Maybe it was my Catholic upbringing—you know, suffer then get the keys to the kingdom. My entire life I’ve tried to get out from under that crushing boulder of conditioning—along with so much more—but that one holds a tight grip around my neck.
So much so that in my almost 30 years as an actor—now director and filmmaker—I’m just allowing myself to call myself an artist. Somehow I wasn’t ever quite there. Just needed to get better, work harder, be more accepted into roles I thought were more of what that word, “artist,” meant.
To whom exactly, Jennifer?
Would you believe it took me making my film, Fresh Kills, to finally allow myself to say, “Okay, maybe now.” Nothing was ever good enough in my mind until then to deserve that title. And where did that come from? The world around me, the industry, and others. Society has a way of keeping you on that endless hamster wheel, constantly chasing that cheese up ahead—if only you ran a bit faster, you just might get it.
Spoiler alert—you won’t. It’s a grand scam to keep you tired, chasing, and endlessly a consumer.
On my new podcast, REBELLIOUS: Art, Culture, Human, we talk about all this and then some. It’s become my way of dealing with the current state of the world—human rights being taken, the attack on art on all fronts, and the earth burning—fun, right?
How do we continue to still get up, let alone keep creating? As I always say—you just must. I won’t even try to tell you we have the answers to any of these questions on my pod. What we do have are conversations that will make you walk away asking yourself some important questions, feeling less insane, and making you believe you can and must keep going! And laugh—which is a rebellion in and of itself.
Joy as rebellion!
Come be rebellious!
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