Meet Leah Harper

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leah Harper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Leah , great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
So, that’s actually a very interesting question. Because the field that I am in, acting, is considered risky. Because it requires a lot from each individual who goes into this field. There’s no clear path, and there’s no one that can really hold your hand to tell you what to do. So it can feel very uncomfortable at times, or you can feel lost. So overall some would consider that risky.

When I was very young, I realized that staying comfortable and not taking risks meant not growing and not experiencing things or emotions that in your every day life, you would not experience. So one thing that I would do and was uncomfortable with was wearing dresses. Very small thing, but it made the world of difference for me. So once a week. I would force myself to wear a dress or skirt. At first, I would feel uncomfortable, or not myself, but eventually, I realized it was just a piece of clothing, and I could live, and be myself in this dress. Not just that, but it made me experience so much more of myself once I became comfortable in that dress. Different emotions, different feelings, different perspectives; and that was just from wearing a dress. I thought just imagine how much more I could feel if I put myself in different situations I’m uncomfortable with. And with that small action grew my one’s for trying to do things that were risky. I loved the feeling of trying, something new, because it made me grow as a person in every aspect.

So I just continue to take risks because I found the positive and taking risks. It might sound silly, but ever since then, I have loved putting myself in situations where I’m uncomfortable. I realized after that I had grown an awareness of myself that I was much stronger than I thought I was. Now a days, every situation that makes me feel uncomfortable or I feel like I can’t do it or if you like I won’t succeed I think about that dress that I put on when I was nine years old, and I think to myself “this is just another dress.”

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Right now, I am very focused on my acting career and I’m very grateful and fortunate to be able to have three fabulous agents to be represented by; The Talent Group and Heyman Talent, East coast, and First Class Talent in LA., West coast. I’m very thankful from them and all of their hard work. I would not be anywhere near where I am today without them as my team. They are my team, and we continually work together every day.

On my side of the team, I am always training and learning new skills within my craft, which is acting, and this requires time, energy and focus. Right now I am still continuing to train in Meisner technique and improve skills. Which I believe are two very important pillars within this career professionally. To put it simply, you have a technique, Mizner, which is your stability, and then you have your flexibility, which is improv. I believe both are very important within this field. Because you need discipline and focus which comes from your stability, but then you also need your creativity and you need flexibility and you need to be able to move within a situation or a script that may not be so concrete which is your improv.
Any skills or techniques I develop I incorporate them within my every day life and my career. I truly believe that every situation you come across can positively impact your path, whatever that path is, and help you get there.

One of the things that I absolutely love about this career is being able to work with so many different people and experience emotions in such a heightened way. I think it’s incredibly exciting. There are emotions and understanding is that I would’ve never been able to experience without this career. Just think about the movies we watch. How many times do you run across instances that are in sci-fi, drama, action, or comedic movies? Generally, it’s not too often or it’s physically impossible. With acting you get to work with people under these circumstances and it’s some thing that I live for.

I have many projects that I have been working on and teams that I am a part of. Most of them I cannot speak about yet, but if you would like to follow me on Instagram, therealleahharper, and TikTok, that is the best way to stay updated with what’s going on with me. My TikTok channel will be launching very soon and I’ll make sure to post it to my Instagram.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I would say, the three pillars for me were finding my technique, finding my discipline, and finding my drive. Those three are very important to me and I do not believe that I would be where I am today without them.

For me, my technique is Meisner, so go out and find some classes that are based in an acting technique. This will absolutely be one of your pillars. Now, you may have to jump around and try different techniques out to find the one that works best for you, and that’s completely individual. It’s important to give yourself the time to find your technique. Don’t rush and don’t feel like you’re too late. Be kind to yourself, and trust the process.

Finding your discipline is the work that you do at home on your own time. This could be studying script work, reading plays, studying movies, listening to interviews with actors, studying interviews with people in different professions; police officers, war veterans, nurses, stay at home parents, people that struggle with addiction Etc. Your job as an actor is to understand people, and there is a broad scope of that. You do have to put the time in. Just like anything else the more time you put into some thing the more you get out of it. So, if you really want some thing, it could be anything, you will find the discipline, and you will put the time in.

My drive or passion for this career, really stems off of the first two pillars. I absolutely fell in love with the Meisner technique, and I loved working at home and experiencing so many different aspects of life from a safe place. To find your drive within anything, you must understand why you love it, and then go for it. Once you find your love in some thing, Drive will be easy. For me, it was very clear that I could not get enough of acting. I can have 15 hour days and still come back wanting more. Now, saying that, it is very important to keep a good work life balance. I know that I’m capable of working very long hours and not getting sick of it, but that does not mean I need to do that every day for my own mental health. Balance is very important and at the end of it, your mental health is the most important. But I must say, I’m very grateful to be able to love what I do.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
I would say everyone within my life that I’ve come across, but the people that have been most helpful I would say are my parents.

My parents truly taught me what was important, and I’m extremely grateful to have those lessons in my life. They taught me about discipline, self-worth, mental health, loving yourself, treating others the way you want to be treated, kindness, generosity, to be brave, to trust in yourself, and the list goes on and on. Everything I am today is from the lessons that I have gotten from the people that are closest to me.

They are truly my backbone. I cannot put into words how thankful I am to have the parents that I have.

There are other mentors and teachers I’ve had throughout my life that are incredibly helpful as well, and I am very thankful to them, but if I think of who I am as a person, my foundation really stems from my family.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Ryan Koppelman-Beyond The Moving Picture Studios Steven Loizos The Story Is

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Tactics & Strategies for Keeping Your Creativity Strong

With the rapid improvements in AI, it’s more important than ever to keep your creativity

Productivity
From Burnout to Balance: The Role of Self-Care

Burning out is one of the primary risks you face as you work towards your