Surrendering to Success as an Actor in 2026 — with Coach Kathleen Randazzo

Ever wonder how to bring authentic power and joy into your acting career? Curious about the secret ingredients to thriving as an artist? Ready to rewrite the narrative of the 'starving artist' myth once and for all? Join host Robyn Cohen on 'Thriving Artists: The Daily Joyride' for an inspiring conversation with the multifaceted Kathleen Randazzo. Dive deep into Kathleen's journey from a budding actress to a revered teacher, director, and producer in the entertainment industry. Explore the power of authenticity, the importance of storytelling, and the joy of living a creatively abundant life. Discover actionable steps to build your career with passion, commitment and ease, and learn how embracing vulnerability and gratitude transforms your life. This enriching episode reminds us of the magic in living fully, daring brilliantly, and finding healthy balance between work and play. Tune in for a heartfelt dialogue filled with wisdom, laughter, and the essence of what it means to surrender into success in 2026.

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Time Stamps:

17:04 Teaching and Mentorship

26:44 Facing Adversity in the Arts and Overcoming Fear

37:24 Advice to Younger Self

42:06 The Power of Surrender

43:37 Returning Home

Here's to 2026!

Transcript

Robyn Cohen 0:00

Well, hello. Hello, and welcome back to Thriving Artists the Daily Joyride. I am your host, Robyn Cohen. Oh, Boise, Idaho. Today I am so excited to have the amazing, the lovely, powerful, incredible gifted, talented, generous. Kathleen Randazzo, my longtime friend for a quarter of a century. I met her in one of my first acting classes here in Los Angeles at Playhouse West. She's an actress, producer, director. she's everything and one of the loveliest human beings I've ever had the privilege of knowing. You're gonna get to know her today if you don't already. We're gonna rock we're going. Pretty deep. So you're gonna wanna fasten your seat belts but before we dive in. Classes are ongoing and available for you to taste this honey that you're going to hear about in this podcast. Kathleen and I are sharing not just about the tips and techniques and the practices about being an actor, but the actually, actually of what is being called forth such that we can step into our artistry with passion and fire and imagination and joy. It's all in the podcast. DM Me. If you wanna spot in class or if you just wanna audit@Robyncohenactingstudio on Instagram or email me Robyn@cohenactingstudio.com. I can send you all the details to either get on your feet in class or you can observe, you can audit, and if it's your first time. Free. So join me. Love to have you there. Come meet your talent, explore and explode What is possible for you in this creative created life. And in the meantime, here we go with the most dazzling and the most delicious. Kathleen Randazzo. Here we go. Hello. Hello, and welcome back to Thriving Artists, the Daily Joy Ride. I am so excited to be here with one of my. She's really a soul sister. Her name is Kathleen Randazzo. And for those of you who don't know her, many of you do listening to this podcast, because she is at the fulcrum of acting and filmmaking and theater and teaching and directing and producing all over town, all over America, really. but for those of you who don't know Kathleen, she's first and foremost. Such a special friend and comrade and like I said, soulmate. She has been, since I met her a quarter of a century ago at Playhouse West School and Repertory Company, and. It's hard to even describe the depth and the tapestry of, the amalgamation of projects and conversations we've had creatively and otherwise that goes into this friendship and comradery. But for those of you who don't know her like I do, I'm gonna share a little bit about Kathleen for those, listening in, or for those watching on YouTube. we are schitz from a fantastic dance party to, I think it was shut up and dance with me. That was the jam today. And we had Bella, Kathleen's beautiful pup dancing along. With us. Okay. Kathleen Randazzo is an accomplished teacher, director, producer, and actress with over 35 years in the entertainment industry. She has worked with Hollywood's most loved and beloved talents, including she put my name in this list, but I'm just gonna start with including Jeff Goldblum, George Siegel. Julia Louise Dreyfus, Scott Kahan, David Spade, Michael O'Malley, and many other wonderful top, top talents. One of the joys in Kathleen's life is collaborating with her students and colleagues to create amazing works of art. Yes, that is what she does. Hi Bella. There's the pup. When Kathleen is not working, she enjoys spending time at the beach, catching waves, and spending time with her amazing husband, Salvatore Sal of mm-hmm. 30. Count them 30 years. That's three decades. For those of you who are not mathematicians and her beautiful Dane, Bella, Kathleen, it is such an honor. It is such a joy to have you here. Welcome to the show. Yay.

Kathleen R 4:18

Thank you, Robyn. It's so exciting to be here. I don't know why she's being so naughty, so, hopefully it's better. She's talking about her dog,

Robyn Cohen 4:26

not me. Although we were a little naughty in that dance party, a little fun. It was fun and a little naughty. Um, Kathleen and I have to say this before we begin. One of the reasons I started this podcast now over a year ago Wow. Was because I had in mind that it would be an opportunity. To have conversations with people like you, Kathleen, and I just wanna share that right off the bat, that even though it's taken a year to have you on the show in many ways, and I kid you not, and I mean this fully, you are a true inspiration for me for. Starting this up in the first place. And I just wanna thank you and acknowledge you for who you are as a beacon of light for people and, and you represent just artistic power and creative hope. And you have always been that for me and with me. And I just love you and I'm so glad you're here. So I just have to say that off the record and on the record, that you're, a true inspiration for this entire. Podcasting venture because it really began with people like you specifically in mind.

