Positivity, Performance, and Finding Your Voice with Rebecca Ward

In this first episode of Hack Mojo, Darren speaks with actor, voiceover artist, and public speaking coach Rebecca Ward. Together they explore the power of positivity, resilience, and creative flow, from navigating rejection in the arts to rediscovering passion through movement, mindfulness, and self-expression. Rebecca shares her insights on mental fitness, therapy, performance preparation, and how acting tools can help anyone show up more confidently in life and work.

 Learn to speak with Clarity, Confidence & Ease.

Learn more about Rebecca, check out her workshops and upcoming theatre production below.

Rebecca's website

Action Workshops

Snow Queen theatre show

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
In a world ruled by intellect,but starved of intuition,
A world divided by conflict,fear and distraction.
Are we as humans losing our way?
Have we drifted too far fromthat inner essence that sparked,
that once allowed us to truly thrive?
I sincerely hope not because as afather, husband, and creative mind,

(00:23):
I still believe in a futurewhere we can connect, create,
and find light in the darkness.
So what might it take to rekindle thatflame within us to return to ourselves?
This podcast explores humanperformance, not as competition,
but as expression as the result ofhow we live. Think, move, breathe,
and speak. We'll hear from peopleat every stage of their journey,

(00:47):
sharing real stories and practicalinsights so we can all learn to
regain, to train andmaintain our inner flame.
I'm Darren McStay. Welcome to Hack Mojo.
Rebecca Ward. Hello.
.
Actor. Mm-Hmm .Rebecca Ward, nominated voice actor.

(01:08):
Mm-Hmm . Publicspeaking coach. Mm-Hmm .
Director and producer. Is thereanything I've missed off that list?
I guess you could put writer onthere as well. I've written a couple,
well co-written a couple of children'stheaters. Production Sure. Stage shows.
So that includes the one thatyou're working on right now. I.

(01:30):
Actually wasn't a writer onthis one. Okay. But yeah,
our previous shows we co-wrote.
Right. So writer as well. Anything else?
Because I know that you're withBlockbuster Gang and you do extra.
Yes, yes.
So I do do some work behindcamera in production.
So I've done some assistant directingjobs, some running jobs on set, you know,

(01:50):
anything really.
Production assistant orassistant directing esque. Hmm.
So you might say you're a bit ofa polymath then. Yeah. Myself.
Exactly. Very similarly to you. I'vedone lots of different things, you know,
behind and in front of camera.
And actually when I starteddoing stuff behind camera,

(02:11):
I wasn't sure how I feltabout it as a, as a performer,
was it the right thing to do? Is ita good idea for people's first of,
or like first contact with you tobe seeing you in a role that's not
your main profession? Acting? Yeah.I, I was a little bit hesitant,
but I just really enjoyed it. Okay.And I thought, it's so nice to see it,

(02:32):
a fresh perspective, seeit from another angle,
and it gives you so much respectfor what people do on set.
It does. I've.
Learned a lot.
Yeah. No, I found that.
And I think we'll probably talka bit about that in a while,
but I wanted to say first,like, one of the reason,
the reason that I invited you here todayas my first guest on this new podcast.

(02:55):
Thank you. For three reasons. Yeah.
And I've named these thethree Ps. Your three Ps. Okay.
Which is positivity. Love it.
Professionalism and politeness. Oh.
Thank you.
And I think it's those three elementsthat are valuable to others to learn

(03:15):
perhaps how you mighthave come to a place as a
professional, as an entrepreneur.Mm-Hmm .
As an artist and as a coach,because it's not easy.
The, the arts, the creative arts are adifficult world to, to, to tread. Yeah.
And so what keeps you motivated? Whatkeeps you positive? What keeps you,
you know,
staying professional and polite wheneverything else around you is likely

(03:39):
falling into as it doesfor many people. Yeah.
and so I thought we could maybe delveinto some of those parts of you and maybe
uncover where they comefrom. Okay. And, and what,
how you developed such positive and,
you know forward thinking traitsthat I, I feel make you quite unique
in this world. 'cause It is, you know,you are a bit of a unicorn, I feel.

(04:03):
Thank you. Yeah. you of the.
Honor.
, well, at least, at leastin the, the world that I kind of
mingle. Mm. And that's notto put anyone else down,
it just means you stand out forsome reason. Mm-Hmm .
And I wanna get to, to know why,
because I think anyone listeningto this could learn. Okay.
And I want to dig it from you soI can take it from myself as well.

(04:25):
.
Yeah. The first time I metyou mm-hmm .
I had done, for context for listeners,
I had done a voiceover, a dictum.And this was, I think 2000, 20,
21 when I did the voiceover.
And I think he'd been in thereeither the day before because essa,

(04:47):
who used to work downstairs in the studio,
he used to take Polaroidphotos of everyone Yeah. And get you to sign the, the,
the wall of fame.
Or was it the door of fame?
Fame of shame, .
And so he'd said that you'deither been in or coming in Yeah.
And that you are also doing an Englishvoiceover. Mm-Hmm. So, all right.
So another, another, you know,English speaker here. Mm. So, I,

(05:08):
I guess I stalked you onInstagram to find out who this,
this competition was .It's not competition.
We we're not gonna get the same roles.But I, I wanted to know who you were.
Yeah. And, and then I'm not sure how Ireached out. Do you remember how we met?
I actually think it wasthrough a mutual friend.
You were doing it wasn'ta rehearsed reading.

(05:32):
It was, it was a table read ofone of your scripts. That's right.
And I got involved via a friend, Ithink it was Daniel McMullen. Mm.
Does that ring a bell?
Yes.
Lovely. Daniel McMullen.
And I think he might have put us in touchbecause you were looking for actors to
do the table read. Yes.
I remember coming to your studio andreading your feature film script in a

(05:55):
group. Yes. And I think that might havebeen the first time we properly met.
Okay. I knew of you, but I didn'tmeet you, I don't think until then.
It's strange because I, I hadn't connectedthat, that was when we first met.
I remember that meeting. Yeah. And I, andI know Daniel McMullen because he was,
he had a part in my, my latest film.Of course he did. Yeah. Team right now.
Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't realizedthat was actually where we met.

(06:18):
I think that's the first time. Okay. Icould stand corrected, but I'm, I think,
I think so. That was fun. I lovedoing things like that. Yeah.
That's the reason whythis job is so much fun.
And why it's worth pushingthrough the bad times.
Because you get to meet new peopleall the time, work with new texts,
and Yeah. Some of those projects get made,

(06:40):
some of them might get shelved or theymight come back 10 years later as a
project with a new life.You just don't know.
But that sort of thingis exciting. It's, it's,
it comes back to this thing we alwaystalk about as storytelling is at the core
of everything we do as humans. Mm-Hmm.
It also brings peopletogether. Right. For sure.
So know that sense of community,I think that's kind of a valid,
more and more I'm seeingthat that's something that could be missing from my own

(07:04):
life. Mm-Hmm. Especiallybeing, I guess, in Finland,
away from where I grew up. Yeah. Again,well, I wanna get to that again bit,
because I wanna get to thattoo. You know, someone else has.
Traveled. Yeah. There'slots to unpack in that.
So, but, but like, Iwanna talk about your,
your positivity mm-hmm .Right. And your calm professionalism.
Mm-Hmm . Has it alwaysbeen a natural part of who you are?

(07:24):
Or do you think it's somethingthat you've developed over time?
I think it's always been a part ofmy character. Mm-Hmm .
I've been told by my siblings,
my parents from a young agethat I've been a very positive
person who's brought a lot of sunshine.
That's how they would describe it. Have.

(07:46):
You heard that since you were young?
Since I was young. Okay.
And.
I think maybe hearingthat when you're young,
obviously it's a reallynice positive thing to hear.
So maybe then you have thatperception of yourself. And so.
Yeah.
Maybe that helps.
That's right. 'cause Ifyou're told the opposite,
you might start believing that. Well.
Exactly. Yeah.
Down on yourself.

(08:07):
So I do think it is inherentlya part of my character. Yeah.
But I do think that having chosen to do a
profession in the creativearts has not been easy.
It's been an uphill battleand continues to be. But
and if anything, parts of that journeyhave taken that positivity away.

(08:30):
So it's been really hard to,
to claw it back and fight tokeep that positive energy.
So I've had to do a lot ofwork on that, I think. And.
What kind of work would you dothen to get back to that state?
I think keeping physicallyfit, doing things like yoga,
really useful just to help reset,
help with that sort of mindset of,

(08:54):
of engaging with your body and lettingthings go is something that I find really
useful with physical exercise. So yoga'sreally good for that sort of mindful,
peaceful practice. And then
running is really good as wellfor more of a kind of cardio
stress burner. Okay. I danceas well. I do salsa. Oh really?

(09:18):
Yeah. That's my hobby.Okay. I do it regularly. Do.
You do that with your, your fella? No.
I actually don't. I do it,
we do it at a at an amazingschool in called a
Okay.
That means, and including theteachers plus one A. Yeah. Plus.
One. Yeah. Plus one. And the teachers,
Johanna and Omar are amazing.

