15 minute read
JESSY SCHRAM
Dress: Angelika Jozefczyk Shoes: Steve Madden Ring: MAHRUKH AKULY JEWELRY Earrings: BLOSSOM BOX JEWELRY
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Dress: Angelika Jozefczyk Shoes: Steve Madden Ring: MAHRUKH AKULY JEWELRY Earrings: BLOSSOM BOX JEWELRY
JESSY SCHRAM
By: Ashley Vitarelli
Multi-hyphenate Jessy Schram has been dazzling screens and enchanting audiences for years. Provisioned with intrinsic talent and a unique capacity to deliver one captivating performance after another, she has solidified herself as one of the most formidable faces in the industry, bringing beloved characters to life in magnetic and mesmerizing ways. From hit television shows to fan-favorite films and everything in between, Jessy Schram’s experience in the business speaks for itself, demonstrating her sheer star power time and time again.
“I grew up in Buffalo Grove, a Northwest suburb of Chicago, in a very modest and hardworking family,” Schram recalls. “My parents had a screen printing business that they started out of our garage and I grew up alongside my older sister and brother.” It was this environment that fostered Schram’s initial interest in performing, an interest that she wasted no time in exploring. “I’ve always loved performing,” she shares. “My mom would take me to nursing homes and to my great grandpa’s house often just so I could sing the same songs over and over and over again. It didn’t need to be in front of people though, I’d be in my room singing those same songs, acting out stories on my own. My siblings and I would make SNLinspired fake commercials on our VHS camera and put on plays in our backyards. I loved performing.”
That love for performance inherent in Schram’s being soon manifested itself in the world of acting. “I started acting when I was about 10 years old,” she explains. “Since commercials and radio were really the only things going on in Chicago at that time, I never had to be home schooled full time or miss a lot of activities for long periods due to filming. Growing up I was fully in ‘normal kid’ mode, the only difference was that after school I’d get dropped off on Michigan Ave to perform in a theatre production or head to auditions! I think the first time I realized I could be on the ‘real TV’ was when a friend in grade school went to an open casting call for Harriet The Spy and I asked my mom if I could go with her. My friend got a call back, I didn’t, but I asked my mom if I could try again. She helped find me an agent and I auditioned and auditioned over and over again until doors started opening. I was in the business at a young age working, but then I was also participating in all the highs and lows of common pre-teen and teenage life in the suburbs.”
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JESSY SCHRAM
From teenage life in the suburbs to teenage dreams coming true in Los Angeles, when Jessy Schram was 17, she headed off to Hollywood. “I went to LA for the first time when I was 17, after getting a callback for my first pilot audition,” she notes. “It felt worth it at the time to fly all the way out to LA, so my mom flew out with me and booked a room at the Extended Stay Suites in Burbank, before the strip mall was really built up. The audition process kept getting extended with all the different steps, so we kept extending the stay. In that time I booked my first ever TV gig on Drake and Josh for Nickelodeon. Let’s just say ‘Hollywood’ felt awesome. It was my first time in LA and my first time in TV and film. I remember noticing weird things, like the highways didn’t have a lot of billboards like Illinois and that they were very dark without a lot of lights. What people in California consider hills, I still consider mountains. Venice was my favorite spot and we would drive to the beach almost every day.”
Soon, everything about LA became an every day occurrence. “I moved to LA on my own after graduating high school,” Schram explains. “It’s pretty amazing because I had plans to move, but then booked a gig and moved a day earlier with a job in my pocket. It’s such a rare scenario to move to LA with a job and it definitely shaped my experience first starting out alone in the very different world of LA.” Indeed, despite being relatively new to Los Angeles, it did not take long for Jessy Schram to make her mark on the town. “I would say being a part of Veronica Mars was a different kind of break for me,” she recalls. “It was my first recurring character and gig and the first time I went on location. I had gone in to read for ‘Girl Number 1’ and the casting director, Deedee Bradley, asked me to look over some other sides. So I went in the hall, learned the lines, and then went back in and read for Hannah and booked the job. It was the first time I played a character through more than one episode and a job that definitely gave me a stepping stone.”
