Helenna's Year of Gratitude

Today I am grateful for Bradley Cooper’s interview on Inside the Actor’s Studio and for the years I spent studying in the Bachelor of Fine Arts acting program at the University of British Columbia.

Watching Bradley’s interview today really brought be back to the intense training I had in the BFA and reignited my gratitude for the professors I had and the classmates I shared that experience with.

If you are an actor, especially an actor who has graduated from a conservatory style acting program, you should absolutely watch all of these videos of Bradley’s interview.

Links:

Bradley asking Sean Penn a question

Bradley on Inside the Actor’s Studio Part One

Bradley on Inside the Actor’s Studio Part Two

Bradley on Inside the Actor’s Studio Part Three

Bradley on Inside the Actor’s Studio Part Four

Yes, I was crying through the whole thing. There is something absolutely beautiful about seeing someone so eager to continue living and breathing the craft after he had been a student asking questions from that same audience.

Also, I must admit, I really really really miss having my days filled with nothing but acting. Voice class, movement class, scene analysis, rehearsing for plays, grabbing drinks with your friends, and then doing it all over again the next day.

(Measure for Measure - directed by Gerry MacKay)

Thank you to my many teachers including Stephen Heatley, Stephen Malloy, Gayle Murphy, Cathy Burnett and Neil Freeman; as well as Peter Loeffler, Jerry Wasserman, Christine Willes, Shelia, Linda, and KJ.

(Graduating class lip sych performance)

Thank you Sasa Brown, Mike Griffin, Mike Waterman, Joel Redmond, Jason Nicola, Jes Watson, Emily Laue, Kerry Allchin, and Robin Mooney for joining me in the journey as the graduating class of 2004.

(One of the many, many, good times….)

(Ladies from my graduating class.)

Thank you for sharing so much with me every single day. And also Tara Avery…thank you for the many nights of Banrock Station Shiraz and for being there in some of the most fun and most difficult times.

(Tara and I getting ready for one of our performances in The Secret Rapture directed by Stephen Heatley.)

There are a ton of other people who made up my years in the BFA program at UBC and I am incredibly grateful for you all. This list would be very very long if I wrote all of the people that I was in shows with or who directed me etc… so please know that you have all made a mark in my heart and I am incredibly grateful.

Thank you.

xoxoxoxo

hels