(09:39):
They've just built a reallylovely community and it's just one of those places
you turn up to every week and you justdance for an hour and a half and they
have amazing socials.It's just a nice place.
So that's the physical side ofthings. But I think also mentally,
you have to do a lot of of work to stay,
to stay positive when things are quiet.

(10:00):
And to trust in the fact thatsomething always comes along.
And when those rejectionshappen to remember that it's not
necessarily something you are doingwrong, it can just be that, you know,
this one wasn't for you. Yeah.
And so what would youmentally prepare for?
Apart from the physical side of doingsomething to let go? Yeah. I think.

(10:21):
Would you do anythingemotionally or, well, I.
Think meditation's really goodof, I've had therapy as well,
which has helped kind ofprocess different things,
different elements of your life anddeal with kind of traumatic things.
Would you say? Is thattraditional psychotherapy or.
I found CBT really helpful, but Ihave also done talking therapy. Yeah.

(10:42):
Now I know CB T's not for everyone,but I found it really useful. I've.
Been wanting to actually dosome of that for myself. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I guess it's trial and error.
You need to see what works foryou, what doesn't. But I think,
so I started doing CBT when I was havingtalking therapy as well during COVID
times. Mm-Hmm.

(11:04):
I was really struggling justwith the whole world situation,
as I'm sure a lot ofother people were just.
With the world. Yeah. Yeah.
And CBT really helpedme with getting out of,
I think it was negative thought cyclespatterns. So CB t's quite good for that.
So it's cognitivebehavioral therapy. That's.

(11:25):
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I mean,
I'm a big supporter of therapyin, in any way that it comes.
I think it's super useful. I thinkevery human should have therapy.
Yeah. I mean, I remember the first dayof acting school on the master's degree.
Yeah. The first lesson was with thehead of the course, Andrea Brooks.

(11:46):
And the first discussion, the first talkwas, okay guys, welcome to the course.
It's going a year long,it's gonna be intensive,
and we're sending you all for therapy. Oh.
.
So everyone as part of thatmaster's degree had to take weekly therapy sessions.
Yeah. Which was covered in the, in the,in the tuition fees. 'cause You said,
if you are , you know, if youwant to go pursue a career in the arts,

(12:07):
then you clearly something wrong.And I thought that was fascinating.
It's very eyeopening.
And I think anyone that does workin this industry does well. Mm.
From I, for want of a better phrase,clearing out the clutter. Yeah,
yeah. And the self insults and the, the,
the feeling like you got not good enoughbecause you don't get a part. But,
you know, we're a very small cog in agigantic machine, and there's mm-hmm.

(12:32):
There's a, there's a choice of manyother cogs out there , I guess,
that some might fit toslightly better than others.
And it's something the industrykeeps reminding you as well.
I can't tell you how many teachers orcoaches I've spoken to have said, oh,
it's very difficult out there. Youknow, it's very difficult times.
And especially someone that looks likeyou. You know, there's plenty of you.
I've heard that so many times. Well.

(12:52):
Yeah. So did I in theuk, less so now. Yeah.
And I think I've had opportunities herethat I would never have got in the uk.
I kind of feel the same actually. Yeah.
And I think it's maybe that switch ofmaybe being right place, right time,
which gives you the advantage becauseyou're here physically, you know?
Yeah. You can travel to the UK when thosejobs come, but also being here Yeah.

(13:16):
When they're casting internationally orfor an English speaking role, it's like,
oh, well, you know, we've got good actorsright here, why wouldn't we use them?
Yeah. Yeah. Why.
Pay the extra airfare? Exactly. And it'salso greener to keep people here. Yes,
exactly. Like the green greenfilming. Do, so do you think.
We're cutting yourcarbon footprint ?
That's it. Well, by hiring us,
people get more opportunities forfunding if they do that. Yeah. Yeah.

(13:37):
There's actually a carbon footprintform to fill out to see how much you're
gonna reduce. Yeah. And travelis the biggest one. True, true.
So like with that in mind then, yeah.
The fact that you have toolsthat you can work on. Okay.
You're naturally a ray of sunshine,you know, from a young age,
but then having tools thatyou've developed for when the times are low. Yeah.

(13:58):
Do you think the positivity thenis a skill that can be trained?
Or is it that can someone who did maybe,
perhaps didn't have that positiveoutlook as a younger person develop it?
Do you think that's something thatpeople can learn to become? Yes. Yes.
In short. Yeah. I knowit's complicated. Yeah.
And there are so many thingsthat are involved with that.

(14:22):
But I do think that whenpeople are encouraged and given
love and support, and they arereminded of that regularly,
it has a huge impact on people.
Yeah. Do you think that,
I think I imagine that CBT is somethingthat helps you reframe your thoughts
towards the positive.
Definitely. Yeah.

(14:42):
Like hypnotherapy as wellmm-hmm .
And also sort of changeyour perspective on Yeah.
Like incidents perhaps that happenedto you when you were younger. Yeah. So.
And also like gratitude issomething that I try and practice
because it reminds you gratitudeand perspective I'm gonna add
there. Mm-Hmm.
Gratitude is so important becauseit gives you an appreciation and an

(15:06):
understanding for the fact, likeyou were just saying, you know,
you are just a small part ofsomething big. Mm-Hmm. You're in a,
a big industry where there's lots ofcompetition, but even bigger than that.
You are, you are just oneperson in a huge world. Yeah.
Where there are billions andbillions of people. And believe me,
people's struggles are a hell ofa lot worse than mine. Mm-Hmm.
And you know what?Life's pretty good. Yeah.

(15:28):
I've got not much to complain about. No.
Even when it's, it is lowest.Yeah. You can still find, yeah.
You can still find joy in the bad days.
I hear that a lot. I hear, I listen to a,
a few podcasts and I hear guests oftentalk about, especially successful guests,
people who've, you know,
top of their game in many fieldsoften come down to talk about

(15:49):
gratitude. Mm. And how puttinginto perspective, well,
at least I ate today, at least I'vegot somewhere to sleep and I've got a,
you know, a family andI've got this and that.
And you could have less than anyonein the world and still find something
that's positive, like, the sun cameout today. Exactly. You know? Yeah.
And focusing on that sort of givesyou a different mindset and that focus

(16:10):
towards positivity. Yeah. Andagain, like I said earlier,
I think some people are morenaturally inclined. Mm. And I think,
I believe that you are morenaturally inclined and Yeah.
Kind of backed that up a bitwith a and you can see how others
reinforcing that from a young age wasa really good starting point. Mm-Hmm.
But I love the fact that you also believeit's something that can be learned.

(16:31):
Yeah. Because that means there'shope, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so
I'd advocate for therapy formany people. Mm-Hmm. And,
and there's many different types. Sotalking therapy is one thing. Yeah.
CBT you said it was very effective.Mm-Hmm . And I.
Not for everyone, but good, good for me.
Yes. Okay. Mm-Hmm .Yeah. Is it a bit witchy? Woo.

(16:51):
Does it feel a bit odd? No, I don't.
Think it, it's that witchywoo at Ooh. I just think it,
for me, I liked thepractical element of it.
It was like a step by stepguide to different exercises.
And I dunno, maybe as an actor I hadthat connection with the sort of,
maybe there's something subconsciousabout the process of it. Yeah.

(17:13):
And maybe getting into certain, like,
physical formations and what thatcan do to your psychology. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting.I wonder how much of that,
because looking foryour website and going,
going over some of the thingsthat you've been doing,
which I haven't really worked withyou in that, in that area. Mm-Hmm.

(17:34):
But I guess when it comes to thepublic speaking and the coaching Yeah.
And you mentioned body language orI wonder if some of that ties into
what you learned from the CBT.
Potentially. Yeah. I mean, I hadn't quiteconnected that, but I, I, I think so.
I think the CB t's like, well,
it's all encompassing and it teachesyou really amazing exercise. It's like,

(17:57):
for example, there's one exercise,
I can't remember whether I learned itfrom CBT or actually whether I've learned
it from an acting class,
but it's something that I've used myselfpersonally to deal with performance
anxiety. Okay. Which I've struggled withon and off throughout my career. Yes.
and you know, it's the classic, youknow, all the demons come out to play.
You are not good enough, you are notworthy, you shouldn't be on that stage,
blah, blah, blah. You know,all these sorts of inner,

(18:21):
in the inner monologue happens. Yeah.
And you start getting that big kind offeeling of, oh, no, anxiety's hitting,
and then you start losing controlof your mind, of your body.
And it's really scary when ithappens. Mm. So as a performer,
you have to work really hard if thathappens to you to fight back and
make sure that you are preparedfor it to not happen again.
Mm-Hmm . I think a huge partof that is preparation. Yes. Massive.

