otherwise I would have had no chance.
Love you. Grant.
But that's amazing.
But okay.
Two Off-Broadway productions.
(08:04):
Yes. productions.
I, recently, was able to be on season
two of The Knight Agent, on Netflix.
I have performed in several short films,
Hold on.
I know that show.
I haven't seen it now I need to go
watch it. Oh, my God.
I have performed in several short
films, 1 or 2 feature films.
(08:27):
So yeah, that's kind of
what I've been doing as an actor,
but I've also veered into dialect
and accent coaching,
which really, for me,
is a way
to stay connected to the industry.
And because I speak, over
five languages.
That's something that really incorporated
my love for language
and the love for theater and film.
So currently,
(08:48):
I've been working as an accent
and dialect coach for the past
four and a half years.
And I'm currently working
privately as my own business,
but I also work, at the Prep New York
and the Prep New Jersey
with one of our fellow,
students from New York Film Academy,
Jesse Clayton,
who started the prep New Jersey.
(09:11):
So that's kind of what I'm doing now.
So if you ever need that accent
or dialect coaching, you can come to me.
Yes.
Oh, my God, I love that,
I love that, oh, my.
Jesse, Jesse, was, a year above us.
So I that's
that's awesome that they were able
(09:31):
to connect there and,
and get that relationship going.
I love that. And see, this is so smart.
Like,
Will found a way to stay connected
to the industry, right?
By by,
like, doing something else that he loves
and make money that way, too,
because I assume he's not doing this
coaching for free. Right?
So I, I find that so, so, so smart,
(09:53):
like finding other ways
besides just being in front of the camera
or on top of the stage,
to stay connected to the industry and,
and still do something
while earning a living.
So very smart. Well, I love it.
My favorite memory
from the New York Film Academy.
Weirdly enough, the
(10:14):
kind of like lunch slash
dinner breaks
that we all had,
together in the little hallway,
and we would just eat
and then sing songs and just
kind of be crazy.
It was, a fun time to be a student.
And we all just kind of like,
went with it.
And we would sing songs while in lunch
(10:35):
when the next class
would still be another,
lesson where we would sing.
So, kind of those,
those are my favorite, memories,
but also very much the,
the shows we put on.
In the first year we put on chess,
which was huge,
such a big success as well.
(10:56):
And then the second year
I was at the New York Film Academy,
we put on carousel,
where I got to play Jigga.
That was a big role for me.
I had some, voice and accent work done
with someone there,
which also kind of inspired me
to become an accent coach and speech
coach myself.
So yeah,
that's a big, part of what I love to do,
(11:20):
is because really,
I got to play Jigger in Carousel.
So I think those are
my favorite memories.
Oh, I love that.
I do want to go back
to, the the lunch and dinner breaks.
So, you know, usually
you go home for dinner
and then your day is done at school.
Well, not at the New York Film Academy.
You're in school from 9 a.m.
(11:41):
to 7 p.m., and then you have rehearsals
for the shows
that he was just talking about,
like carousel and chess.
And there were other, like,
we did readings and,
what else did we do,
like films,
like actually recording films,
like we did a movie musicals.
So there was a lot
of rehearsals happening
and that we had to do outside
of our actual classes,
(12:01):
which meant that was happening
from, 730 to 10 30 or 1130,
I don't remember, but like,
it was a lot to say the least.
It was a lot.
So, the energy.
Oh my God, yeah,
definitely always loud, always singing.
You would always hear, like,
people breaking out into song
(12:23):
based on a word that somebody else said.
They're like,
oh, that reminded me of the song.
And then they start singing that song.
So there's always a lot happening,
never a dull moment
in a musical theater school,
that's for sure.
We get to hear
Will sing a little something.
Let's listen,
I'd rather be sailing.
(12:43):
Yes, I would,
on an open sea.
Just, not the railing.
If I could, would
ceiling wild and free.
(13:03):
The sun is on my neck.
The wind is in my face.
The sea is incredibly blue.
And,
I'd rather be sailing his side.
Want to go sail and then come home
(13:28):
to you?
Oh, that was beautiful.
Yay!
Well, thank you so much for sharing that.
I like that cut for you.
It sits in a beautiful part
of your voice and,
Yay, those notes up there,
(13:48):
they were so balanced. So.
Yes, yes.
Well, you know how to sing.
