Meet Nia Renée

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

Nia, 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?

For my age, I’ve been through a lot… in this industry, in Los Angeles, during my travels, in my personal & family life, etc. I’ve met a lot of different people from all walks of life, some at their lowest points & some extremely successful. A piece of wisdom that stuck with me is never take advice from someone who isn’t living a life that you’re striving for.

I’ve learned, especially in the acting industry, it’s all about mindset and purely having the energy of, “yes, of course, I’m making it, I’m working hard, it’s paying off, and I’m celebrating every win (no matter how big or small).” Even treating every audition as if, during that moment, it’s your own movie and having fun with the entire process helps keep me going. Getting an audition: a win. Signing with a new agent: a win. An agent asking to see your materials: a win. I have the mindset of acting is what I will always be doing and of course, I’m going to be successful because that’s my only option. It’s the only career I want & am meant to do. I’m almost four years in and I’m playing the long game. I see how much progress has been made, how many more opportunities are coming my way, & I have a gut feeling something amazing is coming just around the corner.

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

I’m an actor wholeheartedly! I did Meisner training with Don Bloomfield and Comedy training with David DeLuise, along with more acting classes listed on my resume!
I’ve traveled and lived a lot of lives which helps the empathy needed to step into different characters. I’m a very nuanced actor, picking up on every little change of expression & tone of voice from my co-stars. It’s such a beautiful process of honing in and being absolutely entranced in this play-pretend world we’ve created. It’s the most magical experience when you look into someone eye’s and two seconds later, you both are completely different people.

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 started out in the acting industry as a lot of people do, not knowing anything haha. But I started out with the same information that’s accessible to everyone. It’s an important skill to be able to learn as much as possible and use every resource to do so. Reading books like The Actor’s Life by Jenna Fischer and But what I really want to do is Direct by Ken Kwapis at the beginning of my career really helped. It gave me a lot of insight into the industry. I’d borrow books from the library when I wasn’t able to afford acting classes.
Being a self-starter & putting yourself out there is such an important skill. You have to be a people person. I went to so many networking events, produced a series, & did so many projects that led to only working acting & film industry gigs, no side jobs after only a year of moving to southern California. Now, it took a lot of sacrifice and hard work but I did it and was very grateful for the help I encountered along the way. When I met Gary W. Goldstein (Pretty Women, Under Seige), he invited me into his coaching program. I was so grateful and learned so much from him. His book is a very noteworthy read for anybody in the industry too. He’s a person I really look up and admire as he always stays genuine and only works on projects he loves.
Mindset is everything in this industry too. You have to acknowledge your wins and be surrounded by people who will lift you up as staying positive is what’s going to keep you afloat.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

Especially if you have anxiety, being overwhelmed is a very normal & valid response to the craziness in the industry! I have my fair share of mental illness hardships and definitely understand. I keep a document where I keep track of all my acting career to-dos and to stop the anxiety spiral, I focus on just the next thing on my list or take a little break. Doing some quick but fast exercise helps break the anxious cycle, just moving my body is any way whether that be hoping on a bike, shaking it out, or dancing. Stopping the moment and going into breath-work helps or if I’m too overwhelmed and don’t have any set due dates, I’ll take a day off and relax. Focus on my health and rejuvenate, watch a TV show or movie.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/niareneeofficial
• Instagram: niareneeofficial
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@niareneeofficial?si=-mLbd9ib390FvNqX

Image Credits

Diana K Photography
Akemi Rico
Jon Kopaloff