Talkin with Donia Kash on Working as a Non-Binary Actor

In this episode of "Talent Talk", we sit down with Donia Kash to discuss working on the set of Halmark's movie of the week, "Hearts in the Game", as a non-binary actor.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
One show that did a really goodjob with it, and you can bos
your opinion on it as well,Ship's Creek. I don't know if you've
watched it or not. Yeah,I think they did a really good job
with that, and then and howthey portrayed everything, and I think it
brought it to a really good light. I think absolutely, because it made
something a situation so relatable. Yes, you know, like totally, it

(00:23):
seems natural a small town and thenyou know, someone of a of a
previous status life, right. Welove watching someone who has had everything in
their life try to figure it outnow and how those dynamics come across with
the community and how they accept andlove each other. I thought it was

(00:44):
brilliant. Talent Talk is sponsored byCompany of Rogues Actors Studio, New York
style training for actors at all stagesof their journey. With our part time
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(01:07):
in a positive, supportive environment.Check us out at co rogues dot com.
Company of Rogues passionate about the artof acting. Here everybody, I'm

(01:42):
Gary McClain. You're watching Talent Talk. Thanks for tuning in. If you
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and previous episodes are available on podcastmedium such as Spotify, I heart Ideo,
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(02:04):
there. Check it out. Andfinally, I need to give a little
shout out to the sponsors that wehave this year, our fifth season.
This is the first year we've actuallybeen able to bring on some sponsors,
so I'm very excited about that.The first is Company of Rogues, which
is a Calgary local acting studio.Then we have six Degrees Sound and Music,
who actually does our audio engineering whenwe have in studio in person sessions,

(02:30):
which this is not one of them, but we love them. Nonetheless,
we also have Workflow Film who actuallydoes the video recordings for those in
person in studio sessions. We haveheard of one media we have counting Coup
Indigenous Film Academy, and finally wehave Actra Alberta. So thank you to

(02:50):
those guys for helping push us forwardfor the fifth season. Hopefully we can
continue the trend for the next seasonto come. Now, Today's guest,
because that's why you're here. You'renot here to listen to my blurb and
all that crap. So today's guestwas actually born in Greece, but they
moved to Canada at a young age. Entertaining has always been in the blood

(03:10):
and since the age of seven,they have been involved in theater of working
in film and a wide range ofproductions, also with multiple with filmmakers,
photographers, that kind of thing.But to add to the repertoire, they
also have a background in martial artsand dance. Their most recent role is
on the Hallmark movie of the WeekHearts in the Game as Jack's So,

(03:30):
without further ado, please let's welcomeDonnia Cash. Oh Gary, that's the
best intro I've ever had. Thisis great, Oh awesome, glad to
hear it. Well, thanks forjoining me on the show. I appreciate
it. Thank you for having me. Were you located right now as we
speak at this very moment, I'min Vancouver, I was literally just in

(03:53):
New York and now I'm back inVancouver. You said you were in New
York, So what were you doingout in New York. We were invited
for the GLAD Awards on the weekend, and GLAD Awards is a nonprofit organization
to amplify queer voices but also helpthe community in the queer communities, especially

(04:14):
in America with all the laws thatare happening in different states with band with
trans laws. So this awards showhappens yearly, and we were there for
a film called The Holiday Sitter,directed by Ali Liebert and created by and
the star Jonathan Bennett. So itwas really amazing and inspiring to see people

(04:41):
from politicians to documentary filmmakers to podcastreality TV stars, to movie stars to
directors to singers like Adina Menzel sayingit was like, it was great.
It was such an inspiring event.Nice. And to start curious, do
you have like photos and stuff thatdid take any footage or anything while you

(05:03):
were there? Totally, yeah,I totally took some photos of of the
atmosphere, the people, But yeah, I think I was a little too
shy to ask people to take aphoto with me. That I didn't know,
okay, And is it on yourInstagram by a chance? I have?

