How One Woman Went from a 16-Year Acting Hiatus to Netflix Stardom (in Germany!)

What do you do when your dream is on pause for 16 years… but your soul still whispers “It’s time”?

If you’re Anne Alexander-Sieder, you lean into your passion, reignite your fire, and wind up in a Hallmark Christmas movie on Netflix—in Germany. 🎬

Yes, you read that right.

Anne’s journey from Detroit to Chicago to Munich is part fairytale, part grit-and-glow-up, and fully inspiring. After leaving her acting career behind for love (and a very handsome German man), she embraced motherhood, language barriers, health scares, and the curveballs life throws when you trade LA stages for European cobblestones.

But her story is so much more than a comeback. It’s a masterclass in reinvention.

🌍 From America to “Amerika”: Love, Language & Letting Go

Anne didn’t move to Germany for a gig—she moved for love. 💞
She didn’t speak the language, had zero connections in the European film scene, and soon after became a mom recovering from a life-threatening illness.

Acting? It had to wait. But the spark? It never went out.

She raised a perfectly bilingual son, nurtured her creativity in other ways (painting, mosaic, jewelry, you name it), and waited patiently for the moment her soul said, “Let’s go again.”

And when it did? 🔥 She didn’t hesitate.

🎭 When a Workshop Reignites a Dream

One spontaneous Google search changed everything: “Acting workshop Munich English.”

She found a coach from LA teaching a class the very next day. There was one spot left.
Anne showed up—with her thermos, her lunch, and the fire she didn’t even know was still burning.

And it was magic. That day, she realized:

“I’ve been trying to breathe underwater for 16 years… but acting? That’s my oxygen.”

💼 Turning Passion into Paychecks (and Purpose)

Anne didn’t stop there. She created the opportunities she needed:

• She brought top-tier acting coaches to Munich so she could train without flying to LA

• She started a voiceover career and eventually launched her signature coaching programs

• And she built an acting biz and a business helping other creatives monetize their own passions

She calls it Passion Project to Pro, and it’s helping actors, artists, even edible-foraging fans turn what they love into what they do.

🧠 Lessons from the Bitch in Charge (with a Whole Lot of Heart)

Anne teaches that you don’t need to be an expert to begin.

You just need to: ✅ Own where you are
✅ Lean into curiosity
✅ Ask better questions
✅ And build a path even when the map doesn’t exist

She’s proof that your past doesn’t disqualify you. In fact, it prepares you.

💥 Real Talk: Imposter Syndrome, Creative Pivots & Power Moves

Anne doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff.

She opens up about:

• Being typecast and overcoming branding challenges

• Fighting imposter syndrome and fear in her 40s and 50s

• Saying “yes” to creating her own space at the table (and helping others do the same)

And here’s what she wants you to know:

“You can turn what you love into what you do—without being an expert, influencer, or coach.”

🎬 From Netflix to New Ventures: Anne’s Not Done Yet

Whether you’re dreaming of the stage, a new business, or simply wondering if it’s too late—Anne’s story is the permission slip you didn’t know you needed.

🔥 It’s never too late to come back
🔥 You don’t need permission to pivot
🔥 You can start exactly where you are

💡 Want to Learn from Anne? Here’s How to Connect

I was a professional actor back in the US, and nearly 30 years ago, I moved to Germany for love—not my career. Life took me in a few different directions, but I always felt the pull to return to acting. So, at 47, after a 16-year break (and with less-than-perfect German!), I successfully relaunched my acting career from Munich.

You can even catch me in the Hallmark Christmas movie A Heidelberg Holiday, streaming on Netflix. When I first decided to return to acting, I didn’t know where to start, so I began with training—just taking those first small steps. That foundational training became the launchpad for my career comeback.

As I began booking more roles, other actors started coming to me for career guidance, which eventually led me to create Get Better Roles, a program to empower actors to get into the rooms that matter so they can land the roles they deserve. But this journey also taught me something big: so many people put their dreams on hold because they’re frozen in the “how,” waiting to feel like an “expert” before they even begin.

This realization inspired Passion Project to Pro, my program to help people turn what they love into what they do—without needing to be an expert, influencer, coach. I’m living proof that dreams don’t have expiration dates. I’d love to share my story, what I’ve learned about resilience and reinvention, and how anyone can take that first step to build a life that genuinely fits who they are.

