Christina Toth was born in Montreal, but raised in a french suburb called Sherbrooke. It’s a town surrounded by mountains. Her upbringing was filled with outdoors, in nature, with a lot of sports and cultural activities. At 19, she received a scholarship to pursue her studies in languages at a university in Italy. Christina was studying the Italian language and the experience was very eye opening. Being a foreigner, in an immersive context such as this one, made her tap into some “survival/out of comfort” part of herself. And so, when she came back home and the opportunity to go study acting in NYC came her way, Christina was physically and mentally prepared to take on the journey.
In 2016, Christina Toth went to Brussels to perform a play. A day after her arrival, the bombing attacks at the airport and in the subway happened. Just like all the citizens, she went in shock and began questioning her reason of being there. Then it clocked in me: that acting would become this human experience. To be shocked in such a manner illustrated for her the great power the arts contain. Art keeps the light going. Something shifted in Christina after this, and acting reinforced the significance of the human experience for her.
indieactivity: Did you study acting?
Christina: I did, yes. I began my studies under mentorship with one of our most respected Quebecois actors: Rita Lafontaine. I had an immense bond with her. The freedom, LOVE and understanding that was navigating between us gave me great power and courage to truly dive into the art of acting. She’s the one who taught me about “subtext” and the many layers a line contains. And the joy to discover these layers. She was a true captain to me.
Then I got to meet Jacqueline McClintock, who introduced me to the Meisner technique. After a month or two of workshops with her, she directed my attention to the NYC acting conservatory The Neighborhood Playhouse, home of the Meisner technique. I attended their 6 weeks summer intensive, to test the waters. Within a week of being in NYC and studying at this school, I knew I had found my place. NYC has that power. The environment and the energy The Neighborhood Playhouse exalted was what I knew I wanted, and needed to grow further.
So, I sold everything back home and moved to NYC to complete the full 2 year conservatory program. I’ve stayed in NYC ever since.
indieactivity: What acting technique do you use?
Christina: My main technique is Meisner. However, I’m not one to want to box myself in, with only using one tool. I do remain curious of other acting methods, but I do know I highly respond to the Meisner technique. It simply works for me. I’m a very “do the doing” type of actor. I get immense information from behavior. My Meisner teachers are the ones who put that seed in my mind: acting is doing.
indieactivity: What wrong impressions do actors hold about acting?
Christina: That it’s easy. I’m certainly not here to lecture anyone on acting, and I can only speak from what I know and feel is my personal truth. I see acting like sport. It’s highly physical and demands great training. It’s a very precise art. Just like dancing. You look at dancers and how effortlessly they execute a complicated movement/choreography. It’s the same with acting. Our muscle training is different, but the effortlessness, grace and focus that the art of acting requires is identical to the art of dance. Acting is not easy, nor do actors with great respect for their art will allow themselves to cut corners short, or be in any way lazy.
indieactivity: Do you take courses to improve your craft?
Christina: When I’m not working on a project, yes. I do like to take classes to stay sharp. It’s what I call my “gym”. I love attending Lyle Kessler’s master classes and work on scenes from writers I love and characters I aspire to play. It brings a different focus to mind: while working on a project, you give your all to what’s happening in front of you and eat all that’s in your plate. When you’re in class, stretching your muscles, you open yourself to new possibilities, which I find always keeps me in a positive mindset.
indieactivity: What acting books do you read?
Christina: I’ve read books like Meisner on Acting, The Fervent Years and TRUTH by Susan Batson. But then again, in that regards, I’m not a huge scholar to when it comes to reading books on acting. I rather do it and figure my way through it. School gave me technique and guidelines. But most importantly, school helped me figure out what I was about, in order to understand my way into acting. Books on acting get me in my head. And what I want, is to get out of my head, and fully focus on my scene partners. They are the golden nugget. What they do is so much more interesting than what I do. They give me all the answers to my questions.
indieactivity: How do you keep fit as an actor?
Christina: Mentally, I like to write. I do this thing where, here and there throughout the day, I’ll have some random thought and I’ll scribble it down in my notebook. Then after I collect a few thoughts, I’ll go back and do a collage of them in the form of a prose. It informs me on my state of mind, and quite frankly, I just enjoy doing it. I find it to be meditative. Physically, I’m quite sporty. I do love a good sweat. At the moment, I enjoy these intense cardio workouts. I grew up being a competitive swimmer. I’m used to the athletic discipline of waking up early, doing your sport and then going about with your day.
indieactivity: How do you prepare fro a role, when you get it?
Christina: I don’t have a recipe. And I noticed my preparation changes with every project. In terms of research and documentation, some projects require a certain knowledge on facts, events, history that I might be unfamiliar with. And therefore, in order to do good work, I need to acquire that knowledge. But I noticed there’s always one thing that remains: the lines. I’m an actor who wants to get off book quickly.
I like to get the lines in my system as soon as I can so I don’t have to think about them, and rather, let them inform me behaviorally. It comes back full circle: behavior gets me out of my head. And I feel I discover more when my mind is free to respond in the moment and my body is open to all the possibilities.
indieactivity: How do you create a character from a script into a person?
Christina: I’m currently shooting a new season of a Netflix series, and the reason I’m bringing this up is because, for the first time in my career, I’m unaware of the full architecture my character has. The episodes’ scripts come to me as the shooting schedule goes. And I find this both terrifying and fascinating. Because it truly puts me on my toes. I feel there’s a window to bring specificity and character choices that’ll be embraced by the creative team. And the writers are brilliant at what they do.
