Meet Marie Lledo

 

We were lucky to catch up with Marie Lledo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marie, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

Being a 5 feet tall woman, this is an everyday question 🙂 For my whole life I’ve had to adapt myself to situations where I was not always helped by my environment. You actually become quite creative with how you get what you want with what’s available around you, especially if you have no choice. This applies to my survival jobs as a server, if I needed to grab a specific bottle of wine that was all the way at the top of the shelf, I didn’t have time to ask someone to help me or to try to find a ladder, I’d just hop on the top of a counter or the bar and climb my way to the bottle! Same thing around my house where everything is built for people of 6’4. As for when being in an audition room or at a film callback, I tell myself that this, being tiny but mighty, is my strength and makes me stand out in a crowd. When you take less space, physically, in a room, you tend to make up for it with your personality, your sense of humor, your charm, etc… And I personally believe that over time, I became quite good at making a strong first impression (mostly a good one if I’m in a happy mood)!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I had the chance (and courage) to move to NYC from Paris at 18, fresh out of high school, to pursue musical theatre. What better city to fulfill your performing dreams than New York City? The home of Broadway. It did not disappoint. As I trained and got an Associates degree at AMDA, I got to go see musicals almost every week since I moved here and each time, it does not fail to remind me why I chose this career. After school I started doing a lot of background acting, the perfect way to learn how working on a movie set works and to observe renown actors creating powerful and inspiring characters through the camera. Having that experience helped me be confident in my skills when I landed my first lead role in a short film. But the love I have for performing on a live stage always remains and working at amusement parks in seasonal shows or, more recently, doing a reading of a classic in theatre, A Christmas Carol, Off-Broadway keeps it very much alive. Recently, a new path in this career opened to me and I’m currently enrolled in make up school to become a certified make up artist, my goal being to spend as much time as I can on set, wether it be in front of the camera or behind.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Consistency would be the first one that comes to my mind. Being someone who always does the work that needs to be done and is always on top of it is crucial to prove reliable to others.
Kindness is so important as well. Be kind to the people who work in the shadows, the PAs, AD’s, Crew, Catering workers. Without them nothing is possible so we have to create a good work environment for everyone.
And last, as simple as it is, BE ON TIME. The worst thing when being on a tight schedule is having to wait for the actors to get to set/go through hair and make up, eat their breakfast… So better yet, be early and camera ready.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

Definitely take a step back. It feels like if you take a second for yourself you’re missing out on potential jobs or roles but it is more important to take a break if stress took over the love for the arts. We give such a better performance when we’re focused, we feel good in our body and mind, we feel like we’re not rushing to get things done. It’s definitely worth it in the end, the results will be there, there is no need to persist when nothing feels right.

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Image Credits

Marion Fontaine, Drian Lin,

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