🔗 Connect with Anne Alexander-Sieder:

🔹 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mrs.alexandersieder/

🔹 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/act_bold/

🔹 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ActBold

🔹 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annealexandersieder/

Transcript

Hi, Anne. Welcome to the Healed and Cash Flowing podcast show. How are you?

Cat, I am super stoked to be here. Thank you.

Oh, my God. I'm so excited. I know we're going to have a great conversation. Me too. For those that don't know you yet, tell us a little about yourself.

 Yeah. Well, hey, everybody. My name is Anne Alexander-Sieder. I am an American actor who is living and working in Germany. I moved here for love, not my career, about 30 years ago, but I have managed to make both work, even though I took a 16-year hiatus to begin with. And I'm happy to get into all of that right now, actually. You can even see me on Netflix. I'm in a Christmas, a Hallmark Christmas movie, a Heidelberg holiday. So I went from zero, no showreel material, no industry context, almost 50 years old to make it at work. So if I can do it, anybody can do it. And I'm excited to talk about all of that.

 That is amazing. Oh, my God, I love that. I'm like, Where can I go? I can go to so many different directions. You were an actor before you moved to Germany. How was that, Germany? Do you always wanted to be an actress? Yeah.

Well, yeah, I mean, when I was a kid, I had the typical, I want to be an astronaut, I want to be a vegetarian. I want to be a dentist. I had that for a moment. I don't know if that's very typical, but I did have that for a minute. Then As a teenager, I fell in love with American sign language. I took it as a blow-off course in junior high, and I just loved everything. I love how expressive it is. It's like a dance with words. I mean, it's just beautiful. I've always loved trying to figure out who people are and how they think and why they do the things they do. For a hot minute there, I wanted to be a psychiatrist for deaf teenagers. Very niche, right? Yeah, very niche. Yeah, very. Yeah. And that came and went, and then I went into acting. But acting, I always say we're like faceted diamonds. There are so many lives we could all live. And I think so many ways we could all be happy. There's no one way, just like there's no one person, there's no one... You just take the one you've got and you make the best of it.

And so it doesn't mean you can't change your mind or Can't change. Turn that diamond around a little bit and let the sun catch it on another facet. But yeah, so that was one, was the American sign language for teenagers. Another one was an interior designer that has always been a big fascination of mine. But I really went all in to acting when I was about 17, moved to Chicago. I was born and raised in Detroit, moved to Chicago, and studied at a conservatory-style school where the instructors used to bring in people from Rada, some of the coaches from Rada, which is the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Thank you. Then finished up there and did the typical backpacking around Europe with a year rail pass and fell in love with Europe and was very distracted by all of that. I would live in Europe for a little bit, then I would home, then I'd live in Europe, then I'd come home. I've actually lived in Europe longer than I've ever lived in America.

I love what you said, America, because that's how I used to say it. Growing up, we always said we're going to move to America, so I haven't heard that in a long time. I love that.

Really?

Oh, there's something- Yeah, I'm from the Caribbean. Yeah, that's what you're called from America.

That is so funny.

I have another friend that also loves Europe. She's actually from Germany, and she cannot wait to go back. She loves it. She loves Europe so much.

So you're acting, you're loving it.

So what did you love so much about it? And were you able to find yourself as you were acting? Or was that a process?

That's a great question. I've always loved it. It's super, super challenging to be vulnerable in that way, to really be vulnerable in a way that's truly authentic and not acted, not going through the motions of being vulnerable. It's really challenging. It's hard. There are certain... I think that's probably my biggest... I don't have any problem with tears. That vulnerability doesn't faz me. But the being weak, asking for help, that's a really hard one for me. And so when I'm faced with characters that are put in that position, I really struggle with that. But I always find it interesting because everybody, there's not one person on this planet who hasn't felt helpless at one point in their life or another. So it's just finding that common ground between myself and the characters. I forgot what your question was. Yeah, I know.

So did you find the acting help you find yourself?

Myself? Yes. So it's so interesting what I've learned through being a coach now for so many years and also being an actor, I didn't realize that there were so many techniques in speaking with other coaches that I'm already familiar with because they're acting exercises. We use a lot of associative memory. You regress yourself sometimes to get more in touch with characters. This is more for the method acting, but that there's And actors are very in touch with that we want that connection. That thing that really it scares a lot of people, sitting there and just looking into someone's eyes And there's something weird about us. We just need that. And so you put a bunch of actors in a room and they will immediately start looking for who can I connect with, where can I... So it does help you find yourself in many ways because you feel safe in those environments to explore those things. But I think we're all like this three-dimensional puzzle. I'm 58, I am still discovering things about myself. I don't know that it'll ever stop. I hope it doesn't.

