I knew that I wanted to be a performer from a very young age – I actually started by pursuing singing, joining choirs and taking singing lessons. This led me to discover musical theatre, so at the age of 13 I joined the Youth Showchoir of London, followed swiftly by Bridewell Youth Music Theatre in London. Both of these groups played a key role in developing my love for the process of creating and rehearsing, as well as per- forming itself. While I was exploring musical theatre I was also taking acting classes, performing in school plays and auditioning for projects that didn’t involve singing and so my passions evolved side by side.
indieactivity: Did you study acting?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I had grown up going to a pretty academic school, which I enjoyed, but I had always known that as soon as I graduated I wanted to go to a conservatory rather than a university. The first year that I auditioned for drama school in the UK I didn’t get accepted into any of the conservatory programs that I had applied for.
If Only has a new poster with some shiny laurels! More coming soon!#femalesinfilm #womeninfilm #shortfilm #filmfestivals pic.twitter.com/LpouogkMZK
— Anna Frankl-Duval (@AFranklDuval) March 10, 2018
It’s rare for people to get accepted to drama school fresh out of high school in the UK, but I was disappointed, so I took a gap year and filled it with as many classes and experiences that would grow me as an actor as I could: I went to a musical theatre school on the other side of London 4 days a week, took evening classes at Central School of Speech and Drama 3 nights a week, joined the Saturday program at Guildhall, performed in a play, and spent a second year auditioning for drama schools.
All the hard work paid off as I was accepted into two programs, one in London and one in New York. I decided to move to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and after I graduated, I spent the summer in CAP21’s Professional Musical Theatre Program, before starting my life as an actor.
indieactivity: What acting technique do you use?
Name: I trained in Meisner, which focuses on living truthfully under given imaginary circumstances. We spent loads of time in our first year at school focusing on listening and reacting to our scene partners, which involved a lot of repetition exercises. While we doing them, the exercises felt like they went on forever, but I so appreciate that technique now – taking the focus off yourself and onto the other person allows you to react honestly to whatever is happening in the scene, keeping it fresh and truthful every time.
If Only BTS
indieactivity: Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I take regular singing lessons, and vary the workshops and classes that I attend depending on which aspect of my career I’m focusing on improving at that point in time. Right now I’m part of a a voice over coaching power group, which has been great. The group is coached by Elise Arsenault, whose strategies and guidance have helped me in all aspects of my career, not just voiceover.
There’s also nothing like creating your own work to learn about your industry – the experience of writing, producing, and acting in my first short film last year was one of the most valuable educational and creative experiences of my life – I’m still learning from it as we find our way on the festival circuit. Any job or set is also a chance to learn about the industry and improve your skill-set – I definitely learn best by doing.
indieactivity: What acting books do you read?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I don’t tend to read acting books specifically – I read a lot of biographies and autobiographies by women whose careers and approach to the industry I admire, like Tina Fey’s ‘Bossypants’, Amy Schumer’s ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, Amy Poehler’s ‘Yes Please’ and Mindy Kaling’s ‘Why Not Me?’ . All of these women have worked hard, created their own work and taken control of their careers.
That being said, Bonnie Gillespie ‘Self-Management for Actors’ is an amazingly useful and inspiring guide for actors at all levels of their careers – it’s no nonsense, practical, and provides lots of tactics and work that allows actors to take control over their career in an industry that can feel like we’re always at the mercy of other people. I have recommended it to every single actor I’ve spoken to since I first picked it up last year.
If Only screenshot
indieactivity: How do you keep fit as an actor?
Anna Frankl-Duval: There are lots of components to keeping myself whole and healthy as an actor and as a human – the two are intertwined – I think we all do the best work when we feel the best in ourselves. For me that means therapy, the gym, walks in the park, listening to my body when I need a night in, going to see shows, listening to music, and taking time alone when I need to.
indieactivity: How do you prepare for a role?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I’ll read the script before the table read and I love, love, love rehearsal so I’ll always opt to have as much of that as there is time for, although that’s not always possible. Making sure that I have the lines down really well and in my body is crucial too, although learning lines is my least favorite thing! I’ve recently started to take scripts with me to the gym so that I can work on them as I do my cardio – I’ve definitely found that moving while learning lines helps them“stick to my bones”, as one of my teachers from AADA used to say.
indieactivity: How do you create character?
Anna Frankl-Duval: A lot of the work that I do to create a character is written; I start with spider diagrams of my character’s relationships to each of the other characters – I find this to be the most important singular piece of my emotional work, these relationships are at the core of everything. I’ll also do a lot of subtext work for my scenes, plot my emotional journey, and make choices on my character’s backstory as I write out the story of her life.
