By Natalie Co
Devina Briggs Hammoud is a successful and hardworking artist who has a bright and vibrant future ahead of her. Being Lebanese, Moroccan, British, and First Nation, Devina comes from a very diverse background. In addition, she studied at a French international school for a decade prior to attending Collingwood. When not performing, Devina loves to share her passion for the outdoors with her friends and can be found snowboarding or biking with them. Devina has also enjoyed the challenge of being part of Model UN, and she’s found that being in this group has opened her eyes to a lot of issues in the world and it has taught her many things about debate, critical thinking, and public speaking.
To Devina, the arts are one of the most important things for young people and are the best form of self expression. Between acting, dancing, and playing the guitar, Devina can definitely speak from experience. All the different forms of art she partakes in, especially acting, have given her the confidence to walk into a room and start a conversation with someone, a life skill a lot of us could benefit from. A lot of this comes from her experience with auditions, where you have to really get into character and give everything your best shot. Devina encourages budding artists to not worry about what people will think of their performances and has found that the most successful people are also very encouraging, as they remember what it was like to start out.
Devina has been drawn towards acting ever since she was little, having watched Shake It Up on Disney (a show I think a lot of us remember). She started acting classes and signed with an agent at the young age of eight. Throughout her career she has had support and inspiration from the people around her, namely her mother and acting teacher. She has said that her mother is always supporting her, whether it be by driving her to class, or showing her she can go beyond her limits. Devina’s teacher has told her that the when acting, the goal is to make the audience feel something while watching the performance.
Devina Briggs Hammoud is a successful and hardworking artist who has a bright and vibrant future ahead of her. Being Lebanese, Moroccan, British, and First Nation, Devina comes from a very diverse background. In addition, she studied at a French international school for a decade prior to attending Collingwood. When not performing, Devina loves to share her passion for the outdoors with her friends and can be found snowboarding or biking with them. Devina has also enjoyed the challenge of being part of Model UN, and she’s found that being in this group has opened her eyes to a lot of issues in the world and it has taught her many things about debate, critical thinking, and public speaking.
To Devina, the arts are one of the most important things for young people and are the best form of self expression. Between acting, dancing, and playing the guitar, Devina can definitely speak from experience. All the different forms of art she partakes in, especially acting, have given her the confidence to walk into a room and start a conversation with someone, a life skill a lot of us could benefit from. A lot of this comes from her experience with auditions, where you have to really get into character and give everything your best shot. Devina encourages budding artists to not worry about what people will think of their performances and has found that the most successful people are also very encouraging, as they remember what it was like to start out.
Devina has been drawn towards acting ever since she was little, having watched Shake It Up on Disney (a show I think a lot of us remember). She started acting classes and signed with an agent at the young age of eight. Throughout her career she has had support and inspiration from the people around her, namely her mother and acting teacher. She has said that her mother is always supporting her, whether it be by driving her to class, or showing her she can go beyond her limits. Devina’s teacher has told her that the when acting, the goal is to make the audience feel something while watching the performance.
Devina loves working on productions because of the overall reward for all the effort put in, but Devina’s ultimate goal is to always make a lasting impression on the director, her mindset being that even if you aren’t fit for the role, you’ll most likely end up working with them at some point during your career. According to her, the best feeling is knowing that you’ve worked hard and really committed to your scene. Devina has been taking acting classes for 5 years and has been in ten commercials, three TV shows, and two movies. Her biggest goal in acting is to book a recurring role in a TV show, a supporting lead or lead in a movie, and to book a future film. In the past, Devina has attended many auditions. However, she decided to focus more on school and the opportunities presented there as it is her first year here at Collingwood. In fact, she had always wanted to try theatre and found herself auditioning for Twelve Angry Women where she was cast as a character.
Devina has said that acting is her passion and she has acknowledged that there’s always room to improve and grow. She spends five hours a week in acting class and always comes away motivated. Devina is currently keeping an open mind about future plans and is excited for university, travel, and arts later on in her life. Whatever path she chooses to follow, we know she’ll do it amazingly!