Oh, yes, baby, I mean, obviously you do.
You went to musical theater school
and you did opera,
apparently, that I didn't know about.
What the heck?
So I love seeing that,
you know, he's
still in New York City
after figuring out the visa stuff
and, working actor dialect coach
(14:10):
doing different things to fill his cup
and his wallet.
So yes, I love that.
Thank you so much.
Well, for sharing.
Let's move on to the next person.
Let's have a look at Yasmeen.
Fun fact and other fun fact.
Yasmeen was one of my bridesmaids
at my wedding, and, Yeah,
(14:32):
we stayed in touch a lot
after after school too.
So, let's look at what she's up to.
Hi everyone. My name is Yasmeen.
I'm an actress, voice
actress and singer songwriter
currently based between
Canada and Poland. Yes.
So she is,
she's actually originally from Poland
(14:53):
and, split her time
between Poland and Israel.
And now she is splitting her time
between Poland and Canada.
She's just a citizen of the world.
Global citizen, My journey with the arts
started early
because I was a child
performer in Poland,
and my introduction to musical theater,
(15:15):
happened
when I started working
at that theater Roma,
which is one of Poland's
most renowned musical theaters.
And that experience had
everything in motion for me.
After working for a few years,
participating in TV
competitions, doing
voiceover work, acting,
(15:37):
I knew I wanted to try
my luck in New York.
So I applied to the Musical Theater
Conservatory
Okay, so, before we continue, it's
so interesting
for me to see, like,
both Will and Yasmeen did
things, like, lots of things
before they went to the New York
Film Academy.
I had, like, a zero experience.
(15:58):
Like I took voice
lessons and I had recitals
and that was it.
And so it's, it's it's
awesome to see how
much experience they've had.
Yasmeen was like a child actress,
in Poland, like teacher said.
And, you know, like,
I remember her showing
us, like, newspaper,
(16:19):
like little, cutouts of,
like,
you know,
when she was featured in the news
and things like that.
So that's that's super cool.
I didn't know she did TV
competitions, too. That's awesome.
And I believe I'm making
I don't think I'm making this up,
but I think she also played
Glinda in Wicked once in Poland,
if I remember correctly.
(16:39):
That's kind of
cool Conservatory
at the New York Film Academy.
One of my favorite memories
at Nafa was working on carousel
with, very talented
director Chad Austin.
It was,
a beautiful experience
and a beautiful show.
And honestly, I also miss
(17:01):
practicing per wedge
in the hallway of the school.
Just living that musical theater
life with my fellow students.
the pirouettes, the pirouettes.
You guys,
we had to do so many pirouettes,
like in the first semester.
It's like, yeah,
you got to nail a single.
The second semester.
It's like, now you got to nail a double.
(17:22):
And the third semester
it's like you have to nail a triple.
Like you have to be able
to do a triple pirouette period.
And everybody was struggling
except the dancers, except the dancers.
In our class,
Corbin was one of those dancers.
And we're going to have a look
at one of his videos here.
In just a second. He has.
He also sent me something, but, yeah,
(17:42):
practicing pirouettes.
That was a daily,
a daily thing that we had to do.
Or, like,
we had to practice them
because we needed to be able
to do pirouettes.
You know, over the years
I've explored many options.
I've tried film and production,
stage management, even online streaming.
(18:04):
But
eventually I decided to step down
because I thought that perhaps
this path is not for me.
Until about two years ago
when I had someone randomly messaged me,
someone, from the Polish music industry
whom I worked with before,
(18:26):
and they ask me about songwriting.
Now,
I've always been writing songs
ever since I was a little girl, but
it was mostly a form of self therapy,
and I never considered it
to be a real option for me.
However, this conversation
really ignited, reignited
(18:47):
my passion and I gave it a try.
And now I'm writing,
auditioning, and
doing voiceover work again.
Oh, I love that. See, here's the thing.
The music industry, the theater industry,
the film industry,
it's like a little cutthroat.
And when I say a little, I mean a lot.
And it can sometimes be, very much like,
(19:12):
filling you with self-doubt and like,
like Yasmeen said,
maybe,
maybe this isn't the right path for me.
Because it's tough.
It's tough,
and there's so many other people
doing it as well.
And sometimes taking a break
and coming back to
it is the best thing that you can do.
And it sounds like
that's what's happening with Yasmeen.
