Geek of the Week: Alberie Rachele Hansen
Where are you from originally?
How would you describe growing up there (how’s it different from out here)?
I am from Downey, CA. Home of the original McDonald’s, and The Carpenters, haha. I was in LA county so Hollywood was close without being right in the middle of the city. I like to be involved with art, but I like not being right on top of my neighbors. I grew up ice-skating, dancing, and acting in school, but until I was a junior in high school I was planning on being a veterinarian. So I didn’t see first-hand how many people moved here for acting until I was in college and going on auditions, when most of the people I met were not from the area. Although considering I grew up in the traffic, I should have known.
What is your Hogwarts house and why?
I didn’t know until my cousin had me take the test and I was sorted into Ravenclaw. When I read, “Wise old Ravenclaw, if you’ve a ready mind, where those of wit and learning will always find their kind.”
– J.K. Rowling
I thought that is pretty accurate, except red being my favorite color. I have always been an old soul with a babyface – which is fun when it comes to casting because I feel like I am still growing into my type of roles. I also love to be creative outside [of] acting. I love making handmade gifts for family and friends. And with the help of my family and friends, we pretty much made my wedding from scratch.
What are some geeky hobbies you partake in? Why do you like them? Rather – what captivates you about them?
I have a couple of sides to my geek hobbies. As far as the fantasy art side, the show Supernatural is one of my biggest fandoms. I have been watching since the beginning. I love the research that goes into the show. And how even though you can tell they have a lot of fun on the show, they take their work seriously. I loved the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books and the show True Blood. Although I don’t like to compare them because they did differ from each. I like to enjoy them as their own entities. I also like her Harper Connelly Series of books, which are a little about solving crime and a little supernatural. And the Jeff Lindsay books for the Dexter series, which bridges the gap to my other geeky side of most things crime and murder-based. I am a Murderino. I listen to the My Favorite Murder Podcast, as well as many other true crime-based podcasts (Last Podcast of the Left, Real Crime Profile). And I enjoy reading (or listening) to true crime books. I love learning how they catch them, breaking down the profile, and trying to get justice for the victims.
When did you remember first falling in love with performing?
Was it watching a certain movie, play, musical, or show?
Was there a certain moment?
Like I said, I grew up wanting to be a veterinarian, but it was always performing for fun. I had my first ice-skating competition at five. I started dancing in middle school with my church. And I was always putting on shows for my family. I finally decided to make it into my career in my junior year when I took anatomy and we had to dissect a cat, even though I still found it interesting, I realized I didn’t want to make it my career. I thought about what made me happy and that was performing. I started reading acting books and watching even more movies to study performances. Then the next year I was the lead in Alice in Wonderland and I jumped headfirst into making a career of performing.
If you could take the place of any fictional character from any book, TV show, comic, or film – who would you choose? And why?
At the top of my list, my dream would be for them to turn the Harper Connelly Series into a TV show. She is a woman, who was struck by lightning and can now feel the last moments of a dead person. Her and her stepbrother, who I would cast as Matthew Gray Gubler (this is my dream right), help find missing people. The person is usually murdered and then they solve the case. The character has been through a lot before the book even begins, which is why I like her as well. I like those strong, but damaged characters. There are shows where I wish I could have been cast, like Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) from Orphan Black, Jessica (Krysten Ritter) from Jessica Jones and Fiona (Emmy Rossum) from Shameless. But part of the reason I love those characters is because of their performances, so I just stay positive knowing my role is coming.
Who is someone you look up to and why?
Feel free to name two or three. (Preferably a real person)
There are so many I will name a few and as soon as I am finished I remember five more. First, Iliza Shlesinger, she is one of my favorite comedians. She is very smart, I definitely recommend her book, Girl Logic. She is just such a force when it comes to knowing and getting what she wants. I listen to her podcast as well and she talks about her past struggles with getting cast in more acting work. Now as she is getting more acting work and got her own show produced you can see her hard work pay off. It is really inspiring and motivating.
Second, Matthew Gray Gubler, besides being an interesting human being, I love his career. He is on a long-running show, Criminal Minds, which is an amazing show, but very dark. Then when he is not filming that show, he is filming these fun interesting independent films. All the stories and characters are different, which is what I would like from my career. I want to jump into as many lives as possible. I have a lot more people I look up to and would love to work with, Michael C. Hall, Alan Ball, Kevin Smith, Adam Driver, Amy Adams, Rachel Griffiths…
But a person outside the arts who I really look up is – Laura Richards. She is is a British psychologist, criminal behavioral analyst, former New Scotland Yard, and an expert on domestic violence, stalking, sexual violence and risk assessment. She is the founder of Paladin in 2013, the world’s first National Stalking Advocacy Service. Laura Richards is one of the hosts of Real Crime Profile. She is so passionate about the work she does. She is one of the reasons that even though I still want to be an actor, I am starting courses for forensic psychology. I wanted to take my love, true crime and put it into something good, like victim advocacy. I would like to help people build themselves up after the crime. There is a lot more healing to be done after the crime is solved.
