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Coral Mizrachi is an Israeli actress based in Belgrade, Serbia. She graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and since then has been working as an actress across three different continents including places such as the US, Europe, and the Middle East. Some of her most notable credits that fans may recognise her from include the Comedy Central sitcom Shutafim, and the horror film Foreign Form by Arian Behpour. In this interview she talks passionately about how it feels to work in different markets including theatre and film, where she believes the next Hollywood is, a funny story about prop safety, and what are the “Must Knows” for an actor working internationally.
When I was younger one of my teachers told me that the difference between theatre and film is the difference between micro and macro, and I do think that it’s pretty accurate.
At the end of the day acting is acting.
I do the same type of prep for a show on stage that I would do for a film set, the only real difference is the scale. When you’re working on set the camera has an invasive quality which will make it catch everything you’re feeling, so you get the luxury of hiding what the character is going through in that moment. The camera will catch it anyway, if you are actually experiencing it truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
The same thing goes for theatre. You need to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances obviously, however you don’t have the luxury to be subtle, because the last row in the theatre won’t see what you’re going through. That is why the scale has to be a bit bigger, but if you as the character are not experiencing it truthfully you are not doing your job as an actor.
Beside that, for me, there are different fears coming into the work when you’re on set or when you are on stage. In theatre you have a lot of rehearsal time, but it is a live show after all, and you have to think on your feet. The same thing goes for you’re on set. You don’t really have the luxury to mess up, as you might think. Yeah, you can do another take, but if you mess up you are wasting a lot of people’s time and money. Set is a much faster pace than theatre, from my experience. At the end of it, you should come prepared to both mediums just the same.
I didn’t expect how different the industries are between different countries. Every industry has its own unwritten rules and I worked very hard to understand those rules to a “T” for each country. Each industry in each country has their own unique way of doing things. It can feel alienating at first.
Another thing is, if you don’t know the language in the country you are trying to work in, it can be quite difficult, and actually at times, lonely. It is something I underestimated before moving to Europe.
Actually, I think it was an empowering process for me. The difficulties that I faced in the industry in my hometown were different from the difficulties that I faced going into a different country, and at times it felt like, “Wait, I can do this.”
I think I gained a lot of knowledge on diversity and I developed the confidence that there is room for me in this profession, which I didn’t feel like in the beginning of my career. I worked hard on understanding the moving parts in any country I move to, and to know about the people working there. I also try my best to learn new accents and dialects, if possible also languages, to expand my typecast.
If I have to choose one, I guess, and I keep saying that many times, but I can’t get over my experience shooting in Vegas for the project Block Boys. It was one of my favourite shooting experiences. Vegas was so grandiose and I felt like a kid being mesmerised by all those flashing lights. I loved the weather, and the experience on set.
Well, to be honest, the set was number one. We shot in a multi million dollar mansion that belonged at the time to the famous Brett Raymer, the star of the MTV show Tanked. It was a crazy set, very cosy, and we had a lot of fun there. I also got to work with amazing people, including Andrea Meshel and Ski-ter Jones, who are so great and made the experience really fruitful.
Well, I think that as actors, there are a few things to look for when trying to develop a career internationally. If you are committed and want to move to a new country, I would research the industry in that country beforehand, and see how open it is. Currently, Eastern Europe is the next Hollywood, having productions from the US and the UK shooting in that part of the world due to the low cost. I know actors that moved to eastern Europe from the UK, solely for convenience. However, not all countries have a flourishing industry that is open and looking for new blood.
The other thing that I would look into beforehand is local hiring. Will the production that you are looking into working with pay for travels and logging? Let’s say you booked a role that is filming in a different country across the world for example, is the production going to fly you there? Or are you going to have to figure it out? There is a lot to consider, both money wise, and caution wise. I flew to set on my own dime more than once, because I knew I wanted to work with creative people that will make my heart sing, however I always checked beforehand that everything is safe and sometimes also had my husband come with me.
I enjoyed it immensely. I got to learn from amazing teachers that I am still in touch with to this day, and I am so grateful for their knowledge and mentoring. In the Academy I got to work on my instrument, movement, voice, acting, theatre and camera, and so much more. I grew a lot as an actress, and created a working process for myself to develop and get into a character. It was quite intense, opening your heart everyday and being in school for 14 hours a day, but I wouldn’t change a thing.