(18:46):
Is something that I talk about withTan, which we'll come on to Yeah. A lot.
Sure. I think that's beenso, so essential for me.
Especially things like knowing my lines,
knowing them inside outhelps me go and do my job and
play. Yeah. Because if Idon't know them, then I, I,
I don't have anything to fall back on. No.

(19:07):
and then another thing is doing physical
power positions or power poses,power poses before performing,
I think is a game changer. Right. so it,
it seems ridiculous, but doing somethinglike and I've done it for years,
you stand really strong withyour legs quite wide apart,

(19:29):
with your hands on yourhips, with your chin up.
You just take some deepbreaths and maybe you,
there's like an even an innerconversation and you're just, you know,
telling yourself affirmations, I'mamazing. I'm a really good performer.
I deserve to be here. People thinkI'm good, I think I'm good. You know,
that sort of thing. Then repeating that.
It sounds like there's threethings in one there, right? Yeah.

(19:50):
Deep breathing mm-hmm .That's, that's a key one. Yeah.
The positive affirmations. Yeah. Likeactually telling yourself positive things.
'cause If you're saying positive thingsto yourself, you're gonna believe them.
You, no,
it's not just that you don't have anyspace to tell yourself negative things.
I know. Yeah. You're takingover that, that arena. Yeah.
And then the power pose is, I'vegot mixed feelings about Okay.
But for different reasons. Mm-Hmm. Because, and actually, I,

(20:10):
I could tell you why. Yeah. Goon. It's pretty simple. Yeah.
And there's lots of Ted talks on it,
and there's lots of evidence to suggestit works. Mm-Hmm . However,
I believe that when youhold your book, 'cause I,
I've got a friend who's a kinesiologist,right? Mm-Hmm .
And I've got friends that work in a bitmore witchy woo. Holistic ways Okay.
And less traditional methods like that.Yeah. But there is something in it,

(20:32):
but not the way I think we, weusually use it mm-hmm .
And so for me anyway, like this is howI would use work on myself with it.
So rather than adopting a power pose,
I do all the necessary work inthe morning mm-hmm .
To lengthen the front of my body,strengthen the back of my body.
So I naturally align and stand.

(20:52):
Now that you said that,I'm like, yeah, now I'm.
Hunched. Well, especially as Ispend a lot of time editing Yeah.
And I'll crunch over. I'vegot a lot of work to do. Yeah.
And I think what it is,when people hold themselves,
the body knows you're lying to it andit springs back. Mm-Hmm .
So there's a,
there's an effect where you are morelikely to feel like because you're
pretending to yourself and yourunconscious knows that. Mm. And so,

(21:13):
from my experience, it's, Ifind that's absolutely true,
but taught in a very particular way thatmakes it sound like anyone could do it,
but the body knows. Mm. AndI think the difference is,
is training the body to be able to standnaturally like that without you forcing
it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I thinkthat, like between me and you there,
we've found like the key tosomething really powerful. Mm.

(21:34):
We haven't discovered it. It's,it's, it's not new science is it?
But I totally agree thatthere's something in there. I.
I hear what you're sayingthough. It's like, yeah.
There could quite possibly be a waythat you are tricking your mind into
a feeling that you are not actuallycapable of then once the position's over.
Mm-Hmm.
Perhaps, perhaps. Yeah. I mean this, I'mnot, I'm not saying that as a factor.

(21:56):
Yeah. It's theorizing.
But something Yeah.No, that's interesting.
I think I've just found it likeuseful because of the trickery.
Sometimes I need to take backcontrol in my brain and say, no, you,
you are that kind of confident, braveperson. Bring it back to that. Yeah.
And so that's how it's beenhelpful for me at times. Yeah.
So if you see me on set standingthere like little Matilda ,

(22:20):
that's what I'm doing. It's.
Quite popular.
You see politicians and people in thepublic eye doing that a lot. Yeah.
Especially politicians and quite oftenfemale politicians. Mm-Hmm. As well.
Interestingly,
I think also because in a senseeven politics is still kind of more
male led that there is a sort of,

(22:41):
there's this idea of strengththat is visual as well. Yeah.
To an audience that suggestsstrength. Mm. And so when,
when you, when you show strength,
people look at you like you'restrong and you feel stronger. Mm.
So there's this feedback loop mm-hmm. I think that happens. And,
and in a masculine world that just sohappens to be a masculine stance that

(23:03):
makes like the wider legs,for example. Mm mm That,
that makes us feel and opening upthe chest and, and being bigger,
which is from the animalkingdom. Right? Yeah.
I did some animal studies andthere's a lot to suggest that the,
the alphas always puff up,always show themselves. Yeah.
They're showing their vital organsto say, I'm not afraid of you.
Let's go and have it. This is alsowhy Oasis was so popular. Yeah.

(23:25):
Because Liam Gallagher's like, come onin, come heads come in . You know?
And it is that thing of like, Idon't give a. Yeah. Therefore,
everyone else goes, they don't givea. We can follow them. Yeah. Yeah.
I can trust them. Mm-Hmm.They don't care what I think.
Therefore they must be trustworthyin a sense, or Yeah. A good leader.
So there's a lot of, you know, thingsin that that I think are really valid.

(23:47):
You.
Know, I, I think animal studies arefascinating in in Yeah. In that sense.
And also when you look atlike, other animals that are
typically associated withmeekness shyness or like lacking
confidence. There's so much in body,
body language and positioning andposture and about being closed off. Yeah.

(24:10):
Like at hedgehog.
It's just fascinating. Yeah.
Curls up with spikes on its back. Yeah.You know, to defend itself. Nothing.
Says off. Quite like acurled up hedgehog. Yeah.
Like, off and leave mealone . Like.
I'm hibernating. Yeah.
That's interesting. Now.
Sorry for cursing.
No, no. We can say what the we wanton here. It's fine actually that,
because you, I wanna stick with thiskind of theme of positivity. Mm-Hmm.

(24:31):
I think it's a good theme for this,
for this show because I thinkyou have so much of it. Okay.
You've got an Uber amount and, and it,
and it does translate to professionalismand it does translate to someone who's
just good to have around on set.
'cause I've worked with you as adirector as well as just, you know,
social occasions. But
obviously you said that yourparents fed you, you know,

(24:53):
your array of sunshine or peoplewhen you were younger. Yeah.
How much of their outlook,look, how much of, sorry,
your work ethic do youthink comes from them?
Oh, I think a huge amount of my work ethiccomes from them. Okay. Yeah. Massive.
I think actually, especiallymy dad, he was very,
very hard on us when we werekids. I'm one of five. Are you.

(25:14):
Okay, right. That's another question.
Yeah, the youngest of five.
Youngest of five. Wow. Yeah.
And there's quite a big age gap, but allfive of us are from the same parents.
So my oldest brother's16 years older than me.
And I think also having that big age gap,
I grew up with siblings that werealready teenagers slash adults.
Wow. And so, you know,

(25:37):
I was hanging out aroundpeople that were my siblings,
but they were also like adultsand they were in the real world.
They were studying, they were working.
And so I also had that influence frommy siblings and saw their example.
And I guess that sort of leadingby example, when you were younger,
you see that in your siblings andyou think, oh, I wanna be like that.

(25:58):
I wanna next, I wannahold myself like that.
Next, how old's the next sibling?
Six years older.
So there's not a huge amount ofrivalry. Right. Because because what,
in a sense, I guess if there's liketwo or three years between kids Yeah.
Like often fight over what'stheirs and have this kind of,
they want the attention of the parents.Mm-Hmm. But if they're already, like,
the, the nearest one is six yearsolder. Oh my goodness. That's,

(26:21):
that's yeah. So you really werelike the baby of the household.
Yeah, the baby of the household. Yeah.
Babysitting was sorted.Yeah. Parents easy.
So their parents had like a bitof a social life now as well,
as well as having a child.Yeah. Wow. That is great.
So you said your dad was quite hard?
Yeah, he was quite strict on us, Iwould say. In what respect? Well,

(26:42):
in terms of performance, getting goodgrades. Okay. That was important to him.
What kind of grades are we talking? Oh.
We're talking straight A's.
In like the academic subjects. Maths,English, everything. , history,
geography. Yeah. How about sports?
Yeah, I guess that wasimportant for him. He,
I think he was more of an academicthough, to be honest. Okay. Yeah.

