In life, people tell you to follow your passion. This can be incredibly difficult, especially when your passions lie in an industry as competitive as the performing arts. For Ursula Maria, an award winning actress, acting and performing are her passions.
“With so much competition, you need to be unique. Bet on your strengths.” she says. “For me, that’s being able to speak more than one language, being a trained dancer, being athletic.”
Standing out from the crowd matters since the crowd is huge. Many people compete for the same role, and only one person can book the job. Why should it be you?
“That’s always the question, right?” So Ursula. “It’s interesting, I have booked many roles because they required someone to be able to speak German, like my latest role in “Anonymous is a woman”. I had to do the whole scene in German and English. Switching back and forth. Not that easy actually, even if you’re fluent in both languages. Anyways, it was a fun shoot. Cold though. We flew out to Nevada and shot in the snow. I was freezing.”
Not really what you move to California for, when you come from Austria. But one would assume that an Austrian is used to the cold.
“Maybe. But I still don’t like it.”
We get that. But most shoots don’t happen in the cold.
“Definitely not. I mainly shoot in sunny Los Angeles.”
And there are always a lot of shoots happening. Assuming there is no lockdown of course.
“Right. Hopefully it stays that way. I have some fun projects coming up and I can’t wait to be back on set and work with creative and talented people. I just spent a week filming with a really great team and can’t wait to find out what the new year will bring.”
Any ideas of what may be coming up?
“Yes. I have some movie shoots lined up that I am very excited about. I also constantly audition for things, so I’ll never know what may get added to my schedule. Keeps it exciting!”
Working as an actor, actress and performer is definitely an exciting career choice. Why did you choose to pursue a career in the performing arts?
“I have been performing ever since I can remember. I used to do a lot of dance shows, then I studied musical theater and acting. I love to put on a show. I get excited about immersing myself into a character and bringing it to life. I enjoy storytelling and creating. And I like to play.”
But it’s not all just positive, is it?
“Of course not. It’s difficult. There’s a lot of nepotism in the industry and a lot of people get cast because of who they know. But at the end of the day, you need to be able to be good. And you need to love the process of creating in order to stick with it even when things are tough. You’ll audition for lots of projects that you’ll never book and you can’t let yourself get down about that. It’s the nature of the game. Only one person can get the job. But when you do book the role, it’s the most exciting thing ever!”
Hopefully, there’ll be a lot of exciting things in the future!
“I sure hope so too!”
You can follow Ursula Maria on Instagram at:
