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Industry sign banking new york work order now

what is going on people hope you're all keeping well and safe i was fortunate enough to sit down with or virtually sit down with my harla herald who plays the lead role in industry so harper stern we literally just caught up over zoom i wanted to talk to her about her background her story her journey and just find out a bit more about her so hopefully you can learn about her through this interview i hope you enjoy it it's an informal conversation and yeah let's just get into it enjoy hi i'm so great i'm so honored you're like such a legend to me because you're like dive of our show and it was like so special and cool and like this is the kind of thing that we hope would happen you know but like i just respect you man it's so sick honestly well first i really appreciate that thank you so much it means a lot um but literally i feel the same way i'm like i've got the main character and obviously you're gonna like i can tell straight your career is gonna take off before you know it and it's like i'm interviewing you like it was the last thing i expected but thank you for taking the time i really appreciate it of course my absolute pleasure man this i just want this to be informal like people will obviously want to get to know you a bit more i'm curious to hear your story your goals ambitions and all of that but more than anything in formal chat just conversation how's lockdown going i feel very lucky and like privileged to say that lockdown has been pretty okay for me like i am a homebody through and through and i sort of felt like i was on my own version of lockdown before it even actually like officially started because i just like don't really leave the house that much when i moved back to new york after we filmed in wales i like moved away from the neighborhood where all my friends were and like they all had like jobs and lives so i wasn't seeing people anyway yeah and interesting and what was wells like how how long were you guys so when did filming finish when did you go out there how long was it like i'm curious to find out everything about that yeah so we started i got to wales on i want to say june 15th ish okay um and then i had the rest of the month to like get settled and prepare and do whatever i got my hair braided because at the time um i i had a shaved head like all throughout college and when i graduated and then when i got this part i wanted her to have braids so i started to grow my hair out my hair was like this long so when i got there i got my hair braided and like got settled in my little apartment in wales and then we started filming on july 1st and then we shot through december 20th i believe got it got it and that was 2019. how was it your first time in wells yeah it was actually my first time out of the us all right wow first stamp on my passport which was really sick like i was on the plane and as we were like you know entering coming from from the water to land and i was looking down i was like wow england it's so green and i remembered that when i was young like i don't know 14 or 15 i would like get caught in this youtube rabbit hole of like um like indie acoustic musicians who played like in the parks in london i think youtube channel's called burberry acoustic or something like that i don't know if it still exists but i was like obsessed with it and i was like 14 being like i have along with the artists in london like very emo and weird but i was like oh my gosh this is crazy like my this like fantasy of mine when i was little is like actually coming true before my eyes um so it's really cool i like landed in london got on a train to wales and then when i got there like someone met me and let me into my apartment they were like okay great we'll see you in like two weeks and i was like bye wow wow was there anything you anything that confused you or that felt completely different from new york yeah i mean well i don't know about confused i was relatively prepared for it but of course i had that very typical like american in anywhere that drives on the other side of the road thing where i was like you know clenching my teeth in the back seat um but i think the thing that was the most surprising was like how nice everyone was like particularly the people like the taxi drivers they're like hi how you doing where are you coming from like all of it like wanted to know my whole life story and i anytime i get a taxi in new york they're like okay where are we going and then they don't speak to you you know so um i was like i don't know if you're like genuinely interested in in my in what i'm doing um but they were everyone was super nice i got used to it pretty quickly but i loved to be social so it was i felt very um very special yeah yeah no you get in london it's really weird some people are very extroverted so you get that open vibe people want to chat to you right and then some people are very introverted they just go about their business they don't really create conversation um for you so were you did you grow up in new york are you a new yorker for your whole life or have you moved around or no i i grew up in san jose california um i grew up there and then when i went to college i went to carnegie mellon and studied musical theater which is in pittsburgh pennsylvania so i went all the way across the country and from young when i started doing theater i was like i'm gonna live in new york like you know do that thing that you do when you go to new york and like do the thing um so as soon as i graduated uh college i moved straight to new york in like what would that be spring of 2018 so i wasn't really there for that long i was living in new york for about nine months nine and a half months before i left for wales um but i definitely feel like a new yorker at heart like this is definitely home for me now got it got it and so did