S: How did your childhood influence you to become an actor?

M: I grew up shy and never wanting to draw attention to myself. My brother’s a musician and my mom’s a painter, but I’m definitely the first performing artist. I think it started with me wanting to get over the fear of having attention on me, and from there I learned that there’s a real power actors have in starting a dialogue, or conveying a new idea. We bring perspective and seek truth.

S: Do you feel your role as an actor has changed because of social media?

M: I mean I love consuming it, from all the videos i find on twitter, vine, even tik tok or musically. I think it’s another tool that smartphones give to the artist to be able to create for themselves so we don’t always have to be waiting for our “big break”. I do have my beef with it though, the way algorithms are set up to cater to the most extreme types of content, CDs prioritizing actors with larger social media followings over talent, and if you went to a drama school chances are they really didn’t prepare you for any of that. But I feel like actors have always been put in a position where it’s adapt or die. It’s never really been stable for us, so it’s not the worst. 

S: Favorite performance you’ve given?

M: I really enjoyed this performance of Petruchio I did at this workshop with Independent Shakespeare Co.  I was doing a few short films prior and I hadn’t really been able to stretch my stage muscles in quite some time so it felt freeing. I feel every muscle in my body working when I perform Shakespeare, from my jaw to my diaphragm. Even my toes get wiggly when I’m doing stage stuff. It’s freeing to not have the comfort of modern language because then i worry less about making bold choices.