Meet Janet McMordie | Doctor, Actor, Podcast Host

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

Hi Janet, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
WORK THE PROBLEM.

This is a quote from NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz (numerous missions but most famously Apollo 13) and is also one of our McMordie family mottos. Obstacles are everywhere and success should be based on your ability to work the problems you face as they arise. Working the problem involves doing things thoughtfully and mindfully, rather than by hope, intuition, or guesswork. Working the problem involves staying calm, asking ‘why’, being adaptable, and communicating.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I did an Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Kinesiology. I then went to medical school and did a family medicine residency followed by a fellowship in sport medicine. I currently practice primary care sport medicine as well as do some surgical assisting at my local hospital.

I started acting at the beginning of the pandemic. The Second City Improv Troupe was doing free online comedy shows for health care workers and I loved them so much. I realized that I wanted to learn how to perform like that too…never thinking too much about it as a career, especially at that time when the pandemic was running healthcare workers into the ground. I was getting more and more burnt out as the pandemic raged on so I started searching for an outlet…something creative. Something completely separate from medicine. An escape. Everything was online so it was easy to take acting classes at these amazing studios around the world without having to leave my house. I absolutely loved it and after a showcase, I had an agent reach out to me, I signed with them, and I started auditioning! I also connected with my local community theatre and have started doing theatre productions again for the first time since high school!

I have been continuously taking acting, voiceover, motion capture, and improv classes. I started meeting more and more people like me who were making big changes in their life and switching careers into acting. I was so fascinated by their stories that I started a podcast called Second Act Actors where I chat with and celebrate these people.

I am still practicing medicine but doing it part time. Acting is such an unpredictable “gig” job that it can be tough to keep motivated. I still really crave consistency and routine (and an income, honestly) so I have kept my medical practice going but a smaller, more manageable scale. So much of the entertainment industry is about rejection, lack of control, and lack of feedback. My medical world is the opposite so it has been a huge learning process for me. I don’t think I will ever overcome that limiting belief about myself but working with a therapist has been helpful to find tools that work for me to turn down the volume of the naysaying voice screaming in my head. I journal a lot, meditate, go for long runs, lift heavy weights. I constantly remind myself how far I’ve come and who is out there supporting me. I’m a words of affirmation person so I have surrounded myself with other people like me and we constantly affirm and check in with one another.

So much of my medical training is about following patterns and algorithms. Of course, in acting, you have to follow a script and initially, I would focus so much on perfecting the lines, following the words exactly…doing what I had been trained in medicine because it was my comfort zone! One of my first acting teachers told me I should try improv classes to relax, explore, and “throw caution to the wind”. Improv is terrifying because ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN. There is no script, no plan…terrifying for a logical brained person like me. I nervously signed up for an introduction to improv class and it was the greatest 6 weeks of my life. Who else signs up for an introductory improv class but like minded, creative, brave folks ready to fail and laugh together?! To this day, I am still in touch with members of that class. They are some of my biggest supporters and friends.

I wish we could take pressure off kids to choose their career paths so early in life. It is insane to me that we must choose what we want to be when we grow up before our brains are fully formed. Or maybe put more of an emphasis on the fact that is it okay to either not know what you want to do or that you are ALLOWED to change your mind later in life. It is okay to change paths. It is okay to have a Second Act. I wish there was more support and encouragement in place for this. Choosing a career is a monumental decision, choosing to change careers is a monumental decision. I wish society would give people more space, time, and support to make these choices.

I have always been good at rapport building. I love people. Especially one on one conversations. People and their stories are so fascinating. This is a such a key part of being a physician, in my opinion. I have to build rapport and trust with a patient quickly so they feel comfortable with me as their doctor then repeat that about 30 times per office day.

I love learning. I love learning things! I think that is why I have been in school for the vast, VAST majority of my life and truly enjoy it. I also think the end of school was a big contributor to my burnout. I am forever a student and just a sponge for knowledge. I love taking new classes and exploring new ways of doing something.

Honestly, I’d have to say that my competitiveness has really helped me TO A POINT. I am such a competitive person, especially with myself. If I say I am going to do something, the worst feeling for me would be to say that I couldn’t do it. So if I start doing something, I am doing it full out, all in, to the best of my ability. Competition has helped me stay motivated and perform at a high level. The flip side is that I need constant validation which only happens if I increase my activities more and more until I have such a load on my plate that I inevitably fall short of my goals which equals failure to my brain. Also, even noncompetitive settings become a competition and that totally ruins experiences. I am trying to work on balancing this and acting has been helpful. Acting is about being in the moment and cooperating…and these are both totally lost when you’re in a competitive “I succeed when you fail” mindset.

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.
Favourite coffee places: Primo Passo Coffee (Montana Ave)
Menotti’s Coffee Stop (Venice Beach)

Bakeries:
Breadblok (Montana Ave)

Places to check out:
Third St Promenade
Rent a bike to tour Santa Monica/Venice Beach
The Original Farmers Market
The COmedy Store-I saw my first live stand up comedy show here, I was hooked
Book Soup
The Broad

Restaurants
Guisados-my favourite food spot in L.A

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are many people now who have helped me but the two people who openly expressed belief in my ability as an actor were my Dad and my friend Stacey. My Dad is both a logical pragmatist and creative soul. He takes risks and does things that scare him. He is incredibly compassionate and a huge contributor to his community.

Stacey directed me in one of the first theatrical productions I was in since high school. I was so used to having people look at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted to pursue acting after my medical career that I was shocked when Stacey enthusiastically supported me. All it takes is one cheerleader in your corner. Stacey was and continues to be that person for me. I am so grateful.

Website: www.janetmcmordie.com

Instagram: @janetmcmordie

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@secondactactors

Other: Podcast website: www.secondactactors.com

Image Credits
Helen Tansey, John Bregar, Farrah Aviva