Acting Coach

Jesse Kelly-Brandes is a born Actor, and she has been acting her entire life in one way or another. Throughout school, she could be seen in every play or production from kindergarten to grade 12, including popular titles such as Cinderella, Guys & Dolls, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. She also directed several small productions and was a member of an award-winning improvisation team & One Acts Festival while in high school. During these years, she also enjoyed writing, directing and filming several short films. At 18, Jesse attended the Young Actors Camp in Los Angeles where she realized that acting was what she was meant to do for the rest of her life. After graduating high school, Jesse moved to Los Angeles to attend the New York Film Academy. There she received extensive training in:
· Meisner
· Cold reading
· Voice and Movement
· Commercial
· Shakespeare/Classical
· Scene Study
· Comedy and Improv
· Stage Combat
· Advanced Acting Technique
During her time at the New York Film Academy, Jesse played a lead character in 2 live theatrical showcases and presented 3 monologues in front of celebrity judges with excellent feedback. Her hard work paid off by having one of her film scenes shown on the big screen in front of a live audience at Warner Brothers Studios. Jesse also acted in several shorts shot on the film/television sets at Universal Studios Hollywood and she also directed a short on the set of “Back to the Future.” With a strong passion for comedy, Jesse started creating unique comedic characters and took an Improv workshop with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from “Whose Line is it Anyway?” After graduation, she moved to Vancouver where she began her professional film/TV career and appeared in such shows as “Life Unexpected” on the CW network and “Untold Stories of the ER” on TLC. Jesse then completed an intensive acting program at Shoreline Studios in Vancouver including audition technique,scene study, comedy and voice over. In addition she attended a variety of acting and voice over workshops offered in the city. Jesse then began offering private coaching where she helped students prepare for getting an agent as well as audition techniques. Her next stop was Toronto where she furthered her training in scene study and improv and began teaching acting classes for children and teens as well as offering private coaching for adults. With the training and experience that she has gained, Jesse has developed her own unique and engaging style and way of teaching with passion and humour.



CLASSES OFFERED

Before the Script
There is more to being an actor than bringing the words on the page to life. Those words need to have a purpose, emotion and reason. The actor must be grounded and connected to the material physically and mentally. Before the Script teaches the actor to bring their life experience into their work no matter what the situation. In most cases you are told to leave your personal life at the door but in this case, Bring it ALL in! This class is designed to break the actor free of emotional walls they have put up.
Actors need to be vulnerable, in touch with emotions and be able to “go there” Many actors say things like:
• I can’t get angry
• I can’t cry
• I’ve never had any severe trauma in my life so I can’t get there
These are just walls the actor has put up from fear of going to that place, or fear of being judged by their performance if they do.These walls affect the actor in class and auditions as well as in life outside of the acting world. With the help of the coach to guide the actor, you will be able to block the inner critic.

This approach can apply to the beginner actor who wants to learn what it takes to make it in the business and start out with a bang in the acting world and also to the expert actor who wants to be put on the spot, kept on their toes and excited about what they do.





Kids Class
The mind of a child is a magical place. Anything and everything is possible. All it takes is one minute in the mind of a child to make a scenario become real. In the Kids acting class, we create and mould this beautiful energy into acting. As adults, we lose our ability to “pretend” as we are taught to keep our feelings to ourselves and leave our personal lives at the door. We end up storing emotions away and then have problems when trying to bring them out in acting situations when needed. In this class, the children will be taught how to keep these emotions at arm’s reach and be able to access them when needed in the acting world.

These classes are also great confidence boosters, letting the child have a voice and learn that they, in themselves, are simply enough. Sensory exercises, individual improvised monologues, character work and working with emotions help them to create environments and find their individual personalities. This is a wonderful place to start and to keep working on throughout their acting lives.


Tween/Teen Class
This class is a combination of a lighter version of “Before the Script” as well as Scene Study and Audition Technique. This class is designed to introduce the students to what it takes to survive in this business and to start honing those skills. The number one rule for acting is commit! Commit! Commit! Fear is the biggest block that actors encounter: that inner critic in our minds. Each person has individual blocks that they have created in their minds but can also develop triggers to help them to get into emotional states that they find difficult. This class focuses on learning how to break down the blocks we have put up and finding the triggers to help us with accessing our emotions.

Scene Study
This class focuses on dissecting the scene and finding out what it is really about. There are several steps needed to make the scene work and we will delve into each in detail. As an actor, you need to ask the right questions to make yourself dig deeper and become more interesting to watch. By working with environment, personality, physicality, voice, movement and above all commitment, you will be able to create a great authentic scene. Be prepared to take risks, be confident and don’t be afraid to fail! There are no wrong answers. If you believe it and make it 100% real for yourself, it will appear 100% real to your audience. An actor’s experiences in life help them to be a better actor. Our heads are full of stories; any part we play in acting is defined by us.


Audition Technique
The reality of auditions is this: You get a few pages from a much larger script and anywhere from 6-48 hours to prepare for the audition room. This is a big moment in the life of an actor. This class can go hand in hand with scene study as it generally uses the same tools preparing the actor to be 100% ready in the short amount of time they have between receiving the scene and the actual audition. Using practical strategies when working with your script, you will be ready to stand out. The audition is your job! You have a very short time in the room and one chance to do your best and book the role! This class will be both on and off camera as we delve into the necessary steps needed to be prepared for a successful audition.

Private Coaching
One on one work with the actor in any area where further work is needed, such as prepping for an audition or working with breaking down emotional walls, etc.