Meet Shandra Graham | Actress

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

Hi Shandra, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
Heralding from a town in Mississippi, I grew up on a small farm, where most mornings I woke up to pick our vegetables for dinner and just had an all around awesome childhood. I can’t remember when I caught the bug of acting but I always felt a sense that I was meant to get out and explore this world and all of its opportunities. I set out on creating the life I wanted, and focused on building a strong foundation in Acting. I dived straight into training and becoming the best at my craft. I have always had goals of becoming a working actor, whether that be film or television. i just could clearly see my goals. I of course had my rose colored glasses on in the beginning of this journey but I’ve always kept my goals front and center. Professionally I would love to take my acting career to the highest level, I aim to be a series regular, one day, lead a television show and also direct as well. I would like to write and create content as well. Creating opportunities for others with what I have been blessed to achieve is very important to what “I leave to the next generation. I want to see other little girls and boys dream bigger and see that anything is possible.

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 am an actress. My work in the craft started a little over 10 years ago. I can definitely not call this road easy, interesting, yes, but definitely not easy. My way of navigating it was not like most actresses. I started getting more acclimated into the industry by first doing Background acting, what some would call being an Extra. While I was never under the impression that being an extra would make me a star one day. It got me up close and personal with the craft and showed me an outside view of what this life was like before I jumped head first into pursuing it as a main character. This takes guts. Well it stuck with me, and I then sought out to become one of the best actors I can become. I got myself into drama school, audition prep classes, and took as many workshops and networked with as many actors as I could find a tribe of people doing what I dreamed of doing successfully and learn from them. When I felt strong enough and confident, I sought out my current team of Agent and Manager and I’ve been working to break into this industry. It has its downs, but I am willing to stick with it, because of my investment in the craft and myself. Ive come too far to turn back now.

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.
This is my favorite part of not being from the city of LA. I still find so many things that I’ve never seen and I’ve never done. Its still new in some ways. But in the 15 years I’ve lived here I have some of my favorite places I love to visit. I’d start out by taking a trip to Santa Monica, visiting the pier, 3rd street Promenade for shopping and lunch. Then I would take the PCH down to Malibu and hav dinner at a restaurant on the beach. In LA I would take them to the Glendale Galleria or the Grove for a nice evening walk and shop and possibly catch a movie.

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 would have to say what really changed my life as an actress and took my craft to that next level was enrolling in drama school at the Identity School of Acting. Not only did it challenge me be at my best, but it stretched me to my limits and allowed me to explore all of the facets of Acting, from Movement, to Voice, and everything that encompasses my body when acting. I felt stronger as a result, I felt more confident walking into casting rooms that I had a toolbox to pull from on how to ground myself and create characters. My work was better as a result, and the momentum of my journey started to ramp up.

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shandragraham/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shandra__Graham

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAmShandraGraham/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFXI0nco4sHwzW4ULlvOO6A

Image Credits
Headshots by: Wes Klain Stills from Short Film; Blood At the Root available on Amazon Prime