Meet Megan Ketch | Actor, Founding Director of Studio

We had the good fortune of connecting with Megan Ketch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Megan, what role has risk played in your life or career?
The most important risks are ones I’ve taken after loss. Losing disrupts expectation You become freed of what you lost and other certainties. In absence, a kind of presence can emerge – an unfamiliarity with yourself or the world as you imagined it and I think that invites risk. ‘What have I got to lose?’ is entertainable question when your chips are already down.

Less notable but relating to risk, I always volunteered first in class. My hand shot up to be the guinea pig. I wanted to walk planks. Is that risk or foolhardy? It is who I’ve always been. The improvisational, ‘not knowing’ space of acting is what most appeals to me. I feel oddly capable when I’m lost, a passenger to experience.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What sets you apart?

Though I am twenty years into this business, I feel like the new girl in class. I feel giddy each time an audition comes through or a new actor signs up for my scene study. I imagine my future success a lot, despite all the opportunities I’ve had to prove myself that didn’t foster fame. I get lit up by process – whether I am rehearsing a new play, acting on camera, coaching another actor or giving a writer feedback on a draft – in a first time, perpetual discovery kind of way. My energy or enthusiasm for acting remains untarnished by the many times it’s broken my heart and I think that infects others.

How did you get to where you are today professionally?

I work very hard. I remain open to what I don’t know and honestly observe limitations as well as my strengths. I look for inspiration everywhere; in live performance, in townhalls and protests, in curated conversations and spontaneous ones, in dining out, in dining in other people’s homes, in films and tv shows, in books of essays and poetry, in novels and most reliably in the natural world. I have had more than a fair share of luck and consideration by mentors, representatives and other artists who have affirmed my talent and sense of belonging. I’ve taken some good risks and bad ones. I’ve gone into debt to study acting at a very high level. I’ve missed the weddings of dear friends and family. I’ve gone without health insurance. I’ve learned to meditate and I’ve how to ask for help. I’ve paid rent in NY and LA to put myself in the way of opportunity. I’ve celebrated the success of others. I’ve learned so much from other actors, from directors, writers, transpo drivers, designers and casting directors. Simply, I haven’t given up.

What challenges have you faced?

A life-long practice of pleasing others has made it harder to identity was authentically satisfies me. Beyond youth, beauty and sex appeal, the entertainment business makes it hard to feel valued as a woman. I have felt simultaneously objectified and invisible and not always able to advocate for my needs or raise my voice. As so many actors have said, aging honestly is a challenge in this business.

Acting is one of the few professions for which you are publicly reviewed or critiqued. And acting relies on personalization and vulnerability. Signing up to receive judgement in your openness towards character, story, collaboration and design – your own body and image – is a riddled thing. I think the tension of making art and then selling it – publicity, advertising, award campaigns – is uniquely hard for women because the world is uniquely expectant (judgmental) of us.

What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way.

I wrote an essay called Things I have learned from Loving Acting (https://www.meganketchstudio.com/single-post/2017/07/29/things-i-have-learned-from-loving-acting) years ago that still feels true to me about the lessons I’ve gained from this pursuit.

What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

I want the world to know I love her. That I am attempting to use my life to affect meaningful change and that acting is how I best reach the hearts and minds of other people. I don’t want to be a brand. In my work, I want to be a human having a human experience.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them?

Los Angeles is full of natural wonders. I’d start with a hike in Griffith Park. This my almost daily ritual. Griffith offers perspective, wildness and other park people who say things in passing you like, aren’t we lucky? about the setting sun or a blooming tree. Griffith Park is a great sensory awakener. To counter the altitude, we’d go to sea level. Paradise Cove and Matador in Malibu are my favorite beach parks. I look for heart-shaped rocks on both shores. The museums of Los Angeles County are incredible. Live Music at Zebulon, the Wiltern, the Hollywood Bowl or La Phil is an experience I’d want my best friend not to miss. Frogtown is the Bohemia of Los Angeles and it’s cafes, small businesses and bike path on the LA River make for a really special day out. The LA Dance Project is a city treasure. Everything I’ve seen there has blown my mind. Venice food trucks. Saffy’s in Silverlake. Little Dom’s in Los Felz. The homemade pita and spreads at Momed in Atwater. The food in Los Angeles is bonkers special.

Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

Monday, Hike to the Observatory in Griffith, Yuca’s carnitas burrito post hike, vintage shopping in Echo Park, Button Mash bar-cade and Kombu sushi for dinner

Tuesday, Cobalt & Blue paint pottery in Frogtown, rent bikes and eat lunch at Spoke Café, hear live music at Zebulon and tacos at Salazar

Wednesday, Moca and the Broad downtown, Grand Central Market for lunch, fly kites or picnic at the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Chinatown and chicken sandwich from Howlin Rays.

Thursday, Norton Simon Museum and the Huntington Gardens, smash burgers at the Win-dow after all that walking

Friday, Find a farmers market and brunch there, buy the tomatoes and strawberries, they are like candy in California, see whatever Tarantino is playing on film at the Vista or a play at the Echo, at Rogue Machine or Center Theatre Group or anything at LA Dance Project

Saturday, Dodger’s Game or LAFC game, beers at the Douglas in Echo Park afterwards

Sunday, Girls only, recuperative day at the Olympic spa, Korean scrub and ramen

In your view what are some of the most fun, interesting, exciting people, places or things to check out?

I think anyone who is managing to live in this increasingly expensive city (a city that can be hard and lonely) who is pursuing their dream – whatever it is – is interesting and exciting and I want to hear their story.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have a tattoo of a heart on my left arm for my paternal grandmother, ‘Gammie’. She died shortly after her 97th birthday in 2020. I said goodbye to her on Facetime given the lockdown and I’ve missed her every day since. She met her life with gladness and viewed it in the light of gratitude. Gammie did not take the intellectual or artistic risks I have with my life – our generational gap in many ways dictated that and we are different people with different needs – but she lived with delight. There is no bigger wisdom I think: not to ignore the life-diminishing systems we’ve created but to readily see (and feel thanks for) the systemic beauty of life too.

Website: meganketchstudio.com

Instagram: meganketch, meganketchstudio

Image Credits
Vova Goroshnikov Logan Fahey, Fahey Foto