(27:05):
That was more important to him. Hewanted all of us to go to university,
do further education, get good careers,
make sure that we couldlook after ourselves.
Oh God. And you became an actor. I know.
.
I know.
I know.
Oh, oh, what a stain youare on their life. Oh, no.
Well that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

(27:27):
But that's,
that's actually been actually quitean interesting dynamic to navigate,
because I remember when I firsttold my parents that I wanted to
try a career as an actor, theywere both quite, you know,
I guess they were quite reservedabout it. They had their doubts,

(27:47):
but obviously they wanted to supportme. Yeah. Which was a big thing for me.
They wanted to support my dream, ifthat's what it, what I wanted to do. And,
you know, they offered to help in anyway that they could, which, you know,
is lovely. And not, not everyone has that.
So I do feel very lucky and gratefulfor that. Yeah. But yeah, it, it,

(28:07):
it was pretty.
Tough. But your dad took the reins onthat, so it was like very little TV time.
It was your studying nowit's, it's school night. Well.
My dad's a doctor, so hewas away a lot on call,
working long shifts at the hospital.
But it was more just when the,
when the end of term grades came in andif there was a B on there, it was a,

(28:29):
it was a conversation. .
That's interesting. Yeah.
No, I'm I'm painting a picture thathe's draconian, but I guess, well,
when we were younger he was quite, quitefirm on us doing well academically. But
but yeah. How about your mother? In, in,
in many ways it was a good thing becausecoming onto my mom, chalk and cheese,

(28:52):
my mom's a creative, she's adesigner and now an artist,
so she, they've always been a verygood balancing force to have. Yeah.
Growing up. 'cause Dad was veryacademic, very hot on all the grades,
whereas mum was much more kind ofdoing the day to day role of mom,
and also very loving, verycaring, very supportive,

(29:15):
and didn't really care about anyof the grades in the same way.
Mm-Hmm .
Nurturing and creative. Mm-Hmm. That's amazing. Now,
you were born in Australia, right? I was,yeah. And, and you were five when you,
so your father is Australian? He is.And your mother's Finn. Yeah. Correct.
Okay. But so do you rememberthe first five years?
Very little. Okay. Verylittle. What's your.

(29:36):
First memory.
Of I have some, my firstmemories there. Okay.
I think, what's your firstmemory of the UK though?
'cause You moved therewhen you were five, right?
Yeah.
so one of my first memories wasmy first day at my primary school.
I remember being very scared. In fact,
my mom told me later that I was hidingunderneath her skirt because I didn't
want to meet anyone, and I was justterrified to be there. But yeah,

(29:59):
I remember that day reallyclearly walking into the class.
And I think it was probablyhalfway through the term as well,
because I remember it being likea, not a first day of school.
It was like unusual that there was anew student starting at this time. Mm.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.Lane. And so they said, oh,
you can come and sit next to, yeah.
And I guess I had anAussie accent at the time.

(30:19):
Okay. Yeah. So that would've been quiteinteresting. Yeah. Different and unique.
Yeah. But one of my bestfriends still to this day,
took me under her wing andwe, we hung out. So Yeah. No,
I have good, I have good memoriesfrom growing up in the uk.
Okay. Well, coming back to thatthen, like, sticking with that,
but also maybe tying it intosomething you said earlier. Yeah.

(30:42):
Because I think early memories, I thinkthe things that happened, you know,
between two and eight are, are knownas being the formative years, right?
Mm-Hmm . That's wherewe sort of develop who we become.
And you've said that, you know, youwere given, I guess there was some
firmness towards academicperformance, but,
but that might have comeafter those years, perhaps.
More, I imagine so. Yeah.

(31:02):
But you know, your ray of sunshine that,
that leads you to feelpositive about the world.
But are there any particular momentsthat you can remember perhaps around that
time that might affect who you are now?
Other than, you know, the support fromthe family? Is there anything, like,

(31:22):
any any particularpieces that you remember,
maybe a spark of somethingthat you feel you've,
you've still got with you today?
Well, I don't know,
but the first thing that came to mindwhen you were asking that question was the
fact that I was always performing whenI was a kid. I was always doing shows,
always singing into my hairbrush,
always getting everyone to sit downand watch and all those sort of classic

(31:46):
things that some kids do when they'reyoung. And I was always encouraged,
which I think is a, likea really nice thing.
And maybe that's one of the reasonsthat I felt like I could be a performer.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because in my mind, subconsciouslyI was encouraged to perform,
never told, oh, stop doingthat. That's to hear that. Yeah.

(32:09):
Yeah.
I think that's,
that's like a really nice kindof feeling to have as a kid,
to be told that you can do things.
So it's like a self-expression, isn'tit? Mm-Hmm. It's like, I feel this way,
therefore I wanna share it. Yeah. Iwant to like let it out into the world.
Mm-Hmm. And I wonder if that, obviouslynow because you've been an actor mm-hmm.

(32:30):
You've worked both on theater, tv, film,and in front and behind the camera.
And obviously you've got atheater show coming up soon,
which we'll talk about in a bit. Yeah.
But you are also coaching people nowmm-hmm . For some years.
So do you think that's obviously for me,
I think it's been a logicalprogression to do that. Mm-Hmm.
How much of that expression,

(32:52):
that natural expressiveness that youwanted to share with the world also ties
into wanting to teach people too?
I think that, yeah,
I think it does tie in because I thinkthat like natural expression and wanting
to share things with the world issomething that I feel is one of my
passions. Mm-Hmm.
And so then if I can share that passionand find what that passion is with other

(33:14):
people, even if it's not the same asmine and bring it out of them. Yeah.
There's something sorewarding in that process.
And that's why I think coaching is areally amazing thing and something that
I've been so drawn to doing becauseI felt like I had a good ability
to sort of find somethingin someone and find

(33:35):
a way to draw it out and harnessit and get them to believe
that they were as amazing aseveryone else could see they are.
And I think so often when it comesto things like public speaking or
performance, and you'renot naturally a performer,
or you don't have to do it everyday, it's really difficult.
I think some peoplereally struggle with it,

(33:57):
and other people have moreof a natural talent. Yeah.
And so it's really hardsometimes to know where to start.
But I think mindset is a huge part of it,
and giving people therecognition that what they're
trying to do is hard and that peopletrain for years and years and years to

(34:18):
do this. Yeah. And theylearn script after script,
and they rehearse and they rehearse,
and there's a whole process thatgoes into it. Mm-Hmm .
Giving people that a kind of insightinto how professionals do it,
I do think helps mentally them take,
I think, pressure offthemselves to be perfect.
Yeah. I mean, it's, it's certainly adifficult one, isn't it? Mm-Hmm. For,

(34:41):
for people, and I've got a client atthe moment who I won't say their name,
but they're, they've just gotpromotion mm-hmm. At work,
and they work in a prettyhigh, high powered job.
And with this promotion comes a lotof more opportunities to speak. Okay.
And they'd rather not however they haveto. Yeah. And if they wanna own it,
they really need to find thatconfidence. And whilst they're,

(35:01):
they're very intelligentmm-hmm .
You know they're having a hard time justfinding that confidence. Right. Yeah.
And it, and it's, it's not alwaysphysical. It's not always emotional.
And it's not always performativeeither. Mm-Hmm. That,
that 'cause actually the system,what I use is the three Ps,
not your three Ps , I createthis three Ps, . But yeah, I,

(35:22):
I always go physi,physiological, psychological, and performative. And for me,
that's how I break it down.Mm-Hmm. I can see where, where,
which one can we work on thatwill improve the others. Yeah.
Rather than going directly to it.
I think, I think we,
we probably have quite asimilar experience in that sense that we've worked with
a lot of people as actors as well. Yeah.
And we've probably worked with a lotof coaching clients who have had that

(35:48):
it's
a lack of interest in being the centerof attention mm-hmm .
In Finland. I think that's quiteprevalent as well, because there is a,
there's a culture of, of not,
of humbleness in a sesense. Yeah. Sure. Of not,
of not being the center of tension.
And those who seek it tendto be not frowned upon,

(36:11):
but perhaps,
I'm not sure if they're nottrusted or if it seems a bit showy.
Mm. I think that's it. It's like a,there's almost like a culture and I,
I've seen this in my grandparents'generation and the generation
below as well. So my parents'generation. Mm. It's that

(36:34):
yeah, like adverse feelingstowards flashiness. Yeah.
And showing money, showing success,showing how good you are at something.
Do you find that as well, you findmore of that here than in the UK,
for example?
Oh yeah. I think British cultureis completely opposite. Yeah. Yeah.
I think people

(36:56):
people are pretty quick to tell you allthe best things about themselves and
sell themselves to you. Yeah.Not everyone, of course, it's a generalization,
but I think gift of the gab,isn't it? It's like, yeah.
We love the banter. Yeah. I love the bans.
Love.
The bans is, isn't it?
And also the fact that me and youcan talk over each other. Yeah.
We've been polite so far.Yeah. Yeah. But you know that,
that that's to be expected. Yeah.

(37:17):
On a podcast. We can'ttalk over each other. Oh.
I know. Why not? Yeah.It's, how about your.
You told me my third P waspoliteness. I can't talk over you.
No, you can. 'cause You're speaking toa fellow Brit, but your parents. Right.
So Australian and I think Australianhumor is very similar to English humor.
Yeah, for sure. Right. There's a, it's alot closer than Finnish. Yeah. So your,

(37:38):
your, your mother being Finnish. Mm-Hmm.Is she traditional in that in a sense?
Because you said she was more thecreative, the more Yeah. I don't,
sounds like he would be more Finnish inhis role, you know, as a doctor and a,
the Sterner one.
No, I don't know. Like,
I think whilst my dadwas like quite academic,
he's got a good sense of humorand he likes to joke around.