(19:34):
So she's coming back in or like,
you know, for the last two years already,
she's been getting back into it.
And not just like writing songs
like the new thing that she
and that she started picking up,
but also auditioning again
and doing voiceover stuff again.
That was actually probably
one of my favorite memories from life.
Voiceover work.
We had a class on voiceover, and I really
(19:57):
I really enjoyed it.
I found that a lot of fun to,
you know, just do the acting
just in your voice and,
like, people can't see you
because voiceover is
when you're watching, like, a cartoon
and not actual people. Right.
But you still hear voices
like that's what you're hearing.
Or when there's like a commercial playing
and you hear a voice
(20:18):
talking about something
that's also voiceover.
And I really enjoyed that.
I thought that was super cool.
So I'm excited to hear that is Mina's
is doing voiceover
Meanwhile, I'm also passionate
about wellness,
and I'm a
co-founder of Quality of Life Expert,
which is, full transformation
program for chronic pain.
Helping people
(20:39):
improve their quality of life
is something I truly care about.
Oh, I love that, too.
So, you know, it's
this is something I struggle with
when it comes to, like, balance, right?
Like, yes, our passion is our job, right?
Like, I'm a voice teacher.
I love singing, for Yasmeen.
She loves writing and voiceover
work and auditioning.
Right. Like, that's that's her job.
(21:01):
But it's also if you're only doing that,
it's like I'm.
We need something else
in our lives as well.
For me, that's gardening.
And it's more than just a hobby
at this point.
It's crazy.
Yasmeen.
It's wellness.
I remember, like,
she was always running in New York.
Like she was just running
(21:22):
and running and running,
and I'm like, girl, what
are you running from?
I just really don't like running.
But, like, she was always super sporty.
And, And after the New York
Film Academy,
she was also getting
into personal training.
So this,
like being a co-founder of this company
now makes total sense to me
(21:42):
because that was always a passion
for her.
And so, you know, with Will,
he's also doing
the auditioning side of things,
but also, coaching in dialects.
Right.
And Yasmeen is doing the auditioning
and writing part
and also wellness coaching.
So, it's cool to see that
they're both of these examples.
They're doing different,
(22:02):
different things.
An impromptu little song for you.
It's a beautiful love song
by Jason Isbell titled
If We Were Vampires,
and it talks about the fragility of life.
And if you never listen to it
before, I highly recommend
you listen to the original because
breaks the heart.
(22:24):
All right,
chords.
It's not the long, flowing drink
that you're in.
Or the light coming off
of your skin.
(22:46):
The fragile heart you've protected
for so long.
The mercy in your sense
of right and wrong.
It's not your hand searching slow
when the time
(23:07):
of your nails leaving the oven.
What? I'm up.
Oh, it's not the way you took me off
the roof.
Your questions like directions
to the truth.
(23:28):
It's knowing that
this can't go on forever.
Likely
one of us will have
to spend some days alone.
And maybe we'll get 40 years together.
One day I'll be gone.
(23:51):
One day you'll be single.
Only.
Yeah.
So nice, I love it.
I always appreciated this
about Yasmin's voice,
how much character she has.
You know,
sometimes in the musical theater world,
it can be a little bit, not.
(24:13):
I don't want to say cookie cutter, but,
sometimes
it's it's kind of, like, difficult
to keep those,
those little quirks
that we have in our voices.
And Yasmeen was never bothered by that.
She was like, no, I'm.
I'm gonna sing this my way.
And I love that
it was it's it's
great for like,
her own artist project
and for her own original stuff
(24:34):
that she's releasing.
Because it goes a little bit
more into the contemporary side,
the side that I really love.
And she's always had that.
And even though
she has a big musical theater background,
she's always had that.
So I love that.
Yeah. Yasmin.
Happy to see you arrive.
Let's look at one more.
(24:54):
We got core, Ben.
He's one of those dancers
that I was telling you about who can do
triple periods is as.
So let's
see what my little polar bear is up to.
Carbon is originally from Alaska,
and we all called him,
our little polar bear.
So anyways, let's see what he's up to.
Hi, my name is Corbin Williams
(25:16):
and what initially made me
want to get into musical theater.
Honestly, it was a little bit of a fluke
because I just wanted to do film
and TV acting.
I really just wasn't even on my radar.
And then I had a mentor
say to me, you're a dancer.