They’ll leave pebbles inside their scripts for you to pick up and put in your pocket. These pebbles are what goes from script to person. There’s so much attention to detail that needs to be put into crafting a character that any type of behavior indication will get you on your way to crafting a 3 dimensional person. But great writing already has that. Writers seek the truth and will write characters that are already people, human beings. Actors are the vehicle to that truth.
indieactivity: How do you stay fresh on a production set?
Christina: I try to stay away from electronic devices. I’ll have a book with me at all times. Some literature from writers that inspire me. I find it keeps my mind and focus awake. Of course, I’ll enjoy a good chat or a joke, but my main go to is literature. There’s so much that happens on set, and for that reason, I’ve noticed I tend to be more quiet and reserved in nature.
indieactivity: Describe a memorable character you played?
Christina: I recently played Rose in William Mastrosimone’s play “The Woolgatherer”. I was directed by Chazz Palminteri. Rose is a young woman that works at a candy counter of a “Five and Dime”. She’s extremely private, and quite frankly, wonderfully odd. Through the course of the play, you come to understand, through Mastrosimone’s witty and poetic writing, that she survived a series of traumatic events that tainted her interactions with men. And the reason she’s come to live the life she’s living at the moment. I find her to be magically complicated and from another world. She’s stuck in time. It brings me great joy to play her.
indieactivity: Explain one creative choice you took on set?
Christina: It wasn’t I who took this creative choice. And it wasn’t on set. Forgive my twisting your question a bit. It was my mentor, Rita Lafontaine, during one of her theatre performances. I remember it so vividly and how that choice impacted me. Rita was performing a beautiful one woman play. Everything she was doing was captivating. Rita had that power on stage. At one moment, she took her shoes off. And from there on, performed the rest of the piece barefoot.
That’s when I understood the “electric courant” she would often talk to me about. She would act from the top of her head all the way down to her toes. I don’t know what it was, and why to this day it’s one of my fondest memories of hers. To see the life and the movement in her feet/toes was like icing on cake.
indieactivity: What do you want most from a director?
Christina: Clarity. I’ve noticed clarity is a tool that never fails me. With clarity comes understanding: of vision, of character, of person. It’s extremely time efficient and it brings the entire team on board and on the same page. Chazz Palminteri has that clarity of speech. It’s such a treat to work under his direction. I remember this one moment where him and I were working on the structure of one of Rose’s monologues in “The Woolgatherer”.
The precision in his use of words/verbs to describe the many beats I needed to achieve, in order to paint the full arc of this monologue, was so guiding that it made the work achievable. There are many times where we’ll find ourselves in the dark, not knowing what to do or where to go with our acting choices. Directors have that talent. With clarity, they become our lighthouse.
indieactivity: What actors do you long to work with?
Christina: Nicole Kidman. I’ve always looked up to her. To my eye, she’s extremely courageous and truly goes to battle for the projects she believes in. I have immense respect for that. Her career path shows an artist who is committed to her craft and her choices of work – commercial, independent, artistic – seem to be illustrative of what she has not yet done.
And for that matter, her determination to go out of her comfort zone and challenge herself with demanding roles, is highly inspirational. She’s a story-teller and a believer in the feminine force. It takes great determination and fight to carry a project such as “Big Little Lies”, that gives such a platform to women. Women climb together, by helping one another. I find her message to be exquisite.
indieactivity: What advice would you give to actors?
Christina: In all honesty, I believe fear gets in the way one too many a times. I’m a fond believer in trying, and failing, and succeeding. How is it they say? “Fall 8 times, get up 9?” Something like that – you get the idea. If anything, go beyond your fear. And if you do encounter fear, transform it into a medium that will drive you to accomplish things rather than stop you from achieving them. It’s incredible what you can do when you trust you have the ability and the power to go beyond your limitations.
indieactivity: Briefly write about your career?
Christina: I’d say most of my work so far has been in theatre. I’ve had the chance to work with Ivo Van Hove on David Bowie’s LAZARUS at the New York Theatre Workshop. My experience was brief, but the time I spent working under his direction was greatly informative. He had a way of outlining the path he wanted me to take, like some hallway, and that gave me the freedom to zigzag my way through it.
I very much enjoyed my experience working under Michael Delaunoy’s direction. I did a play called WARDA in Brussels with him. It was a collaboration between Le Theatre Les Deux Mondes (Montreal) and Le Rideau (Brussels). Being a part of a cast that originates a play, and seeing how collaborative the process was with Sebastien Harrisson (playwright), gave me valuable insight and a deeper understanding on the structure of a play. As mentioned in one of your previous questions, performing in The Woolgatherer and getting to work with Chazz Palminteri, brought me a new layer in my confidence level.
Most recently, I’ve been fortunate to be a part of a Netflix series. Because of the “in-production” status, I can’t quite yet name what TV-Show it is. But this production has been one I’ve looked up to, for some time now, and getting to be a part of it, warms my heart beyond compare. I’ve had that “impostor” feeling happen at the beginning, but the people working on this show are incredibly generous and welcoming. They do really make you feel like you belong.
I like observing how graceful and respectful everyone on set behaves towards one another. I find that to be beautiful.
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