Meet Zara Oliver: dancer, actor, and performer extraordinaire.
Currently nearing the end of her graduating year, Zara has been performing for the past twelve years. Even though she took her first film course just this year, she began her career in film acting at the age of six, and grew up going to auditions—up to three in a single day!
Over the years, Zara has expanded her horizons into theatre as well. She constantly performs in the school’s plays, the most recent being Murder on The Orient Express. In our interview, Zara touched briefly on the differences she feels between theatre and film acting.
Film acting, she finds, is much more subtle. It can be finished in one take or one hundred takes, and it’s okay to make mistakes. Theatre acting is much less forgiving. There’s more pressure because you only get one chance to shine. In either medium, Zara hopes that the audience can appreciate the hard work and skill that goes into putting on a good performance.
Not only does Zara act, but she dances as well. Although she danced competitively outside of school in the past, she chose to solely focus on Morven’s dance program when she reached grade 8. She also got the chance to teach Junior Dance Company this year, which she says was an awesome experience.
“The adrenaline, and the magnificence [of a good performance], is incomparable to any other feeling.”
For Zara, performing is a way of expressing oneself. It gives her the chance to embrace herself, and is a great way to let out her emotions. She loves watching plays and musicals, and as a performer herself, she finds that she can appreciate the hard work and artistry when watching other performances.
Like any discipline, there are good performances and not-so-good performances. But Zara says that the most important part is to get out there and have fun, without worrying about what’s going right or wrong.
“Even if people are sitting in the audience and judging you, don’t care so long as you’re giving it your all and having fun - that’s what matters most.”
Currently nearing the end of her graduating year, Zara has been performing for the past twelve years. Even though she took her first film course just this year, she began her career in film acting at the age of six, and grew up going to auditions—up to three in a single day!
Over the years, Zara has expanded her horizons into theatre as well. She constantly performs in the school’s plays, the most recent being Murder on The Orient Express. In our interview, Zara touched briefly on the differences she feels between theatre and film acting.
Film acting, she finds, is much more subtle. It can be finished in one take or one hundred takes, and it’s okay to make mistakes. Theatre acting is much less forgiving. There’s more pressure because you only get one chance to shine. In either medium, Zara hopes that the audience can appreciate the hard work and skill that goes into putting on a good performance.
Not only does Zara act, but she dances as well. Although she danced competitively outside of school in the past, she chose to solely focus on Morven’s dance program when she reached grade 8. She also got the chance to teach Junior Dance Company this year, which she says was an awesome experience.
“The adrenaline, and the magnificence [of a good performance], is incomparable to any other feeling.”
For Zara, performing is a way of expressing oneself. It gives her the chance to embrace herself, and is a great way to let out her emotions. She loves watching plays and musicals, and as a performer herself, she finds that she can appreciate the hard work and artistry when watching other performances.
Like any discipline, there are good performances and not-so-good performances. But Zara says that the most important part is to get out there and have fun, without worrying about what’s going right or wrong.
“Even if people are sitting in the audience and judging you, don’t care so long as you’re giving it your all and having fun - that’s what matters most.”
Her mindset when acting is intense. She always does a lot of prep work before the actual performances, and tries to get herself in the headspace of her character. She tries to picture their life, and what in their life led to the scene she’s about to perform.
Even though stage fright is a difficulty that Zara faces when she performs, she’s able to overcome it by taking a moment to reflect on the reasons she’s performing. At the end of the day, she says, she’s performing because she enjoys it, and that helps her to not worry about what others are thinking.
This wasn’t always her mindset, of course. In our interview, Zara talked about the internal struggles she faced as she grew up. Rejections in auditions led to a rise of self doubt and self-consciousness, and Zara found she had trouble with this in her early years of high school. Her proudest accomplishment is being able to build her confidence back up, and overcome that self-doubting mentality.
Having overcome these challenges, Zara finds that she is more confident and struggles less with anxiety. She’s happy to put herself out there. One of her biggest role models, her acting coach, taught her how to keep it lighthearted, enjoy herself, and not lose sight of why she performs in the first place.
In the future, Zara hopes to stay in the film industry. From teaching the Junior Dance Company, she realized that she really enjoys teaching, and is also considering becoming an acting coach. Aside from that, she wants to explore the film industry more in general: directing, producing, or acting.
As a final piece of advice, Zara says to never let it get too serious, and to never lose sight of why you love performing.
“Art is everywhere, in everything we do.”
Even though stage fright is a difficulty that Zara faces when she performs, she’s able to overcome it by taking a moment to reflect on the reasons she’s performing. At the end of the day, she says, she’s performing because she enjoys it, and that helps her to not worry about what others are thinking.
This wasn’t always her mindset, of course. In our interview, Zara talked about the internal struggles she faced as she grew up. Rejections in auditions led to a rise of self doubt and self-consciousness, and Zara found she had trouble with this in her early years of high school. Her proudest accomplishment is being able to build her confidence back up, and overcome that self-doubting mentality.
Having overcome these challenges, Zara finds that she is more confident and struggles less with anxiety. She’s happy to put herself out there. One of her biggest role models, her acting coach, taught her how to keep it lighthearted, enjoy herself, and not lose sight of why she performs in the first place.
In the future, Zara hopes to stay in the film industry. From teaching the Junior Dance Company, she realized that she really enjoys teaching, and is also considering becoming an acting coach. Aside from that, she wants to explore the film industry more in general: directing, producing, or acting.
As a final piece of advice, Zara says to never let it get too serious, and to never lose sight of why you love performing.
“Art is everywhere, in everything we do.”