They can sing.
We'll work on your acting,
but you should consider musical theater,
(25:38):
because what's sincerely going to happen
when you're not doing theater
and you can do film and TV.
What happens when you're not doing
film and TV? Then you can do theater.
What happen
when you're not doing theater?
Maybe you can do voiceover.
What happens when we do?
You see where I'm going with this?
So always having options
in diversifying yourself.
Well, that seems to be a theme today.
(25:58):
Diversifying yourself, I love it,
And once I found that
I had a knack for it
and that I really have enjoyed it,
it's been my bread and butter these past,
this past decade, since I graduated.
And it really has opened
and not only opened my eyes,
but it's definitely humbled me.
(26:19):
What have I been up to since graduating?
That is a good question.
Since graduating,
I have expanded my resume.
I launched a podcast and my own business,
Business in Show Business,
which focuses on the business logistics
of this industry
for a lot of young talent
who might not know.
It's kind of those questions
(26:40):
that you have.
Well,
where do I go
and how do I know what to expect?
So that's what my business,
addresses.
not just like the skills behind it.
Like teaching you
how to sing and act and dance
and all that stuff.
It's more like the business side
of of it, right?
Like, where do you
where should you move to?
How do you audition?
What do you expect?
Like he said,
I think it's so cool
(27:00):
how to business in show business.
I've been a part of,
governance within AA for a time.
That was really eye
opening and humbling again.
So a lot's been going on.
I, I'm married and,
just have continued to grow my life
(27:20):
well, outside of show business.
And he also just, finished his tour,
with, Beetlejuice.
He was in the national
tour of Beetlejuice,
and he, finished that earlier,
this late winter, early spring.
And,
it's just
(27:40):
so amazing
to see, like, your friends,
the people that you went to school with,
being on off Broadway, on Broadway,
in national tours,
international tours like. It's amazing.
I'm so proud of everyone.
Oh, my God.
My favorite memory
from New York Film Academy, I must say,
has to be.
Meeting an eclectic group of people
(28:01):
that I would not
otherwise have the chance to meet.
I did not go to a traditional school
in that sense.
Being that it's an international school
and they have locations around the world.
It brought in my perspective
because sometimes we as Americans
don't always get outside
of our own bubble.
So to be with diverse thought
that other than the American
(28:22):
white picket fence idea,
was also a breath of fresh air.
Sing a little song.
Okay. Quick little note. Quick song.
The one that got me
the audition for Beetlejuice.
First of all right. Time.
Right place, right fit.
And the business of theater
has really shifted
from musical theater, pop rock.
And it's transitioned into pop rock,
(28:42):
pop rock.
I'll never forget this.
One of my classmates sang this song,
and I was like, what?
Who does he think he is?
But then when I added this song
to my book, I was like, I know who I am.
It's alive by Kim.
And it goes, I had a one way
ticket to the place
where all the demons go with the wind.
Don't change.
Nothing in the ground can never grow.
(29:04):
No hope.
Just realizing it's hard to cry.
No low but awesome.
Get that leg.
oh, did that clip.
No, I did that.
You got it. You got it.
Yes. Corvette.
Oh, my gosh, Corvette is so fun.
I miss his face. Oh my goodness.
He is an incredible, incredible,
(29:28):
incredible dancer.
The man
does not have a single gram of body fat.
He's just muscle
and an incredible dancer.
Obviously great singer,
as you could just hear.
And he was just kind of, like,
not even trying, and sounded incredible.
And, you know,
it's just I'm so proud of all the success
that he's seen in both his personal life
(29:50):
and his business and in his career.
So that's just absolutely amazing.
I'm so happy for you, Corbin.
And,
one of my favorite,
memories with Corbin is we were standing
in a circle,
like, a little massage circle.
And so,
you know,
you would massage
the person in front of you,
and they would massage the person
and behind you,
but massage you, and, And the teacher
(30:13):
was, like, walking us through
where to massage
and how to do it and everything.
And then it came to the buttocks. Right.
And it's musical theater school.
It's just what happens.
And like, obviously
everybody was fine with it
and poor Ben was behind me
and he was like, girl,
your butt is so low.
Because I have really short
legs, like I am all torso, no legs.
(30:35):
And I found that so frickin funny.
But, Anyways, I love it.
Let's look at Caroline.
Originally from Sweden, I believe,
and I think she's now in England.
