Meet Victoria Summer

We were lucky to catch up with Victoria Summer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Victoria , looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
My work ethic comes from my mother. My parents got divorced when I was eight years old. I ended up not seeing my dad for six months and didn’t really know where he was – he was there one day, gone the next. I watched my Mum suffer through being a single parent and we had to leave the home we loved and grew up in. I noticed how hard my mother worked and how much she struggled to just put food on the table but she did it and she did it very well. However, it was difficult and we struggled, money was always tight. That made me want the opposite for my life. Call me a rebel I suppose, but I literally wanted to make opposite choices and I was prepared to work for it, like the example my mother set.

Firstly, I worked really hard to better myself personally and professionally, My dad sold building materials and my mum was a secretary in a school. I wanted an opposite career to both my parents, a nine to five just seemed plain boring and the thought of clock watching my life away seemed utterly dull. I decided early on that I was going to follow my dreams and my heart and since a trip to America at eleven, my heart has always been and continues to be in LA… I followed my dream of acting and singing here and I’d like to say it’s been easy and I have had major success but the truth is, it’s been hard, I’ve worked very hard and i’ve had moderate success. Does work ethic always work for you? Not necessarily.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I strive to be uncomfortable artistically and i love to turn my hand to different areas of the business. For example, I couldn’t imagine my life as just an actor, not to undermine that in the slightest but for me, I always ended up doing a little bit of this and that and I enjoy the variety. That is… voiceover, producing, modelling, singing, as well as commercials and TV/Film.

Since getting married earlier this year, right now I’m focusing on my heart and what I want to give back and how my experience of life so far can help serve others. I consider that to be valuable.

I love to sing,,, I always have. “Victoria Summer Big Band” is one of my ideas that has bought me the greatest joy. After predominantly working with actors in the earlier part of my career, following covid, I decided to start my own entertainment company and I must admit, I really love working with musicians! I love creating a set list and an experience for clients that lights up their evening. We do mainly contemporary style music and some jazz and the sound of eleven or twelve musicians is, in my view, unbeatable and it’s time big bands made a come-back. I recently sung with my Big Band for The Stars Gala raising money for Women in Film. I sung ‘Skyfall’ not realising Barbara Broccoli was in the audience. I was totally blown away when she came up to me afterwards to say well done – that was really kind of her and definitely a highlight of my career.

Early 2024, we are having our fourth Afternoon Tea event ‘Tea with Victoria Summer’ raising money for teenagers with cancer for Teen Cancer America and I’m excited to see the release of my next film ‘Vindication Swim’.

I think my most exciting project to date is probably my idea for a One Woman show that I’m currently working on. More about that soon!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Persistence. This has to be first because I could have given up a very long time ago when I had periods of hardship that were tough to handle. I believe of course every failure has made me stronger and failing is actually a very good thing to do. It has made me a better person.

Communication. Art is communication and to be a great artist one must work on the quality of their communication.

Competence. It takes a lot of practice to be skilled in a certain area. As an artist it’s really a question of never ending improvement, there really is no ceiling for that! I love to keep learning and that would be my advice to others.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Dianetics by L. Ron. Hubbard. I read it when i was 26 because I didn’t have an understanding of the mind and I was curious about how knowledge of my own mind and my own existence would make me a more effective artist.

Probably the most impactful for me was realising this isn’t just a one life experience. I’ve lived multiple lifetimes. I have a body and I have a mind, I’m not my brain – I’m an immortal being (soul/spirit whatever you call it) and fundamentally, I create my life. A little deep for some perhaps but my own profound realisations that have had the biggest impact on my viewpoint.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Katerina Hung Christos Sewell Andrew Macpherson Dana Patrick Jackie Gallardo

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