Coffee Chat Podcast

Before I begin I do want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast. On today's episode I chatted to Tegan Verheul a now London based actress. We chatted about her start in acting in Vancouver, what led her to study in London, what roles inspire her and some fun rapid fire questions! So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Tegan Verheul (she/her) is a London-based actor and comedian of dubious moral character. Originally hailing from Vancouver, Canada, Tegan is studying at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in their MA Acting program. Her current hobbies include smashing swords together, trying to beat her own personal record for caffeine consumption, and wearing all black.

Past theatre credits include Catherine in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Peninsula Productions), Hannah in BELFAST GIRLS (Peninsula Productions), Gretchen in BOEING BOEING (WRPC), and Sue Snell in CARRIE: THE MUSICAL (FCP). Past film and television credits include ARROW (The CW), MAUX MYSTÈRES (Canal Vie), and EXILE (VFS). You have probably seen her in a commercial.

Tegan is also an established sketch comedy writer and emerging playwright. She is currently developing her first full-length play, using characters from a beloved Victorian novel to expose the failures of white liberal feminism and faux allyship.

Instagram: @teganver

I want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast. On today's episode I chatted to Teniola Komolafe a portrait photographer based in Sydney. I met Teniola earlier this year on a project and immediately was like I must know her! Her passion for photography is infectious. We chatted about her journey, her creative process what keeps her inspired and some fun rapid fire questions. So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Teniola Komolafe is portrait photographer who lives in Sydney, Australia. However, more than just portraits she enjoys building relationships, authentic conversations and being able to tell the stories of those she photographs.

Her love of her career stems from her multicultural upbringing and her faith. She was born in Nigeria and raised in America and Australia.

Teniola has lived all over the world, but that is not to boast. She says that because her worldly travels have given her numerous opportunities to work for many individuals, companies and brands.

It’s through all that, her love for people and the stories they share has grown immensely. She continually desires to better her craft for the sake of the stories untold.

If Teniola is not behind the camera you can probably find her planning her next shoot or people watching… to get inspiration for her next shoot.

Instagram: @tenikomo

I want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast. On today's episode I chatted to Dorothy May who is a recurring guest on the podcast. This time she is returning to talk about The Humour Experiment where she is hosting comedy and stand up classes and creating a beautiful community that is making comedy accessible for all types of people. Of course, we dabbled in some fund rapid fire questions at the end. So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Dorothy is a Comedian and the founder of The Humour Experiment Stand-Up Comedy Community. THE offers a Stand-Up Comedy Course & Open Mic Nights to give up and coming comedians opportunities to get up and refine their craft. Her vision is to nurture comedians, through understanding how to craft humour from their personal stories to taking charge and creating their own opportunities. With a passion for sharing diverse voices, she is helping to bring people from all walks of life together to have a laugh & learn about each other.

Instagram: @dorothymaymusic // @thehumourexperiment

I do want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast! On today's episode I chatted to Demon Derriere, a body positive activist, booty manipulator and creative director of body positive festival Big Thick Energy. We chatted about all things body positivity, diversity in the arts, her creative practice and Big Thick Energy - of course. And some fun rapid fire questions. So, grab a coffee and enjoy! :)

BIO:

Demon Derriere is a body positive activist, booty manipulator and creative director of body positive festival Big Thick Energy. Demon demands society’s attention to break the stereotypes of beauty, to abolish discrimination and fatphobia and to liberate all bodies.

As a POC HoH queer woman she aims to display the essence of the music through the feeling vibrations create. Her fiery energy will give your soul a spiritual awakening as their jiggling ass will shake the room.Demon explores her experiences of “otherness” as she expresses sexual energy and blurs the lines between dance and pornography using traditional Egyptian Belly Dance and African Mapouka/Twerk.

Demon’s current achievements include being 2021’s Ambassador for The Sydney Fringe, residentartistat The Imperial Hotel and staring on ABC’s ‘The Catalyst’.

You may have spotted her badonkadonk shaking it on the stages of Imperial, Darlinghurst Theatre company, Malthouse, MCA, Art Gallery on NSW, The People of Cabaret (TPOC), The Bearded Tit, Oyster club, Uplate & Uncut, Hellfire, Mr Falcons Burlesque, Speigltent, and many more.