Indeed, Schram’s career was only getting started. “I’ve gotten to work on projects that have transformed me as a person and as a performer,” she reflects. “Falling Skies was the first show that became like a family to me and an opportunity to help mold a character in a way that was new to me. I consistently learned so much from all the actors, crew members, and creators within the process and was able to take that into the next job. Last Resort was similar in the extent of feeling the trust that was given to bring the story to life. It was an adventure of its own filming in Hawaii. Something fun I valued a lot while working on this job was that I had the ability to meet with different Navy wives based in Pearl Harbor that were generous enough to share their stories and experiences, which brought me closer to my character and another culture I didn’t know much about.”
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Jessy Schram’s name quickly became synonymous with some of the top shows on television. From Mad Men to Once Upon a Time, Schram shared her talent with countless iconic roles and programs. “Mad Men was a show I was already a super fan of before walking onto set,” Schram explains. “I auditioned for a part that I thought would have just a few lines in one episode because I just wanted to be part of it all, not realizing it was going to be a larger storyline and presence than just those few lines! Being a part of the show was definitely a milestone for me and because I was such a fan of the work, it was exciting and then also a little terrifying because I wanted to live up to the standards! The creator, producers, writers, cast, and crew had such great attention to detail. It was also the first role that I felt like I was stepping into the shoes of a ballsy, confident woman. Everything about the experience was a fun challenge that I got to do with a group of people that brought their best each day. It’s one of my favorite experiences and roles.”
As for Once Upon a Time, “it was scary and beyond fun,” Schram recalls. “It was special to be a part of such an epic show from the beginning, before it aired, because we didn’t know what everything looked like yet. We didn’t know how people would react and how it would come together. So taking this beloved character that the world, including myself, has an emotional attachment to, and then adding layers that were brand new from the creators, Eddie and Adam, was a trust exercise in myself and them! I remember feeling that I wanted to fill those shoes and the vision that they had so badly and to not disappoint people in playing this iconic character! Everyone brought their A-game and it set a high standard which I’m happy for.”
In addition to television, Jessy Schram is also an absolute force in many cherished Hallmark movies. “My favorite part of Hallmark movies is the connection and response from the audience,” she shares. “The movies are fun to make and I’m obsessed with rom-coms, so I love the romance and the journey of getting to the happily ever after. I genuinely enjoy the joy that it brings the audience and being a part of people’s happiness. We film those movies in three weeks, so the whole thing is a bit of whirlwind! We accomplish a lot in each day on a schedule that is pretty packed. For me, on these movies, I’m usually in every scene unless it’s more of an ensemble cast, so there’s not much time for anything other than doing the scenes! I’m there bright and early with hair and make up, and depending on the activity of each scene we’ll have five to seven scenes a day and location changes and scene set ups. During lunch, I take a nap and then shovel my food down real quick back on the way to set. I wrap with everyone else, head to the hotel, heat up my frozen dinner, take an epsom salt bath, and practice my lines for the next day!”
The fantastic talent of Jessy Schram does not stop there. Indeed, she is also a skilled musician. “I love singing,” she notes. “It’s somewhat of my first love. I started writing melodies when I was young and then learned some light guitar and started coming up with ideas. Music is definitely something I do as an outlet and something that I use a little more as therapy. I absolutely love playing with other musicians. While filming Nashville I discovered that playing with a full band was the greatest sensation ever! I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but music hits a different chord inside and it’s satisfying.”