No, I don't think so. It's fascinating how you're doing this thing that you love, and then... Did you speak German before you moved to Germany?

I did not. No. I mean, I probably had the same five German words that you have. Kindergarten, Gezundheit, Zeitgeist. I mean, it wasn't like anything special. But yeah, so that was a big stumbling block because I had been SAG after in America, and I was working on my equity card. And for the first time, like in my mid to late 20s, was the first time I didn't have to work any extra jobs. I was just making my living being an actor, which was amazing. And of course, you don't need much money when you're that age either. So I'm cognizant of that. But also I felt really good about where I was and where I was going. And then life threw me this curveball in the shape of this hot German guy, and that was that. And then I ended up in Germany, and I was pregnant right away. And I didn't see a way forward, to be very honest with my acting career, because you have to at least be able to comprehend what's being said to you so that you can react to it. And I didn't. So that took a while. And then, of course, I also wanted our son to be bilingual.

So it was really important to me that English was our language at home. Otherwise, I'm pretty good with languages, so I probably would have just... If it had just been me, I would have forced my husband to speak German with me. So that my German It would be amazing. But because our son was there, I wanted his English to be amazing, so I put my German on the back burner.

That's amazing. That's a huge sacrifice. I did not do that, actually. So I commend you for that. I did the opposite. So my daughter doesn't speak very little Spanish because I was still learning. And I knew that if I took that break, I just knew that I was going to lose it. So I commend you for that because it's a huge sacrifice. I hope he appreciates that. Yeah.

I don't know if he realizes that I did sacrifice for him. I don't know that he actually realizes that. Maybe he might someday. But I know he appreciates... His English is flawless. You can't tell. And his German is flawless. So he's literally perfectly bilingual. Yeah, you're welcome.

Yeah, right? That's huge. I know it's a sacrifice. I know it's huge. So you probably love this, like you said, hot German guy. You become a mom immediately. You're in the trenches or acting is in the back burner. How did you cope with? Did you miss it? What was happening inside for you as this was happening?

Well, honestly, I always wanted to be a mom. So that was when I found out I was pregnant, it was like I was thrilled. I was really involved with that in the beginning. And also I got really, really sick in the third trimester, and I ended up almost dying by the time he was seven months old. So then I spent a couple of years recovering from that as well. I was really busy for the first three, four years with living and getting over not dying and my new baby and our family and acclimating to Germany and all of those things. But when our son was about to, I would say, as soon as he got into preschool, I had seen a poster somewhere for the American Drama Group, and I thought, Okay, let me go check them out. I made an appointment and I auditioned for them. As soon as I got done, the guy, his name was Grant Lee. He's like, Welcome to the family. He takes out this big paper calendar. It was a long time ago. And he starts to tell me the touring dates. And I was like, I can't tour.

Yeah, I didn't know. That was a drag. And I was all excited He was excited. And it's like, oh, and then I got it, and I was even more excited. And then all of a sudden it's like, rug gets pulled out from under your feet. And so I apologize for wasting his time. And I'm just about to leave, just on a whim, I leaned back in. I said, Hey, Grantley, you don't happen to know anybody in Munich who I could call, do you? And he thought about it for about two seconds, and he gave me two names. And those two men became pivotal for launching my voiceover career, which was really good for probably 20 years. I mean, I sometimes had five jobs in a day, and it was super flexible. So it was really fun. It was creative. I could bring my son and my dog. I could go home. Even on a really busy day when I would be working a lot, I still had time to take my son to the park, go home, make dinner, Do all those, because we had a very traditional marriage. And then the voiceover work led to presenting, and then that led to commercial work and stuff.

You asked if I had missed it, and yes, I did very much. But I didn't necessarily realize I was missing the acting. But what I was doing was going... Every few years, I would be looking for some new thing to occupy my creativity. I would get into painting and I'd become up. I'm very obsessive about things, so I get very into them. I would do painting, or then I was in a mosaics or jewelry design, interior design, collage. I mean, you name it, I did it. It wasn't until my son was 16, and we had a standard movie date on Friday nights, and he came to me on Thursday, and he was like, Mom, I don't want to hang out with you on Friday nights anymore. It was interesting because it was really the first I had a chance to think about, What do I want to do? What do I want to do? The answer was, I just wanted to have fun. My idea of a good time is taking an acting workshop. On a whim, I sat down and I googled acting workshop Munich-English. The universe just literally opened up. This is not a normal thing.

