Kelli Fitzgerald

When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. Then, I wanted to be a rock star. After that, I wanted to be a newscaster. In no particular order, my career aspirations touched on the following: teacher, mom, zookeeper, dolphin trainer, lawyer, crisis / hostage negotiator. Some of these phases lasted a few weeks, some lasted years. I’ve often heard the sentiment echoed that if you can see yourself being anything other than an actor, then go do that because it’s a tough industry & you need to have entire certainty that it’s for you. I don’t agree with that. I think my ability and desire to imagine all of these different paths and versions of who I could be and where my life could go is exactly why I’m meant to do this. When I was little, I was always told that I had a big imagination. Now, it’s my greatest strength. I get to be all of those things that I dreamed of… and more. As I've gotten older, I've learned (sometimes the hard way) nothing in life is truly ever certain. So, why not have some fun in the meantime?

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Acting requires a level of talent, sure, but I had a mentor who used to always say, “A good actor must first be a good person.” He was the biggest advocate of his students throwing caution to the wind and just living their lives. Because it’s through those experiences – all of the firsts and lasts, heartbreak, falling in love, meeting new people, taking a leap, moving away, coming back home, making a mess, so on and so forth – that we find pieces of ourselves that we maybe never met before. We find truth in the emotion. In the pain. In the joy. In one another. Acting is more than telling a story, it’s bringing a story to life. That raw authenticity is what makes us human and connects people. I strive to be a great person and a great actor. To live my own life so fully and honestly that I can step into a character’s world and honor all parts of them. The most vulnerable aspects of us that we often hide away are far more universal than we realize. We have more in common than not, and my hope is to help others realize that... to move someone in a way that helps them grow or feel less alone or become inspired or challenge their thinking.