OLIVIA TAYLOR Actress on the Rise When did you first get involved in acting? I started acting in local community theatre when I was in middle school, mainly because my family had just moved to New Mexico from Florida (big jump for me), and I wanted to make friends. I also was a pretty shy kid, and I was guided to theatre as a way to break out of my shell a little. It definitely helped boost my confidence and create a little community. What or Who inspired you to pursue a career as an actor? Honestly, I really wanted to meet Tom Hiddleston when I was younger. 12-year-old me had a ma jor crush on him, and I figured that pursuing an acting career might be my only way of getting close to him. Now that I’m not twelve, I’m definitely inspired by actors who came from really tough circumstances and slowly built their career out of what they had --- Demi Moore comes to mind, who is actually from New Mexico, too.
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What have been your biggest achievements been in Film and TV? Please explain. I think everything I’ve had the fortune to book since signing with my agent in Albuquerque has been so surreal. Coming from a shy kid who used to push myself to audition for school plays, I had no idea that I’d ever have the chance to make a living out of it. It’s been such a blessing to have worked on several platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Lifetime, and The CW, and to be a tiny part of the unique atmospheres on each set. A lot of content is surprisingly filmed in New Mexico, and I’m just super happy to be here right now.
I’m sure you have met a lot of celebrities along the way. Would you share 1 or 2 of your favorite stories with us? I’m someone who gets starstruck on set. Kristin Davis was very kind. I had a little scene in a film with her last December, in which I was directed to interview very unsuccessfully to be her nanny. It was all improv and I hadn’t shared with her what I was going to say in the scene (but I was going to try and make it as funny as I could). I ended up making her laugh on camera when she probably wasn’t supposed to, and she told me, “You tricked me!” That was pretty awesome. What has been your ideal character, so far? And why? I’ve always wanted to play the main character in a comedy. I feel like I’m pretty silly in real life, and I try not to take myself too seriously. A lot of the leading ladies I see on screen are a little too perfect and beautiful and graceful to be relatable to me --- I think it would be really fun to turn that archetype on its head. If you were forced to choose only one, which emotion, more than any other drives you to stay in this tough business? Is it joy, anger, desire, passion or pride and why? Hope, maybe? I think a lot of actors have to constantly grapple with the amount of time and discipline it takes to build a career in acting (or any creative art, really). There are absolutely times when I’m booking nothing, with nothing to do but sit and overthink and look over my shoulder at what other people are doing. But I have to remember to be patient
