Meet Emeline O’Hara

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emeline O’Hara. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emeline below.

Emeline, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

My handle across my social media profiles is often misread as “grit likes a biscuit”. It’s actually “grit like Seabiscuit”, and it’s something that my opera instructor said about me in an eight page letter that he sent when I had to drop out of college for financial reasons. He knew that I would still be pursuing my acting career regardless, and his kind words were the affirming medicine I was needing the most at the time. “Emeline, you have grit like Seabiscuit, the racehorse,” Mr. Ruberto wrote. He would have known better than me – he was a kid when he saw the thoroughbred win against War Admiral in 1937.

“Seabiscuit was the underdog contestant. He represented all of us who had survived the Great Depression,” he wrote. I could practically see the retired Italian-American choral director anunciating with his hands, “Your time is coming, O’Hara. Don’t miss it.”

This line of work is not for the weak. To return to it again and again in spite of that requires a level of resilience or “grit” that is – frankly – delusional.

This is furthered by what other working actors can confirm: There is no time coming to us. There is no stability to be reached on the other side of that next film. Part of our job is to internalize that stability within ourselves, while balancing the erratic nature that is creative work. That is the resilience this work asks of us.

My time is for as long as I am breathing, and I promised Mr. Ruberto that I would not miss it.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a working actor, and I have been the lead of several award-winning independent films, including Caz McKinnon’s 2023 isolation horror short “They Don’t Leave”.

The film takes place in an isolated cabin in the Bitterroot Valley in Montana, where our main character, Carly, is attempting sobriety while recovering from a divorce. The story tackles the painful and messy reality of being the first in your family to break an abuse cycle – to choose to end a legacy you didn’t ask for, but still inherited the responsibility. Returning to work with Caz was enough of a draw for me to begin with – we have known each other for ten years, and I would move mountains to get to work with her again. Her stories are unflinchingly raw, without sacrificing the humanity of the characters. That couldn’t be a better description of her treatment of Carly, both on paper and in her grounded direction.

I think this is my best work to date, but much of that is because it was in collaboration with a phenomenal cast and crew. This moody, haunting film is striking in its narrative, visuals, and original score. After sweeping up awards in the independent film festival circuit, “They Don’t Leave” is set to release October 21st on YouTube and Amazon’s Sofy TV.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Empathy is one of my most valuable practices as an actor. It is one of my biggest gripes with pop psychology – when people label themselves or others as “empaths”. Empathy is a muscle. Labeling it as an identity removes humans from what I see as our obligation to strengthen our empathy toward each other, and ourselves. You cannot strengthen empathy without practice or boundaries.
Book recommendation: communion by bell hooks

2. Play is so deeply important to the act of creating anything, and somehow this is the creative duty that I shirk the most. I am trying to get better at prioritizing it, because I know that I am the most successful when I am letting myself play. If all I am thinking about is the fact that rent is due, then I am definitely missing rent that month. If I am engaging with the invitation to play with other creatives (not just through work that I’ve booked, but also auditions, being a scene partner, reading through a friend’s screenplay, etc.), I have found that play begets more play.
Book recommendation: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

3. Rest as much as possible. You cannot be working at full output all the time, and the opportunity will never present itself. You have to carve out time to make yourself rest.
Book recommendation: Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Always looking for folks to partner or collaborate with! I’m currently looking for new reps, but I’m also constantly looking for the next character or story that I can really dig into as an actor. I have so many niche skillsets that I’ve picked up, and I’d really like a chance to use some of them, particularly pole dancing, horseback riding, and longsword. If anyone is casting for an indie Western, that would be my dream. I’m most reachable through my Instagram: @gritlikeseabiscuit .

Contact Info:

Image Credits

1. Caz McKinnon
2. Mary Riitano
3. Caz McKinnon
4. Claire Severine

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