Vanessa

Schanen

AEA & SAG-AFTRA 

I moved to the city a decade ago but my acting career  got started about four years ago. 

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I am married with an almost four year old and the two of them plus our two cats make up my world. I began acting in college while working full time in restaurants and bars. The service industry was a passion of mine - which I didn’t realize until I had moved on.

Over the course of my life I experimented with several different jobs with the interest of turning them into a career but my dream of being an actor would pop up and sort of interrupt whatever I was trying on for size and had me longing for a life I wasnt living.  Throughout my time on the east coast I would take classes sporadically, with different teachers at different schools or private classes, learning many different approaches to the art but wasn’t focused on acting as a business. I figured I would either get lucky with some crazy New York miracle or continue to take classes leisurely – audition for things – take breaks – dabble – work my “back up plan” – but then I met my husband we got married and life started to take off in a different direction. 

Shortly after having our daughter I realized that for her life I will be encouraging her to follow her bliss and live the best version of herself and that I (we) get to be her example. Which was the moment I began working. We began investing in my career - taking more specific classes – auditioning and putting myself out there, acquiring representation and the last four years have been really special and amazing. I joke with my husband – that my acting career is our second child – because it is and we’re doing this.