you know from a young age or did you have family members in the creative space or how did you know you wanted to go and build a career in this arena um i i might i was always a very exuberant child um my mom likes to tell people that i came out of the womb singing which is very cute because i'm pretty sure i came out screaming but you know what's the difference right um but i was very dramatic as a child and then when i was six my mom put me in my first like we there was a community theater quite close to my house in willow glen and um i started when i was like six years old and my mom said she likes to tell people also like um she held off putting me in like theater like that because she knew the second she did it it would be like game over and i would never stop doing it and she was right um i did i was in that community theater until i mean i aged out essentially and then um when i went to high school all of my friends from the theater program were like oh this particular high school has a really good arts program and so i just went there and it happened to be a private catholic school which was like so not my vibe but i was like that's cool i can suffer through religion class for four years to like have all these cool arts classes um and i and then i mean from there i just was like okay i don't want to do like normal school stuff like i'm definitely not suffering through math for four more years so i might as well go to college for for acting for theater um i just auditioned at like the 10 best schools i was really like so not in the know of like what it really meant like auditioning at the 10 best schools some people would be like oh my god that's a big deal but i was really lucky like my mom was always like you do what makes you happy and the rest will follow like people would ask oh does she have a plan b like that's a really competitive industry like what if she you know and she was like get out of here with that because we're not gonna put that energy into the universe we're just gonna let her do her thing what makes her happy and you know success money whatever your definitions of those things are will just follow as long as you're happy and satisfied what you're working on as long as you do what you love everything else will follow right let's go put the work in and be really good at and clearly thank you i mean yes so that's that's just what i what i did and it's it's pretty crazy like going to i got really carnegie mellon is an excellent school it's like one of the top um acting programs in the world um and i like growing up i really didn't i initially thought i was gonna be a dancer like when i was like eight i was like i'm gonna be dancer and then i found out i could sing when i was like 11. i was like cool i can sing so i can do musical theater and then as i got a bit older and i was auditioning for these like you know really prestigious pro like uh uh programs there was all this like focus on acting and i don't really think i understood like what that really meant at all until i got there and i was like oh this is a whole am i an actor i don't really know um but in some ways i think that put me at a a pretty good advantage because i felt i felt quite like a blank slate so i could just absorb all the training and then you know use what i needed to use as opposed to like being told like this is what acting is this is how it's supposed to be from a super young age um and then when i graduated and i everyone told me like oh you're gonna go straight to broadway like you're gonna sing and do broadway and um that's sort of what i thought was gonna happen and then i just happened to be getting more attention from film and tv i think partially because there's just so much more work with all the different networks and streaming services there's just like so much more work and content being made um and for me i think my type quote unquote was more popular or there's just more opportunities for someone who looks like me and is like me um and i i discovered pretty quickly i was like oh tv and film is not something i thought about but like i'm so obsessed with with this kind of work it was so much more natural like i really like reality when it comes to like storytelling um and the difference just is like with theater it's not necessarily that it's not realistic you just have to make everything so much bigger because the person in the you know furthest row of the balcony has to be able to hear and see you clearly so you have to you know project and make your movements extra big and i always got criticized in school for like not being big enough and i was like but i'm feeling it inside shouldn't that be enough um and then when that was good for tv i was like wow okay maybe i found a little niche here that i didn't know um was gonna be good for me but i really i really love it how was that transition to kind of move away from the musical the singing dancing and going into like the tv and acting space was that was a steep learning curve or e um i don't i don't necessarily think it was steep it like my program didn't have a lot of focus on tv and film i just got a bit of it in the last year so really what i think my the actual learning of like what is how to translate my training from theater to film really just had to do with adjusting how like adjusting what i was revealing for the camera because it's much closer you know and honestly i think i learned that mostly just through auditioning like creating self tapes and and noticing oh what i just did was too big so i need to go back and think about how do i make it smaller so that it looks more real um but as far as my approach like as an actor my approach is really the same and when i get a script no matter if it's filmed or or live how i embody or like discover the life of a character is really the same it just has to do with like how much you're revealing when it's filmed or when you're doing it