Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Hashizume.
Hi Anna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis and always loved singing and performing.
I was taking a taekwondo class as a kid and a crew from TPT came to the class looking for kids to participate in a new tv show they were producing called Dragonfly TV. They interviewed a handful of us and I was selected to be on the show! It took a day to shoot my episode and after that I was hooked. I asked my mom how I could do this forever and she started looking into acting classes for me. I started taking some classes at CTC and one day my mom saw an ad in the newspaper for Asian American kids to audition for a show at Theater Mu. I auditioned and booked a very small role and, at 8 years old, the rest is pretty much history!
When I was in high school, I started taking voice lessons in earnest. That was where my love of singing really blossomed and my love for classical music took off.
When auditioning for colleges, I considered acting programs, musical theater programs, and music programs. I finally landed on a music school that allowed me to also taking acting classes with the theater school (this is, sadly, very rare). However, classical music really became my life. I was cast in a principal role my sophomore year of college and really thought I’d never look back. I loved opera and loved how powerful I felt performing opera. After graduating, I decided to pursue a graduate degree (this is very common for classical singers), which is what brought me back to Minnesota. After finishing school, I started auditioning for opera companies and completely lost my way. I forgot why I loved singing. I started singing for other people and not myself. I didn’t like who I was becoming as a performer and was stressed and anxious most of the time. After a year or so, I decided to step away from opera and go back to my first love: Musical Theatre.
This is when I started auditioning around the Twin Cities for plays and musicals. I re-found what I loved about performing and I started to discover my artistic home. I still love opera but now I feel like I know who I am as a person and a performer. I also started teaching and coaching other singers and performers and have found a lot of joy in helping people discover their voices and gain confidence.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has most definitely not been a smooth road! Being a performer is absolutely not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of rejection. I truly can’t stress that enough. I know everyone says it, but it’s true. If you’re an actor and haven’t faced a lot of rejection, I hate to say it, but your time is coming. It comes for all of us. It may be a bad season or a bad few seasons.
This past season was one of the first times in my life when I wondered if I really wanted to keep doing this. I had a lot of rejection. I was so anxious I had a hard time eating. There were mornings I didn’t want to get out of bed. I felt like I didn’t want to put myself out there anymore. I was tired of feeling passed by. I really started to wonder if I could healthfully stay in this career.
At the end of the day, I knew how much I loved to do what I do. I was able to lean on loved ones and remember what’s important outside of work. I started to work more on my own terms and I changed how I viewed my work. It was a huge perspective shift for me, but one that I had to make in order to keep going.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to consider myself a “singer-actor.” I feel like each word alone doesn’t quite encapsulate what I do. While yes, I am a singer and an actor, I think my specialty lies in combining the two mediums. I think that’s my biggest strength as a performer, as well as being my biggest strength as coach/teacher. I used to joke that I was a really good actor for an opera singer and a really good opera singer for an actor. Meaning, I never really felt like I excelled at either medium entirely but that with the other’s strength, I became good. I don’t necessarily believe that anymore, but the basis of the joke definitely feels rooted in reality.
I do think these combined strengths are what set me apart from others. I’m highly passionate about musical interpretation and digging all we can out of the music to help inform the character.
In my career, I think the two things I’m most proud of are (1) successfully bridging the gap between opera singer and musical theatre performer and (2) building my own successful voice studio from the ground up. Both of these accomplishment took years of work and I’m not done yet. I tell students and clients all the time that they can “hold both” – they can celebrate their wins while also knowing there are things that can be improved upon. So, I’m “holding both” with these accomplishments. I’m so proud of where I’ve gotten and I also know there’s so much room to grow!
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I think with finding a mentor it’s definitely a gut thing. Don’t try to stick a square peg into a round hole with something like this. Make sure you vibe with the person. It’s not just about what doors they can open. The doors will open with the right relationship. Trust your gut!
As far as networking goes, remember that people are people. CEOs, Artistic Directors, board members – they can all tell when someone is having an inauthentic interaction with them. Just like you can tell when someone is being inauthentic with you. Be polite, be friendly, but don’t feel like you have to put on some inauthentic, used-cars-salesman-y charm.
At the end of the day, people hire people. So be a person, not a robot 🙂
Pricing:
- 60min Voice Lesson – $70
- 60min Career Coaching – $70
- 45min Voice Lesson – $50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.annahashizume.com
- Instagram: @annahashizume, @sing_with_anna