There was a coach out of LA. The workshop was starting the the next day on Friday, and there was one seat open.

That was for you?

It was for me. Yeah, totally. So I whipped out my credit card. I signed up for it. I made my little lunch, and I showed up the next day with my thermos and my lunch, and I was all... Almost like that first day of school, so much hopeful and excited, but not sure what to expect. And it could have sucked, to be very honest, but it didn't. It was amazing. I often wonder what would have happened had it not been so great. But what I realized was I had this pilot going on these 16 years that I was unaware was burning the whole time because in that acting workshop, it just went, it just combusted. I was on fire. I came home realizing that's my element. I've been trying to breathe in the water for 16 years, and I need to get back into it.

That's incredible. And I love this. So many parallels and so many constants. I see how you transform and adapted. You made everything work. I don't know if you realized. You're like, Okay, can I do acting because I schedule my voice over? And you just dove into that. And then channeling your creativity. I love that you know I'm creative. How do I get it out, if the main outlet that I want is not available, I'm going to use another outlet. And I think that's not really how you were able to make it all those 16 years because you did not just say, well, life sucks. You found a way to make it work for you.

For sure. I mean, I was doing so many different things. I did blogs before blogs for a thing. I used to make my son. We had a YouTube channel called Marks Munich, and I'm so pissed that he didn't keep it up. And he would be just set for life if he had just kept doing it. But it was like before, even YouTube was a big thing. And he was so cute, and he was out there as a little tour guide with this T-shirt and everything.

That's adorable. That's adorable. But it worked. Oh, my God. That's amazing. So then 16 years go by, you go back. So what happens? You do this work now. How does that relate to after that workshop? What tools do you need to go back to what you wanted to do?

 Such a good question. For me, I was rusty. Acting is a skill, and you have to keep it sharp in order for it to be good. My instrument was very attitude. Soon. And so I knew that I needed more training in order to get my skills sharp again and get my confidence in my skills. And so the problem always presents the solution at the same time, voice. So the answer was I needed more training. So now that presents the second problem, because as I said, the acting workshops in English in Munich were not a thing. That just was a total fluke. So that meant I could fly to London New York, LA, and try and get that training from these high caliber instructors that I wanted to work with. But obviously, that would have been cost prohibitive to do on a regular basis, and also time prohibitive because I couldn't just keep flying around the world every month. So problem presents the solution. I needed the training here in Munich, so I was like, Okay, let's make that happen. And then I started to reach out to coaches that I always wanted to work with, people I'd always heard about.

And I started to bring in these amazing coaches to Munich, once, sometimes twice a month, because I knew that if I could just find a handful of other actors to take the workshops with me, all I was looking for was to get the training at the same price that I would pay if they were already in Munich. But what ended up happening super quickly was I got free training. I was building a community, which that's like, I didn't even know about the word community. It wasn't a thing back then, but I didn't realize how important that would be to later when I was actually relaunching my career. I I was earning easily between a thousand and 2,000 per workshop. So I was like, Oh, this is interesting. But I was super myopic about it. I just wanted the training. That was all I was interested in. I wasn't interested in making it a business, not a side business. I just wasn't interested in any of that. I just wanted to get the training and relaunch my acting career. So when I felt good, when I was like, Okay, I think I'm ready for this again, was about a year, year and a half into it, and then I just stopped.

Then I started to do all the things that I had done as a young woman, which, to be very honest, I didn't have much of a strategy as a young actor. I got lucky, to be really honest with it. I'm not trying to knock myself down. I do believe in my talent, but there are so many talented people out there. I happened to know some people who got me some good things, and that led to other good things. And so that's not repeatable. You actually have to have a strategy and a framework. And I also realized pretty quickly I had some limiting beliefs that I needed to get over around my age, around my lack of perfect German. And so that was when I became a life and career coach, was to get over my own limiting beliefs. And the thing that was so interesting for me was it made me realize, Oh, I can just adopt somebody else's framework and strategies and condense my own timeline and not have to learn all this by trial and error. So what else don't I know? There's a lot I don't know. And that's when I started to...