(05:24):
Yeah, I have one little reelon the Instagram. Oops, that's
the wrong one. All right,So folks, if you want to see
something about it, just check outthe her instagram there, don't you dot
cash there you go totally. UmNo, that's amazing. How long were
you did that go for? Howmany days? Or is it just so

(05:46):
it's it's for the New York Itwas just one day? Um. They
also they also do um an Awardsshow in LA a couple months like earlier
than the year. So they didLA, which is more you know,
out TV series and more of thatkind of genre and feature films, and
then this was like more curated foranimation, cartoons, TV movies, podcasts,

(06:15):
things like that. Okay, cooland just a curious like do you
find um, how are you findingthe community right now when it does come
to say non binary actors or theLGBTQ community, Like do you find it's
getting better? Or um? Ifind that I find it. It's a

(06:38):
very important time in figuring out howthe third genders fit into UM. Like
I think you're I think you're meaningabout film and TV and people who are
of a third gender trying to carveout their way in the industry. And

(07:02):
I think it's really such an importanttime to be alive because you, as
a performer, are already performing.Like it's not like no one's ever existed.
It's not like we've never been here. We've always been here. And
now it's more so telling stories thatwe already know, Like everybody knows people

(07:26):
fall in love, so now it'sa different version of it. Or we
all know what it feels like tohave someone who cares about us. Now
it's just a different version of it, Like it's telling these different stories.
I find it fascinating. I loveit. Yeah, I think it's really
beautiful that filmmakers, artists, theyare carving out ways for others to feel

(07:50):
comfortable and instead of saying, Okay, there's only these two categories and then
that's it, right. I thinkone show that did a really good job
with it, and you can boysyour opinion on it as well, Ship's
Creek. I don't know if you'vewatched it or not. Yeah, I
think they did a really good jobwith that. And then and how they

(08:11):
portrayed everything, and I think itbrought it to a really good light.
I think absolutely, because it madesomething a situation so relatable. Yes,
you know, like totally, itseems natural a small town and then you
know someone of a of a youknow, previous status life, right.

(08:31):
We love watching someone who has hadeverything in their life try to figure it
out now and how those dynamics comeacross with the community and how they accept
and love each other. I thoughtit was brilliant. Yeah. Absolutely,
I kind of missed the show,to be honest, I watched it.
I've watched it like three times,so I think the entire serious Like my

(08:52):
wife and I love it so wow. Um yeah, no, amazing.
Um. But have you found like, have you found any roadblocks so far
in your in your journey in film? Absolutely? Oh? Poor sure?
Um yeah, like let alone,people just especially a lot of people growing

(09:16):
up, looked at me and like, what are you? You know,
and I don't know about yourself,but I don't know if anyone's ever asked
you, like, what are you? I don't even know, so right,
So it's like to have people askyou that and for them to just

(09:37):
say, okay, I need youto make me feel comfortable, right,
and then I go, I'm apretty good person. I don't know.
I I pay my taxes, um, you know, Like I I love
the community. Like I'm like,what else what else? I don't have
a I don't have a third arm, if that's what you're like. I

(10:00):
I don't have something else. ButI don't know. I just I just
think, especially for my journey,I'm really fortunate that people accept and like
and actually appreciate the art that Iput out. I think that's the best

(10:20):
way to put it, because allof us are so different. I can't
speak for another artist that might identifiesas the same as me. But it's
really beautiful and I really look forwardto the day where people don't put oh,
you're a good non binary actor.I would love for them to just
be like, you're just a greatactor. Like you're just a great actor.

(10:41):
That's that's it, Like that's allI want to say. Yeah,
absolutely, and that's why it shouldbe, honestly, and I do hope
that one day we'll get there,because again, like you said, you
think you're a decent person. Ithink you're a decent person. That's all
that matters to me. It's like, as long as you get along,
I don't know. Yeah, butand like you said, the art should

(11:03):
not be differentiated by that by anymeans. Absolutely, the art m we
all do it, we all doit a little differently doesn't mean anything.
Absolutely. And you know we've seenart for thousands of years, and how
many people wore wigs or how manypeople you know got into costume. That's
right, costume. There's a reasonwhy there's a costume department and Karen makeup.

(11:28):
Yeah, yeah, no, that'sthat's awesome. Well, I'm going
to change gears a little bit.I do want to touch a little bit
because you're again you're an actor obviously, but you're not. That's not all
you do. Um. You actuallydid a little little short film. I
think it was called ketch Up withMe. Ketch Up with Me. It's

(11:48):
felt like the ketchup be poor onyour fries exactly. It's a little messy,
but you know it's a it's ameat cute. It's about it's like
a date. And it was inspiredby me being frustrated that I grew up
thinking that everything I watched on thefilms and televisions and rom coms, that

(12:11):
that's what dates were supposed to belike. That's how people fall in love.
That's and then actually growing up intosociety and realizing absolutely not, it's
not like that at all. Likewe are self conscious, we are worried
about our own insecurities, and basicallyit was inspired by that and then having
this meet cute with two people thatcould have prior history of maybe meeting,

