Alice Greczyn – Working Hard for the Hollywood Dream
Alice Greczyn lives the Hollywood dream. Unlike the young starlets who were discovered back in the 30s and 40s, most people struggle for years before they ever got that big break—and some never got that break their whole career. After filling out a card for a modeling agency at the mall with her friend on a whim, she received a call back. She modeled in and around Denver, Colorado, and then one day, a Los Angeles manager came to her agency and requested she come out for pilot season. Out of 300 rising talented aspiring actresses, Alice was one of the three invited to Los Angeles. She immediately booked a commercial and had a guest spot in a film. But don’t be fooled. This actress worked really hard for what she’s earned.
Since that first audition, Alice Greczyn has appeared in several movies including Dukes of Hazard, Shrooms, Fat Albert, and her most recent film, which was just released, Sex Drive. Greczyn’s first television show was the short-lived NBC series “Windfall,” playing the daughter of a lottery winner. She currently co-stars on “Lincoln Heights” where she plays Sage. I interviewed Alice in her brand new apartment in LA and I could see why she is one of those chosen few—she has that special indefinable something. Some have referred to it as the ‘it‘ factor. If she comes across half as authentic on screen as she does in person, then it’s no wonder why she’s come so far in such a short time.
Tell me about some of your recent roles.
I wrapped a film called Sex Drive which will be coming out I believe in October. The director was Sean Anders and he let the actors adlib a lot. I was working with a lot of good people: Clark Duke, Seth Green, James Marsden, Josh Zuckerman, and these guys are funny. And coming from Lincoln Heights where (understandably so) every word needs to be said exactly as written, it was really fun for me to go and be goofy and improv. I play an Amish girl, which was really weird because I so don’t look Amish, but whatever, if they want me for that, okay. It was a lot of fun. I filmed in Florida this summer. I was actually working during the writer’s strike so I was one of the lucky few.
The horror film I did is called Shrooms , and it’s about bad trips while on shrooms. That was my first horror film and that was just exhausting. It was fun. I thought it was a really cool idea and I had so much fun working on it. Plus I got to film in Ireland for 2 months. That was amazing and travel is definitely my favorite thing to do. If I’m not working I’m gone somewhere. That’s nice because my family travels too.
Looks like you’re really close with your family. Are they very supportive of your career?
Yes. I’m the oldest of 5 kids. My mom and my dad and our cat Gypsy. We all traveled a lot together and lived in very small quarters for a long time. So we’re very close. We were home schooled our whole lives. And since we moved around so much our whole lives, we pretty much just had each other.
That’s interesting about you being home schooled. You must have some kind of an edge to be able to book these roles. It seems like it’s happening for you rather effortlessly. Do you think that maybe your education (home school as opposed to traditional schools) is what has helped you get an advantage?
I can see both sides of the argument to home school or to not home school. I’ve had people ask me about it. “Oh I’m thinking of home schooling my daughter. What do you think?” For me it has definitely helped a lot. It’s made me very adaptable, very flexible, I was always told ever since I was a little girl, “Oh you’re so mature. You can speak with adults.” I only had adults! And then my siblings. It definitely made me very open minded.
Did you have any obstacles in pursuing acting?
The biggest obstacle was finding a place to live in Los Angeles. I always tell people get a place to live first. It took me about a year to finally decide I was going to do this. I had roommates and some of them just did not go well, and it’s very expensive to live here as we all know. Fat Albert was a job which allowed me to really cement here.
Auditioning is hard too—it’s exhausting. I don’t feel guilty now about the money I make or anybody else makes because it’s payback for years of work. It’s a fulltime job. During pilot season, I was going on 3 to 4 auditions a day, staying out all night, reading scripts, getting coaching, and driving all around. But then once you are working, it’s like a vacation. I’m focusing on one character, especially if it’s an ensemble cast that’s even better because then you have some time off, and then you can really develop more than having to fry your brain out trying to do too many things at once. Or there’s a flip side—You don’t audition enough and that’s just really discouraging.
Do you take a lot of acting classes?
I took acting classes for the first year and a half I came out and now if I’m having a hard time with a role, or I just want to sharpen up, there are a few acting coaches I see. I prefer to work more one on one as opposed to a class model.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I hope to still be doing films and call a little more of my own shots. I’d love to get married sooner than later I guess. I used to have a whole 10 year plan and honestly with this job, who’s to say. I have no idea. The industry could decide it’s done with me tomorrow. In 5 years I would love to have gone to massage school and be a license massage therapist. My dream would to be able to do one or two amazing films a year, travel with my family, do massage therapy, and cook and do all the things that I like. I’ve never been the type to want to just do one thing.
Maybe you’ll do those things with different roles.
Exactly! That’s the fun thing about acting. I can play different characters. I can travel through time. I can be an army nurse one day and the next day I can be a fashion model.
Highest High
I like being able to take my family on vacation. I was able to pay for them to come out here and go to Catalina Island for a few days. When I was a kid we didn’t have a whole lot of money and our vacations were camping. We literally lived in camp grounds without a house for quite a while. And there were a lot of us. So it was a big treat if we got to eat at the Cheese Cake Factory once a year. So it’s nice when they come out, we can splurge and go to the Cheese Cake Factory every night if we want. [I’d like to] help my siblings out with college. That’s probably my greatest high, being able to share it all.
Lowest Low
Anxiety attacks. This industry is not very friendly to the emotional psyche. It’s just very easy to get stressed out and spread too thin. I have to get away in order to come back. I can’t do what some of the people out here I’ve seen do. It’s just too much. I don’t know how I could go from one job to the next to the next to the next. Pilot season was a pretty low point for me. I was just ready to give it up. There’s nothing humane about it. Everyone just sees you as what they hope you’ll fit. But so many times, you get so rundown and you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t go back to sleep [worrying if you know all your lines, etc…]. It’s hard to maintain friendships, much less personal romantic relationships when you’re in a job where you do have to travel. I’ve lost touch with so many people and it’s very difficult to maintain a healthy sense of sustained connection and love and support when you’re just exhausted all the time.
What advice would you give to someone who’s trying to pursue an acting career?
Logistically have a place stay if you’re going to come out here, whether it’s a friend or a relative. Save up a lot of money. Secondly, do not take things personally. Have a lot of back bone and a lot of self-discipline. You can’t be sleeping away your auditions. You can’t be lazy and show up on set and make everyone else mad at you because you were out late partying. Keep being inspired and that will get you a long way I think.
Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples
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