(38:00):
But I wouldn't say my mom's verytraditionally finished. No. Okay.
I think she's a bit of a hippie.
My parents did the hippie route togetherwhen they met in the seventies. Okay.
So they've both got that side of.
Them taking acid ,traveling the world, having six.
Children. No one's saidanything about taking drugs.
But they did have fivechildren. . Yeah.

(38:22):
Oh.
My goodness. But yeah, so no, Ithink my mom's well she's lived,
she's lived abroad sincethe age of 18. So she,
I don't think she's that finishingculture, but obviously. Okay.
So there are elements of herthat are still very Finnish. How.
About her accent?
Very Finnish still. Yeah. Still.
And she taught you Finnish as a youngage. 'cause You're bilingual, right?

(38:42):
I'm not fully bilingual,
so we were brought up all of usspeaking it to varying degrees,
but it was never our languageat home. Yeah. Not bilingual,
sadly would've been agood asset. But, you know.
You do speak Finnish fluent? I do. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Most fluently, I'dsay not quite. Okay. But yeah.
How's your accent in Finnish?
Pretty good, I think.Yeah. Most people, well,

(39:03):
I think it's more thatI may make mistakes.
That's how people can tell I'm not native.Right. But the accent's pretty good,
I think because we've spoken withour mum from a young age. Yeah.
but yeah, people oftenask me if I'm a Fin Swede.
Because.
Maybe there's something similarabout the accent. I dunno.
Maybe I think.

(39:24):
Maybe.
People don't as a language. I thinkEnglish is closer to Swedish sw. Right.
It's Germanic like a lineage. Yeah.
And I guess like historically Finnishpeople aren't as used to foreigners
speaking their language. Soaccents are quite new and like,
it's amazing now in Helsinki thereare so many different accents.
When people speak Finnish,it's like really lovely to.
Hear, very hard to understand. Makes it.
Difficult. Well,
it's the same if people speakEnglish and they have a thick accent,

(39:46):
it's hard to understands. Very.
True. Yeah. Like my friend from Glasgow,
clearly you've been acting for sometime. I watched your IMDB show real,
I think, I think you're getting a newone together now, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah.
There was some good stuff in there. Iactually really liked the last clip. Oh,
where you were patient. Oh, okay. Yeah.you, you look a bit younger there. Yeah.
It must've been a few years ago.Yeah. But there was something,

(40:08):
the stillness you had that was reallyengaging, what was it from Owen?
We were,
we created a trailer for a script thatwe were trying to get funding for.
And it was an amazing script by awriter called Brian Coyle. Okay.
And the scripts called Pure.

(40:28):
And I first met Brian at a workshop,
which is actually organizedby my agency in London. Ms.
M-S-F-T-F-T. And they do these kind ofworkshops where they marry up writers,
directors, and actors.
And they basically it'scalled script surgery.

(40:48):
And you work throughdifferent scripts. Yes.
so you meet loads of amazing people.And Brian was one of the people I,
I met there and I worked on his script.
And then we carried on the conversation'cause we both loved working together
and we thought, okay, we need to try andget funding to make this a real thing.
Mm-Hmm . Like afull version of the script.

(41:09):
And actually since COVID the scriptwould be more relevant than ever.
Mm. It's got that kind of, you stilltrying to pitch it di dystopian. Yeah.
Well, what it made.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Would it made I to be in it? I lovethat role. Anyway, so long story short,
we were trying to create, create a like,
kind of like a short film slash trailerto promote the script in order to get

(41:33):
funding. Yeah.
So we talked a little bit about what youdo with you know, performance coaching.
Yeah. We haven't really talked aboutwhat your process is for acting mm-hmm
. I, I I assumeyou use similar tools Yeah.
Than what you're sharing.
'cause Obviously is it action workshopsthat you do with Tanley? Yeah.
That's you know,
you're using acting techniques andtools to help people with their public
speaking Yeah. Who might not otherwiseuse them or get hold of them. Exactly.

(41:57):
So what is your process for acting?Mm. Let's just say I'm your agent.
I've given you a call, there's a script.Then you get the part and they're like,
we start filming in two months and.
Yeah.
Learn it. Mm-Hmm . Andit, what'd you do? Where'd you go?
What's your particular process?
So is it a film.
Let's say? Let's sayit's a film. Yeah. Okay.

(42:19):
And how big is the role?
Mm. Supporting supporting leads? So like,
let's say you in 10 scenes. Okay.
Juicy, juicy, juicy. Yeah.
It's not the lead, but it's not aminor cameo. It's a, it's a, yeah.
Yeah. well,

(42:39):
the first thing is read that scriptso many times that, you know,
everything that happensmm-hmm .
I'm a big fan of knowingthe beginning, middle,
and where all the other characters go.
I know some people would prefer tojust focus on their own character,
but for me,
knowing where my character sits in thecontext of the wider piece is really
important. Yeah. and obviouslygetting familiar with the lines,

(43:02):
knowing the lines is really important.As I mentioned earlier, I think that's,
for me,
my personal process is getting thoselines learned as pretty much as quick as
you can so that you can thenplay and find the character
stuff. But whilst I'm doingthe learn line learning,
I'm also exploring the character, tryingto figure out who the character is.

(43:23):
So I would usually startwith like a journal
answering all the questions,
like going through theperson's lived life every day.
So using those kind ofstandards lasky exercises.
Okay. So for, I'm sure thatthere's listeners out there,
they're not too sure what some ofthese things are. Yeah. So you would,

(43:45):
in order to learn your lines, you wouldn'tjust start reading and learning them.
You would go through that entire script.
They'd study the script mm-hmm. And Stan Lasky was a,
a Russian theater practitionerwho trained actors.
And it was the first reallymodern day actor, trainer.
There wasn't really alot of that beforehand.
Before it was usually directors or theco the group themselves that used to just

(44:06):
learn on the job. Yeah. But he was oneof the first people, and from Moscow,
I think who said, no, we canactually systemize this. Mm.
And so he left a lineage,
which is very popular today in Westernculture especially in the UK and the us
where people like Sanford Meisner,

(44:26):
Stella Adler and Meisner have three sort
strands from different periods ofhis training gone down. Mm-Hmm.
So when Rebecca says about Stan Slasky,
she's talking about certainmethods that Methods Yeah.
Which come from his training like 130years ago or something. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry,
that's just a bit brief.
Introduction. That's context.

(44:48):
And I guess another thing to mentionis that people often refer to it in the
industry as method acting.
Sometimes I think that with was it with
Meisner, they do that? No, not Meisner.
Strasberg is considered themethod one, isn't he? I.
Thought of Stanis Luki, now.
I'm No, Alki is the Russian dude whoinvented it. Yeah. But he didn't,

(45:11):
it wasn't the method then. He, I thinkhe had what he called the, the method.
Yeah. But it was, that wasfrom his early book. Yeah.
It's just because he wrote three booksthat were later combined into one,
but by the end of his life and actually.
Prepares Yes. Great.
Book. It's a great book.
But a lot of what he did in therewas early in his career. Mm.
So by his final book, he said, what Isaid in the first book, , it was.

(45:32):
Get it on its feet.Yeah. And start working.
And that's where I thinkpeople like ble and,
and actually Eda Adlerworked with him later. So,
so she took a lot of the work justbefore he died away and used that.
Mm. Whereas the other two guys,they sort of stuck with No,
I've developed what he told me. It's goodand it works if you do it. Yeah. Yeah.

(45:53):
But I think just because he continueddown that path he developed and he changed
his mind about things. Yeah. Andfound more practical ways of doing it,
which I think.
Is also a really good thing to to,
to admit rather than justcharge forward saying, no, no, no,
I was always right. Yeah. Admittingfault and saying, no, no, we've,
we've improved on this. We've,we've developed growth. Yeah.

(46:14):
He had a, he had quite a career. Yeah.Was he was, he did that for a long time.
Mm-Hmm . And heworked with like Anton Checkoff.
So you used some of thesepractices mm-hmm .
I guess like modern day method, ifyou like. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I'm,
I'm reluctant with that wordmethod because it usually,
I think it's like people thinkDaniel Day Lewis, right? Yeah.
And Tom Hardy and some certainactors that maybe lose too much

(46:37):
weight for a role or whatnot or live,live that role as they're filming it.
But what you are saying is you've,you used like more of a system,
like his system for breaking down text.Yeah. Breaking down a script. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Right. So justwanted to clear that up for Yeah.
Anyone who didn't understand. Yeah.
So I think practical stepsto finding the characters.
So it's asking those questions of whothe character is, what motivates them,

(47:02):
what makes them get up in the morning,what do they really want? What's their,
the, their dream? What's thedream that got away from them?
Mm-Hmm . Figuring allthese things out about the character.
Do they have any sort of physical orvocal traits that make them slightly
different to yourself?Mm-Hmm .
Is there anything about them thatpeople notice as soon as they see them?