Kathleen R 5:34

okay. Thank you. Loving. Oh my God, I'm so glad you're doing it, that you're shedding your light with so many people. It's so important.

Robyn Cohen 5:41

Well, it is important. sending the light, sharing the light. it's a theme of this podcast and what it's all about. You know, I rebranded it, thriving Artists. It used to just be called The Daily Joy Ride, but I was like, no, there's something furtive and stealthy going on in Hollywood and in everywhere around the world. And it's this lie that artists have to starve and struggle and die for their art, and they have to ruin themselves and hurt themselves and the people around them to make good art. And I just think that is so bogus. I can't even take it anymore. And so, yeah, I, changed the name of it. To represent that this is a podcast. Yes. But I'm also on a mission bringing in people and artists like you, Kathleen, to really rearrange that story, like rewrite that story and talk about what it is to thrive as an artist, to actually, you know, have joy, creative joy, and creative abundance in your life. And you, are that, and you do that. I just have, have to say something

Kathleen R 6:43

because you live, sleep, eat, and breathe what you just said. You are the epitome of joy with your craft. You walk into a room and it lights up. So I mean, you're like, I've, I've said here, like, I don't even know how to. Describe you, but it's like this light comes in the room. So the fact that you're doing this podcast is blowing my mind because it's so perfect. Because it, it is you.

Robyn Cohen 7:06

Thank you. And I just had

Kathleen R 7:07

to share that with you. I,

Robyn Cohen 7:08

I wanna say that you can only see what you are, and I am a reflection of you. So back at you sister, and thank you for that. toward. Helping and hopefully, giving our listeners and our viewers some guidance in terms of like how we step into a life of creativity with joy and lightness of being and passion. Can you take us back, Kathleen? To a littler, a younger Kathleen, just like starting out in this world of arts and crafts, like how did you even, like, I'd love to hear a little bit about your origin story. You come from a huge dynamic, amazing family and how you Went from where you came from to even being in the world of the arts and what that was like for you. I think there are people that listen to this podcast that are like interested in getting into it, but just, gosh, it really takes something to sort of get over the wall of like, nobody thinks this is a good idea. Everyone wants me to get a real job. So can you share a little bit about how you started out and how you got yourself onto this beautiful path?

Kathleen R 8:16

So funny because you know, as much as my father did not want me to become an actor. It's his and my mother, but I think my mother kind of did. But it, it's my father's fault because when my grandmother was in a home, in a old folks' home, my father would have me and my two sisters and my brother. Thus younger kids, the younger of the 12, go and do like shows for them. And so I remember like, like cutting out raindrops and like putting'em on a slicker when I was like a little 7-year-old and singing raindrops or falling on my head, you know, with the ozella inside, of course, bad luck with the old folks and you know, doing all those things and the joy, the joy that I because I was a kid, I didn't wanna go do that, but once I did it, I got hooked because the joy that you bring to people when you give a gift like that. Is it comes back to you as tenfold, like a thousand fold. Think about when you do your show. I mean, when you did constitution, people were just like, people were exploding with gratitude, right? And then you get all that right back, so then you get to feel right, right back at you.

Robyn Cohen 9:28

Wow. that's beautiful. What you just shared about your grandmother that you would put on shows. For, yeah, we love it. The people that you love and giving that love letter to the people that are so close to you in your life, and like the people that you adore most in the world. when my grandmother who passed away, right before her 99th birthday, she passed away before the pandemic. and so we were in her hospital room and I had been cast in a play. John Patrick Shanley's that he was directing and we were gonna do it off Broadway in New York City. And on my way to New York City, from Los Angeles to New York, I stopped in the Washington DC area where I'm from to spend time with my grandmother who was, in the last, I'd say. Month of her life. And I was there for a couple weeks, And the thing that I will never forget, and I actually shared this with John. When we were all sort of hanging around, you know, five days, six days, seven days we're in her room, and it was this beautiful huge room on like one of the top floors and light was streaming in. They would open the windows up and I was preparing for this play. And so I said, you know, mom, dad, what if we cast. Our family members,'cause my aunts were there, my cousins, you know, people, my sister, we were all there. There was a group of about seven, seven to 10 of us at any given time. And I said, can I cast the play that I am supposed to perform in New York City? And can we do like a reading of it for Grammy, who is, you know, 98, almost 99 at the time. But she was totally with it, cogent, coherent. And my mom was like, yeah, let's do it. So I literally like the next day came in and I gave everyone their parts. Like I emailed everyone the script that we were gonna be performing in New York and we rehearsed this play by each, each family member being assigned a part, and we all read our parts and we like performed the play. The nurses came in, the doctor came in, I told Shanley like he had the entire, this entire floor. Watching his play, and it's just like the power of art and that experience of my family who are not actors. I mean, they love it and they're into it. They do love it. I mean, they're totally into it, but not actors by vocation, by any stretch. But to see everyone just pour themselves in and then meet John Patrick Shanley on the way, and then ultimately Kathleen, give a gift to my Grammy. That she would, you know, take with her to heaven where she is now. And it's something that will stay with us forever. Like the power of that. You know, it's what you're talking about in this communion that happens when we give everything, we get everything. And that hospital has never seen anything like it and probably won't, going forward. But it's something that we will all never forget. So thank you for talking about that. So from there you were interested in it, but then how did you actually like make the move and what was that like? In the early years