(12:37):
maybe not meeting before, maybe someoneran away, and they having this date
and the date is so awkward andit's so painfully awkward that you're like,
why are these two people together atthis moment? Right? So, yeah,
it was, it was it wasfun, it was great. It
was interesting to see what the audiotook from it. Yeah, and what

(13:03):
was something if you back you goton it. Some people said that it
was very relatable to them. Somepeople said like I totally feel this way
and in a situation like this,or some people thought it was really beautiful,
like they thought the cinematography from ourDP poly Pierce, she did a

(13:24):
really beautiful job giving this glow ofreality. But then there's another different reality
happening between these two. Yeah.Yeah, it was so far as people
for my first time, they reallylike it. So I'm happy. I'm
like you stare at it for somany months and years you're like, oh,

(13:45):
great, this is this is whatwe do, what we do right,
exactly like I've done it many timesas well. You stare at the
same project for so long you're justlike, this is really any good?
I don't know, you don't knowpeople react to it, and you're like,
Okay, I guess it's okay orwhatever the case is, but can
people watch it? So right now, right now, I'm still in the

(14:09):
festival route with it, so I'mstill putting out in festivals, and then
I'll see what the best either platformto put it on or you know,
share it with the public. Nice, okay, keep me push it on
that absolutely because I would like tosee it for sure. And how many

(14:30):
hats did you wear? That?Yeah? So a friend of mine,
Adrian Neblett, and I we producedit, so I was producer and I
directed it and we only had actuallyabout ten hours to shoot it. So

(14:50):
yeah, probably ten hours to shootit. So I was like, you
know what, let's like, theless actors the better, so that I
acted in it, and uh yeah, and then we just had a fabulous
team helping us with lighting and makeupand hair, and props and things like
that and um and then yeah,and then post production I help. I

(15:16):
got some source and I got awonderful composer that helped us out as well.
So three, I think i'd liketo say three. Okay, that's
that's still a lot of hats.I got the same thing, and it
can be difficult. Um. Idon't know about yourself, but I know,
Um, I've worn't like the writerhad, the producer had the actor

(15:39):
had all in one. And sometimesI get too focused on the producer sides,
so then my acting lacks and thenvice versa, so focused on the
acting that I screw something up onthe producer. I know what you mean.
I know what I mean. IfI if I, if I could
do it all over again, Iwouldn't change anything. But if I had
another opportunity for like another film,I'd say the next one I direct,

(16:02):
I would just direct to see howthat feels and just focus on what needs
to be captured. Because I agreewith you. Sometimes I'm in the edit
editing suite and you're just like,ah, oh, I wish I had
this little snippet. Yep, absolutely, um No, that's that's amazing us.

(16:25):
It's first film you've kind of putinto festivals or have you put other
ones? No, this is myfirst time. This is my first time
in a professional kind of setting.I've shot on an iPhone and not nothing
wrong with iPhones, but I've justshot on an iPhone and uh, it
was for fun. It was justfor fun. Okay, that's even better.

(16:45):
Honestly, Yeah, um usually goesa little smoother, I think if
you're just having fun with it.Totally ten hours, it's not a lot
of time. Like I don't knowhow how long it was at the end
of the day, but I beggedthis restaurant to close on Saturday, Like,
who does that? I did,But who does that? Filmmakers?

(17:06):
Filmmakers, that's what we do.We ask for favors, we do.
Um. No, great, I'mlooking forward to hopefully seeing something on that
for sure. How long have youactually been acting for in overall defe Oh,
that's a hard question. I'm like, because before film and TV,

(17:30):
I did quite a bit of theaterwhen I went to theater school and before
that, like I did theater inhigh school and elementary school. But before
before in like my youngest years,the first thing I've ever done would be
a meat shop commercial. That wasthe first thing, and it was like

(17:52):
the concept was I'm late for schooland my teacher gets mad, why are
you late? And I say,my mom needed some meat, and I
hope I'm holding a meat basket,right, Yeah, So I don't know
about interesting commercial. Yeah, I'mlike, I hope I never have to

(18:15):
see it ever come to life again. I hope no one finds it somewhere.
I'm sure it's on a VHS somewhere, but yeah, I would Yeah,
obviously over ten years, but it'ssporadic between different mediums. Okay.
Yeah, And like, like Imentioned in the intro there, you're originally

(18:37):
from Greece, but you were quiteyoung when you moved over, I believe,
right, Um, do you remembermuch about Grease or I actually been
back because my uncle lives there.Um, so my parents are Persian and
they seeked refuge in the eighties,and so I've been back to Grease.

