We recently connected with Megan Osyen and have shared our conversation below.
Megan , so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
By starting my career as an actor, I’ve joined the group facing the colossal task of creating a truthful character with different mannerisms and outlooks to my own.
The tool that I come running to time and time again is music. I’ve spoken to lots of friends who act or direct about how helpful it is to create a playlist that relates to the characters, experiences and themes detailed in the script.
I think this feeds my creativity because my instinct always used to be ‘pick up a pen and build with facts and intellectual substance’. This method never carried me further than my thoughts, making it challenging to physicalise any action. On the flip side, a song can elicit abstract feelings – like a little memory box capturing the specific person, place and time my memory relates the song to. Its like a cool shortcut to recalling emotions, which I can then use to fuel a character’s behaviour.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I think my attraction towards using music in rehearsals came from my upbringing: my mum sang Welsh folk songs to me from the moment I was born in North Wales, and my English dad played ska and punk in the car. I was exposed to more cultural heritage when I moved to Moscow, where I heard traditional Eastern European songs throughout my childhood. When I was ten, I moved to London, where I experienced totally different European music.
I moved to New York City in 2022 to attend The American Academy of Dramatic Arts’ acting program. The course ended with my portrayals of “Hermia” in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “Mara” in “The Creature” by Alexa Derman. These projects gave me the opportunity to experiment with actualising my artistic choices through music.
I will be implementing Slavic music when I play the Polish-American lead in the upcoming short film “TATA” (directed by Maya Zaleski), I’ll dive into more techno/electronic playlists when I play “Sophia” in the 2026 feature film “The Eagle” (directed by Benjamin Barlow), and I’ll likely use instrumental music for the role “Jalah” in the December 2025 play “We Three Kings” (directed by Solon Phillips).
Short films that I tried and tested this technique in that will be released in the coming year: I play “Lottie” in “Lottie” (directed by Bella Rieth, 2024) , “Girl on Trial” in “The Trial” (directed by Gandja Monteiro, 2024), “Young Jennica” in “Colatura” (music video, 2025), “Isabelle” in “Cost of Closure” (directed by Riley King, 2024), “Emma” in “La Vida Loca” (directed by Yu Tokunaga, 2025).
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?
The toughest lesson that I had to learn was admitting that my process was not serving me while I was training: I clung onto analysis, which was blocking my physical and vocal expression. I held onto that sentiment for years, so the idea of adopting a completely different approach felt terrifying.
This tested my resilience, and eventually I did start relying more on movement, music and imagery when exploring elements of my character. This taught me that it is okay for my work to feel abstract or nonsensical, as long as the final product delivers the message of the story to the audience coherently.
I’ve started to appreciate this quality of open-mindedness I found when faced with a new script: I stopped stressing over logic, and started to experience glimmers of freedom in my prep that I never want to lose. This goes to show how an actor judging themselves only restricts creativity!!
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
One of my favourite things about living in New York is bumping into actors and directors in all sorts of places. I’m always curious about collaborating on script concepts, whether that means brainstorming, or chatting about potential developments over coffee.
Although all of the work that I currently do is from an actor’s perspective, I’m very interested in production from my time studying film at Arts Ed school in London, where I wrote and directed two short films. I also took on screening jobs with the San Francisco and Big Apple Film Festivals in 2024 to expose myself to a wider range of cinema.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://meganosyen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megan.osyen/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-osyen-a8b27b30b/
- Other: Backstage:https://www.backstage.com/u/megan-osyen/
Image Credits
Photography Credits:
Corey Hayes @coreyhayesphotos
YellowBellyPhoto @yellowbellyphoto
John Deamara @johndeamara
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
