Ep53 Transcript: Succeeding at Acting in Midlife – Top Takeaways from Kimberley Pember

Andrea Vahl: Can you succeed at acting in midlife, even if you’ve taken a break, even if you’ve been out of the industry for a little while? Maybe you haven’t had the success you’re looking for. The answer is yes. In episode 52, I talked to Kimberley Pember, who’s having success as an actress in midlife, and she’s writing a screenplay. We’ll dive into some of her top takeaways in this episode.

Intro: Hello dreamers. Welcome to the Late Starters Club, giving you the inspiration, mindset, and tools you need to start something midlife and beyond. Remember, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.

Andrea Vahl: I have to say this episode was especially inspiring to me as an aspiring actress in my fifties, wondering if I really should just give up, and the answer is no.

People start at all different ages. They need all different types of characters, body types, age ranges, everything. And so it is all possible. What you have to do is have persistence, keep at it, and keep getting yourself out there. And that was definitely something that I loved from Kimberley’s episode. She really talked about the yes theory about saying yes to things and really being open to what the universe has in store for you.

And that was something that happened to her. As her friend, Kat came to her wanting to write this screenplay, and all of a sudden she got a message from the universe about what this screenplay might look like, and she went home, started writing. I love that. And now she’s also having success as an actress, acting alongside Bruce Willis and having some other projects that are being produced. So that is just awesome.

I think a big recurring theme around here is finding a group that can really help support you. She’s found a studio Babcock Studios here in Denver, which I’m also a part of. She’s found studios in other places she’s lived and really finding a place to learn, grow, and get inspired and also collaborate with, because now she’s writing a screenplay with someone from the studio as well.

And I think that is super exciting and you hear things about different possibilities, different auditions, different things you can get involved with just produce stuff on your own. Because it, frankly, if it’s not happening out there, why can’t we do it ourselves and produce something because that’s, And we’re in an amazing time right now, and that’s a possibility as well.

So super, super exciting. The other thing that Kimberly talked about that I thought was really inspiring was talking about the fact that she was noticing that she was drinking too much and that other actress who said, why would I dull my instrument when it’s going to stand between me and my dreams?

And I think that’s a really crucial conversation you might need to have if you find yourself maybe letting loose a little too much because I think that can get in the way of what we really want, even if we think it really doesn’t, because I notice myself not always as sharp if I’ve had too many glasses of wine the night before.

So it is important to make sure that we’ve got that vision in front of us for what we want. And we’re keeping that in our sites.

Another thing that Kim talked about that we didn’t, I don’t know if we dove into as much in the actual interview, but she was talking about, finding a group of writers to write with If you are interested in screenwriting, then find a group of writers.

People think that we have to do this creative activity in some sort of vacuum, and I have definitely found that is not a always a good thing. Sure, there’s going to be some activity where we’re writing on our own and just hammering out the details. But we need a group. It needs to be a collaborative effort in order to make the best possible work, I think.

She got involved with Lighthouse writers here in Denver, and I know there’s other writing groups out there in all different cities, in all different areas or even online. So if you are thinking about acting, if you are thinking about screenwriting, my advice and Kim’s advice is to just get started. Go for it.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a break, it doesn’t matter if you started and gave up and are restarting. Doesn’t matter if you’re starting from scratch. It is all possible. So just go for it.

Outro: Hope that was helpful, and make sure you grab the free guide. Top Tools for Late Starters on the website at latestartersclub.com and let’s turn dreaming into doing.