I’m a prairie girl. Growing up in Winnipeg, Canada I was raised listening to the country singing legends. Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Mr. Kenny Rogers.
One of my favorite inspirational acting lines is from the Kenny Rogers classic “The Gambler”.
I don’t think I’m alone when I admit there are times along the way of my performing career I would do what Barbara Deutsch has said never to do! I would compete and compare.
Meaning I would look at someone else’s career and compare it to mine. What can then happen is a tendency towards pitying ones self and excuse making. Let’s say we look at Gwyneth Paltrow: her father was an award winning Hollywood producer and her mother is Blyth Danner. Nicolas Cage is a Coppola as in Francis Ford and the list goes on and on. What used to happen is my mind would start to believe that if I had been born into a family other than my own – I would have a better career.
This excuse making and ‘woe is me’ attitude would get me absolutely nowhere. Also that belief – that if I had different parents my career would be easier – is not true.
We don’t really know another person’s story and it doesn’t serve any performer to compare their career to another’s. Also for every Hollywood baby who made it ‘big’ there is a star that came from a small town no one has heard of.
We are each and every one of us unique and our careers are vastly different. No one can play a part the same, much less have the same career.
So when Kenny Rogers sings “every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser” I am reminded that you play the hand you are dealt. Whether it wins or loses – is up to you.
I get the amazing opportunity to play the hand of a prairie girl raised on ‘down to earth’ values who was taught to believe in her dreams – pretty lucky. It has served me well.
The fact is – every hand’s a winner.
The next time you are feeling a little uninspired, make a list of the aces you are holding, anticipate the best scenario for the cards you have been dealt. Don’t be surprised how many times you will have the confidence to go “ all in”.