Kathleen R 12:34

I was, I graduated from high school and I really just wanted to be an actor, but my family was not really thrilled, so I didn't really go to a big college. I went to some community college, Cape Cod Community College, and I started taking theater and dance classes there, and I did it for like a semester and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go to la. And I had a girlfriend of mine who was like, all right, I'll go with you. And so we took the, I had a little Horizon Meer, you know, those little teeny compact cars, and we threw everything we could in that little compact car, and we drove across country. And we broke down in Marino and had to get help and I had to buy a truck and, and we eventually made it to LA but I ended up in Santa Rosa for a while and I went to school there and I got on the speech and debate team, but I finally made it to LA So 89 after you graduate. So

Robyn Cohen 13:26

this was right after you graduated Cape Cod College.

Kathleen R 13:30

Santa Rosa Junior College. I finished there.

Robyn Cohen 13:32

Wow. It

Kathleen R 13:33

was just a junior college. and then I went to LA and then I went to LA Theater Academy, and then from there I went to Playhouse where I found you.

Robyn Cohen 13:41

Wow. You know, I think about training and education and it's funny because on the one hand, you and I are all about it. And by vocation we are students and by vocation we are teachers and mm-hmm. It's, it's wonderful every which way anyway, you slice it. I don't know, which I love more being a student or being a teacher. when I think about like, you know, you said like just to junior college, like, I don't know.'cause I think about like ultimately like. College degrees, like they're great. I have a master's degree. I went back to do it'cause I wanted to connect more deeply with my late brother Adam, who was a Shakespeare professor. And so I went back for a master's in Shakespeare texts and studies. But it's interesting, I kind of love that. Like you didn't necessarily. Put your time and energy into a college program that wasn't actually gonna feed your soul. And when I looked like through the course of time, over history, it's like, do we need all these college degrees doing things that aren't necessarily part of our purpose and calling like, like, you know, who else didn't have a college degree or a PhD? Jesus Christ. And he's like the most popular Jewish boy ever. You know what I mean? So it's like, do we need, I dunno, like people that have really spread that, spread the good word and shared their message. Like they didn't necessarily have a master's that wasn't what they were about, what they were called to do. Right. So, but then in terms of what you were called to do, so then you found Playhouse West.

Kathleen R 15:10

Yes. Yeah. But even before Playhouse West, I was downtown at the Los Angeles Theater Academy and I had such amazing teachers there. And it was like a rounded program where you had, you woke up and you did your voice and then you did your characterization and you had character analysis. and then you had stage combat. And we did the Grakowski's cat in, um, I, I mean, I was just, oh, that's hard. The cat's hard. I started teaching the cat. I was so in love with it. We would do all these crazy exercises for him. I did it every day. the Cat. T

Robyn Cohen 15:39

Cat almost, almost ended me

Kathleen R 15:41

physically. Ah, it's, it's, it's really hard physically, but see that's what I, so intense.

Robyn Cohen 15:47

I just, yeah. Yes,

Kathleen R 15:49

So, yeah, I mean, that was such a great school for me and that made me fall in love even more. And then I went out and I started auditioning and, but I just was like, just kind of auditioning and I did like Joe Dirt and Little Dickie Roberts and little movies, but I was like, when you walk into that school and you see people. Doing what they're doing. And I think That's what I was looking for. I needed some real art and some real exploring and some real like moments.

Robyn Cohen 16:16

And you saw that when you walked in there, what did you see? Yeah. What was it you saw that grabbed you? I was

Kathleen R 16:20

just watching people do, and exercise with dialogue.

Robyn Cohen 16:23

Yeah.

Kathleen R 16:24

It was just a little exercise. It's an exercise where you read the scene once and you don't necessarily, you only memorize your own lines kinda like a monologue. And you know what the other person said once. But then you just learn your stuff and it really forces you to listen. And what I saw was people hearing something for the first time, truly.

Robyn Cohen 16:43

And

Kathleen R 16:43

getting hit, and then their dialogue coming out of how they felt from that. And I had never seen that before. I had seen, I'm gonna say the line like this and I'm gonna say the line like this. And I never saw the real kind of connection unless it was by a mistake.

Robyn Cohen 16:57

Yes. And

Kathleen R 16:58

then I walked in there and I'm like, this is what I was looking for, because this is true and this is what we need to find all the time.

Robyn Cohen 17:04

Wow. And How long were you there digging in fully, authentically with your whole heart, with that passion, with a like-minded group of people before it became obvious or almost inevitable that you were going to teach? When did that happen for you and how I thought

Kathleen R 17:22

that happened right around when Jeff was doing the second Jurassic, I think. Okay.'cause he was gone not teaching. Yeah. And then Mark Pellegrino was booking. everybody, all the teachers, our teachers, all of us. You were always working like, I think US teachers coming up. I don't remember exactly what time it was. I don't know if I was there five or seven years before. Was it something that you were

Robyn Cohen 17:45

wanting to explore or did it just someone asked you to teach? He told me I asked

Kathleen R 17:48

to be a teacher. It was Chris Liebe.

