Meet Rima Lyn | Actor, writer, singer, chef, taco enthusiast

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

Hi Rima, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
Steadily showing up for the artistic practice. Whether it’s writing or acting or musical pursuits or even food and exercise regimes. Showing up daily to the page, for yourself, no matter what, is essential. I started with a pact in 2017 to show up 3x a week for 15 minutes, minimum. All I had to do was open a Final Draft file. I could spend the whole 15 minutes revising what went before or just sit there and type one word. Those 3 sessions turned into several hours a day and more but that baby step of showing up for such a brief period no matter what, really helped me push past my inner “not in the mood” voice.

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 took my first acting class at HB Studios in Greenwich Village New York when I was 8. I didn’t much like it! LOL. I had to be a tree and I thought that was silly. 7 years later when we moved to LA I was in another acting class and we did scenes from Kramer vs. Kramer and I loved being tragic. My mom had friends with working child actors in the house and I got some headshots and started auditioning. I did not book my first job until 1984, which was only 5 years later but felt like 100 years! I got to work with John Cusack on one of his first movies and it was a delightful experience. As an actor, my brand is either villain or sarcastic, eye-rolling, smart-ass. Simultaneously, I have always been interested in screenwriting, specifically adapting my favorite books to the screen, way before IP was even a term. I get very excited to share stories with people. Places, situations, challenging relationships. I tend to favor coming of age stories regardless of the age and the idea of finally growing up, ungracefully is part of my personal charm. In many ways, to date, I have done better than most who set out on this path. I also have a ways to go to be creating at the level of my dreams with the cast and budget to match. All the people who say ‘don’t quite, keep showing up, keep believing in yourself’ are 100% right! I have quite many times and I always return to this arena of film acting/writing. That’s the main lesson… one baby step at a time, tell your story with passion and joy.

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?
Oh man, this is hard, and I could definitely be a tour guide. I’ve been here for over 40 years! I would def organize everything around food and more specifically tacos because tacos are my reason for living. Also I was a professional chef for many years and tend to stay abreast of the latest food trends etc.

Day 1- I live near the beach so I would start there. Burton Chase Park, walk or bike ride, HighHo Cheeseburgers for lunch.
Day 2- Huntington Gardens in Pasadena and lunch at Nicole’s Market and Cafe
Day 3- Silverlake Shenans – shopping, hiking, lunch at MidEast Tacos on Sunset
Day 4- Sherman Oaks/Studio city for shopping, hike Fryman Canyon and lunch at the New Sportsman Lodge complex
Day 5- LACMA and Academy Motion Picture Museum, lunch at the Original Farmer’s Market at the Grove
Day 6- DTLA shenans – museum of choice. tool around art district and eat at Wurstkuche also visit the Pie Hole.
Day 7- Out to Zuma Beach for some Malibu Relax – Seafood at the Malibu Broad Street Oyster Company

Wow! See how you did that? Got me to do all the work for you. Very smooth. 🙂

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I will give a shout out to the Artist Way and morning pages which I started doing when the book was new in 1992-93. Julia Cameron gave me permission to call myself an artist and helped me connect to an energy greater than myself with regard to the process of creating art. Artist Dates were an inspiration as well. I did daily morning pages for over 10 years religiously.

Website: https://www.tacomaven.blogspot.com

Instagram: @bistromagico