Tell me about a time you had to pick yourself back up career-wise.
What or who helped you get there?
After I graduated from Cal-State Fullerton and was first starting to build a life trying to act, I had all this training, but getting out and networking is a whole other type of training I wasn’t used to. I also didn’t have a lot of money so being able to afford classes, pictures, and driving to auditions was hard. During that time, I read a lot of plays and books so I could keep myself as sharp as possible and I did as much community theater as I could. Once I got a job as a bartender at the airport I was able to afford more things for my acting, and I was able to perform more. But I also found myself not wanting to get too comfortable that it made me fear moving forward in my acting, “Yay, I can afford things, but I want more than that out of my career.” So finding that balance was really hard, work would make me tired, but while I was at work I would think about all the art I wanted to work on. It is hard to find that balance when you are building a career that doesn’t always pay you. You want your work to feed your soul, but you also have to feed your body.
Through both of these times I had my mom, and my husband cheering me on as the loudest portion of my fan club. My mom has always been supportive of whatever I wanted to do, she gave me this bracelet from Disneyland that says, “Find your passion, take chances.” I always have that in the back of my mind when I find myself getting too comfortable and not pushing myself enough. My husband is always pushing me to work on new things and make me laugh when I get discouraged. His career is outside of the art world, so I am so grateful for his support when I have late rehearsals or a late film shoot night.
What are some current projects and/or goals you’re working on?
Before the shutdown, I finished a couple of projects that are in editing now: Real Acting – Season 2. Season one is on Amazon Prime. Shameless plug, haha! Also out – Break and The Saber: A Star Wars fan film. I am really excited to see the finished product. A friend of mine is working on a short that we can film on screens during the quarantine, which will be really fun and interesting to be a part of. I also work on as many monologues as I can to practice and post. I want to keep myself working, so I can hit the ground running when we are allowed to interact in public again. I am also exploring writing my own work. I have a couple of ideas, and what better time to work on them, than when you can’t leave the house?
What was one of your oddest performing experiences as an actress?
I have a guess, but I’m curious what you’d choose. I know I’ve a couple.
First what comes to mind is when my skating dress broke right before a competition and I almost flashed everyone during my skate. As far as acting, one time when I was doing this real fun absurdist play, which had adult content. Nothing too graphic, but it was an all-ages show in the round. The audience was almost sitting on the stage. It was such a small venue and a couple of performances there were kids in the front row, so it took some work to get my mind back into the piece, but the show must go on.
Do you have a favorite inspiring quote (by whom)?
I have a few: “Pressure makes a pearl.” – Iliza Shlesinger (quoting her dad)
“Failure is success training.” & “It costs nothing to encourage an artist.”
– Kevin Smith
“(Rochester) Ask yourself what you want from the theatre. “
“(Lizzy Barry) I want the passionate love of my audience. I want, when I make a sweep of my arm to carry their hearts away, and when I die that they should sigh for never seeing me again-till the next afternoon.”
– The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys.
What is your dream show or project to work on?
Well, I guess I already answered this a little bit. I would love to make the Harper Connelly Series. I would love to be in a production of The Libertine by Stephen Jeffreys. I would also love to be in a production and or a screen adaptation of Burn This by Lanford Wilson and Jesus Hopped the A Train, by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Although there are so many more! [My] big dreams are to finish my script ideas and get to star in them. I just want to perform well-thought-out interesting characters.
What is the impact you want to leave on the world?
From my work I want people to escape even if it is just for a little while. Depending on the story I want people to find laughter, catharsis, or make them see the world a little differently when they leave. I want them to really feel like they are in the world with me. From my life I want people to see that you should always push yourself to feed your passions. Even if you don’t make all the money in the world every time you do something that makes you happy, it makes your light shine just a little brighter. That is worth more than money can buy.
What has quarantine been like for you? How are you keeping yourself occupied?
Honestly, I don’t really take a lot of time off, I will switch shifts for auditions and shows, but when I take a day off here or there I am usually doing something. So I am taking this time as a blessing of recovery. I can work on my art, workout, cook, and clean, without having the time limit, making me stop and get ready for work. I am very thankful that the money I got from my work and unemployment my husband and I are getting takes care of the bills. That is a big thing I don’t have to worry about right now.
It has been nice to clear my mind a little. I don’t have to deal with a child in school and if we are not out by June, my feelings will probably change, haha. I really have been cooking from scratch more, which is really fun and it doesn’t feel like as much of a chore since I am not standing all day at work. My cat, Jenny, and my dog, Forest, love the attention they are getting – don’t tell the cat I told you that! But I just take it day-by-day. Some days I am ready to record for hours, and others I need to rest and watch Bones with homemade cinnamon rolls.
Where can people follow you? (Social Media links)
Twitter: brierachele
Instagram: brierachele1
YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/AlberieRachele
Website: https://alberierachelehansen.com