on stage got it got it and so how did your connection with the whole industry program come about is it like do they put out do you have like a manager who looks at opportunities for you because for me this world that you're in is completely like different and foreign to me just as i assume like banking was when you got given the script so that's why i'm asking these type of questions but yeah um so i got really lucky and my program does what's called a showcase and there are lots of programs who do this so um at the end of your final year the graduating class puts together a show where you do i mean total of like two minutes like half a scene and a little singing for me or half a scene and a monologue and the graduating class does that show in new york and la or one of the other we did it in both places and then our university invites agents and managers other industry professionals casting folks they come to see it and then they have these i mean it's actually kind of savage but they have these like pamphlets with our faces on them and they like put an x or a check mark if they want you to call them for a meeting so um after new york there was um my current manager she was like i want a meeting with you and i met with her and she was so chill and really nice and um from there she was like i'm just gonna start sending you things and auditions to like put on tape and we'll just see how this relationship goes and we stuck with it like i'm obsessed with her and her whole team um she introduced me to my agent at the time and then um yeah so they just like shoot me emails they're like we pitched you for such-and-such project here's the audition send it back to us and then they send it off and you know it's out of my hands from there but um that's not the case for everyone like a showcase in the grand scheme of things like compared to the number of schools there are is like relatively rare and also like a huge blessing i have no idea how i would have gotten representation if they had not come to that showcase most actors they just sort of go and like to new york or la and they'll go to what's called a non-union open call which is so if you are represented or in a union you know you you get like not special treatment but you sort of get first pick because whoever's auditioning you is like oh they're represented or they're in the union which means they're credible for xyz reasons but when you're new and you don't have an opportunity like a showcase to meet someone you have to pitch yourself to these agencies and to these management companies which is hard because then they're like well show me what you've got and if you're new you're like i don't really have anything that can be really difficult so um i know that i'm really blessed to have had that opportunity at first but i guess that's what you pay for going to a university like carnegie mellon indeed and you're making it sound very easy but i'm sure there's a lot of grind graft and hard work that goes on behind the scenes yeah yeah yeah um and okay so then you get the role and they tell you okay you're gonna you know you're gonna be harper stun do they tell you she's the lead character like what was your expectation and how like was it easy for you to play harper were there similarities between you as a normal person and as the character or did it take some adjusting how did that go back yeah so in the audition process which for me i think was about a month or maybe a little bit less which to me felt really fast um because you know some projects can be casting forever and you'll audition and then months later they'll be like okay we want to see you again or we don't um but this is quite quick for me so when i first got this audition come across my email like any other one i was like oh let me look at it let me look at the script okay i'll slap it on and send it off and then i don't know less than a week later my management was like hey they really liked this um do these other scenes and i was like oh bet okay cool so i did the other scenes they were a few days later hey they really liked this they want you to meet the writers and i was like oh okay so i did a zoom very similar to this with mickey and conrad and they were like hey we really liked your approach to this it seems like you really understand the world which was hilarious to me because i didn't um and they were like here's some notes re-tape and send them off to us i did that very soon after they were like they loved your tapes they want you to meet the irector it's lena dunham so like don't say anything stupid uh so i did i went and met lena dunham who was an angel one of the kindest most generous fun people i've ever met in my life um and then very soon after that they were like they want you to go test in london and then they flew me out and then so in that whole process like and this is not always the case but i think once you start to get into that like multiple auditions or recall space they'll send you scripts so before i had even gone over there i had read scripts one through four and they're like you know newest iterations so i had a pretty good idea of these characters their relationships in the world they were in um on the page it felt like um i understood that the audience was entering this world through harper's eyes so i knew there was gonna be lots of responsibility on my shoulders yeah which i was like give it to me like yes let's do it like you know blind fierce optimism and um and courage that i had to have because or else i would have been um probably overcome with anxiety and fear um but yeah i mean i i knew that it was gonna be hard and long and that i i had a huge responsibility for um a lot of how the our audience was going to see the world yeah yeah i i knew almost instantly who harper was yeah i understood because i mean she's a mixed black american girl coming up in her industry and that's exactly what i am and who i am