(18:59):
I would love to go see myuncle again. It's been so long,
and come on the Greek oceans,the s blacky, the people, the
atmosphere. Who wouldn't want to goto Greece? I would like to go.
There's a lot of places over therethat I'd like to go though,
So yeah, yeah, I highlyrecommend take take your partner go there,

(19:22):
enjoy. I think it's so worthit nice. Have you done any filming
there? Probably not, I'm guessing, but would you like to? Oh,
hands down, I would love to. I would love to do that.
Yeah, No, that'd be good. Have you been anywhere kind of
exotic with your filmmaking so far?I don't think so. I don't think

(19:48):
so either. Yeah. The onething I noticed is I was kind of
looking at your IMDb and you've gota lot of really good credits on there.
Interestingly enough, you and I actuallyhave kind of the same number of
credits. Of course you have betterprojects. I would say mine are more

(20:11):
independent where you've done some more prolificones, but at the same time,
yours is better. No, ohyeah. What I found interesting though,
is like, for example, Idon't know if you've ever looked at the
IMDb ratings and stuff like that,you are currently ranked around three thousand.
Oh great, which is yeah,I think is great. But when I

(20:36):
found even more interesting when I kindof looked at it in more detail,
is last week you were like ninehundred and something I was just like,
wow, like you're in the eliteechelon at that point. Do they send
like gift baskets like they should?You know, like break that mark?
Yeah, congratulations, you know you'vebroken the algorithms like a welcome. They

(21:02):
totally should. All I can sayis, like I said, you and
I have the same number of creditsmore or lesson and I've been nowhere near
that. I think the best I'vedone is about ninety thousand or something like
that, So that's pretty good.Some people I know people who are like,
you know, I've been I remember, yeah, I remember when I
was first starting off. I thinkI was in the like five hundred thousands

(21:26):
something like, just way up there. Yep. I mean honestly, I
don't think it really has any bearingor impact on anything, but it's an
interesting thing to look at sometimes.Absolutely I think I should email them.
I think everyone should get a giftbasket once, right, you bring a

(21:47):
thousand mark yeah basket like an IMDbpin. Yeah, you could do that.
And then of course as you gethigher than you know, you get
bigger. Yeah yeah, once youhit certain benchmarks, you just get better
better little gift baskets. Absolutely,yeah, starring role in the feature film.

(22:08):
Yeah, that's right. Well,I mean you're practically there, aren't
you. Oh you're so kind.I'm like, wow, that would be
cool. I'm like, that wouldbe really awesome to be like, Okay,
I'm gonna be doing this lead ina feature film and it's an important
project and I'm excited, Like thatwould be that would be amazing. Right.

(22:32):
Well, I mean that's kind ofa good segue into um, I'm
making us the titles of Escaping theHearts in the game. Yes, um,
yeah, So I mean this iskind of what you were your bigger
roles I believe that you've had sofar. Um, maybe a little bit
about that and how you know,came to fruition and your your actual role
within the film. So Um,Aaron k Hill, I will say,

(22:56):
is the best leader that you couldever work with, because you you,
you know, you're a filmmaker.You've worked with lots of people, and
some people just come on, youknow, come do their work and then
they just leave, whether it's AaronCahill respects everyone on screen and everyone off

(23:18):
screen, and basically from observation,I hope that I could take some of
that and take that forward in mycareer and playing Jack's her assistant in this
film, it was so easy becauseshe made it easy to believe in her,

(23:41):
like you know, like I don'tknow if you've watched the film,
but you want you want her towin, and as her friend, I
want her to win because she shejust creates that all the time. And
I think I think she just likementioned that perhaps maybe it would be a

(24:07):
good fit. And I auditioned forit. I met the director Stacy,
and we just it was like ayes right away. And then right right
away it's like here, figure youknow, figure out how fast you can
talk. And I'm like, okay, Like because Jack's a talker, Jack's

(24:29):
is fast, okay, And incontrast to you personally, how is that
are you talking? I talk,I talk, but sometimes just really slow.
And then I get lost in mythoughts like a you know, like
a cloud. But Jack's is like, this is what's happening, this is

