Meet Elizabeth Grace Wakefield | Actor & Co-founder of Seven50ml Productions
We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth Grace Wakefield and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Elizabeth Grace, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We started Seven50ml Productions during Covid! Everyone knows the toll the pandemic took on the Arts industry, of course, so we decided to take the work and the art and the craft in to our own hands. We (Gretel, Willa and I – my co founders) wanted to take control of a world that felt wild and incontrollable, so we used Seven50ml as a platform for what we felt needed voicing. 750ml is a space for female-identifying artists and crew, and women-focused narratives. These don’t necessarily need to be serious or bold, for example our first ever short ‘Jon Smith Get F*cked’ is the silliest hyperbolic comedy, which I think is what we all needed during such a serious time as 2020. ‘Jon Smith’ was my directorial debut and I enjoyed every second: I think the company and my girls and the amazing cast and crew we have had the pleasure to work with have taught me that, as artists, we are more than just our one craft. We are not secular; we are artists, we are abundant and we are powerful. This is what Seven50ml Productions and the women behind it mean to me.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
On the morning of my little brother’s 18th birthday (he likes to joke that this was the best present I could have given him), I set off on a one-way trip to New York City to start my new life as a professional actor. This was the first time I had been away from my family for more than 5 days, and I wouldn’t be back for a couple of years. But this was for my craft; my art, my career, my purpose. S0 I made it happen. 19 yearsold me landed alone in the States during the snow-bomb of 2018 with my whole life in 1 suitcase, but I never looked back.
Joining The American Academy of Dramatic Arts was the best thing I ever did. The friends I made there and the training I received helped me uncover versions of myself I did not know were inside me. I became the person I had always idolized other people for being; thinking it was way beyond my reach. I became stronger, smarter, brighter, bolder. I found my voice and boy did I have a lot to say! By the time I was to play Horatio in our Graduation production of Hamlet – shoutout to my dearest Alison Teahan for being the best co-star and the best Hamlet New York has ever seen – I was a force to be reckoned with. The art and the love I experienced during my time at The Academy taught me, finally, that I am enough. We all are.
I have tried to take this strength and self-love with me on my artistic journey now that I’m back in the UK, and I am very excited to keep making my friends and mentors at The Academy proud.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am actually very priveliged to have friends in most countries in the world, therefore I do often have them visit whicever city I am currently in. As that city is now London, I can tell you exactly what a standard British tour by me would involve: a boozy brunch @ Bondi by the canal in Little Venice, a stroll around Westminster, Soho & Camden to get the touristy bits ticked off, and – a must – catch a West End show (preferably something by Patrick Marber or a fresh Shakespeare adaptation like Icke’s Player Kings)! Finish off with dinner at my favourite spot in Chinatown that I only know by location and drinks at a rooftop nearby or one of NQ64’s arcade bars, yum!
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As much as my career, my politics, my business and my core are ever-revolved around the incredible female power in my life and this industry; I would like to shoutout the strong men behind me who have gathered, shared and shined that strength on to me.
To Mr Kaushy Patel, my artistic mentor and hero: who took a chance on a young Elizabeth a long time ago and has never stopped taking chances with me since. Thank you. I always pictured thanking you in my Oscar speech, but this is good enough for now right?
My silly brother – a fellow filmmaker and feminist – who finds a way every day to remind me of how beautiful and fleeting this life is and to seize any scrap of joy, humour and presence there is to be had. I love you.
And to my darling dad, who has honestly put more graft and energy in to my career than I have at times – I will never be able to repay you for your wisdom, your unwavering support and that look in your eye that only ever see’s me as the best version of myself and all the things I can achieve if I just believe in myself the way you always have. Always.
Instagram: @elizabethgracewakefield
Twitter: @ewakefield29
Facebook: Elizabeth Grace Wakefield
Image Credits
BBC’s Call The Midwife Florine Ghilbert for Seven50ml Productions Vanity Studios, London
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