We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Veronica Labretta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Veronica , thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
Impostor syndrome affects many actors but also voice actors. I come from Italy, a country where society raises you with limiting thoughts. When I made the decision to do this job in America I told myself that it would be different from Italy. Being an actress in America meant sharing castings and events with people who for me were on a pedestal and I was the actress who arrived. So I started working with my self concept, I removed everyone from the pedestal and put myself on it.
How can this be done? We start from the assumption that all people are the same, they have interests, hobbies, a job and they need to be loved. In our case we choose to be actors but the only thing that really differentiates us is that there are those who have more experience and those who have less, whether on set or dubbing. But we decided to be actors, so if they are like me and I am like them, I deserve success and all the wonderful opportunities that life can offer me in this profession as much as any famous person in the world.
As they chose to be actresses, I chose too, so I deserve the success exactly as they achieved it. And if you are trying to overcome this syndrome, I recommend that you stand in front of the mirror every day for 10 minutes, and compliment yourself, you as people, you as artists, tell yourself what you would like others to tell you, because in the end the whole world is a mirror to how we perceive ourselves. If you love yourself and believe in yourself the world will also love you and believe in you.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am mainly an actress and voice actress but in my free time I love to write, because I am also a screenwriter and I like to write stories, for a teenage audience in style.
Why I chose to be an actress. Many would answer for being famous, making money. In my case, I say to give emotions, I love about my job that with my dubbing voice or when I play a character I can make people laugh or… make them cry with me. Sometimes they write to me that I make their day better, actors become part of a person’s life, and in some way, on many occasions they save it, and it’s a wonderful thing.
Many people ask me “Why in the usa?” I mean, in fact, I could act anywhere. But my dream as a child has always been to act here, dubbing in animation, or working in American TV series that I have always loved. When my mother died I made her a promise that I would conquer Hollywood one day with my talent, so I’m trying to keep that promise, to make my dream come true for me and for her. And for my family, I hope that after so many sacrifices I can soon make them extremely proud of me.
On my social networks I comment TV series in a comedic way, I like to make people laugh, sometimes I make videos taking them with me to events, on carpets so they can experience my world for a while. And I also give advice on dubbing and acting, unfortunately the courses are expensive and not all families can afford them so if I can give advice based on my experience I do it with all my heart, my channels are all bilingual, in Italian with subtitles in English or the opposite sometimes, but always in double language, sometimes there is the possibility of putting subtitles or translating the text on my profiles, blogs, etc.
One thing that perhaps not everyone knows is that I did a dubbing course for blind children, and it was a real success, demonstrating that even without sight you can still dream of doing my job.
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?
First of all, learning to express emotions may seem trivial but in dubbing it is very difficult to know how to laugh, laughter often comes across as fake, while it is easier to cry, because crying always generates an emotion in us. But on set it can be difficult to cry rather than laugh, the opposite. So yes, I always recommend playing with emotions, perhaps taking a word every day and saying that word laughing, crying, nostalgic, saying it in various ways, with different emotions in order to improve an essential part of acting in my opinion.
The second thing I recommend is the language, I learned English well on my own, thanks to TV series and reading books. To improve a language and then work on it, I recommend watching a series that you know by heart, putting the subs in that language and acting together with the character you have chosen to act like a game, but this way you can learn the right accent, you can improve the speed of saying some lines, the time for comedy or drama etc. For books I recommend the Kindle because there is the dictionary function that helps you understand the meaning of words that perhaps you have never encountered.
Lastly, I would recommend having a presence on social media that acts as a showcase for you. It may seem banal because many actors don’t have social media, but I believe that today we live in an era where people also go to social media to meet new talents, and I have often worked with casting directors who cast me by finding me on social media and then they went looking for me on Imdb, so using social media as a showcase in my opinion is a good way to get to know you and also to create a community that respects and supports you. An actress once told me “Be known and loved as vikiy before being known and loved just for your character.”
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
When you are overwhelmed I believe you should take a moment for yourself.
Usually when I feel like this I go out for a walk with my dog, or I watch my favorite series or I go to see a movie, whatever makes you relax and find joy in yourself.
The advice I can give is to always listen to yourself, don’t stress yourself to the point of losing mental or emotional control, which also leads you to make bad choices. It’s not wrong to take a day without doing anything, it’s fine to spend a day but also two or three lying in bed doing nothing just doing something that makes you happy.
It’s okay to feel sad, if you have moments where you want to cry do it, crying is absolutely the best way for say goodbye to the negative thoughts.
Always take care of yourself, this job is sometimes very difficult, and it often seems as if you never do enough but if no one has told you yet today I’ll tell you “you’re doing enough and everything comes to you. Dreams always find a way to come true, there’s no point in stressing.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thelittlefeatheringtonworld.wordpress.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vikiy_lab
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@vikiylabrettaActress
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vikiy_labretta
Image Credits
the photo with pink dress: chrisjohnphotography
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