Most recently, Schram can be seen in one of her most beloved and awe-inspiring roles yet, portraying Dr. Hannah Asher on the hit NBC series Chicago Med — a part that had a less than traditional audition process. “The audition process was an adventure,” she explains. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to audition because it came in late at night and the film dates conflicted with a bucket list trip I was leaving for the next day — a surf camp in Nicaragua. I remember looking at the audition sides when I got them and thinking, I’m going to kick myself if I don’t try for this. There was something different about the audition that grabbed my attention and about who Hannah was and what her journey might be. So I filmed it real quick before my flight and sent the tape in not thinking anything would come of it. Two days later, I got a call from the director of the episode with a handful of notes, asking if I could send in another tape. This, of course, was the first time ever I didn’t bring makeup or any kind of vanities to help with my appearance. So I woke up at 4:00AM — howler monkeys in the background — wore one of the girls’ sleep shirts from the camp because it was the only professional and doctor-ish looking thing anyone had, put bug spray in my hair to fluff it up, and my mom read the audition with me over the phone while I acted with an X on the wall. It was so not how I prep for an audition. But I got the call a day later that I booked it and was in Chicago two days after that, filming my first scene as Hannah Asher on Chicago Med. I’m glad I trusted my gut on that one!”
Schram’s sensational resume outfitted with incredible roles and experiences speaks to her impressive prowess as a creative, while her mature and profound perspective on the industry speaks to her remarkable wisdom as a person. “I’ve noticed that a lot of the time I’ll get a role or storyline of something I’m personally needing to work on,” she shares. “Something within the character resonates in a different way, or I’ll have learned something in the process of the filming that was super helpful to my personal world. Not always, but it definitely happens. I think that both my creative and life skills are constantly growing and they take different turns at different times periods. What’s great about what I do for a living, is that it’s necessary to live life and observe your own self and situations. I get to pull experiences from my life and career into each other whenever it’s necessary.”
Her wisdom also extends to charity work and making the world a better place. “I have a few organizations that I work closely with that mean the world to me,” Schram says. “I’d like to focus on Corazon de Vida, which is a charity that umbrellas over 12 different orphanages in Baja, California. The kids range from one month
Dress: Angelika Jozefczyk Shoes: Steve Madden Ring: MAHRUKH AKULY JEWELRY Earrings: BLOSSOM BOX JEWELRY
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to 17 years old. One of the reasons I love CDV is that any funds they receive go into the fundamentals that help support a child or teenager. Think basic necessities — nutrition, a balanced diet, plumbing, clothing, a safe place to live. In the 16 years I’ve known them, they’ve expanded into providing school supplies, uniforms, education, workshops where trade skills are taught, and they do weekends where all different doctors will be provided to give health care. They now have college graduates who have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, and hair stylists. They provide a world in which these children and young adults are able to create a life and support themselves when they leave. I used to go on trips constantly and be able to play with the kids and see everything in action first hand — anyone can visit, you’ve just got to get yourself signed up and to a bus! I learned that love is a universal language, that effort in communication goes a long way, and that consistency gives security. Corazon de Vida and their volunteers do that on a physical and emotional level. Volunteering with them for so many years really gave me a sense of purpose and connection.”
In the same way that Schram finds purpose and connection in volunteering, so many people find purpose and connection in the characters that she portrays and the stories that she shares. “My favorite part of my work is getting to be a part of something that makes people feel something,” she shares. “I get to portray a voice, a story, a point of view that makes someone think, makes someone feel. Being on set is one my favorite things, it’s my happy place. Collaborating and talking to all different people, I love that because of my work I get to go inside worlds, learn things, and meet people that I never normally would get the opportunity to. The power of storytelling is massive. It’s the connection that brings understanding, empathy, exposure, reflection, relief, and imagination. Storytelling exposes us to a connection with our hearts and thoughts.”
To summarize Jessy Schram in one word would simply be an impossible task. In truth, she is many things: a TV icon, a movie star, a singer — but allow us to simplify. Jessy Schram is a monumentally talented and conscientious creative making the world a more connected, understanding, and better place through her art. “I’ve gotten to work with so many talented and generous actors — luckily ones that have also been great human beings,” she reflects. “It can be exciting and empowering to play in a scene alongside someone whose work you’ve admired, to be present with people that are so good at what they do, and to get to stretch your own abilities. I’m constantly learning from the people around me. No matter how large or unknown their name may be in the spotlight, I love creating with people that care.”
