by Lindsey
(Aix en Provence , France)
QUESTION:
We moved to France a few years ago from a small island in the Carribean so my daughter has never lived in the United States. We are American but now live in France. My daughter loves acting she’s funny , confident and her dream is to win an Academy Award one day. But living in France really clips her wings, because acting is much harder in second language and it really shakes her confidence by making language mistakes in her French accent . She tells me she does not enjoy acting with the constant fear of making mistakes. So after two year of French acting she quit. It breaks my heart because she loves acting so much. So we did an acting camp over the summer and she loved it and she really misses i . So i was wondering what we should do i was thinking of online classes but I don’t know . Please help.
ANSWER:
I know how she feels. I struggled with my accent for years. She has the advantage of being young, though, so she’ll pick up the accent faster than if she was an adult. Some actresses in France have built their entire image on their accent, so she shouldn’t worry about it so much. Online classes wouldn’t be helpful for a child. She needs to learn by doing and having fun. I don’t know how it is in France but depending on how old she is, she could get experience auditoning for commercials at first. Many don’t require the actor to speak. Eventually though, it’s about attitude. Acting is tough, and actors have to learn to keep working on it regardless of the obstacles in their way. If she really loves it, she’ll go back to it, regardless of the language she has to use. Hope this is helpful…