Author: Taryn O'Neill

Confidence. There is a lot of buzz around this word. You need ‘confidence’ to succeed. “Confidence matters as much as competence”. Research shows that women have less of it than men. Mindy Kaling talks about ‘earning’ it in her memoir. There is a book called The Confidence Code. Forbes, Fast Company, Life Hacker, and every self help site in the known universe explores and exploits the word — it’s the golden ticket to success — a psychological mind set that will give you a leg up over the competition in this ever shifting job landscape. (A brutal version of it got a certain billionaire…

I took a month off of acting class in May. I was burned out. Stressed out. I had given so much of myself during pilot season, had some amazing experiences, close calls, my work never better, but at the end of the day had nothing to show for it. Well let me rephrase: I had nothing IMDB or bank account worthy to show for it — I knew that I had grown leaps and bounds as an actor. But still, at the end of the day, was I just not enough? Without the million followers or network series on my resume,…

Editor’s note: I was scrolling through facebook the other day and Taryn’s post floored me. They were the exact words that I needed to hear and helped me shift my thinking in a moment when things were looking very dark. Instead of me rambling on, I’m going to let those words speak for themselves. IF YOU ENJOYED THIS POST, JOIN OUR COMMUNITY! Email Address First Name Last Name

**originally published at Operation B.A.B.E. I feel great pleasure in knowing that I can defend myself. I’ve been studying martial arts on and off again since I graduated college. People always seem surprised that I fight; me seemingly so poised and ladylike, perhaps due to my figure skater and dancing background. But I love the fight. Compact, Brutal. Explosive…. The concentration, being on the edge, where body and mind have to be connected, tiny muscle fibers firing, the feedback when you connect, when you get hit. It is a reminder that I am alive in this world where everyone has…

Hello, my name is Taryn and I’m an Inspiration Addict. Every morning I pull myself out of bed, make my Bulletproof coffee, wake up my Mac and glance lovingly at my inbox — dancing with shiny news feeds from efficiency experts, productivity gurus, life coaches, big thinkers…Fast Company, Wired, Science Daily, and don’t forget TED! They beg to penetrate my sleepy brain. And why shouldn’t they? I glean something amazing from almost everything I read; always applicable to one of the myriad projects I’m knee deep in, or to my own life challenges. I would be crazy not to take advantage…

Editor’s note:  Taryn originally posted this as a status update on Facebook. I asked her if I could post this on Ms. In The Biz so we could all benefit from this amazing story. On Sept 30th I received a message that my proposal for a ‘coming of age’ science and music based feature had made it through to the 2nd round of the Sundance Institute / Sloan Foundation Fellowship. Then I found out that the script or treatment was due IN TWO WEEKS. I had neither. I was leaving the next day to start shooting Granite Flats again. Cue happy dance…

Hello fellow travelers! Apologies for being away from Ms in the Biz for a while (but my how it’s flourished! I have read so many great articles). But I’m back, just having finished shooting season 2 of GRANITE FLATS (premieres April 6th!) and getting back to work on a ton of new projects so my brain is abuzz! Thus today I bring you a brand new SPARK YOUR SOUL / BRAIN.  For those of you who are new, this is where I discuss a handful of linked articles and videos that I found both inspirational and educational… and linked in…

“Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.” -Joseph Campbell Four years ago I was privileged to spend 17 days in my hometown of Vancouver during the 2010 Olympic Games. I tweeted and blogged my way through every skating event, countless curling and hockey matches, marveled at the speed skating and even bussed my way up to Whistler to watch the slalom. I went to the Opening Ceremonies and cried joyfully with my fellow Canadians in…

I pretty much know exactly when I’ve had a serious epiphany and the direction of a project I’ve been struggling with is going to change… because I suddenly find myself re-arranging the living room or curling my hair. Today was one of those days. I changed clothes three times. I experimented with lipsticks. I rearranged my bedroom and closet. Only an hour before I had been hit with this brilliant insight, a long standing problem suddenly clear in its answer and execution, and all I wanted to do was… make things ‘pretty’. I felt like I couldn’t function unless I…

“Do you mind putting yourself on tape for this project?” As an actor, you will start hearing this question more and more. We work in a fast paced and changing industry that is becoming more DIY everyday. Movies and shows shoot all over North America, schedules are tight, directors are on location and casting directors don’t have time to pre-read people. In the past, self taping would have meant driving to a taping studio, shelling out $50 – $100, having a small allotted time within to film and pick your takes, but now, with a small investment, you can have…

Hello lovelies, I hope the beginning of your 2014 journey around this solar system has started off with energy and excitement. I am in the midst of reflecting on all the posts I have written for Ms in the Biz so that I can best serve the growing audience of this website, and in doing this, I see that my posts specifically relating to acting yielded the most interaction. So before I delve back into a larger existential post that I will entice you to read, I wanted to give you some additional arsenal to add to your ACTOR BAG…

The end of the year is upon us. As residents of this lush spacecraft called Earth, we have traveled around the sun one more time. And in doing so, we each traveled our own orbit. Did you change yours at all? Did you adjust your gravitational force or your velocity to take your journey into new desired territories? Did you realize how one choice can change the entire trajectory of your journey? It did for me. It began as a career ‘’gift’. I booked a small but juicy role on Dennis Quaid’s show ‘Vegas’. I never auditioned. I was booked…

Welcome to PART TWO of this series! Part one covered what to expect as an actor on an average day on set, a breakdown of a typical schedule and terms. I’m excited it connected with so many of you! I received a lot of great questions on twitter and here on Ms. in the Biz… many of them to do with how ‘styled’ one should be when arriving to set. People have different opinions, but mine (especially when new to a set) is to look as put together as possible. This definitely applies to something I neglected to mention –…

Wanting to switch gears from my regular existential style of post, I asked our talented founder and editor Helenna if there was a topic she’d like me to explore. She wondered if I would write about being a recurring character on the TV show I shoot in Utah. My instinct was a self conscious ‘no’ as I felt it would be too self promotional — but in thinking on it, I realized how much I have learned over the last year (and how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know) so I figured it could be helpful to share…