Being a writer/director has allowed me to really understand how to analyze scripts in a more effective way as an actor.
Tell us about yourself and what you do
My name is Meredith Hama-Brown and I’m an actor and also a writer/director. I have had the privilege of working on many incredible films as an actor that have travelled the film festival circuit worldwide. And as a director, my work spans both narrative and experimental fields.
Who has inspired you in your work and why?
With each new project I work on, I feel inspired by many of the people around me. The last two films that I acted in, for example, were both with two wonderful directors (Sophie Jarvis on her film ‘Medical Drama’ and Michelle Grady in ‘A Backward Glance’). I was inspired by Sophie because she just has such a crystal clear vision of what she wants to create and she is full of fantastic ideas. And, like all great directors, she made my job easy as an actor because she always knew the right thing to say at the right moment. For Michelle Grady, this being her directorial debut, I was blown away by her natural talent and ease as a director. She was always able to provide excellent insight into the characters and she was also an extremely collaborative person to work with.
What do you love most about being an actor?
I love taking part in someone else’s passion project. It always feels like a huge honour to be cast in a story that someone has worked so hard to create. And the challenge to uphold their created character while also embodying it, is one of the most enjoyable aspects of acting.
I also just love to simply play around with different sides of a character and experiment with who they are. The most interesting part of acting for me is figuring out who the person on the page is.
How do you think being a writer/director influences your work as an actor? Or vice versa?
Being a writer/director has allowed me to really understand how to analyze scripts in a more effective way as an actor. I think it has given me a better toolset for taking an in depth look at the script as a whole.
And vice versa, I think that being an actor makes it easier for me to write dialogue and to also think about a story from a more character driven perspective. Of course, many people do this very well when they aren’t actors too, but I think I have developed lot of valuable skills from acting when it comes to creating characters.
