[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: You had a choice at one time between residency as an opera singer and then an acting apprenticeship?
Sheila Houlahan, Actor, Singer, Producer and Writer: Yeah.
Film Courage: Can you talk about the factors that went into choosing which way you chose?
Sheila: I had been trained to be an opera singer my whole life but I never really questioned if I really wanted it. I just assumed I wanted it. I was like oh people say I’m good at it, I must want it. There was something that drew me to it. It’s not like I hated the genre, I was like there’s something about this.
Then I took a film acting class and I did it for fun as a hobby with my roommate who is one of my closest friends and I just fell in love with it. it was like ooh instead of like projecting a story to a bajillion people and being like this is what’s happening, you’re talking here and you’re just existing because if you do more than exist you’re going to look bonkers on film as we’ve seen. All of a sudden it’s this intimate thing that only happens once and you’re never going to do it again.
If it’s opera or musical theater, you’re going to do that same role a kajillion times for decades, that becomes your bread and butter. You’re like Okay, it’s time to sing Carmen again. Film is the opposite. You’ve acted it once and then it’s there on your…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Film Courage - Empowering Creatives 