Robyn Cohen 17:49

Chris Liebe. Yeah. He said, you

Kathleen R 17:50

should be a teacher. You should sit in and watch Bob. You should be a teacher or somebody put the bug in my ear. I don't know who it was. Yeah, I think maybe even Jeff said, why are you spending time here? Yeah. He gave me crap because he is asked me how much I rehearsed one day and I said, well, I bartended for like eight hours, but I had a great three hour rehearsal with Pellegrino and he called me a bartender. I hurt my feelings, Jeff. Yeah. And he was like, you need to spend more time with what you wanna do. And I think that put a bug in my ear because he was a very good teacher for us. Yeah, he was. Because look at his, look at his habit. Right. Yes. Yes. Another person who lives eat and breathes joy through their art. Yes. Right? Yes. So we had examples of it our whole life, I feel like. Yes. Through the, through our family at the school, through my family at home. Just the love for. Authenticity of the arts. And yes, my father was an artist and he didn't even know it, but he was a jeweler, but he was so busy gonna work raising his 12 children. Oh. That he didn't realize. But in the meantime, he's like painting and he is doing all this stuff and our house is filled with his paintings. And one of my girlfriends came over and said, I didn't realize your father was an artist. And I'm like, yeah. Wow. So you just never know. I think we're surrounded by it sometimes and unaware

Robyn Cohen 19:02

we're swimming in it. Yeah. Fish don't know. They're in the ocean. They're in the deep waters first of all. Mic drop. Yeah. Kathleen is one of 12. Count them 12. 12, okay. I love what you just shared about, it's sort of just happening and in the same way, Chris. Said, you should be teaching. And Jeff was like, you know, get more involved It caught me by surprise me. It's now like, tell me it's all, oh my gosh. It's like, it's all I wanna do in addition to all the other things that I love to do. But now teaching is like, oh, it has, you know what your life is for. But at the time, I think I was like 25, 26 and I'd been there a few years. Several years, at Playhouse maybe six years, seven years. And at one point after class, Bob Carnegie, Robert Carnegie, who started the school with Jeff Goldblum, pulled me aside after class and he was like, Robyn and I thought I was in trouble. And I was like, what?

Kathleen R 19:57

I, of course I know. I know.

Robyn Cohen 19:59

Yeah, I was. He is like Robyn. I was like, oh my gosh, you just said my name. He usually calls me. Cohenflake, like cornflakes. He would call me cornflakes I don't know how, but I remember Cornflake. Yeah. Cornflakes or something. Yeah. Yeah. And he's, I was like, you just used my real name, something. This must be serious. And he looks at me and he pauses and he is like, you need to make yourself useful around here. And I was like, what? He's like, how long you been here? I was like, you know, six, seven years. He's like, yeah, you're gonna sit with me. Sit with me. it was an invitation. It wasn't a demand, but it was a request. you know, come, come sit with me and watch and see what I'm up to and see if it's something that's for you. And I sat with him for a couple years, two years, in his classes and took notes. And he would take notes or I would take notes and then show the notes that I had taken to him and we would kind of compare feedback and Even as I, I was sort of, not reluctant, but I was like, I had no, when I moved out to Hollywood, a girl from rural Maryland, right? I had no, it was about going to Hollywood to act, so mid twenties, I'm not thinking about right. Like being a instructor. So I kind of sat there, not reluctantly, because I was fascinated by the craft, riveted by the work. So it wasn't that I was there reluctantly, I was just there like. Unbeknownst to anything that I was like. Interested in initiating, like I hadn't, like what am I doing? Like I hadn't initiated this. It was just sort of something that was requested or invited and I was like, yeah, I'll come to that party. And two years later, you know, I was teaching my own class and then Jeff Goldblum and I were team teaching this professional class. I remember you

Kathleen R 21:41

guys were doing that when I was gone.

Robyn Cohen 21:43

Yes. Yes. You were in DC crushing it, being on all those television shows in Washington dc

Kathleen R 21:48

Your side of the woods.

Robyn Cohen 21:49

Yeah. But then When you started teaching? I mean, don't you find it's like, oh my gosh, I've, I learned more being a teacher than I maybe have ever learned being a student in the thousand, thousand years I've been a student. Somehow teaching has taught me more than everything, more than anything.

Kathleen R 22:07

When you're teaching, you have to go through what you've learned and you have to explain it to someone. So you learn it over and over and over again through all the different students' eyes with their questions. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Because you, every time you teach it, you're learning it again and you're learning it through them. Yeah.'cause of their experiences and how you adjust them. You are like, whoa. It's just, you never stop. It's, it's the most fun thing in the world, isn't it?

Robyn Cohen 22:32

It is. and it sort of parlays into my next question, even though I don't even know if I asked a first question, but like, I dunno,

Kathleen R 22:39

we just said

Robyn Cohen 22:41

it's so fun. so, it's interesting, it's rare on a planet of 8 billion plus people. To actually to be an actor. Like, you know, there are 57 active wars going on in the world right now as we record this. And it's like to be an actor and Kathleen I feel so connected to you, so we can just have like a really, really conversation about it. But like, what are we doing? for those listening in who think that acting is red carpets and premieres? And it is sometimes, but what is this really about? What are we doing? Play acting, reading, plays, stories Storytelling. What is the thing that has drawn you to this and kept you in this so fully, so wholeheartedly? What is the tie that binds us to this very unusual, unconventional vocation? Why are we doing this? What is it for?