it just happens to be that it was in theater and not in finance so i essentially was like i know exactly like where all these instincts are coming from i personally my challah may not make all the choices that she makes to deal with those feelings however i knew why she was doing them yeah and the thing i think i mostly identified was the was her feeling extremely disadvantaged compared to so many of her peers but knowing that she has to be and is the best person for the job in the room and whether or not you feel that way you have to let whoever it is you're trying to impress understand that you are indispensable like you have to make yourself so attractive that they have to take you you know make yourself undeniable and she does it by this really like stony like i'm not giving you anything but like here's all this money next to my name type of attitude which i so love i love that she she does that i mean it does end up biting her in the butt a little bit later but um okay it was a joy and a pleasure to play someone who's like that and then finding the places where she reveals those cracks in her armor it was a huge challenge and also like really rewarding to do i i honestly think you do an amazing job of because there's a lot of viewers who aren't you know banking and finance background the show is it's not necessarily it's focused about on banking and finance but it appeals to a broader audience because it's the world of work right and so through harper's son it guides the viewer into like okay there's this underdog she's very motivated she's able she's capable um and you take everyone on that journey and it's like it's it allows a non-financed person to step into that world and open their eyes without even knowing or needing to know the jargon and all of that so it's really nice to see how how have you dealt with or found the response because as each episode comes up it just seems to get bigger and bigger and different yeah man it's um it's pretty wild i i like to say without a shadow of a doubt i always knew that it was gonna be well received but that was just my opinion because when i got the script i was like this writing like it is not it is so rare for for an actor a person to like read a script come over this like see a new show and be like this writing is so thorough and so real that like you get swept up in the world while you're reading it i remember the first time i finished the end of the fourth script i was like in my bed in brooklyn in the middle of the night like sweating bullets having no idea what was going on but knowing that like i needed to know what happened to these people right and like um i knew then i was like this is good writing because i don't know what they're talking about but i'm i'm so invested i i get this transitional period i understand what it feels like to be like a newbie in a huge industry where you're expected to behave like an adult so i'm really um proud mostly of what we've done because people are responding to it in in such a they're responding to it in the way that i responded to it when i read the script it is quite strange because i mean i'm i'm one of only two people here in america um ken lee young is here as well but we don't um we don't i mean i don't can't see anyone i can't go out i can't do anything i can't like feel or hear the response in real time but i am like glued to my phone like looking at twitter um it's been really exciting i'm just really proud and like happy for mickey and conrad and happy for all of us i'm just like it it it feels it's pretty indescribable to say like how proud i am that other people are responding in the way that i'm responding to because i love this project so much what were the team like the cast seemed great everyone that works on this seem it seems like especially like from seeing your social media and how everyone you know on the show and off the show everyone seems to really be well connected everyone gets on with each other how how was it like working with the other members on the team um it was amazing this is another thing that i think is quite special about the show and special about this team is like you don't always expect to arrive to work it's still a job it might be fun but it's work and and make lifelong friends like these people they took me in so quick i kind of forced it on them as well i was like i'm alone here and i need friends so like please be nice to me um but they really took me in um they like taught me about slang and like let me know what the joke was when i didn't get it i just they're all so kind and and talented beyond belief like i learned so much from all these people and it's really nice this show is not just young people and for old people like there's a huge age range and um like actors of all kinds from all over the place that there was so much learning to be had especially me being quite new uh it was kind of like a master class because i was also learning you know techniques and perspectives and approaches from people who were trained in london which i just you know have no reference to um it's really special and i think part of the thing that bound us is that we all have so much love and respect for the script for the writing for the story like that was the first thing we came on to this knowing like this is a special project which just makes people so hype you know and then we could sort of like geek out together about how much we like the show um and then for the for me and harry and david and marisa like we were all sort of coming into this relatively fresh being like oh my god having a little imposter syndrome just like our characters so we really um gravitated towards each other and leaned on each other as we were going through these new experiences as actors and our characters were going through these new experiences as young people in finance it was um nice that our personal trajectory was mirroring our characters a