(24:53):
what's going on. Facts, Ohmy goodness, you're in love with him.
You gotta be with him. Lookat that a cookie this And they're
like I love baseball and they're justlike ping ping ping binging, But everything
makes sense. So yeah, yeah, and how long we're you filming for
on that one? So the filmfilmmaking was fifteen days, so I got

(25:17):
to be eleven out of fifteen elevenout of fifteen nice, or eleven of
the fifteen days on set, whichto me is I mean, like I
said, you're practically at the startof the show anyway, right, I
just I just all I will sayis it was it was so heartwarming to
have people reach out on social mediaonline and watch the movie and say I've

(25:42):
watched it five times. Um,I loved Jack's I really love what they
did with the character. I loveum someone someone said something like everybody needs
the Jacks in their life, youknow, And I think that's just so
heartwarming. You know, when you'rein it, you don't really think about

(26:03):
what's going to happen next, andthen you hear the audience's perspective and and
then loving it, and I'm like, that's that's so heartwarming, so beautiful.
Right, No, that's always good. Especially So did you what kind
of like did you do any prepwork for this character, Like did you
have to do any deep diving internallyto bring this character out? Or I

(26:27):
was on the treadmill every day atfive am once it was a green light,
and because I just knew that thischaracter needed to be in their world,
like they just needed to be everyscene that they're in, they know
exactly where they live and being onthe treadmill and just going at it every

(26:52):
single day until we started. Andthen and then also playing so Stacy our
director. She had her vision andshe had what she wanted to do,
but then she was like, gotry try something. Just go for it,
like just go for it. AndI'm like, oh, okay,
like you're like, all right,here we go. And then seeing that
being at the part of the filmlike the final final film, I'm like,

(27:15):
yeah, like some of the stuffwe didn't plan got in nice.
Yeah, that's that's always the bestmoment, right, It's like I didn't
mean for that to happen, Butthen they put it in anyway like actually
that looks really good. Yeah,Or to give you that that artistic freedom
to be able to do that aswell. I love that. It's always
a plus, which is great becauseyou know, shout out to Hallmark for

(27:40):
bringing so many different elements, somany different characters. Like I watched the
film and I was crying because youknow, I loved some of the actors
like um Sarah and Aaron and Marcoand Jason and Bethany, and like we
all kind of got to know eachother, but then getting to see what
they get to do in their world'sa part of the film. And Helmark

(28:00):
being so gracious and letting it allhappen. I'm like, oh, that
was great. That so ah,it just gives you like the warm fuzzies.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.Well, I mean we are kind
of wrapping up here seemly, butabsolutely. One thing I wanted to mention
was that you're no stranger to thehomework scene, like you've done a few

(28:21):
now, I think right slowly,yes, yes, slowly, slowly,
and it has generally been like thesame crew and stuff that you've kind of
worked with her different different Yeah,so I think same production company so far,

(28:41):
same production company for all of them, except for the Holiday Sitter.
The Holiday Sitter was a different productioncompany. And I actually give you know,
a big hug and a huge thankyou to Heather Hawthorne Doyle because she
was like, you need to comeinto my movie and that was like the

(29:02):
beginning of my world of Hallmark andnice. Yeah. Yeah, it was
really beautiful because obviously, like wetalked about earlier, for the longest time,
because of the way I look,people don't understand, you know,
et cetera, et cetera. Thiswas the first time they're like, we
like it, we get it,get in and I'm like okay. And

(29:23):
then after that, just auditioning,like just auditioning to be a part of
all these movies that we get totalk about joy. Who doesn't love talking
about joy? Like, yeah,right, love family, I'll talk about
all of that. You want meto love somebody? I love somebody?
This is great, absolutely, no, that's that's amazing. And and right

(29:45):
now, where can it be seen? You know, hearts in the game.
Okay, So we've got still onthe W network. Um, we've
got Hallmark Channel. Um, Ibelieve because you are in Calgary. I
think also Stacked TV, so peoplewho have Stack TV on I think it's
on Amazon, right, So stackTV has Amazon, and I'm sure there's

(30:08):
oh Peacock as well. It's aPeacock channel. Okay, all right,
perfect, Well, great, thankyou so much for the Thank you.
Folks watching, make sure you checkit out and check out their Instagram,
be sure to check out Donnie's worksall over the place. UM, thank
you so much Donnie for being onthe show. I appreciate it. Thank

(30:29):
you for taking the time and meetingme. That was awesome. Oh,
thank thank you, And for everybodywatching, we'll see you next time.
Who knows who the guests will be, but we'll see you.