(47:25):
You know, all these sorts ofthings start, really start to like,
think about 'em and, and,and try to find answers to,
I think because when you are,well, I won't speak for everyone,
but when I'm finding a character for me,
I want to know everything about thatcharacter so that then I'm fully equipped
to go into that. Whether it's, you know,

(47:45):
a show on stage or on on screen,
go into that process feelingreally confident about the fact that I'm prepared.
I've done the work. Notonly do I know the lines,
but I know the character and I knowthe character so well that if the
director or anyone else on set or thewriter asked me a question about it,
I could give my honestinterpretation and opinion of

(48:09):
exactly who I think they are.Mm-Hmm . And, you know,
it might not be the same visionas the director or the writer,
and then that's a conversation too.
And then that's where you have to be ableto be flexible and be able to kind of
use your preparation and, and, andmake it work for their vision as well,
and make those things align. Yeah.
Because it's, it's often the case, isn'tit? Like I think with theater you are,

(48:30):
you're generally in the room with adirector as this process happens. Yeah.
Which is an amazing experience. It's.
Beautiful, it's wonderful.Every, I love it. It,
I love it more than theshow itself. Yeah. But like,
give me the rehearsals and youcan keep the show. Yeah. Yeah.
Because the rehearsals are so fantasticand you learn so much about yourself and
Yeah. And because you do it as agroup too. Mm mm But sometimes I find,
you know, myself as anactor and now as a director,

(48:54):
occasionally,
and I'm not saying this about you bythe way but there has been instances.
Instances I don't, well, the,
the conversations that usually happen intheater don't happen with the actor for
film. So Yeah. They don't happen.
At all often.
Even most of the time you leave theset and you still don't know what the
director wants with that.
Role. Yes. And they might changeit. Oh, that's not what I wanted.
So sometimes doing all this preparation,

(49:15):
do you want some answers beforeyou start? A hundred percent. Like,
am I going the right direction with this?
'cause If I start embodying all thesethings, these characteristics, my,
I've developed, this guy'sgot a limp and he Yeah.
He comes from Japan and heis, you know, like he, yeah.
He has a husky voice and he'sslightly American and you,
but you're like, oh, no, no, no, no, no,no. He's just a very straight German.
Yeah. He's very tall.

(49:36):
You know what I'm sayingis it's there has to be a,
a certain amount of fluidity to it,right? Yeah. Yeah. And so I, and I,
and I think I agree that knowing thingsso well means that you can change it.
Mm-Hmm. So there's,
I think there's a period where you knowit so well that you're stuck in that.
Yeah. And if you know it even more, youare then free of that. Yes. Somehow. I,
I.
Completely agree with that.

(49:56):
People think, oh, Idon't wanna overlearn it.
I think overlearning itis the key to being free.
A hundred percent. And I,
I cannot tell you how many timesI have been in like acting classes
or workshops, and you seepeople that know the text,
and it gives them freedomto explore and play and

(50:17):
embody things that even surprisethem as a performer. Mm-Hmm.
And then sometimes you seeother people get up when,
when it's their turn to perform andthey don't know the text, and it's like,
immediately it's a barrier.
Yeah. Yes.
So knowing your linescan't stress it enough.
So how could this then, because thisis not necessarily just about actors,

(50:41):
this podcast, I,
I really want it to help people withtheir performance in everyday life. Yeah.
You know, the performance andwhat they can bring to, you know,
we talked about positivity and,
and how it can be learned and there'stherapies for that. Yeah. And it's,
you know,
what you tell yourself even down tomaybe even how you stand and how you feel
that way, and having positiveaffirmations and, you know, gratitude,
but then as an actor, notjust as a trainer. Mm-Hmm.

(51:05):
Perhaps this is something thatyou use to train, you know,
public speaking people withYeah. But what elements
of this,
of what you do to study for arole and that what you teach for
public speaking, could peopleuse for their own advancement,
for their own performancein everyday life. You know,

(51:27):
like just the average Joe workingat Tescos or, you know, like,
like wanting to get out of there,
but not seeing the lightat the end of the tunnel.
People who may even be actors but justdon't know what they're gonna do and
they, like, they've beenknocked back so many times,
they dunno how they'regonna get up again. Mm-Hmm.
So what is it that we canmaintain, right? Like to,

(51:49):
to keep ourselves motivated,to keep the passion,
the fire burning so we can continue tomove forward, continue with our craft.
And even if it's not acting, like Isaid, yeah. Any part of our lives,
what do you think that this couldteach them or that these kind of public
speaking and acting training canteach? It's a big question. Sorry.
There's many questions there.Woo. You've got an hour.

(52:11):
Want me to solve worldhunger as well? ?
We'll come to that in a bitas to my next wave. Okay.
That's a big question. Okay.
couple of things sprung to mind. I think
follow your passion. If something isn'tserving you anymore, listen to that.

(52:32):
It's really, reallyimportant to listen to that.
It might not be your gut tellingyou to give up on something.
It might be telling youto give up on it. For now.
That's a very strongfeeling and has been for me.
Right. Before we get,continue with that. Yeah.
'cause I think it's reallyvalid. Mm-Hmm .
But not everyone knows how to,to listen to that voice. Okay.

(52:54):
Do I think as humans, we've become
less and less able to listen to our gut,
which I think is something that technologyhas played a huge part in. Yeah.
and just the pace of life meansthat when we get that feeling
stirring up and something doesn't feelright, it's harder to trust ourselves.

(53:14):
Mm. Because there's so muchexternal noise going on. Yeah.
And I think taking time, slowingdown mindfulness, yoga, really,
like taking holidays where you'reswitching off from technology is really
important.
Okay. Let me put this in perspectivefor someone who, who might need it.
Need a need it laid down.Mm-Hmm .
So let's just say that maybeI'm a bit lost in what I'm,

(53:37):
where I'm supposed to be going. Yeah.
Maybe I've got different avenues Icould take. Mm-Hmm .
Maybe there's, my life's notgoing where it, it should,
and maybe I've lost my passion.Yeah. To rekindle that is really to,
to to create some space in a way. Yeah.Would you say? Yeah, for sure. And so,
good ways to create space is to,
to use mindfulness exerciseslike meditation. Mm-Hmm. And,

(53:59):
and physical exercises likeyoga, walking in nature. Yeah.
And these kind of practices,I know from my own experience,
Qigong breath work will helpwith that. Mm-Hmm .
Also so that if you don't know whereyou are going or how to get back on the
path,
would you agree that perhaps thesethings can help you set to get more in
touch with finding out Yeah. Whatyou should do next, for sure. Right.

(54:23):
Okay. I,
I just wanna make it sort of like reallyactionable for anyone listening. Yeah.
I, I would agree with all ofthat. Okay. And then also is
another thing that I'd like to addto that I think is whether you make a
physical diary or whether it'smental note, it doesn't matter.
Whichever works for you.
Something that I found really usefulis if you're feeling like you are,

(54:47):
you've lost the passion or you're notsure what you're passionate about,
start picking up on thingsthat make you smile.
Things that make you laugh.Because there's something in that,
something about those things resonateswith you and makes you happy. Mm.
And those things might lead you furtherto finding what that passion is.

(55:08):
And like rekindle the flow.
Like finding the joy again. Yeah.
Finding out what the thingsare that make you happy.
And that's actually a really difficultthing for a lot of people to do.
And obviously I'm on my ownjourney just as everyone else's.
So it's hard sometimes to knowwhat the things that make you
happy are,
but just like starting to note thingsthat really resonate with you and make

(55:32):
you feel good and tryingloads of different things is really important as well.
Go and try new things, new hobbies.Put yourself in new experiences.
Meet new people.
You don't know when a conversation youmight have with someone might trigger
a memory or something that was inyour life that isn't anymore that you

(55:54):
remembered. Oh yeah. I used to do thatevery week. That was really fun. Yeah.
I enjoyed that. Why did.
I stop doing.
That? Why did I stop doing that? Yeah.
And often the reason you stop doingthings isn't because you stopped loving
it. It's often something else.Like, oh, well I was too busy. Oh,
I couldn't afford it.
And so then you put those limitationson yourself as well because, you know,

(56:15):
life gets busy and it happens to all ofus. We always forget those things. But
rejigging the priority list andputting the things that bring joy top
above everything else, abovecareer. Mm-Hmm. Like fun,
joy as number one, I think is really like,
really important to finding outlike where the passion is again.

(56:37):
So like, I'd like to summarize in, ina sense what people path of action,
a course of action people might take torekindle and relight that flame to find
out what their passions are, whichdirection they should be going,
and how they can perhaps start movingtowards a better life for themselves.
Yeah. Maybe it's not supposed to bea self-help podcast, but in a sense,
I guess it to one, I guess itis, but creating space. Yeah.

(57:00):
Like filtering out, I guessturning off the, the iPhone.
Giving yourself some time tothink clearly. Be bored. You know,
allow space for meditationin your mind. That's.
Huge. Be bored.
Journaling. Mm. Journaling.Writing things down.
And if you can't be asked towrite things down, Dictaphone,
put it into your Yeah. Your phone.Just say what's on your mind.

