Ms. Namita Nayyar: You were first discovered by an agent in New Zealand and then discovered by visiting studio casting directors at the age of 16, who urged you to pursue an acting career internationally. You later went on to act in Shakespeare off-Broadway. You reached the pinnacle of success when you as a Narrator, Presenter, Director, Writer, Cinematographer and Producer completed the theatrically released and popular award winning feature doc film ‘Buddha Wild’. Your are a leading an actress, director, producer, writer, screenwriter, cinematographer and a philanthropist. How you manage such a remarkable multi-dimensional lifestyle? Tell us about your journey that took you to where you are now in the world of acting and film making?
Ms. Anna Wilding: As you know I was born far away in a relatively small town in New Zealand . I started being cast quite young in New Zealand. I was already travelling on my own, since the age of 14 or so, as I was on the national tennis circuit. I was first cast in a TV show when I was about 16 or so. Around the same time I came to the attention of casting directors over from one of the studios in the USA and it was suggested I move overseas to work internationally. Thereabout the same time I had already “consciously” decided I wanted to act.
I was most driven as an Actor and Director. I went to the only professional production company in town and told them I wanted to Act, Direct and Produce. They of course laughed at me and told me, as was standard for the time, “No, women don’t Direct or Produce” . I have great stories about some of the things I have been told as a woman in this business. I really don’t think girls today, up to the age of let’s say 37, realise how unequal and unfair this business was to women who wanted to direct or produce feature film. Today girls have a much easier path. Now a woman just as to say “I wan to direct” and they are pretty much told “okay” Anyhow that company however ,did take me on as a production assistant for a few months. They were doing a TV series with USA talk show host Leeza Gibbons. They would use me as an actor as well when shooting commercials etc. I also was doing a photography degree at the same time,which I later worked in professionally as well, shooting for local magazines, fashion shoots ,things like that. Within a couple of years I had written, directed and co starred in a play Patience of Silence” that won the Fringe Theatre Award .The Director of a big Festival was over from Brisbane , discovered it and wanted to take the show and me global. By now I had also done a couple more TV shows, and a film. I auditioned for NIDA in Sydney Australia a the age of 16, one of the best acting schools in the world. I flew there by myself. After a gruelling 3-4 day process. I was in the last 26 of 25 to be chosen but I wasn’t chosen- I missed by one. The vice-head if the school came running after me down the hallway when I was leaving and said, “Anna I want you to know you were the best, but we have kids who are 18 or 19 who have tried for 3 years to get in,and we have to take them.” I learned pretty quickly then that its not exactly a fair industry and that politics and other things come into play. I proceeded to move to Australia anyway, took a job , and was accepted into a full time winter scholarship program studying method acting with a famed NY coach in Melbourne at another great school Victoria College of the Arts VCA.. I also was already performing professionally in theater and tv between Australia and New Z. From there I made my way to LA and worked three productions jobs in Hollywood- about 90 hours a week and good jobs too. I was exhausted all the time.
One of those three Los Angeles companies eventually bought me out of the other two and took me on at a livable wage and continued to promote me over the next year .I ended up as General Manger and In House Producer-producing major rock music videos. It was an exciting time but my heart was still in acting though. .At the same time I auditioned at the grand old Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (former home of the Oscars) and out of about 5000- 10 000 auditions that were held nationwide I won a coveted space of the top 25, so I was invited to a summer scholarship program at the New York National Shakespeare Conservatory- I think it was either an adjunct of Yale,or had Yale tutors. It was a great little school for a time, and one of my professors was Meryl Streep’s former professor. This was just uncanny to me, as I was often, since I was a teenager ,as an actress being compared to the Streep, though she, of course, is a few decades older. Meryl Streep is a wonderful actress, great, one of the best and always loved her work. It was my first time in New York and I loved it. Anyhow I was still under contract at the time to a music video company in LA and returned studying to take up that contract. This saw me working on projects for Rolling Stones, UB40, Stanley Jordan, and many others .From there I moved to other production companies, eventually become Head of Development, then Vice President, of motion pictures by the time of age 25 or 26.. I even art directed for a couple of years on set and learned all about Hollywood film crews and Hollywood way of working. I was still keen on acting, its where my heart is, but it was clear the casting couch was prevalent so I kind of focused on the production. I am someone who likes to know how everything works, like all the cogs in a wheel, so I learnt my craft well. I then had my own and popular little film production company in London and was flying between UK and USA developing and packaging A list projects and A list talent, doing deals.
I was one of the few female film producers around (though there were many female TV producers) and I now had enough experience to be called into consult on movies. I was one of the few around in the heyday of Co Productions, who had on set experience worldwide and in Hollywood. I knew how different crew from different countries worked on set.
|
Anna Wilding on WomenFitness: Womenfitness.net is a great portal and magazine. It’s important that fitness is part of our daily lives. Fitness is part of beauty no matter what shape or body type you are. And every woman is beautiful. |
By now the trades had well picked up on me and were writing stories in trade papers and consumer press. I was quite taken aback at times to see my name in print on the same page as Spielbergs, or Monica Bellucci. I had been in Italian vogue or something as “one to watch for” as well. But at the same time I was also quite not taken in by “Hollywood” so to speak. The whole “celebrity” thing is not really me and I never really understood that part of it so I probably didn’t take up on some opportunities as that’s not what was driving me. My work was and telling good stories and good screenplays. By the year 2000 I had some major contracts as actress, director and producer. Then things came to a slow down and standstill of course with the tragedy of Sept 11 and various WGA and unions strikes.
After this I started spending time in London again and was a member of a great club, that had a lot of British and other nationals returning from Middle East and Asia. Through watching their filming techniques and work more closely , I realized that if I combined what I knew from Hollywood, with this more guerrilla style film making I could make something that creatively and technically could stand up in cinemas, and that I could basically just go and make it. I had all the knowledge , I had worked hard , what if I didn’t need a large studio or big distribution deals to make a feature film and tell a story? So I did.
Hence award winning film, Buddha Wild, which was praised for its creative and technical achievements at the time. It was a story that came to me quite organically. It was my response to racism actually, an instance I witnessed. If I just ever made one film I would be happy with Buddha Wild. I like what it says and it brings joy. Film is a craft. I know young kids today think they can just pick up a camera, but there is more to it than that. Making something for You Tube doesn’t mean it will stand on legs in the cinema technically or creatively.
I made a film on the devastating Christchurch earthquakes after Buddha Wild, and another one on a New York artist. Both these did well, in a different kind of way from Buddha Wild as I didn’t release them or make them to be released for theatrical runs in cinemas like Buddha Wild was.
I am now in active development on a narrative feature ,seeking investment for my films, and looking at tv and film scripts as an actor. I just signed with a new agent. My lovely Mum passed away last year- bless her. A very sad time, This was shortly after getting married so last year was about family. In fact, the last year or two have been about family, healing and regrouping, as my hometown Christchurch was destroyed by earthquake in 2011. So now moving forward and focusing on work again. I like to work everywhere in the world.
Videos
Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