The American Academy has a special place in my heart.
Definitely, I’ll say 2 things that I know I did which helped me a lot.
The first thing is not to wait for the phone to ring, because if you’re not proactive, it just won’t. Go out there and meet people, apply for projects online, don’t be picky, and always look for new ways to collaborate. To this day I work very hard behind the scenes to make sure I am constantly working, and that I get the opportunities that I want to have.
The second is, your craft comes first. Do not neglect your art just because you graduated from school. The quality of your acting is what will get you hired at the end, and we should never stop growing and developing our acting skills. I still look at my work and try to learn something new from what I did or didn’t do right.
Well, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma stage II, and had to go through aggressive chemotherapy, so there was no way I could keep working. I remember the first month of chemo I still tried my best to be productive. I woke up early every morning, editing my website, looking for auditions and so on, but I was just kidding myself. The side effects of the chemo caught on to me pretty quickly and most of the time I couldn’t get out of bed. It was not easy at all, but I tried to stay optimistic, and evidently it helped. After 6 months of chemo I beat cancer, and then the recovery actually began. Even though I wanted to work I wasn’t strong enough, I still looked quite sick and I had no hair. Later, when I felt better and got stronger, I came back into the acting scene. It was not easy at first, but I kept an open mind and I kept on going, and I am happy to say that both myself and my career recovered nicely from this whole ordeal.
It was not easy. Chemotherapy was one of the hardest things I had to go through, and it takes a toll on you physically and mentally. Of course, when I was going through chemo I took a break from acting, but very quickly I wanted to go back. The hardest thing about it for me was feeling that I was not enough anymore, that the cancer took something from me. The healing process for me included a lot of grieving. I was grieving the loss of my energy, my momentum in my career, my looks and my creativity. Evidently I regained all of those, but at times it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel like there are more projects than ever now, after the industry has been in a pause. I also noticed that almost all casting had moved to self tapes and online auditions, which was probably going to happen anyway, but the process became much faster. I do think it makes things way easier for both sides, giving the casting directors more hours of the day to watch auditions, and actors can do as many takes as they want and send the best one. Self taping was a game changer for me. I learned so much from my auditions and I was booking a lot more because I was able to watch my work and learn from it.
I think my biggest accomplishment is to be a full time actress, without a surviving job. I work on enough projects and support myself by doing something I love, and I have a good work life balance. That was my dream, and I worked really hard to get to this point, and I am really proud of myself and thankful to everyone along the way. I can’t wait for my next project, which I can’t tell you about yet but you’ll know about it very soon!
My long term goal is to change people the same way that I was changed through watching actors perform. I believe this is the art of humanity, and it provokes something in us that nothing else can. It brings so much more to life, and I love making this kind of art, as much as I love watching it. If one person could feel seen from a performance of mine, I know I reached my goal.
There is one story I’ll remember for the longest time. We were shooting in a casino, and it wasn’t even supposed to be any big fight scene or anything. The production cleared it with the hotel and the casino owners and they designated a part of the casino for us, but people could still watch from afar. It was a really hot day, and I finished my scene and I walked to the bar to get some water. Funnily enough, I forgot I was carrying the fake prop gun that they gave me for my scene. I tried to sit and I saw the gun on the holster, and it’s hard to sit on a stool with it so I took it out to put it on the counter. The bartender freaks out and yells “Security! Gun!” and next thing I know I am surrounded by the casino security yelling at me to drop to the floor and put my hands on my head. It was wild.
I would tell her to worry less. Keep the stress level low, and practise your craft with love and curiosity.
Also by Drew Janine:
Janine has always been a part of music and performing. The first show that inspired her to go into theatre was the Velveteen Rabbit which she saw as a child, and Drew works to keep that magic alive in her work. When Drew was accepted into an internship program for audio engineering at a recording studio, she jumped at the opportunity. That was at the start of 2020, and so much has happened since then, both in her career and in the world. Since then, Drew has taken several opportunities to work at recording studios, concerts, festivals, and even large theatres while spending some time on tour. Drew's favorite by far though, has been the chance to work on Broadways and West End shows, as this was a dream come true. Drew is honoured to get to share these experiences from being inside the entertainment industry.
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