Screenshot from ‘The Resistance’
indieactivity: How do you stay fresh on a production set?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I’m usually pretty relaxed on set, I’m not often one to stay in character unless it’s a really intense scene. In those cases, I use music to keep me in the right mindset and take me where I need to go, in terms of emotions – that usually involves me hiding away in a quiet corner and looking like a bit of a lunatic for a while, but it works!
indieactivity: Describe a memorable character you played?
Anna Frankl-Duval: Chloe, ’The Resistance’, 2017. Chloe has so many characteristics that I admire and is exactly the type of woman I get excited to see on screen, as well as play – she’s strong, intelligent and fiercely loyal, with a big heart and a warrior spirit.
indieactivity: Explain one creative choice you took on set?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I shot a wonderful short called ‘The Resistance’ at the end of last year, which is set in a near dystopian future and tells the story of three women who form a group to fight against The Regime, which is now ruling the US. At the end of the film, my character, Chloe, delivers a speech to camera, in an attempt to galvanize other people to join their movement.
I was masked for the beginning of that speech, so I made the choice that Chloe would want to hide her identity completely as the public facing leader of this movement, so I decided to disguise my native British accent (which I had used throughout the film) and speak in an American accent. I had to make my case for this choice, and luckily we were working with Natasha Straley, who is a wonderfully supportive director, and she let me try it out and play with it, to see if it worked – and it did!
Screenshot from ‘A Million Tiny Reminders’
indieactivity: What do you want most from a director?
Anna Frankl-Duval: I think that having a connection with a director is the most valuable thing – for me, that means someone who loves to work and explore with me, who pushes me out of my comfort zone, who gives me support in trying things out and who is direct about what they want and need from me. I come from a theatre background, so I love working with directors who dig deep into the character, layering experiences and emotions and points of view.
indieactivity: What actors do you long to work with?
Anna Frankl-Duval: Denise Gough!
indieactivity: Why?
Anna Frankl-Duval: She is phenomenal! She is passionate and committed to her work, down to earth and honest (both on stage/set and off) and is always using her voice to fight for what she believes is right. Plus she’s hilarious, so I’m sure we’d have a blast.
indieactivity: What advice would you give to actors?
Anna Frankl-Duval: Forge your own path. Trust your instincts. Be open to learning from everyone that you work with. Ask questions. Create your own work. Don’t let your insecurities limit you. Support your peers. Collaborate. Be open. Work hard.
indieactivity: Briefly write about your career?
Anna Frankl-Duval: The combination of moving to New York and training act AADA opened me up and taught me that acting is about exploring and exposing aspects of yourself as you bring them to your work – it’s always about telling the truth.
This had and continues to have a huge impact on the roles and projects I work on – it has helped me understand who I am and which stories I want to tell. Before I graduated, I got to play my favorite role at AADA – Olive Alison in ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ by Deborah Brevoort. Olive is a strong, loyal and fierce woman who is fighting for love to prevail over hate.
After graduation I continued to work in theatre, mostly on new works, and began to gain a little experience working in independent film. In 2012, the death of my mother took me back to the UK for 3 years. While I was back in London, I joined a vocal harmony group and re- connected with someone I had studied with as a teenager, who was now a director – those things saved me on a personal level and were my entry point into the industry in the UK. I got to work on new plays and musicals, perform in videos for the UK’s biggest online celebrity magazine, win national competitions, narrate a series of children’s books, and perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Brighton Fringe Festival, as well as theatres across London.
I returned to New York at the end of 2015, and once again had to reintroduce myself to the industry, but this time had more purpose and focus. Since my return I have worked in theatre, voiceover and independent film, meeting and working with a whole new community of creative people who were making their own work, as well as auditioning.
If Only street shot
Some of my favorite projects since my return to New York have included: ’The Resistance’, a short film by Lenore Marks about three women who are fighting an oppressive regime that has seized power in the US which is about to finish post-production, a new play by British playwright Nkenna Akunna called ‘Good Fit’, which I was part of workshop production of earlier this year, and a wonderful play called ‘Charlie’s Waiting’ by Melisa Annis, which is being developed with Parity Productions. All of these projects are incredibly well written, and allowed me to play complex, varied, and flawed female characters.
In 2017 I wrote, produced and starred in my first short film ’If Only’. ‘If Only’ is a film about three adult children and the last day they spend with their mother before she goes to hospice and was inspired by my own experiences. The experience of writing, producing, and acting in my own film was completely invaluable – I learnt so much. ‘If Only’ is now making it’s way around the festival circuit, with it’s next screening happening right here in New York at the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema, where it has been nominated for three awards
– Best Cinematography, Best Acting (supporting) for Christine Verleny, who plays the mother, and Best Act- ing (lead) for me.
The screening will take place at the UA Midway Theater in Queens at 3:45pm on August 9th.
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