Well, I had already realized that acting is a business, that I was in the business of being an actor. And so I needed to find out about, Okay, what am I selling? What Who's my target audience? What's my market? All of those things. So I really started to take program after program after program. I'm a pretty easy sell. If I know that I need something, it's interesting. I find that people fall into different categories as a coach, especially with this. And I'm sure you see this as well. There are people who know they need to help, and yet they're just so resistant to getting it. And there are other people who are just like, That's exactly what I need. I am ready to go. Let's get the show on the road. And that's me.

That is so true. I'm exactly the same way. If I know I need something and they manage to say it the right way, I'm like, That's what I need. Let's get it. I think that I love what you said, that you... What did you say? It's so well, you found somebody else's framework and you condensed the time so you didn't have to learn by trial and error. That was It's beautiful. Oh, my God. Because sometimes, some people like to learn by trial and error, but that's just painful. It waits so much time, and it can derail you for a long time or forever. So I love that you realized that you were trying to do it that long way. I love what you you were in the business of acting. Oh, my God. I think maybe the delay was the best thing for you because you were able to do it even better because you didn't even have a plan before.

Maybe. And who knows? I mean, should have, would have, could have, right? I mean, I don't know. Maybe I would have figured things out. Who knows? I mean, really, there's no saying. But it is so true that the problem is always the solution. You just have to ask yourself the right questions. I realized that I had a branding problem as an actor, but I wasn't calling it this at the time. I was saying I was being tight cast, and I was. I I don't know if people are listening to this or seeing it as well, but if you're not watching this, I have very sharp features, and I'm a strong woman, and so I'm dark. I have dark hair. So I was being cast a lot as like, Oh, I just heard the best thing, Bitch in Charge. The Bitch in Charge.

I'll take that.

I was like, actually, that doesn't sound so bad, right? It doesn't sound bad at all. But it was like the bitch in charge without a heart, and that's not me. And so I felt like... And You end up playing very one-dimensional characters when it's flat like that. I wanted to play juicier characters. I really worked on showing the other facets to my personality. Then I started to get much better auditions, much better bookings. In fact, this Hallmark movie that I'm in right now on Netflix was a direct result of that where I was like, got to pull back a little too sweet. Okay. Because the Hallmark is like the pinnacle of sweet. And so it was like, okay, it worked, but that's too much. Let's find those nooks and crannies again.

Before I forget what's the name of that movie again. We had to make sure that they- It's called a Heidelberg holiday. Yeah, you're going to have to type that for me. We'll put that in the blog post because I'm not going to get that. But I'm excited because I love Hallmark, and I can always see you in action. That's amazing. So you figured out that you were too sweet, you have this branding problem, you were hiring the right people How does that turn into a business then?

Then that's when actors... Well, I wasn't hiring anyone at this point. I'm still being cast and all of that. But when other actors started to see me getting better auditions and better bookings, they started to say, How did you get that? What's going on? What's happening? Then I started doing one-on-one coaching, but that really quickly led to my signature program, which is Get Better Roles, which is where I help trained actors who've been in the business for at least a couple of years to get the roles they deserve by focusing on the business of being an actor. They need to watch their acting skills, but I can help them with the other side. I always say it's like a bird with two wings. One is your skills, what you bring to the table, but the other is the business, and that you can't ignore one, otherwise you're just going to flap around in circles. That was this evolution. Then around this point, also, I started to produce some short films. Filmmaking is expensive, very expensive. This is when phase of what has now become my second signature program, which is Passion Project to Pro, came into play.

That was the workshop aspect where I was like, Oh, well, that was actually really useful to make some extra quick cash. Let me just put together some workshops and do that. Then I can finance this short film or get my new head shots because that was expensive, too, or whatever it was. Then phase three, which which is what I still do, is whenever I see someone that I want to work with, that I would like to establish a better relationship with, I will often, almost 99% of the time, offer to have them do a workshop of some sort, whether that's a seminar, a workshop, a retreat, whatever it may happen to be. Because that gives me... First of all, I'm on equal ground. I'm literally offering them something of value. We're able to have conversations where I'm not this lowly little actor, and they're this big-time casting director, whatever it may be. We're just two people who happen to both love the film industry, and we can have normal conversations, maybe about acting, maybe about the film industry, maybe about our kids, maybe about our dinner last night. Who knows? But because it takes away that like, Oh, God, they want something from me because I'm actually giving something.