Kathleen R 23:32

For me? I love stories. I love storytelling. Since the dawn of time, we have been telling stories through music, through sound, through everything. Even the whales tell stories. Everybody has a history. Every single person that walks on this earth and lays their feet as a story. So to me, and that, it's fascinating and I always, since I, I had 11 brothers and sisters, I would go from one room to the next. What's their story? What are they? They were all older than me. They were all, oh, I was the youngest. So I was always like, what's everybody doing? What's his story? What's her story? What's she doing, what's she up to? And everybody had their own dreams and plans and visions, and everybody had their experiences. One person was in trouble, then somebody else was the best, and you know, so I've always been interested in that. That was the first thing that hooked me. The second thing was the truth of art. Like how in life, most people, I feel like I. Just kind of go through the motion and then go on the weekends so they can live or something or, or buy a boat and live or, or in the future they can live. And when we do our work, we live, we experience. We literally are like feeling and doing everything. That's when people go to a movie so they can experience through us. Right. But we do it every single day. Like we dive into things that people don't want to deal with. Yeah. You know, who wants to go experience someone on their deathbed? But yet we go in and a show and there we are, and there's our father on the deathbed and we go say goodbye. Right. Who would, who would wanna do that?

Robyn Cohen 25:13

Yeah,

Kathleen R 25:14

but it's so real and it's so authentic, and we get to live in a moment that's just, I don't know, it's like really living. It's beautiful.

Robyn Cohen 25:24

Really living. What's the alternative? Just to be sleepwalkers right, to be zombies walking the earth. I can't have it. And I think this creativity interrupts that. Whether you're a painter or doing ceramics or jewelry making or visual arts or acting whatever it is, it interrupts. It's a pattern interrupt on going to sleep on our lives and this. Unbelievable, unfathomable experience of being alive, which is so, so rare that it doesn't even make sense that we're here on this zoom right now. Having this conversation. The chances of any two people meeting in the infinite cosmos, let alone to connect on this level, Kathleen, is impossible. So from there, You're in it. You have done incredible work. You've worked with the top people in this field. You have taught, tons of students, and you've worked with colleagues that are doing the best of the best in the world of acting and in creativity in general. still. Even though you have said it is something that has, you feel the aliveness of life. People are like, yeah, but it never works out. Yeah. But it's a numbers game. It's all who you know. Yeah. But yeah, like all the, yeah. Buts I would love if you could, from your own experience, speak to those Yeah. Buts, because I know you have been met with. Extreme adversity. Right. There have been, we have been in our age, our dotage, antiquity. We have at times, Kathleen, between the two of us, been through the shredder. Okay. Yeah. And I would love for you, someone with so much heart and metal and grit and love to talk about how you have navigated some of those. Moments which have threatened to like end it for you in terms of pursuing the arts. So what would you tell people who are like, it's too hard, it's too much the chance, everything's against me. How do you go on, how do you keep going? How do you step into this world?

Kathleen R 27:29

Yeah. can I just start with A cliche. If you wanna have the moon, you, you're shooting for the moon, you're gonna wind up around the stars, right? So if you never try, in this world, if you never give yourself the opportunity to do what you love, then why are you alive? Like, I just feel like it's so short. It's such a short period of time we're here. Why not do what makes you happy? I don't understand people who don't, we get all emotional. I understand. I, I just think if you're gonna live the purpose to live right, everyone always like, what is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of life? And people say to be happy to do this, do that. I think the purpose of life is to live. To live it. So what does it mean for you as a human being to really live? If you have a dream and you are living in this world and you're going, oh, if only I had the car, I'd chase that dream. You're not really living. You're sitting on your hands and you're creating this huge wall of fear. You know, it's like standing on a cliff and all your friends are jumping off into the water and you're like, oh my God, I can't jump. I've been there and I'm like. Jump with me, hold my hand, fly with me, whatever. And if you don't jump, you'll never experience what it's like to swim in that beautiful lagoon or whatever it is. So it's like you can stand there in fear, and the fear's only gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger, and you'll never live. You'll just keep getting more and more paralyzed. So you gotta like wake up in the morning and that first voice, just cut that fear, rip it open, and go and jump. Because otherwise, you know, like if you wanna fly. You're gonna fall, right? Little birds, they jump out of the nest. The first thing they do is they start falling, man, and they whoop, right? Yeah. So you're gonna fall. It's gonna be scary as heck. Gotta do it.

Robyn Cohen 29:24

If you're gonna

Kathleen R 29:24

fly, I, that's how I live by, I jump in and then sometimes I'm like, oh, what'd I do? But that's, yeah, I think that's life, right?