Let's have a listen.
Hello, my name is Caroline and a reason
that I chose to study musical theater,
(30:56):
Holy smokes, Caroline,
you did not talk like that
in New York City.
Oh, my God,
she sounds like a full on Brit.
Now what?
I did not expect that at all.
Okay.
Yeah, she is in England now.
so I was actually dead
set on working
with horses for a long time.
(31:18):
But I always enjoyed singing and dancing,
and I loved watching
behind the scenes of films.
If I could get my hands on the material.
And then one day I took part
in a little production
at my school of a little musical,
and I realized,
this is really, really fun.
And I would like to do this.
So then I started applying to schools,
(31:38):
and I studied music theater
for a couple of years
in my home country, Sweden.
And then when I
graduated from there,
I was like,
oh, where can I take
this to the next level?
And I started looking
at some schools in the UK,
but then I stumbled upon
New York Film Academy.
So this is amazing.
The hub of musical theater and film,
except for the two year conservatory.
So I got a bit of both,
(31:58):
a bit of festivals
and also, of course,
we have some fantastic teachers,
some who were
and are currently on Broadway.
So big pool yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I remember
like we had the opportunity to go see,
like our,
our teachers,
our coaches perform on Broadway
while we were in school.
I remember
(32:18):
we saw Todd,
when upon air in Cinderella.
I think he was,
at that time we saw Tom in,
The Lion King on Broadway.
Like, it was really cool to go see
your teachers
that you
work with during the day and, like,
see them perform on Broadway at night.
(32:39):
So, yeah,
that was definitely super cool about,
the New
and it was wonderful as well
to, get to study
with people from all over the world.
So that was the big pull for me.
And then
what have I been doing since graduating
from New York Film Academy?
Well,
I moved back to Sweden for a little bit.
And then because it was quite difficult
(32:59):
to stay in the United States,
you need a lot of visas, etc..
So I decided to stay in Europe.
So I went over to the United Kingdom,
where I'm currently based,
and then I auditioned
and got into a company
who would have me perform
in different hotels abroad as well.
So I performed in hotels for a few years
in Turkey and in Greece,
which was really fun.
(33:21):
And then I had a bit of
an unplanned break because of Covid.
And then when Covid kind of ended
and things started to open up again,
I was a singing bartender in London
for a little bit, was a lot of fun
that's cool.
Singing bartender.
That's,
that's something that you have
in New York as well.
The Ellen Ellen something, Ellen Stardust
Diner or something like that.
(33:42):
They do that there too,
and that's super cool.
And also singing in hotels, that's smart.
That's a,
that's a nice, that's a very nice gig.
Cruises
is another one of those
when people, you know, like on cruises,
you have all this entertainment.
And so people go and sing on these,
on these cruises, which is cool.
then I kept auditioning,
(34:03):
and now I have my current job,
which is my current contract,
where I perform in a hotel, hotel
chain called Warners.
And it's really, really fun.
We do a few different shows,
cabarets as well,
and evening entertainment, which is
a lot of fun. And then
a memory,
a favorite memory
from New York Film Academy.
(34:24):
I must say, it was amazing to
have all of these international people
from all over the world
and some of them are still
my close friends to this day.
You switch to a bit closer, but,
one of my favorite memories
is we've all divided
into sections
at first
because we were quite a bit class,
so that section Abcde
and I was put in section
A, and section eight
(34:45):
had a little bit of a cult to each other.
So one of us would start section I.
Ha.
And then wherever they were,
in a different room in the hallway
or in the same room,
everyone from that section would go up,
with different amounts
of energy and excitement.
So that's one of my favorite memories.
Oh, I love that.
I was I was not in section A.
(35:05):
Oh, my God,
it looks like I missed out, but
who?
There But
now I'll sing you
a little bit of one of the songs
I do in my cabaret set.
And it is a little
bit of a tale for you,
so I hope you enjoy.
There is no gold
in this river
that I've been washing my hands
(35:28):
in for ever.
I know there is hope
in these waters.
But I can't bring myself to swim.
When I am drowning in this silence.
Maybe let me again
(35:52):
go easy on me.
Baby I was still a child.
You didn't get the chance to
see the world around me.
(36:12):
I had no time to choose
what I chose to do.
So go easy on me.
Oh, beautiful.
Caroline, thank you so much for sharing.