So that, too, also made me realize how valuable it was to find a way to bridge your passion to your career, make it your career, or as I did in my case, or as many cases, I truly believe that your purpose in life, you will find that through your passions and through your curiosities. We are all put on this Earth for a reason. When you think about the miracle that any one of us is walking around on this planet and all the things, all the stars that had to align for that to happen, it's mind-blowing. So it's not random that we're here, and it's not random that we each have these very unique curiosities and passions, often like mine with ASL and psychiatry. That can be very like, Whoa, how does that fit together? And yet it does. I love the idea that everyone wants to, or that so many people want to be entrepreneurs. But I think what is lacking is that most people think they have to be a coach in order to be an entrepreneur. And what that ends up leading to is a lot of people feeling like they're just trying to stay two steps ahead of the people behind them.

So they're always looking over their shoulders, trying to see, Oh, my God, are they going to catch up to me? And it leads to a lot of imposter syndrome. And the thing I love about passion project to pro and the way that I was able to do it and the way I'm able to do it with the clients is that you're able to be exactly where you're at. If you are a complete novice, just own it. Say, Hey, guys, I'm here to learn just like you. I just arrange this. That's all I did. And it lets you get your $10,000 in a really organic, natural way And I can tell you from experience, because even from the day one of setting up those workshops all those years ago, I really had to fight not to have the authority because I wanted the feedback. I wanted the critique. I wanted to get better. And so you can't get better if people aren't willing to give you honest feedback. And so I really had to say, no, I am here to learn just like you. There's no difference. So you will automatically start to get put in that position of authority, and it just depends on whether or not you will know, you will know when you are ready to take that and turn that into something beyond or not.

But the beauty of it is that you can turn your passion into a business before you are an expert. So I always say you can turn what you love into what you do without being an expert, influencer, or coach.

That's so good. You said so many awesome stuff. And what I'm noticing that it's a theme here is when you're authentic, most of the time, you were your first client. And because you were your first client, if you listen to that, if you stay with that or not, like you said, own it and like, hey, I'm a novice or I'm learning this, or I struggle with this. I think that's the most powerful people connect with that. I struggle Gold with X, Y, and Z, and now I don't. And that's why I can help you. I know what you're going through. And I loved the fact that you made it your own. And I think that's the biggest thing that I'm hearing from this is own where you are in the moment and also be the entrepreneur that you're supposed to be, know what everybody else is doing.

Yes. I'm sure, cat, you see this, too, right? You'll be in a group. I don't know if you have any mentor coaches. I do. So mentors. Yeah, of course. So a lot of times what you'll see in some of the bigger groups that I'm in, somebody will post once a week, Hey, guys, I'm really dealing with imposter syndrome. Anybody else? And then you'll see A hundred and nine six people respond, Yes, me too. Yes, me too. And the reason that they are dealing with imposter syndrome is because they weren't actually ready to step into that role yet. And I think that when you just own where you are, it doesn't mean you can't make that a meaningful income-producing part of your life. And it doesn't make it any less important. It doesn't make It's not a hobby. It just means like, Hey, I want to learn as much as I can about this. And then the day will come when I will know or when people will keep telling me, You already, because that happened as well. People kept saying, Can you coach me on this? Can you coach me on that? Different things. And that's when you know, Okay, then I guess I'll give this a shot.

Yeah. And it's funny because people don't I realized I don't want to have a coach that is so far away from where I want to be that they cannot relate because I won't be able to relate with them either. So I think people don't realize that you don't have to be 10,000 steps away from them Because I can relate to someone that has already achieved all the things that I wanted, achieved that 20 years ago. What do we talk about? I probably wouldn't feel comfortable. I like coaches that are already accomplished or already overcame what I wanted to overcome and then have steps that I can take now, that they can really walk me through it because it's not so long ago that they don't remember.

That's a great point. Yeah, that's a huge thing. This is why I don't teach beginning actors, because I don't even remember how to tell them anymore, how to get to those things. It's why I only coach trained actors in the business of being actors because I don't even... I was having a conversation. We're going to go do the London Actors Pro Expo, which is like a big convention for actors in London. The woman who puts it on was asking me to explain branding and marketing to actors. I was explaining it as if I would explain it to the people that I normally help. And she's like, No. So what materials would they need? Do they need headshots? I was like, Oh, Yeah. Wow.