Robyn Cohen 29:31

Yes, yes. If you look to the natural world, yeah. They fall out of the nest and they go kerplunk, and then they get up and slowly but surely by God they will fly. They fly. So, okay. Kathleen, another question, coming to the forefront. you're speaking to people, you know, the people tuning in. some have really beautiful, careers in the arts. They're actors, they're writers, musicians. Some haven't yet dipped their toes in, but. For people that are, what do you tell your students? Okay. What do you tell your students who have the experience and maybe even on a regular basis who are going into auditions or meetings and meeting with people and it's not working out? As someone who has been on both sides of the table, Kathleen, you have produced movies, directed movies, starred in movies. You've done it all really, 360 round. What is the thing that is the difference that makes the difference when someone walks in? What is it that everyone on the other side of the table sometimes, including you, who's casting, what is it that you're looking for that is missing the presence of which would make all the difference?

Kathleen R 30:44

What I've noticed is when an actor comes into the room and they need a job really bad and they are trying to give us what we want, they come in the room and there's an energy about them. A needy energy. Oh my God, I need that job. And you can feel it in their body, right? You can feel it in their being. And then you know, you have this one in every 10. We'll come in the room and they're just having a blast because all they're there for is to give you a gift. It's not about them getting the part, it's not about them being good. It's not about them being right. They are just having a blast doing the part, and they're literally putting themselves out there. They're like, okay, here I am. Hi, I'm Kathleen. Instead of, hi, I'm here. Hi. I need this job. I need, it's like, Hey, here, I'm, I'm here to give you a gift, and then boom, I'm gonna drop it and leave. And then you're like, where did she go? She's like, oh my God, get her back. Get her back. Was, get her back in here. So it's really what you're hearing. I mean, you've seen stars. You are one in yourself. When that person walks in a room, the room lights up. It's because they're so happy to be there. they, there's something about the joy in which they approach the work. Look, we all, I just read something today. That I posted on my Facebook'cause it blew me away. It said We all, all of us, every single bean that is born is born with a, a light. it's a light. It's dim, you can't see it, but as soon as they die, it goes away. Right? So some people have lights that you can see and it's because they are so filled with joy and gratitude mm-hmm. That it. You can't help but get hit by it. And I think that that's what that is. Yes. Be grateful to have the audition do the part is if it was a gift to them and you're one opportunity to do it with everything you have and then, and then leave and then thank God you've got that. And then go do a project that you created yourself.

Robyn Cohen 32:47

Amen. Amen. Sister. I love that so much. It's really, it's what my whole life is being arranged around these days. It's like. I have felt I have, I have. Sucked the bone dry on desperation, energy, the proving energy, walking in to prove something. And yeah, Kathleen, like you said, we can feel it and smell it a mile away. On the flip side, when a real actor comes in to give something, we are like, oh yeah, a real actor just walked into the room. And the difference is night and day. And, you know, so much of the work and what's encoded and what I aim to, disseminate to whoever I'm working with, collaborating with my students is you are enough. I think for years, for decades. Right. It's like I'm not enough for the part. I'm not good enough. I'm not. Right. Right. And it's rewriting that story. You said, you talked about that book, atomic Habits. We have a habit ways of thinking that listen, we blew it before we even, we gave it away before we walked into the room because we outsourced our value. We out. Sourced our worthiness, our power to the people on the other side of a table who we've never even met. Right? We've literally gave them the power and we abandoned ourselves. I did that for decades. It was excruciating. I worked so hard though that I was able to develop enough craft and technique that I could, I could still get parts and some amazing parts, but it was never until recently, until this last decade of life, it was never built on. Anything that was much more than the starving artist desperation, proving I'm not worthy of mentality. I have something to prove, someone to have, to make it for something to have to make it for in order to, which always takes you outta the moment in order to always takes you out of the presence where the power and the joy is. It's in the now of now. Always has been, always will be. So I just, I love that because I think it speaks to the truth of what growing as an actor and as a human being really is that we start to rearrange our entire identity and the belief about who we are. And it starts with and in class, come to class y'all. Kathleen's classes are my classes. And you'll see we spend time sometimes there's a whole exercise and it's called I'm Enough. I'm enough before we even get into the text, before we start speaking the speeches of Shakespeare or John Patrick Shanley. It's like, I'm enough. I don't have to prove myself. I'm just here to explore the writer and to meet the play. Beautiful. And so, and that's hard to do if we're outsourcing our power because our creativity can only come into an open vessel. That's so much of the work work of being an actor and growing as an artist is expanding our capacity. To just be and be the vessel. So the story, so the story can come through, right, like gangbusters, but we're so congested and constricted emotionally, we're so terrified and we haven't done the inner work that would have our talent be able to, our light be able to shine. So that's why I'm always gonna be in class. I'm going to invite every actor and artist I know to be in classes and your classes because at this. Point, it's not enough to have the best technique. That's, only about 20% of the game. 80%. 80%. I'm thinking these days. It's all an inside job. It's who you are with you and God. And like you said, walking into a room with equanimity and ease and a knowing that we're all one and we're all connected. There's nothing I have to get to. There's no job I have to grab at. There's a oneness that connects us that could never separate us. Yes, we are individuals, but the word individual, the Latin root is indivisible. We cannot be divided. Individual means cannot be divided. And we come into these rooms, auditions, theaters on set, and we think we're out there alone competing with everyone for not enough jobs. And that, lie has to end. It has to stop.'cause it's, it's killing us emotionally. And it's robbing us of what we can do creatively. And it's robbing the world of our unique Once in a cosmos light. Yeah. and the sharing of that. Of our gifts, so here's the question. Oh, Kathleen. you you answered this question in one of the lessons that you've learned along the way for yourself. if you could talk to your younger self. I do like this question. If you could say something to your 23-year-old self now, you know, before she sets out on this path, what would you tell her? You know, for those people that are 23 or 33 or 43 or 53 and feeling stuck, what's one thing? What's one step? What is one move they could take that would start to open? And unlock the doors for them to step onto their true paths creatively or otherwise. oh gosh. In whatever order