(57:20):
Get it off your chest. Yeah. And then youdon't even have to listen to it again.
Sometimes the act of what is knownas prayer, saying things aloud,
confession or whatever, saying itcan really help just like relieve.
And I think, I know it's not, you didn'tsay it that way, but I believe it's,
it's the kind of point we weregetting towards. Yeah. Yeah.

(57:41):
The, the journaling thing. Okay. Yousaid two things there that Yeah. Sorry,
I know you're trying to wrap up. Sure.And I'm jumping back to it. No, no, no.
Please. Yes. Being bored. Ithink something that as kids,
I was probably the last generation whowere really bored in the summer holidays.
Yeah.
And the generations to comehave had technology be part such a big part of their
life that they haven'treally ever had to be bored.

(58:03):
'cause They've been constantlyentertained. Yeah. I think that for me,
boredom ignited creativity. Yeah.
It forced me to make upgames, make up stories,
make up things to do. Use yourimagination. Use your imagination. Yeah.
So that's really key. Butalso the journaling thing,
I just wanted to say about a book,

(58:24):
which I have read a couple of times now,
and I think it's amazing for anyonethat's trying to reignite a creative
journey, and it's calledThe Artist's Way. Mm-Hmm.
I dunno if you've ever heard of it, butit's a 12 week program, and each week
you have different thingsto do to different tasks,

(58:46):
activities that you have to do torekindle your creativity. Okay.
And there are certain things that youhave to do every day to make a commitment.
So you have to do three pages of astream of consciousness first thing
in the morning or last thing atnight, whichever works for you.
Writing three pages. Andthey're called morning pages,

(59:07):
but they could be evening pagesif that works better for you.
Mm-Hmm .Just write three pages.
Doesn't matter if it's absolute rubbish,it's just getting it off your chest.
Similar to what you justsaid about recording.
And then also it's a weekly artist's date.
So you have to take yourselfto do something fun, which I just love that. Yeah.
I,
I love that idea that you are allowedto take yourself on a date and have fun.

(59:30):
Yeah. So that's just something as wellthat I think is really great for finding
creativity and learning moreabout your, and what you,
you know, what what your, whereyour creativity comes from.
What might have stopped creative flowin your childhood or your previous
life, you know, whatever.
And, and you as, as performingat your best in whatever it's,

(59:52):
you do mm-hmm .Okay. Yeah. The artist's way. The.
Artist's way. Okay.
Let's see if we can, can'tlink that below somehow.
Yeah. That's.
Great. And well actually,
that can sort of help with also thenext one that you'd written down,
which is try something new. Do new things.So I think that ties into that. Oh.
Just, this might be anice little tie in here,
but my business partner in the UK,

(01:00:12):
who I run a theater company with LilyStreams, incredible actor, writer,
director, producer. We've run atheater company for eight years now.
Wind Song Theater. Yes. we havea show coming up at Christmas,
which is an originaladaptation of the Snow Queen,
which is happening at the PalaceTheater in South End. Yes.
A place you probably know.
From my childhood.

(01:00:33):
From your childhood. Yes. And also'cause you studied near there.
Well, I grew up in Romford, which is onthe same train line down to South End.
But yeah, you passed through Romford onthe way out to down there. So that was,
that was the seaside townclosest that we'd visit. Yeah.
That and Wharton on the Nasmm-hmm . And or Clarkton or whatever.
Yeah. But yeah, so South End and Iused to be a skateboarder as well,

(01:00:54):
and there was greatskateboarding locations,
but also one of my favorite UKtattoo artists Tom Omi had the
under the Bridge tattoo store there.Oh, really? Yeah, down the front. So I,
I know South End quite well. There usedto be Peter Pan's playground. Mm. Okay.
There was nightclubs in Romford thatshut down for a while and they'd use
coaches and take 'em out to the rockclubs there and start Rock Clubs in South

(01:01:16):
End. So I spent a lot oftime in South End. Yeah.
So I know the Palace Theater alsohosts Standup Comedians has done Yeah.
Over the years. Yeah. And many things.So, but it's great that you're putting,
is this your, this is your first direct?
This is,
this is the first show I'mdirecting on my own for
our company. So before we've usuallyco-written and co-directed. Yes.

(01:01:39):
So we've very much workedcollabor collaboratively,
and we and we still areworking very collaboratively.
'cause Lily's written the adaptation andshe's also gonna be in it in one of the
roles. Okay.
so we're very much collaborators.
We've always kind of createdchildren's theater together. Yeah.

(01:01:59):
But this is the first time I'mtaking the director role on my own.
So it's quite exciting. A littlebit scary, but I'm really, really,
what dates was that to it?
So it is the running from the13th to the 28th of December,
and it's the South end at Palace Theater.
So I'm going to attempt to get thispodcast episode out and others recorded
before then,
so that therefore anyone in Essexor even surrounding areas, London,

(01:02:23):
perhaps even Suffolk. No, Suffolk.What's the one? Yes. Suffolk.
Norfolk. Yeah. Yeah. Thenpop along. Check it out.
Even Kents maybe check it out.
Yeah. Recommended ages sevenPlus. It is a musical. Yes.
There's amazing original music writtenby an incredible local composer called
Ashton Moore.
I'll put the links for thatbelow. Also this podcast,

(01:02:45):
wherever you're viewingit or listening to it,
and also other links toRebecca's website. Mm.
But we're not finishedyet because I actually,
'cause we've talked about your acting.Yeah. And we talked about some, you know,
of your viewpoints towards how thathelps public speakers Yeah. And whatnot.
So let's, why don't you talk aboutaction Helsinki, which is what your.
Your action.
Workshops. Action workshops, yeah. Okay.

(01:03:07):
But we are based in Helsinki.Yes. And we also have a, a well,
we also have a, a bit ofa workshops happening.
TTBC not been announced yet in Manchester.
Okay. Which is where Tan is now. Right.
Which is where Tan is. So, yeah. So.
Before I, we start this one, I thinkTan Lay was on a previous episode,

(01:03:29):
previous version of this podcast, somefive, six years ago. He was also on,
he, he's an entrepreneur he's a contentcreator. He used to be a director.
He directed things like Holly Oaks and,and such. So he's, he's been around,
he knows the arts, he knows actors,I guess very well. He was also, yeah,
it was on one of my episodes on ImproveYour Voice when we were talking about

(01:03:52):
his si which I picked him up on once,
because he's got very sharp s whichI used to have also. So we had a,
a little session there, andif you wanna go and see it,
I'll put a link to that below as well.So you know who we're talking about.
But let's get back ontoaction workshops. Yeah.
So action workshops came about when

(01:04:15):
tan and I met,
and we both shared a passion for obviouslythe acting and the performing arts
world.
But we had both been pocoaching private clients on
performance and delivery andcommunication skills. Now,
these were very much people in thebusiness world looking to improve their

(01:04:36):
public speaking, improve their stage,
presence learn ways toreduce performance anxiety.
So everything relating to performing.
When myself and Tan met, wehit it off and we thought
that it would be a good idea to kind ofexplore how acting can be more directly

(01:04:58):
linked to coaching. And sowe started doing workshops,
which were free to attend at first,
and it was very much for myself and Tanto figure out how one, we work together,
how we collaborate and communicate,
and how we lead workshopstogether in in that kind of
workshop environment.Mm-Hmm .
Which for us was like really importantinformation to find out so we could

(01:05:22):
figure out if we were,you know, if it works,
if there's a kind of mutual understandingand agreement on certain things.
And so we led a, a handful offree workshops in Helsinki.
We had lots of like,
lovely people attending who gave usgreat feedback and kind of helped us
kind of craft and hone theworkshop into what it is today.

(01:05:43):
And so we still run those workshops,but now there's a obviously
a, a small payment to attend. And we,
we won those workshops monthly as likea drop in session mm-hmm .
And then as well as that B2B,
we run workshops which are moredirected for businesses, their teams,
whether that's team buildingto do something fun for the team so that they can

(01:06:09):
learn skills in publicspeaking as well as, you know,
being active for a dayand bond. Yeah. Yeah.
And do all of the fun things that youdon't necessarily get a chance to do in
your everyday work life.Mm-Hmm .
And then we also do one-to-one coachingas part of the Action workshops
umbrella. So we do team buildingworkshops or workshops for,

(01:06:29):
for groups and as well as one-to-onetraining. Mm-Hmm .
So that's what me and t havebeen working on. And yeah.
I'm, it's very earlydays for us still. Yeah.
We've now I think, got to a place wherewe're really happy with the branding.
We like that it's reallyclean, minimalistic,

(01:06:49):
and it really works for what weare trying to promote. And yeah.
Our whole ethos is using theskills and techniques in an actor's
toolkit to help people in thebusiness world thrive and succeed in
performance.
Wow. That was a good pitch. Mm.. Thank you . Very clear,

(01:07:09):
very precise. You've rehearsed thatI can tell. Because it was just,
I've had to too clean. It was almosttoo, there's no ums and uhs at all. Yeah.
It's just fascinating. Hopefully.
That's like, that's partof the gig, you know? Yeah.
I'm trying to sell what absolutelyour products and services.
Are. Yeah. No, that's great.Because I, obviously, I,
I traveled down a similar path whenI first came to Helsinki. Mm-Hmm.
So I was doing a very similar styleand similar tools as well from actors

(01:07:34):
workshops back in 2016.Yeah. The last one I did,
I think was 2021 or two mm-hmm.Online because of COVID. Yeah.
So it kind of, my interesttowards it waned. Mm-Hmm. Right?
Mm-Hmm .
And I th I think I would easily saythat our kind of workshops would
work well in the sameenvironment. Yeah. You know? Yeah.
That we could easily like be beon the same stage if you like. Mm.