What if you step back?

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. And I love the way you're speaking. You have such great clarity. Even when you said earlier, I work with actors that when you're talking about give it a role that have been acting for a couple of years, that right there tells me they're not acting one on one. They actually have some credits under their belt. And you know you have programs for different things. And I wanted to go back to this. I I don't want to miss this, when you needed the workshops and they were not available, you're like, who do I want to work with? Let me bring them in. That was such a genius move. And I love something else that you said that when you brought them, now you were not this rinky dinky little actor somewhere. Now you're at the level because you're bringing them. And I love how you're like, Okay, how do I even the plane feel? When you get this grit to not take no for an answer, because you could have I don't want to be traveling all over the world. This is not happening here. Where do you get that from?

Oh, man, I have always been stubborn. I think that's part of it. But I don't like to be told no. That's one thing. Because people were saying it. My husband was like, he's not in the film industry at all. None of our friends, friends here are in had either. They were all like, Sure, you're almost 50 years old. I mean, isn't this the time when people are hanging it up and not continuing? There were a couple of things. One was I realized as a young woman, I probably let fear stand in my way more than once. Probably. I definitely did. I I realized as a grown woman that fear... I think I thought when I was young that fear just... Like, grownups aren't afraid. Like grownups are these mystical creatures that everything just works out the way they it to, and this and that. But of course, as we become grownups, we realize that that's not the case and that things like fear don't go away. For me, I always realized that I would let it stand in front of me, literally like a bully. Here's the other thing. Our lizard brain, or whatever you want to call it, will come up with so many logical reasons why you shouldn't do something to cover the fact that you're actually afraid, that you're afraid of failure, you're afraid of whatever it may be.

There are a million things, but it always that you're afraid you're not enough. These are the three core things. I invited fear to get out of my way and to stand in the corner, laugh at me, watch me, walk beside me, but do not stand in front of me anymore. I will not allow that. And that was very empowering and very freeing just to say, Hey, I may fall flat on my face. I may not succeed, but I don't want to get to the end of my life and look back and think, What if? What if I had just tried? And yeah, That's really what it boils down to for me. I think so many people... Yeah. I mean, honestly, we just want to matter. We all just want to matter. So in what ways do you matter? To whom do you matter? And these are important to all of us. There's not one person on this human being who doesn't want to matter in some way. They may have turned away from that. They may be angry. They may be disappointed with themselves, but it generally comes from a place of feeling unappreciated and unloved.

And so the prickers come out, the cactus grows. And so they make themselves unlovable to protect themselves, but it all stems from what we all want. We want to feel like we're significant, that it meant something, that it wasn't all for nothing. I don't know. Sometimes I think I will do that through my acting, or I have done that through my acting. Other times I think maybe it's more through my coaching. I definitely see an immediate... I never know who I touch when I'm acting, for the most part, unless somebody writes to me or something. But with coaching, you definitely get an immediate feedback. That's very gratifying. It makes you feel good to help people in that way.

That's beautiful. I have a friend. She said something was so powerful. She said, always act or come from a place of you are helping people. You are helping people. And you never know. Something that you said, I had a guest the other day, she said something. It was a couple of days ago. And I wrote it down. I didn't think much of it. And then I was going to bed the other day And I was like, it hit me. It hit me so hard. And it's like, I didn't tell her the time. I didn't have a huge aha moment, but it was marinating in the background. So I am 100 % sure that you have helped a lot of people. And we just don't know. And it could be something significant to you, but to that person, it's the very thing that they needed. It's a beautiful thing to be on purpose. When you are on purpose, there's no way that you cannot help people. It's impossible.

Yeah, I love that. Do you know, I also have a YouTube channel now where I do my podcast and all of that. Someone wrote to me this morning and had said that they're not an actor because my channel is for actors, but I do a lot of mindset stuff, which is really for anybody. He wrote and said he's dealing with a broken heart, and just he wanted to take a minute to let me know how much I had helped him. I was like, you never know because most people don't take the time to tell you. But it's people like that that honestly you're like, it makes it so worthwhile if you're helping just one person or the possibility of helping one person. Yeah.

 And even for Posterity, the work that you have created already, other people are going to find those films. They're going to find the work that you have done and that lives on way after your time. And it's just so amazing. One thing that I wanted to share is that when this show was on, I never watched Yellowstone, even though I have loved Kevin Custer since the movie get No Way Out. But I love Cowboys, to a way that is probably not healthy.