Kathleen R 38:03

talking to my younger self. I think I would just tell that little girl to have fun. Have a lot more fun. Don't take the world so seriously. You know, don't take everything to heart like. Find time to not be in such a grind and just smell the roses. I know that sounds crazy, but I was always like, work, work, work, work, work, work. It was ingrained in my head. Yeah. Since I was a little kid. I mean, my first job, had a paper route and then I was cleaning motel rooms at 11. So I was always working. I never stopped working, because there were 12 of us. You know, you had to. So I feel like, they would kick us outta the house at like six in the morning. So do something otherwise you'd get into trouble. So I would've always had something to do. So being busy was part of my life and to give myself the grace to settle down. Find the balance between the work and the joy and the life and the living and the family, you know, everything. A lot of us artists, we leave our place of home. Our home and we find another home in our artist world. Right. But still that's, that takes a toll being away from home and you have to go back and recharge. So I would say make sure you go home every once in a while, if it's a safe haven to recharge and take the time, you know? Don't miss out on the family things because sometimes you're gonna look back and go, why didn't I go?'cause I had to work. Maybe not such a great idea. So that's the one thing I tell my 23-year-old self who never went home for years and years and years. And the same thing for somebody starting out, it doesn't matter if you're 80 or 90 or I don't know, my mom's 99. do something different. One little thing different that you wanted to do yesterday that you didn't do today for yourself? One little thing. I don't care what it is. Go take a hot bath, read a romance novel, go sit by the beach. go walk in the rain. do something that's gonna make you super grateful every day do something and then things will start to shift because out of doing something that you're grateful for you're gonna bump into somebody, something's gonna happen, and you're gonna find a passion. I believe that you have to get out there.

Robyn Cohen 40:13

Wow. Wow. It's the medicine, what you're saying. It's like this beautiful pharmaceutical drip in my brain right now. It's so yummy. last questions. what. Work of art has had the greatest impact on you and your life. For those of you listening that can't see Kathleen's face, she just had like 68 things passed through her brain in one hot second one. Oh my gosh. Alright. If you need to do two or three, it's okay.

Kathleen R 40:46

I'm just gonna tell you when I was a little girl. Yeah. I loved, loved, loved the Wizard of Oz. Because of a couple reasons. You know, the black and then the white, and then the journey, and then the dreaming, and then the home themes. The Wizard of Oz impacts my life in so many ways. that has to be in the list of one, and then everybody thinks this is such a small movie, but it talks about the purpose of life and I love, it's a wonderful life. Jimmy Stewart. I just love Jimmy Stewart. I've always loved Jimmy Stewart. I have a huge crush on Jimmy Stewart my whole life. I had a crush on that man. And, I think that he, that movie was just, I think movies like that, that have a message. The message is a positive one. Yes. I know. It's not really in with the crowds nowadays. People love violence and, you know, K Bill and all this stuff, I, and that, but that has a positive message about women too. but the movies that I like, I like the feel good stuff. I like the movies that take you on a ride, you know, on journeys, life journeys.

Robyn Cohen 41:48

It's fascinating to hear you say, and for those of you who have not seen, it's a Wonderful Life and The Wizard of Oz. run, Don't walk, Don't. trip and fall and see these. Don't trip and fall. But see these movies yesterday and you know, it's interesting about Wizard of Oz because there's so much in that movie. My Rabbi, rabbi Lori Schneide, explained to me what that movie was really about, she mentioned to me, Robyn you know, in the movie when the Wicked Witch of the West, they're in the crux of, her hero's journey. They're battling it out. They're on their way to Oz. it's Dorothy and the Lion and the Tin Man, and the scarecrow and toto, and they're against the world. And the witch has deployed all of her minions and monkeys and it's scary. And across the blue sky in huge black skywriting, she says, surrender. Dorothy. Dorothy, surrender thyself. That is the lesson. It's the wicked witch of the West, our shadow self. That dark underbelly where the muck and the rake is happening. When we get to that dark night of the soul, the wicked witch of the west is the one that provides the answer to turn it all around. It's about surrendering. Surrendering to what? To the now of nows, to the moment to God, to grace, to the infinite and abounding miracles that are coming at us. Acceptance From every direction. I have

Kathleen R 43:17

goosebumps. I have. Can you see them? Yes. Oh my gosh. I wow. I love your rabbi.

Robyn Cohen 43:25

well, and I love that that's your favorite movie and whether you knew it or not, and you knew it, it's biblical what that movie is talking about, in terms of the transformation that happens in Dorothy's heart. And you were talking about, going back home. I mean, I am on the brink. I'm starting to now. For real, become by coastal and I will be back and forth, to, about seven miles from my parents in the DMV Washington DC area this month. that there's, oh, wow. There's just no time like the present to begin That journey back home to just surrounding yourself with you know, the people and the places that nourish you. Because at the end of the day, I think we're really in so many ways. Trying to walk ourselves back home to ourselves. I know that's been part of my adventure ride being here in Hollywood and part of that, walking myself back home to myself is actually walking myself back home. Literally to the East coast. Right? Born and bred, east Coast gal dc New York, the whole shebang right?