little bit um made for really good bonding i'm obsessed with them they're amazing it sounds it sounds like a lot of fun and it sounds really really interesting and a good experience but i'm conscious of your time um so i i just want to ask before we wrap up so you go to times square and then you see your face on a huge billboard tell me about that experience because that must have felt insane i cried like a baby which i wasn't expecting i mean my two of my friends had taken me to go see it it was like on a whim you know like late and we just were like let's go to times square and it was empty of course because there's nobody around and everyone's at home um but we went to go see it and i had already seen it in a photo i knew it was there and then when i got there i was i don't know how many yards i was far away from it when i first saw my face and i was looking at it and i was like wow that's crazy that's crazy and then the closer i got and the like smaller i started to feel compared to it and like i don't i don't know i guess the gravity of the thing really hit me i like burst into tears because i was just so i never imagined my face huge in times square i just i just didn't think about it maybe because i wasn't really thinking about a life in tv and film so it just didn't occur to me that that was gonna happen so it was a really um shocking and pleasant new kind of like validation yeah it was like when i was looking at that it was like i was being told like congrats you did it like you really did justice to this thing and so here it is in this massive monument like for everyone to see it's like the cherry on the cake seriously and the kind of thing that doesn't necessarily it doesn't you know having your face on a billboard doesn't equate success it was just a whole nother kind of like congratulations you've been gifted this nice thing because you did a good job and that was really touching and it was special to have my friends there and i so wished the rest of the cast had been there with me you know in another in another life maybe we would have all seen it together but on on the one hand i guess i'm happy i didn't cry in front of them that's such a nice experience i can only imagine what it felt like it was bad you'd be surprised on the youtube channel i get like people watching it who are interested in banking and finance and stuff but you also get people that are not part of that industry anyone if there's any young person or anyone watching that wants to break into the creative industry acting all of that what advice or you know guidance or any words of wisdom would you have for them or any tips that have helped you you know along the way i think the most valuable lesson i have learned in my relatively short journey to this moment that i'm at right now which i think qualifies for everyone you know in every facet of life in your career in your personal life um be yourself all the time yeah just be yourself all the time because there were moments when i thought oh maybe i'm too androgynous for people to i'm not palatable enough i'm sort of in this in between i'm like too eccentric i'm all of these things that i think people can't put me in a box so they don't know what to do with me and they can't see beyond they can't see beyond all of that to see like my talent or what i'm bringing to the table and there was definitely a moment where i thought oh maybe i need to like grow my hair out or maybe i need to lose a pound or two or you know some or or be more feminine maybe i need to wear makeup all the time and that started to really crush my soul i'm definitely a person who like expresses who they are as a sort of um confirmation of myself and i realized like when i got industry it was at a moment where i thought maybe i need to become more palatable to this industry that i'm going into and then when i got industry what they said to me was we love you exactly how you are like what you've brought to this is what made it special so i would say hold on to yourself no matter what it is you're doing in in any relationship business or otherwise really hold on to yourself take care of yourself in that way and like whatever it is that is meant for you will find you as long as you you know working towards those goals the right thing for you will find you and when it finally does it's going to be so lit it will be lit amazing well if you've got any questions for me i'd be happy to answer them i don't necessarily think i have any questions at this moment but what i'm super excited about if you choose to is you know more of your thoughts on the show as it goes on um i think you're a genius i just love the way you dissect the whole thing i love your reactions it just makes me feel so excited because one of the things we were the most worried about is like you know who's going to watch this who's going to enjoy it like are people in this actual industry going to enjoy the show so it just tickles me pink that you even do this so i'm i'm just looking forward to hearing more from you if you feel so inclined definitely now i'm looking to do the reviews they've seemed to gone down very well with the audience like it so yeah there will be reaction videos for the future episodes but yeah no amazing yeah this honestly like this was a long shot for me to reach out to you and get you to talk here but thank you so much i really appreciate it absolutely a pleasure my the pleasure is all mine thank you so much for having me it's great no worries thank you so much and if you've got any questions if i can never help shout out to me you got my insta all of that i shoot you a dm so quick have a lovely day thanks man you too if you made it this far i hope you enjoyed that conversation let me know if you've got any questions or comments and if you made it this far put an emoji in the comments so i know that you've made it this far and i will see you in the next video thank you you