(01:07:58):
And I trust that, you know, we wouldn'thave the exactly same ideas either. No.
Which I think is reallyimportant. Yeah. For sure.
If everyone's saying the same thing,
then what's the point ofeveryone mm-hmm .
But I think everyone does have theunique perspective. Yeah. and again,
that's why I really wanted you herebecause I knew you had a different
perspective to mine. Mm-Hmm .And Tan and me. Like, it's funny, we,
me and Tan have got a,

(01:08:18):
I've got a lot of respect forhim and I love what he does,
and I love his kind ofentrepreneurial spirit. Yes.
we don't always see to eye eye to eye oneverything, but we still get on. Yeah.
And I, I think that's a really niceway to be. Yeah. For sure. Okay. We,
we are not best mates, butI kind of like him other,
I secretly think he likes me too. you might know different.
I don't know Darren, that bastard. No,

(01:08:40):
but hi Tan, if you're out there,you might be listening to this and.
He will be listening. Yeah.
Hi Tan. So what we'll do, we'll alsolink, 'cause we talked a lot about,
you know, how, how this can helppeople with their public speaking.
And I'll put links to the, yourwebsite and the action Yeah.
Workshops as well below. Yeah.
So if anyone wants to get in contact withRebecca or Tan and find out more about

(01:09:00):
what's going on near you, if you'rea Manchester perhaps, or Helsinki,
then maybe, or maybe it'scoming to a town near you soon.
Maybe globally. We're going global.Yeah. World domination next.
Now. Okay. So I think we'vecovered quite a lot and there's,
we have, there's, there'sa lot here that's,
that's gonna be very usefulfor people who may need it.

(01:09:21):
It's not gonna be for everyone. Mm.
But I thought just as alittle bit of fun Oh, right,
because 'cause one of your biggestskills that I know Oh no. Is,
is that you're a voiceover artist. Yes.
And I took the liberty of going on chatGPT this morning. Oh no, you did not.
I did. Don't. And I'll tell you why. Okay.
Because I've got books and books andfolders and folders of previous voiceovers
that I've done. Yeah. They've alwaysgot brand names on them. Okay.

(01:09:44):
So I threw a few in and say, rebrandthis for me with an unknown brand. Yeah.
Yeah. That's what I did. And soI've got a commercial script,
a narrative script, and a corporatescript completely made up.
Oh, you're a.
Bugger. It doesn't tie up. And.
Thank you.
On the other side is, is something else.
But I'm not sure if we'll do that .
I don't, I'm scared to.
Look. No, no, no, no. Don't do, don'tdo it. Don't do it. Don't look. Okay.

(01:10:06):
Yeah. You're ruin the surprise. Sowhat I thought we might do is I,
I, I know how good you are. Ifyou want a couple of minutes,
I'll make a note then. Pleasedo. But I don't, I think.
We should just go.
For it. I don't think you need to. Yeah.
Now I'm doing this because I wantRebecca to show off her skills to you.
'cause You may not know who she is,and I've just thrown this out. Hey,
she did not know this was coming.

(01:10:27):
I've got three scripts thata voiceover might receive.
Oh, I'm gonna get you for this.
And one's commercial, one's narrativeand one's corporate. And we are gonna,
you can pick, read through them if youlike. Yeah. Have a second, a moment.
And then do what you think'saccurate for each one,
because I've seen you do this on TikTok.
And I'll put also Rebecca'ssocial media links below as well,

(01:10:50):
so you can check out how you're doingthat in a booth without, with, with,
with preparation. Not like this.
I did something similar to thisrecently at at the One Voice Conference.
They had this workshopNice. Where you could win.
It was basically like a live auditionwhere there were like knockout rounds and
they were just giving you new scriptsall the time. Wow. That sounds great.

(01:11:13):
It was really fun. And I actuallycame joint first with someone.
Fantastic. And we both won a placeon Maple Street Creative roster.
Right. So this is Rebecca.So this is like a.
Round two.
Let's go for the commercialone first, shall we?
Okay. Well, it, it's commercial, so II'm gonna go traditional commercial.

(01:11:34):
Okay.
Morning's better when it starts withsomething real. At Bright Brew Coffee,
we don't chase trends we roastwith purpose. Small batches,
big flavor,
because your first sip should remindyou that today's full of potential
bright brew coffee.Wake up to what matters.

(01:11:58):
See no pausing . Shedidn't need any preparation.
She is worth, you cantrust this role. Okay. Now,
now for anyone who's flown thin air, youmay have heard Rebecca's voice before.
I hear it every time I pop overto London or Island because Yeah.
She's welcoming, welcoming you onboard and also many others. Right?

(01:12:20):
You've done work for Disney. Yeah.Mercedes mm-hmm .
And many other brands. So, so alsoif you're looking for a voice,
you've got a home studio. Yep. That'sright. You can record from home. So yeah.
It's, it's another, like myself, anotherpolymath. Would you like to have a,
have a stab at number two? The narrative?
I think I'm just gonna go for it.
Let's go.

(01:12:43):
The lake was still that morningshe could hear the world waking up
a bird, a boat, a whisperof wind through pine.
This was the place where herfather taught her patience,
where silence had its own kind of music.
And as the mist lifted, sodid the weight of yesterday.

(01:13:05):
Some places don't just holdmemories, they hold you.
Fantastic. And how different that was,right? Mm-Hmm . Okay,
let's just go straightfor it. The corporate.
Chat. GPT script.
, well, they're basedoff kind of other ones, but.
Lumen. Oh, that reminds me. Have youseen Severance? Yes. That's the company,
isn't it? Lumen, but this one'sLumen Dynamics. Okay. Yes.

(01:13:28):
Yes.
Oh, corporates Corporate.
Oh, education. Come on.Yeah. What's the fact.
At Lumen Dynamics? Innovationisn't a slogan, it's a structure.
This year our global teams deliveredover 15 new sustainable energy solutions
reaching communitiesacross four continents.

(01:13:49):
Every number tells a story ofcollaboration, resilience, and purpose.
Together we are lighting the wayto a cleaner, brighter future,
one project at a time.
Wow. Okay. Well done.
I have to give you a little golf clapbecause there's no other audience in the
room. Thank you yet. Thank you. Thank you.

(01:14:11):
So Rebecca.
I can't believe you maybe doing that.
Well, I, I, I am I knew you'drise to the challenge and you,
you took it on board. And look, I think,
I think we're gonna have towrap this up now. Mm-Hmm.
But it's been really informative.
I've learned things about you today thatI didn't know before and we've known,
you know, for a few years now. Yeah, yeah.
Because I think usually when we meetit's because we're working on something

(01:14:33):
Yeah. Or talking aboutsomething we're gonna do. Yeah.
For sure. And it's always in that kindof professional environment, isn't.
It? Yeah.
Even when it's networking'sit's networking and there's kind of a purpose to it.
There's sort of was to this too, but II I think that we've I think there's,
I think there's a lotof value in this and I,
I'm really pleased that you are doingso well and that you're, you know,

(01:14:53):
you're moving up and you are continuingand you are showing people that you
know, you, you, you can staystrong, you can stay positive,
and there are ways that you can achieveyour goals. Mm-Hmm .
Even if you're not there yet, youare enjoying the process. Yeah. And,
and it's so important in in, in,
especially now when the world seems tobe so dark and mysterious and no one

(01:15:14):
really knows what's happening. Mm-Hmm.
To find ways that you can ground yourselfand stay focused or rekindle Yeah.
That, you know, as I've said in myslogan for hack Mojo, you know, gain,
train and maintain thatinner flame. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's something that burnsvery brightly within you. Mm-Hmm.
And so thank you very much forbeing here today. Thank you.
Thank you for my first guest. I'm surewe'll have you back again in the future.
Yeah, I hope so. Allthe links to everything.

(01:15:37):
Rebecca will be below whatever you arelistening or what, watching this on.
So thank you very much, Rebecca Ward. Yep.
Thank you for having me,and it's been lovely.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Likewise. See you soon.
See you soon. Thank youfor listening today.
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(01:16:00):
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