Meet Bianca Foscht | Actor / Filmmaker

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

Hi Bianca, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am originally from a small town called Graz in Austria and growing up as the second of five children in the suburbs always seemed like such a priviledge to me. I recall climbing on trees in my neighbours forest with my siblings for hours, playing make believe. That’s probably where my love for the performing arts originated. 🙂

Starting out as a competitive dancer, expanding my almost full-time training for 7 years during my demanding highschool education, and succeeding nationally and internationally in the world dance championships have definitely set the foundation for my work mentality. I believe my excitement for competitive sports, competing in dance as well as equestrian tournaments for over 9 years, have made me the person I am today. It’s incredible how much you can learn about yourself when working with horses or as sports person in a team.

My incredile parents and my family made my childhood this incredible warm sparkling memory that I always love looking back to. Having a family that supports your passion and goals and makes every hurdle look smaller is something very rare and I couldn’t be more grateful.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What initially seemed to be a dream-picture on a teen’s bright colored vision board, quickly became the beginning of my new life path in the creative industry.

Growing up in a small suburban town in the middle of Austria’s nature, as the second of 5 children, definitely shaped my perception and gratitude for the arts. Starting out as a competitive dancer, expanding my almost full-time training for 7 years during my demanding highschool education, and succeeding nationally and internationally in the world dance championships have set the base for my work mentality. While my excitement for competitive sports, competing in dance as well as equestrian tournaments for over 9 years, has build the foundation for my hard work and love for collaboration, I grew my filmmaking expertise on the side with creating self-written and performed short films, shot in the Austrian forests and my neighbors’ homes.
To proof the point that filmmaking is an outstanding creative process, and can be done with no money, my twin sister and I shot our first ever short film in a hot air balloon, 2000 meters up in the air. With no resources but an old photography camera and the will to make a film, we decided to get the best birds eye view shots for our project by filming out of a hot air balloon in the Austrian alpine landscape.

In my last year of highschool, I joined the youth theater group at the local TaO! theater in Graz. At the summer performance, my sister and I were spotted by the theater’s head director to join what turned out to be a three year run of the socially acclaimed, modern theater production of Oscar Wild’s “Dorian Gray- Pictures of Beauty”.

After graduating highschool at WIKU, a school with focus on economy and financing, I moved to Bavaria, Germany to study performing arts. After a year of full-time study and working in the independent film and theater scene in Bavaria, I
made the decision to move to North America to follow my dream of working in big motion pictures.

At the age of 19, edge of turning 20, and with no prior connections or oversees family, I moved to a different continent, starting my creative journey in Vancouver, BC and later in Los Angeles.
With English not being their mother tongue but with a curious mind, I soon found myself working in the independent film scene and on tremendous tv shows as an actor and filmmaker.

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? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my family or friends came visitng me I would have a hard time taking them to all the great places that you can find here in LA. I think on top of my list for restaurants is the family owned Italian restaurant Micelis. It’s a beautiful spot with live music, great food and entertainment. Another amazing spot is “The Good Neighbours” diner in Studio City. It’s homely and the restaurant team/staff is just incredible.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
They say: “It takes a village to make a movie”, and I couldn’t agree more, but I also do believe that “it takes a city to make a career”. Any artist’s journey is such an adventurous path full of rocks and rivers and I think it needs a million little helping hands to make it through the river and climb all rocks. I believe every person I encounter in my life is shaping me as an artist and supports my creative path in one way or another.
Artists are just such incredibly brave people because we never know how the next day, week or month will look like. It’s a rollercoaster ride with all its beautiful peaks and lows.

Within all theses million helping hands that supported me on my journey so far I believe I was lifted up most by my family in Austria. Family and Community is a big part of our upbringing in Europe and I’m beyond grateful I had the chance to learn from my dad how to be a visionary. Watching him build houses and cars with his very own hands and with a passionate sparkle in his eyes, made me realize anything can be crafted with ones creative mind, hands and determination. My siblings showed me how to be fearless and growing up with four siblings was just amazingly wild and definitely taught me some great stamina.

I feel beyond grateful to have met my incredible mentor Michael Goi in the beginning of my creative journey. He has been and continues to be a guiding light throughout my work. I believe it needs a very special human being to inspire young generations of creatives and Michael is on the very top. I’ve never met any other filmmaker that has such an unapologetically wide and detailed knowledge of their craft and is eager to share it. It’s invaluable and role models like Michael are the reason why those young upcoming filmmakers from the suburbs who never believed they could have a chance in the jungle of showbiz, know that they can make it.

The first books I read and learned about the language of fimmaking and mindset are the wonderful book called “Self Management for Actors” by Bonnie Gillespie and .the book “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor. Some life-changing reads.

My biggest hero, accountability buddy and creative partner is my identical twin sister Dilara though. Having a person that believes in you and lifts you up by pushing you forward is beyond empowering. I always say “if my twin sister and I were a train; I would be the tireless engine, and she would be the driver, making sure we’re not crashing.” I believe very much in that metaphor. 🙂

Website: https://www.biancafoscht.com/?lang=en

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/biancafoscht/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianca-foscht-16a202196/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bianca.foscht.1

Other: IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11516255/

Image Credits
Ray Robinson