You have a great mix.
(36:34):
Oh, that was really, really, really nice.
And,
I love that you're that you have,
like, a stable contract.
Like, that is something
a lot of performers, wish
they had a lot of, actors.
Singers.
It's it's,
you're always kind of like jumping from
gig to gig to gig to gig,
(36:54):
and it sounds like Caroline has a nice.
And I mean, stable.
It's only as stable as is
the job like that can get.
But, you know,
like something consistent
and that's, that's worth a lot
because most of your time
as an actor is spent on auditioning.
So yay!
I love that for you, Caroline.
Thank you so much for sharing.
(37:14):
And your whole,
like, British accent right
there was like,
oh, my whole hold
on, you did not sound like that
ten years ago,
but that's what living in England
will do for you.
But also she's from, from the, Sweden.
So a little bit closer to the UK.
So that makes sense.
All right, last but not least,
let's have a look, Bruno, let's go.
(37:37):
Hi, my name is blue River.
I am 30 years old.
I'm an actor.
I'm a singer.
I'm a musical theater performer.
I'm also a theater director.
Yeah, I do a lot of stuff.
I think what made me decide
to study musical theater has to do with,
(37:58):
you know, I was obsessed with musicals
when I was in middle school.
In high school.
Also,
this generation
who was obsessed
with High School Musical.
So Okay.
Let's talk about High School Musical.
My entire room in my childhood.
My childhood room,
was full of high school
musical theater posters.
(38:18):
There was not a single spot on the wall
that was empty.
It was all musical theater,
high school musical, posters
and then even on the ceiling,
I had to put some up so that I
went, like, from my bed.
I could see Zac Efron
had a major crush on him.
But anyways, loved High School Musical.
(38:40):
I guess that, you know,
had something to do with me
wanting to do musical theater.
And then in high school, when I was,
like, full on doing musical theater,
I saw my friends, you know,
achieving professional works and working
(39:00):
profession early in, in, in the industry.
So I felt inspired to do the same.
But also I wanted to,
you know, prepare myself,
really, really good.
So I decided to go to New York City
and come
study musical theater,
which was really great.
I am really grateful that I did that.
(39:22):
And also I'm really grateful
that after
that, after,
you know, graduating in 2016,
I've been able to do a lot of things.
Musical theater, of course.
I've been doing photography since 2018.
I do, you know, I, do headshots
for all of my friends and colleagues and,
(39:46):
you know, Another great way
to stay connected in the industry.
Taking headshots for
actors, working people,
staying connected
just like Will in a different way.
people who want
to have beautiful headshots.
And also, I am really glad I've been able
(40:07):
to step away
from the box of musical theater,
and I've been able to do,
different kinds of theater, which I'm
grateful for because I love acting.
I love,
you know, experimenting and not just,
staying in one kind of theater because
(40:28):
I like to be very versatile actor.
And, you know,
that's what I've been doing.
During the pandemic,
I stopped for a couple of years.
I moved, from Mexico City.
I went to a place called Ascari Ocampo,
which is a town that I.
It's like three hours away from here.
(40:48):
It was really nice to live,
among nature.
But in 2023, I came back to the city,
and I been working in theater nonstop,
also with my photography.
So I'm really grateful for that.
One of the most amazing memories
that I have, of nifa, was when,
(41:09):
you know, we were different groups,
same generation, with different groups.
But sometimes when we had our,
you know, showcases
and it was time for us to show our talent
to, you know, our families, our teachers.
We had this, beautiful showcase
and then we could see what song
(41:31):
everyone was singing,
what songs we were singing together.
And I just remember being mind blown
for all the talent that everyone had
in the at that time.
And yeah, I feel like I
will always remember when
I was really
excited about the show
and hearing everyone sing,
(41:51):
and I was really excited to sing,
and then we were singing
beautiful songs as a group together.
It just felt great.
You could feel the electricity,
the talent
and everyone just doing amazing
and what they do.
You know, I, I really grateful for Nifa
and I am really grateful
for all the people I've met,
(42:12):
and I hope they keep pursuing
their dreams and their, you know,
their passions.
I still do,
you know, sometimes it's really hard,
but I still do,
and I am really grateful for that.
I can say that I am
I really a versatile actor
and I've learned a lot
during the years, school
(42:33):
and professionally. Years.
