Spotlight on jennifer james

How did you make the leap into acting? Many people consider a career for a long time, what’s your best advice to get them to make the switch?

I think I always knew I wanted to be an actress from a very young age. I started to get into it very slowly, I was in local theatre, school theatre and was heavily involved with dance performance. Once I started to build my confidence with performance, I decided to go out for tv/film acting classes and realised I much preferred that. My biggest advice for getting into this career is do it because you love it and can't envision any other job, the lows are hard and there are plenty of them when you are just starting out.

What is the most unexpected challenge you’ve experienced on your road as a actor, and how have you overcome it?

I think the biggest challenge for me has been understanding you can't have a full time job and expect you will also have a full time acting career. Of course you need to support yourself financially, but trying to find a balance between working and having the time to pursue your career is really important, especially if you are serious about it.

Success is often viewed as a destination, as opposed to something you’ll experience in differing degrees across your career. When do you think you first felt successful?

I think success is something I have learned to appreciate in the small victories. I still struggle with thoughts that I’m not where I want to be yet with my career, but then I have to remind myself of how far I’ve come.

Do you have any experiences that you wish you could have avoided, and if so, what lessons did you learn from them?

Getting taken advantage. I think there is a lot of that in the industry, and when I was first starting out I had to learn when to start setting standards and respecting myself, even if that meant turning down work.

What is, hands down, the best career moment you’ve had so far?

The best career moment I think I’ve had so far is creating my own company and having the opportunity to create my own work, as well as understanding the industry from the other side of the camera.