As I sit here listening to The Beatles, my soul band, I am reflecting on how artists who create with calm and ease can impact the world.
Truly, from that space art can transform the world, which we need now more than ever.
I felt the same energy when I interviewed Rebecca Lines, an actor and acting instructor, whom I feel privileged to say I have known since the beginning of her career.
Coming fresh off a meditation retreat this week, I listened to my interview with Rebecca differently upon my return from Los Angeles. While the actress has had a relatively fast ascent in her career, having worked with several Oscar winners in under a decade, she has also put in the work to end up on set with the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Sebastian Stan.
I still remember meeting Rebecca over ten years ago through a mutual friend in my building when she was first giving acting a go. It was a childhood passion that she decided to repursue as an adult after the real estate industry collapsed. Instead of acquiring her license after moving to Nashville with her former husband, she took a pause. Listening to her heart and reflecting on how much she loved to entertain as a child, Rebecca Googled “acting in Nashville,” which led her to studying with a wonderful instructor named Alan Dyer. The first moment she was on set, as a background actor in Nashville, every fiber in her being lit up. She had found her home.
Today, many films and TV shows later (catch Rebecca on shows like “Cobra Kai” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier“), she is still incredibly humble and also highly passionate about teaching young actors about how to properly study their craft. As my dear friend and long-time neighbor, Taylor Hardaway, who has studied with Rebecca at the Nashville Acting Studio, said, “She has a knack for understanding your range, how you likely need to be stretched, and can articulate what you need to do to jump into a character.”
Beloved by her acting and filmmaking community, it is clear why Rebecca has thrived since taking a leap of faith and pursuing acting as an adult: as my meditation crew would say, she has found her “dharma,” or the gift she wants to share with the world. Most importantly, she takes her enthusiasm for the craft of acting and teaches others how to acquire it with kindness and empathy like a great instructor should.