Now I'm going to sing
a little bit for you guys.
I hope you like it.
And, Laura,
thank you so much
for inviting me to do this.
I am really grateful. Wow.
Oh. Love you.
Brutal.
We're going to go over to the different
singing video here.
And, but before we do, real quick,
(42:55):
one of my favorite memories.
Oh, it was with Bruno.
We were, we had, like, a combat class
where we had to, like, learn
how to do combat without
actually hurting each other.
Like, as part of, like,
our acting classes.
And I was in a group together with Bruno
and a couple other people as well,
and we recorded the entire thing,
(43:16):
and they were kind of like,
I was walking down the street
and they were like
attacking me on the street.
That was kind of like
the setup, whatever.
And then there's
this really funny moment in the video
where I'm like,
kicking Bruno to the wall.
And then he like, he's,
he like, slams into the wall
and then like, literally
looks over at the like back at me
like it's it's just really funny.
(43:36):
I'll see if I can find the clip and,
and insert it here, but it's hilarious.
Action.
How
much time?
Oh.
(43:57):
000000.
000000.
Anyways,
let's listen to a beautiful Bruno singing
I look at you and suddenly
something in your eyes I see.
She soon begins bewitching me.
(44:21):
It's that old devil moon
that you stole from the skies.
Is that all devil moon
in your, eyes?
You are your glands.
Make this romance too hard to handle.
(44:45):
Stars.
And then, blazing their light.
Can't hold a candle to your soul.
That is why you've got me
flying high and wide.
On a magic carpet ride
full of butterflies.
(45:06):
Says, WannaCry.
Wanna croon, want in life like a loon.
Is that, devil
moon in your,
eyes?
(45:29):
That was beautiful.
Such great balance in your voice.
I always loved, hearing Bruno sang.
He just had such a rich and full voice.
And here
he was, just so balanced, so amazing.
Yes, Bruno. Oh.
So good, so good.
And I do want to touch on
one more thing that he said,
(45:50):
you know,
like watching everybody perform
and everybody showing their talent
because everybody was really good.
That's usually what happens
when you leave high school
and you go to college for music.
It's, you know, like,
you might be the best
at your high school or,
you know, like among the best
or whatever,
but it's not
everybody is a singer or
everybody is an actor or whatever.
(46:11):
And then you go to school for it.
And now it's like,
oh my God, everybody's like me.
And, it can be incredibly inspiring.
It can also be a little bit scary
at first because you're like,
oh my God, like, I am not special.
But,
I love that that Bruno commented on that.
And, yeah,
because it's that energy
is definitely there and it's just great
(46:33):
when you're around people
who are all supportive of each other
and not tearing each other down.
So I love that.
And we definitely had a great time
at the New York
Film Academy,
meeting people from all over the world,
as you can see.
Oh my gosh,
everyone was international
except, Corbin.
He was from,
you know, Alaska
(46:53):
might as well be international.
But,
so everybody who sent in a video,
thank you so much for sharing.
For you watching.
I hope this was helpful
to just kind of see who are these people
that are going to musical theater school,
what were their experiences like,
and what do they do now?
Are they still in theater
or are they doing something else?
And it looks like, you know, it's it's
(47:13):
a little bit of a hybrid, like it's
a little bit of theater
and also a little bit
of doing something else,
but still staying, staying connected.
And, you know,
we have other classmates as well
who went on to,
you know, become parents
and still doing theater on the side.
Others who,
you know, started doing something
completely different.
This has nothing
to do with theater anymore.
(47:34):
And that's okay as well.
And also a lot of them,
I see their, now more behind the stage,
you know, like production and management
and all of that.
So that's a lot of,
a lot of our,
like, classmates are doing that too.
So, you know, it's it's just really cool
to see how everybody's lives,
has evolved in the last, 9 to 10 years,
(47:57):
which is, like, crazy to think about.
But anyways, thank you
everybody for sharing.
Thank you for watching.
I hope this is helpful.
You know, having a little bit of a look
into the musical theater world
or the musical theater school world.
Thank you for to the New York
Film Academy.
It was a great school.
By the way,
this is not sponsored
by the New York Film Academy.
I'm just sharing my experience
and so are my former classmates.
We're just sharing our experiences.
We had a great time.
(48:18):
And anyways, that's it for today.
For today.
Thank you so much for tuning in
and I will see you in the next one.
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