Actors & Actresses Q&A Series: Emily Tyra

Hello Beautiful People,

Emily Tyra is the type of person who agrees to sit down in between the Saturday shows to have a cup of coffee and participate in an interview. She’s funny. She’s witty. She’s an absolute gem.  Her Broadway credits include: Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway (Emily), Chaplin The Musical (Lita Grey/Ens., u/s Oona), and Nice Work if You Can Get It (Rosie, u/s Eileen/Duchess).  And that’s just Broadway – this lovely lady has an extensive resume, starting with a ballet career at the age of 17 with the Boston Ballet Company. I’m thrilled to introduce you all to Emily Tyra, actress/singer/dancer and, in my humble opinion, one classy comedian. 

Ladies & Gents, meet Emily Tyra…

TWT: Did you always want to be an actress/singer/dancer?

ET: Well when I was a kid I was really shy, so the reason that I started dance class was that my mother was trying to bring me out of my shell.  She signed me up for this dance class with all of the other kids in my neighborhood, and I was completely terrified and didn’t want her to watch at all. Then, as I got older, I started performing more.  I was taking acting classes and I was in choir, my choir teacher is the one who really pushed me to take voice lessons.  I moved to Colorado when I was nine, and my teacher there gave me my first pair of pointe shoes, and I was pushed in that direction.  My career in theatre started after I had a career as a ballet dancer, as I had been dancing with the Boston Ballet Company when I was seventeen for a little over a year, and then joined a contemporary company, James Sewell Ballet Company, where we created original works and traveled all over the world.  After that, I said, I’m done, and I hung the pointe shoes up.  I still did shows in the summer, and took voice lessons, and eventually found my way to New York.  Three Broadway shows later, here I am!

TWT: Of all the roles that you’ve had, which ones are most memorable for you?

ET: My most memorable would have to be my Broadway debut, because I debuted as myself.  Hugh Jackman introduced me to the whole theater.  He managed to get his hands on a recording of me singing The Christmas Song when I was twelve.  It was out of this world, definitely something I’ll never forget.  In Nice Work If You Can Get It, I cover two of the principles, one is Eileen, and it’s totally right for me.  The other role is the Duchess, and when they told me I was going to cover that I almost fell off the floor.  That role is definitely a stretch, as the character is clearly much older than I am! 

TWT: Just for fun, what books are permanently on your bookshelf?

ET: I like memoirs and comedies.  Bossypants, I just lived for that book.  I also love the fantasy genre, Harry Potter? I lost my shit for that book.  The Hunger Games, that’s fantastic, too.  Currently I’m reading a book by Chris Gethard, called A Bad Idea I’m About to Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Judgment and Stunningly Awkward Adventure.  My bookshelf is also full of astrology books and herbal medicines and things like that.

TWT: Just for fun, if you were stranded on a desert island, what television shows and movies would you want to have with you?

ET: I’m a huge Bill Murray and Wes Anderson fan. Rushmore is one of my top ten favorite movies, Lost in Translation, I could watch Moonstruck any day, any time of day. I also love animated Pixar movies. As far as television goes, I love Madmen. I’ve seen every single episode of WEEDS – it was a great show.  I think Modern Family is really well written, as was Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23 – I’m so sad that was canceled!

TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you love and what sound do you hate?

ET: I love the sound of typing on a computer at nighttime, when the rest of the house is quiet, and all you can hear is the typing, someone eating really crunchy potato chips… the sound of ice clinking in a glass.  I’m not a fan of the ally cats by my apartment.  It sounds like they’re killing each other.  I also had the sound on the TV when they’re doing airwave/system checks.  It’s awful. 

TWT: What advice would you give to the students in high school who want to be professional dancers/actresses/singers?

ET: There’s no one correct way to get to where you are going.  There are a thousand success stories out there, and not one of them are the same.  Me? Personally? I didn’t go to college.  That worked out for me.  I had private voice training, private acting lessons, and I worked really hard. But there’s no formula that says if you do a you will get b.  The other piece of advice I would tell people is to live their lives.  It’s easy to get consumed with work, and I did it, I lived and breathed my work, but I became so uninspired.  I go and have drinks and dinner with a friend, I remember the life that I have to live, and the people in my life, and then there’s so much less pressure on that audition at eight o’clock in the morning.  When I first moved to New York, I had a lot of friends who would go out-of-town to do other regional shows, but, I thought to myself, I came to New York to be on Broadway.  I didn’t come to New York to sublet my apartment just to go to another job where I’m not make enough money anyway, only to come back to the restaurant job and have to remind everyone who I am when I return. I decided that I was going to live it up in New York.  I figured I would meet new people and have new experiences, and hopefully somewhere in all of that I’d get noticed if I stuck around.  I waited tables, I was a bartender, and I absorbed life.  I made a decision based on what I wanted for my future.  Even now, that’s a skill, to be able to roll with the punches and not panic. 

TWT: In today’s economy, arts programs are being cut.  What reasons would you give a politician for preserving the arts in schools?

ET: I was just watching a TED Talk about this. Creativity being stifled in schools is not training out children for the jobs that are going to be available when they’re adults.  We don’t have the jobs that existed fifty years ago; it’s a very creative society that we’re living in right now, so one would assume that you have to train younger generations to have the skills to excel in the marketplace that will exist when they are adults. Social media, design, and communications – those are where the jobs are, and if we want to keep our economy going, it only makes sense to give them that schooling.  Plus, it gives them the outlet that they need, and it allows teachers and adults to see how students actually learn, which only helps the whole education process.  It’s not about the thrill of entertainment; arts education is a mechanism for creating excellent adults. It’s about creating people who have opinions. How can you be a functioning adult in society if you don’t have an opinion on culture and art? You can’t.

TWT: Who is/was your greatest teacher? 

ET: My parents.  I had some great teachers growing up, but I am the way that I am because of my parents.  My mom taught me to be a good listener, to be graceful and kind, and my dad taught me to always fight for what I love, and to do what I want to do and everything else will fall into place.  I live my life by those lessons. 

Thank you, Emily!

Live, Love, Learn,

Megan &