Kathleen R 44:32

That's why we're so connected.

Robyn Cohen 44:34

yes, yes, I love that. I'm so moved by that. So, before we, say wow, goodnight or good, I'm gonna see you back east. I'm gonna visit you. We're gonna irony people listening. You so much more because we're gonna have scheduled times to see each other back east. And then when I'm back on the West coast scheduled times, like the whole thing. Yeah. It's gonna be wonderful. Yeah. I love that. And sometimes we have to move across the country from people to see them more because it has, you get very intentional about when you're going to meet, which I love. so the last question, Kathleen. If you could wave your magic wand, you standing atop the mountain, someone who is more loving, more filled with spirit and vitality and grace, and contribution, and generosity, someone like you, who is next level, you're the embodiment of all those things. your kindness, your de viv, your hilarity, your talent, your passion, your grit. if you could just wave your wand and give to the world right now, what would you wanna give them and why?

Kathleen R 45:42

Peace.

Robyn Cohen 45:44

Yeah.

Kathleen R 45:48

That's what you spoke about Jesus earlier, when he lands in front of him, anyone, what does he say? Peace be with you. Right? I wanna bring everyone peace in this world. Because we all need a little peace in our hearts because then there's room for the love to come Make me cry.

Robyn Cohen 46:08

Amen to that. Healing tears. Thank you. Thank you, Kathleen. You're such a blessing. Your life is such a blessing. You are a. You're a miracle and, if you wouldn't mind telling people where they can find you or reach out or send you a note or a thank you or a message, I'll also put it in the show notes, so people can stay in touch with you and stay connected. Thank

Kathleen R 46:31

you, Robyn. Yeah. Um, my Instagram is Kdazzo55 and you can reach me there and hopefully you'll be able to see Robyn and I together while she teaches her acting class online.'cause we're going to be doing that I think at some point in the future. I'm going to be hanging out while she teaches She has several of those coming up. You have one coming up very soon, right?

Robyn Cohen 46:56

Yes. And you're coming, Oh, yes. And then we will have a couple classes in person as well

Kathleen R 46:59

In person here in la,

Robyn Cohen 47:01

yes. yes, but in the meantime, just come into the class and then take over. Take it away, Kathleen. Oh no. I'll come take it away. Come get your break. Take it away. Come in and that will be so much fun. We'll do that. we'll

Kathleen R 47:12

do that right, Robyn?

Robyn Cohen 47:13

It's, yes.

Kathleen R 47:14

So. Thank you.

Robyn Cohen 47:15

Oh my joy, my honor. I love you. I love your family. I love you sister soul love. I love everyone that you love through you, through the fervent love that you have for them. You are God's gift made in her image and likeness. Thank you so much, Kathleen.

Kathleen R 47:31

Thank you, Robyn.

Robyn Cohen 47:32

Thank you everyone.

Kathleen R 47:33

This was so fun.

Robyn Cohen 47:34

Yes, this is so much fun. We're gonna do it again. Part two is incoming, as they say in New York City to schedule it. We'll talk. We'll talk. Okay. We'll talk. I'll talk to you later. We'll talk. We'll talk to you later. Thank you, Kathleen Randazzo. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you more to come. Bye. Bye. Bye. Oh my goodness. Can you Even with Kathleen Randazzo, what a delectable human being. What a Sprite. What a passionate guide. what A glorious friend. Mentor, teacher, actor. what an a number one. Human being all around. I love that conversation so much. I love that being in the arts affords us the opportunity to meet other like-minded creative people who are out there to give their gifts, who are out there, to tell stories, to share humanity. It's what we're doing in Class Six Ways to Sunday. Join me in class. You can DM me and save a free spot as an auditor. If it's your first time@Robyncohenactingstudio is Instagram or email me Robyn@cohenactingstudio.com. The first one is on the house. And we're actually gonna have Kathleen into the classes to be there to observe. But also we're gonna have her step in and share with you some of her experiences in this glorious world of arts and crafts. So get in there. If you're at all creatively curious or if you've been doing this forever, this is your time to expand, to grow what you're capable of doing to develop yourselves in this glorious, in this, magically delicious craft. It really is a craft and it's something that requires us to step into what we're capable of, to develop ourselves into the best, most giving, most contributive versions of, who we can be, of what we are. So join me for all of it. Thank you so much for tuning into this podcast. if it resonated with you, please share it with a friend who needs. To hear it or who needs that little nudge. You know, someone that's been on the fence, maybe that's you. I would love to have you in class to continue this conversation and you're gonna be surrounded by people like the incredible Kathleen and other artists who are just hungry to. Have their fullest self-expression, their authenticity, their shared humanity with a, gorgeous and generous group of artists and human beings. That's what we're up to in class. It's all available to you. This is your sign. If you've been waiting for one get in touch and we will get you in. I cannot wait to see you there. Until next time on Thriving Artists, the Daily Joy Ride. All the best. Nah.