Instagram:

@demon_derriere // @bigthickenergy_ // @shes_an_artist

Before I begin I do want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast. Ontodays episode I chatted to Olivia Charalambous. A multi-talented singer and actor based in Melbourne. We talked about her time at drama school, creating your own work, being a comedic actor, audition stories and some fun rapid fire questions. So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Olivia Charalambous graduated from NIDA with a Bachelor of Dramatic Arts (Acting) in 2013.

In 2015, Olivia started her own online entertainment production company, The OC Project. Projects include: #livforcunningham (Online), #livforeurovision (online) and Livstagram, a live one woman show.

Some acting credits include: Young Eponine, Les Miserables - 10th Anniversary Production (Cameron Mackintosh); Anna, Spring Awakening (Original Australian Cast - Sydney Theatre Company); Jack Irish (ABC-TV); Rose, Dogfight (Doorstep Arts); Sunny Ray And The Magnificent Moon (Arena Theatre Company); Susie and Others (U/S Megan), Puffs (Original Australian Cast - LifeLike Touring/TEG); Jesus Christ, Dreamsong (Ebbflow Theatre Company); Ziggy, Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (Hayes Theatre Co)

Olivia is also a professional voice over artist and is the voice of several international and national companies.

Some include: Loyica, Remblock, Zip Co, Equifax Australia, Hollywood Browzer (Priceline) and Dormeo Mattresses (Fantastic Furniture)

Instagram: @oliviachara

I want to acknowledge the gadigal people of the eora nation the traditional custodians of this land on which I work and live on. I pay respect to elders past, present and future.

Welcome to the Coffee Chat Podcast. On todays episode I chatted to Ali Calder. A actor, singer and songwriter. We talked about her musical theatre career, her hilarious Tik Toks, studying music with a slight tangent about astrology and some fun rapid fire questions ending in an in depth discussion about what it means to be in love! So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Ali Calder is an actor, singer and songwriter. Ali had the privilege of playing Elphaba (alternate) in Wicked (GFO). Prior to that, Ali featured as Vivienne Legally Blonde the Musical (GFO). She has played Thea in Spring Awakening for the Sydney Theatre Company and appeared on The Chasers War on Everything (ABC). She is currently finishing a Bachelor of Contemporary Music and can be seen around Sydney performing at various Jazz clubs or on TikTok doing parody musical content. Ali acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of the land she lives and works on.

Instagram: @ali___calder

Welcome to season four of the Coffee Chat Podcast! I had the most delightful chat with Thomas Nicholson - a Vancouver based actor who I met in an acting class in Vancouver and his passion for acting just shined and it still does. We chatted about about acting, working on CW and network shows, mindset and so much more! So, grab a coffee and enjoy!

BIO:

Thomas Nicholson is a Canadian-Danish actor.

Born in Denmark to a Danish mother and English father, Thomas grew up playing football (also known as soccer) along the Jutland peninsula and playing bass in a post-grunge rock band.

A skilled multi-linguist, Thomas studied journalism at the Danish School of Journalism as well as at City University in London before winning the Kravling Award, an esteemed investigative journalism prize in Denmark.

After following his long-time girlfriend to Vancouver, she signed him up for acting classes. She had a good feeling and it turns out she was right. Thomas had the acting bug and there was no stopping him. Dedicating himself to pursuing the craft professionally, he studied full time at the William Davis Centre for Actors' Study at VanArts.

Since then, Thomas has gone on to work on multiple television series including recurring roles on THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR (Netflix), VIRGIN RIVER (Netflix) as well as roles in THE TERROR (AMC), THE X-FILES (FOX), SUPERNATURAL (The CW), PROJECT BLUE BOOK (THE HISTORY CHANNEL) and DAMNATION (USA Network).

In 2021, Thomas will be guest starring on DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW (The CW), MOTHERLAND: FORT SALEM (Freeform) and RIVERDALE (The CW).

Thomas has also played leading roles in feature films PROJECT: EUGENICS and WRITING KIM.

