Meet Lauren Henke

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

Lauren, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I think my resilience was developed as a means for survival – being an incredibly sensitive person, I’ve had to build it over years and years of riding a rather intense version of the roller coaster that is the human experience (high highs, low lows).

I also have a fierce drive paired with a deep inner knowing that my voice matters, my perspective is unique, and that my purpose, though at times unclear, is indeed existent and worth pursuing in whatever way it manifests.

I of course also lean on my incredible support systems – friends, family, and coworkers – who all motivate me to keep moving forward.

And when all else fails, I find resilience in the most unexpected place: the mortuary. Turns out, being among the dead forces me to truly LIVE. Working directly with individuals who no longer get the opportunity to breathe, laugh, create, dream, love, etc. is confronting on an existential level, and really forces me to recognize that the ups and downs of life are actually such a privilege and that I have a responsibility to honor the fact that I’m still here.

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

I am an actor, creator, and embalmer – which is probably not the triple threat you were expecting, but here we are. I suppose you could say I am passionate about bringing stories to life and laying the dead to rest.

Acting and writing were my first loves. I’d make plays with my childhood friends growing up and always be sure to carve out time for journaling and creative writing, even on family vacations. Both activities bring me back to my inner child in that way and it’s really such a joy to still get to do them now.

Back in high school and college, and even up until recently, I really thought that acting would be my one creative pursuit. But recently, I’ve started delving into writing again with the intention of creating my own work. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, and I’m proud to say it’s finally happening. I will be filming a horror short within the next couple weeks that I not only wrote, but will produce, direct, and act in as well. It’s so exciting and I’m so in awe that it’s actually coming together. And I know it’s just the beginning, the first of many projects to come.
(More information @toxic.summer on instagram and at this GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/21b0f1eb )

In addition to that project, I am involved in two other films (both also within the horror/sci fi genre). I have also just been accepted into the Spaghetti Festival at the Elysian Theater which is an annual showcase of new developmental works.
(More information to come!)

I think the things I value in writing, acting, and art in general reflect my overall personality: I appreciate camp, humor, and general goofiness, while also finding myself drawn to intense emotion, raw truth, and a good scare or two. Similarly, in acting I tend to gravitate toward roles that are deeply, complexly human, but would be lying if I said I didn’t also love to play a superficial, vapid comedic role. Within the past few years I’ve really gotten to explore this range, playing both the dangerous, layered, and cold-hearted femme fatale (Dahlia, “Another Nail in the Coffin”) and the politically incorrect, blissfully unaware diva (Vicki, “Bear Naked”) – just to name a few! Despite all appearances as another bubbly blonde, I feel I bring a deeply sensitive and darkly eccentric vibe to the function that is both refreshing and unsettling in its unexpectedness. Think a blonde Winona Ryder in the world of Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Emerald Fennell.

I think my choice of career outside of the creative realm reflects this duality as well. I have this fun-loving, creative acting side to me paired with this other intense and confronting side to my career. My life is nothing if not interesting, and I’m excited to see how I can continue to share and express my point of view living in both these worlds.

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?

1. What I learned from Schmidt. Dan Schmidt was my acting teacher in high school and quite honestly, the one I learned from the most. Above all else, he valued a truthful performance, a standout quote of his being “I don’t believe you, do it again.” He introduced me to all the greats: Stanislavski, Meisner, Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, just to name a few. There is so much more I could say about this man, may he rest in peace (he left us too soon in 2020), but the foundation of my acting skills, the groundedness I strive for in every performance, and the bit of humor I find in every script comes from his teachings. If you can find a coach or teacher who you really trust and really believes in you the way Schmidt believed in all of his students and who has a really good grasp on storytelling, that helps a lot, especially early on in your acting journey. It’s very helpful to have that support and someone with the knowledge to help hone your skills.

2. Deep empathy. This opens up your world to see others as human just like you. For actors, it is a superpower into understanding a character. For writers, it aids in the ability to craft something from a certain point of view, to generate varying characters with their own intentions and perspectives. And for simply just being a human, it enriches your experience, makes you kind, makes you patient, makes you connected. I can’t even begin to describe how this affects my embalming work. It’s a vulnerable skill, and perhaps a difficult one to develop, but it is one that deepens your experience in life, makes it one well-lived.

3. Mindfulness/giving up control. This is a new one for me, and one I’m still practicing as we speak. I’ve recently settled into the fact that there is so much beyond my control. Whether it’s death, war, the state of your industry, rejection, or anything in between, big and small, there is so much that is out of our control and it’s both terrifying and freeing to accept. And in the meantime, all you can do is pay attention to the moment you’re in. And the more I do that, I’m finding the better connected I am to those around me, the more opportunities I find, and the better I feel. I think before, the only times I would be connected to these skills would be during a performance. I would completely surrender to the moment, trust myself, my scene partner, the rest of the creative team and roll with the punches – truly in the spirit of “the show must go on”. I think these skills are so important as an actor, but I’m realizing how important they are in my day to day as well, just existing as myself.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?

Stop caring what people think. Love fiercely. Spend more time outside. More time with those I love. Tie up loose ends. Speak my mind. Be goofy. Be free. Laugh out loud. Explore. Go on adventures. Get to know my family more – like, really, really get to know them. Express my ideas. Ignore my fears. Drink wine with friends. Try new foods. Find new ways to love myself and others. Forget about “shoulds”. Follow my joy.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Felicia Ralph
Jocelyn Campbell
Joshua Haines

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