Meet Madigan Rear

 

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

Madigan, 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 grew up with a ton of interests. I was constantly rushing from one extracurricular to another as a kid (all the driving must’ve been crazy making, so a big thank you to my mom). Throughout my childhood I played almost every sport at one point or another, though I ultimately stuck with soccer, volleyball, and ultimate frisbee. However, all of these lessons and sporting events taught me two things: One, when you’re continuously on the go you strengthen your ability to grit your teeth and keep pushing. Two, changing sports frequently means you often come in at the bottom of the pack. You have to push yourself to improve and work ethic to see it through.
It also means that I’ve been on the losing team for many different games. The ability to keep playing when your team is down, or to keep spirits high after a hard loss is crucial when you’re part of a team.
As my mom likes to say, “you always have to get back on the horse”. We’d find this somewhat comedic as one extracurricular I dabbled in when I was five or so was horseback riding. One of the first times I was allowed to ride a full-grown horse rather than a pony my horse bit another horse’s tongue, spooked when the other horse whinnied in response, and bucked me off. So I did quite literally have to get back on the horse.

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?

I am a current student at the University of Southern California, pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. I’m from a fairly small town in Oregon, so our only form of theatre was musical theatre. I knew I liked something about it so I went through the wild process of college auditions. College is where I was able to discern what it was about Musical Theatre that spoke to me so deeply. The acting. The more I sang and danced in isolation, the more I realized that those disciplines didn’t evoke the same feeling of freedom I found within acting.
With this revelation I began to focus intensely on straight acting. I self taped in my free time, and took additional courses and intensives in order to supplement my training. The most transformative of which was the Screen Acting summer intensive at the Art of Acting Stella Adler Studio here in Los Angeles, and the Acting Shakespear program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. The Art of Acting Studio ignited my passion for screen acting, and RADA taught me how it feels to be creatively fulfilled and hungry for knowledge.
I still love musical theater, and am extremely grateful for my time at USC. Without it I wouldn’t have found such a vibrant community of creatives, nor would I have realized that I wanted to pursue film acting first and foremost.

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?

So far, I’ve noticed that my sense of empathy, my reliability, and curiosity have been the qualities that have carried me the furthest. Empathy not only aids you in relating with your characters when acting, but it helps you to cultivate deeper and more meaningful relationships with your collaborators. Additionally, a sense of integrity is hard to over look. Showing up consistently having done the work in order to be prepared speaks volumes, and it shines through in your performance as it grants you, the actor, a greater sense of confidence and ease when you know you’ve done the work. A professor of mine has the saying that performance is simply your potential minus interference (nerves, interruptions, etc.).
Your potential is bolstered by your preparation as it allows your mind to juggle fewer things. If the text and character work are already engrained in your body, this makes room for your brain to contend with any curve balls thrown your way.
Lastly, but possibly most importantly, I love to learn. I think it’s what drew me to acting. The puzzle of compiling another’s perspective was addicting to me. As is the limitless improvement one can make in their acting. I love that there’s no calculable ceiling to the quality of your work. It means you have the opportunity to engage in a lifelong pursuit of mastery.
I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed, burnt out, or jaded. Follow through with the promises you make even when it’s hard, keep the spark alive, and keep learning. It makes the journey much more fun.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

During my sophomore year of high school I dropped the bombshell on my parents that I in fact did not want to be a doctor but wanted an actor instead. Which certainly came as a surprise. While I’m sure they needed time to digest this they responded in an incredible way. They said that as long as I was committed and worked as hard as I could, that they would do everything they could to support me. With that being said, I should know that this meant that I couldn’t just be a normal kid having the typical high school and college experience. I’d have to dedicate extra hours to coaching, fly around the country auditioning, and take ownership of my decision.
I stayed true to my promise and continued to take my craft and this career path seriously, and my parents have continued to be my biggest supporters. Their encouragement and belief in me has been invaluable. However, they didn’t simply grant me a sense of approval through their endorsement, they also taught me a lesson. They taught me to commit and follow through.

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Image Credits

Dana Patrick Photography

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