An ardent supporter of independent film, Thomas has also produced the award-winning short films FATAL RHAPSODY and DOG BITE and acted in several others including the upcoming Harold Greenberg-funded THE DAY WE LEFT.

Instagram: @nicholsondk

This week I chatted to Lauren Orrell who I met four years ago when she took photos of my face and we kept in contact ever since. We chatted about acting, mental health, her drama school experience, dating yourself, photography and some fun rapid fire questions! So, grab a coffee and enjoy! :)

BIO:

Lauren is an Australian actor, writer, and director.
On stage she has appeared in Reuben Gutherie (La Boite), The Days and Night’s of BeeBee Fenstermaker (Phable Productions), The Women (The New Theatre), Titus Andronicus (also produced by her). In 2019 she wrote and produced her first full length play Affliction which was shortlisted for best play at Sydney Film Festival. Her TV credits include, Starting From…Now! (Common Language Films, SBS, Outstanding achievment award for Ensemble Cast- LA Webfest), Skinford Chapter One (Deadrock, SBS)
Rescue Special Ops (Ch 9) and the soon to be released Deadhouse Dark in Mystery Box which premiered as part of the official selection at the 2020 Cannesseries Festival in France. Filum (guys, she’s from QLD, let her have this one) credits include Sleeper, Lamb Island (Best Actress QNFA) Brush (nom Best Actress Madrid Film Festival, winner Best Actress Los Angeles New Wave), Sleeping Beauty, The Pale Moonlight, Wilco, Marion and Skinford Chapter Two. Currently she is co-directing alongside artist Digby Webster the short children’s animation
Blockhead and Sparkles and the Flood of Tears produced by Incahoots Creations’ Rosie Lourde with funding from Screen NSW Screenability Film Fund.

This week I chatted to David Soncin.We chatted about all things acting, getting into Bell Shakespeare and touring with Shakespeare, mindset and some fun rapid fire questions! So, grab a coffee and enjoy! :)

BIO:

David is an Australian actor based in Sydney. Growing up in Far North Queensland, he graduated at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting in 2013. David immediately broke into the Sydney theatre scene with Bell Shakespeare’s Players, including a production of Macbeth at the Sydney Opera House.

His Italian background has allowed him to explore a number of versatile ethnic roles in productions like The House of Ramon Iglesia, The Judas Kiss, The Shifting Heart, and The House at Boundary Road Liverpool. His most notable performance was Marco in Red Line Productions’ and Ensemble Theatre’s A View From The Bridge; winner of four Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Independent Production, and five Glugs Awards in 2017 including “Most Outstanding Independent Production”; David also received a Glugs nomination for “Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.”

Shakespeare has been a big influence on David’s career, recently performing in Sport for Jove’s Twelfth Night, and Romeo & Juliet (dir. Damien Ryan) as Tybalt, a PTSD soldier in post-WWII Italy. This year will be his first credit with Queensland Theatre playing Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew.

David’s film and television credits include Love Child (Season 4), On The Move, and River (Toronto Film Festival Official Selection)

Instagram: @davidsoncin

This week I chatted to Yvonne Gustafson a Vancouver talent agent with Leo Management. We chatted about her transition into being a talent agent, the joys of being an agent, some do's and don'ts, some very inspiring advice for actors and some fun rapid fire questions! So, grab a coffee and enjoy! :)

BIO:

After a successful career in the travel industry, Yvonne Gustafson decided to change gears and focus on her passion for the arts. Since winning an acting scholarship at age7, she was curious to see if performing was more than just a hobby. Upon recieving her diploma in the Acting for Film/Television program, she immediately enrolled in and graduated from the Theatre Conservatory at Vancouver Acting School. Yvonne has worked on both sides of the camera ever since. In 2019, Gustafson produced her first play, Twenty Something, and was Art Director for the award winning film, Puppet Killer. Last year, Yvonne joined Leo Management as a talent agent, combining her passions for coaching actors and the film industry. In her life outside of the arts, Yvonne is a board member of ‘2 Paycheques Away..’’ (a charity that provides haircuts to men and women on Vancouver’s downtown east-side).

Instagram:

@yvonne.gustafson

@leo_management