I see your earrings. I didn't even plan that, right?

I love it. I love the whole thing. I never watched it. And then finally, for some reason, the clips are coming up on my feet. I'm like, Okay, let me get into it. I'm watching it, and I'm watching it from a place of a school. And the way that they show it, there's always a problem. They fix a problem, another problem comes. And I watch now quite a few episodes. Not one time have they said, Okay, I'm laying on the ground. It's over now. We're done for. Not one time. And I'm like, I'm watching it, and these characters keep doing this. And I'm like, How many times have I said, Oh, well, I Try. And listening to your story, you found so many ways to redirect. You found so many ways to say, Okay, I did try that, but you created opportunities for yourself. And I just want to comment you for that because it's easier to give up than keep getting those nos because it's things after no, after no, after no, it doesn't feel so good. So I just want to come in and just bring to your awareness if you were not aware of that.

It's a rare thing to be stubborn, and it's a gift to be stubborn like that.

Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I don't know if my husband would agree to that.

Well, he's still caught out all the time. Yeah, that's true.

He's stubborn, too. That's I.

I am sure he is. Oh, my God. Do you have anything coming up that you would like our audience to- Yes, I absolutely do.

I'm launching Passion Project to Pro. That is not just for actors. I already have some people Well, from all different walks of life, basically anything that you could learn through a seminar, a workshop, a retreat, a supper club, a morning hike, whatever it may happen to be. I have one person who is interested in edible fauna in the California mountains. I've got another person who's interested in refinishing furniture, so everything from woodworking to upholstery Eventually, her plan is to turn that into flipping furniture. So that's interesting as well. I've got another person who's all into cake decorating, and Really, it's anything that you can learn. I've got another one that's all into self-help. So she's really looking towards healing, whether that's through ayahuasca or through doing different kinds of retreats and meditations or whatever it is. She wants to basically, once a month, do something amazing that she needs. I think the beauty of the program is that, as I said, you don't need a ton of people. You need a handful of people. It's best, you saw this, it's best when yourself are your ideal client. Because that way, you are doing something that you are fired up about and all.

I basically lead the people through... Some people come to me with their passion already like, This is what I want to do. Other people are just like, they like the idea of being led by the hand through the different stages of creating their event. We start with the ideation, figuring out what's the best type of event for what you want to do, then moving into where are you going to find the expert or the coach or whatever you need for that. Then moving into the venue and the participant, all the way up to week five, where they then go off and launch their events. Then we have a two-week period in between, give everybody time to launch their event. Then we come back and we do a debrief and we talk about what worked, what didn't work so well, what are you going to do better next time. But the thing is, they literally get led by the hand and they know they can do it because they will have done it.

Where do they get more information about that?

I have a free workbook. They can find that at actbulltraining. Com P4Passion2, the number 2. I'll send you a link for that as well. That workbook will definitely get them started, launch their ideation and finding their coaches and finding their first participants. And if then they actually want more help, as I say, I'm launching first part of the second quarter of next year, so end of March, beginning of April.

That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. Where do you hang up the most on social media, if at all?

I do. Probably Instagram, YouTube. Yeah, those are probably the two biggest. I'm on Facebook a lot, too, though, I guess. Yeah.

Okay. So we'll make sure to have on those links on the blog post so people can find you. The time has gone by and I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation because you are someone that has lived many lives and done so many incredible things. But I think my My favorite part is that you have done it on your own terms. If that's not a bitch in charge, I don't know what it is. But you do have a lot of heart, so we can add a bitch in charge with a lot of heart.

That was that. That sounds good. I like it. Might be my new tagline. I like it.

I will go for it for sure. Thank you so much for being on the show. It's been a pleasure.

Cat, it has been so much fun. Thank you.

You are very welcome. There you have it, guys. This is probably a conversation that you were not expecting, but it would have helped you so much if you watched it at least twice. It's my homework. If you are really daring and really amazing as I think you are, watch her a third time because there were so many nuggets intertwined in Anne's story in life and how she just made it work for herself. And I think as women and a few brave men, we get to decide what our life looks like. And we can take the nose the first, second, third time, or we can tell the nose where to go and make our own way. Thanks so much for watching. Please know that I love you, that I'm waiting for you, and I'm going to see you, duper, duper soon. See you, super, super soon.