Today we continue our interview series with narrators from my Time is a Fine White Lie audiobook. In addition to her voice work, Karen is well-known for her on-camera work in productions such as Creepshow, Bosch, Silicon Valley, Homecoming, and Criminal Minds.
WS: Are you an audiobook listener? A reader of books in general?
KS: I love audiobooks. I listen to them while taking long walks, during car trips, and when I prepare dinner, fold laundry, and things around the house. I can listen to more books on audio format than I have time to sit down to read. I really appreciate this format.
WS: In the audiobook, you voice the story Goodbye Cassiopeia. The text deals with uncovering coincidence and synchronicity in everyday events, and the possibility of using them as a kind of guide. Do you find these concepts play any part in your own journey?
KS: Yes, I am a firm believer in synchronicity and the more quiet and subtle messages from the world around and inside us, and am learning to trust these things at a deeper and deeper level.
WS: How do you feel the artistic process helps an actor’s personal evolution? Have you had any roles that challenged your beliefs, and/or helped you grow in a personal or spiritual way?
KS: Acting has taught me to trust my own authentic beingness in each present moment. Acting has literally taught me to stop “acting.” I used to plan how to say my lines or plan how I would be “being” in my work, I’ve learned that the most compelling I can ever be as an actor is when I exist in the not-knowing and the spontaneous authentic response in each present moment. It can be terrifying, that loss of complete control and the not-knowing… kind of like sky diving.. But it is the most exciting and enlivening way to work as an artist, and to live, as a human being.
WS: Recently you shared a video on Instagram just after a pod of dolphins joined you for a swim…. Why do you think it is to connect with nature, and do you have any tips for those of us not lucky enough to live next to an ocean?
KS: This past year has given me the inestimable gift of a much more visceral connection to Nature. So much more time spent closer to her and listening with deeper senses… Through all the recent journeys into the ocean world, disappearing into quiet long hikes, barefoot walks through the neighborhood, time spent in parks sitting on grassy earth or leaning up against generous tree peoples… I’ve found when I get quiet enough, I can allow the gentle expansiveness of Nature’s majesty to ground me in ways I’ve never experienced before. One of the recent New Years messages from these spaces was in invitation to make 2021 “A Moving Prayer.” This so speaks to my little heart and soul. What a beautiful intention and question to live into… In each moment… How do we make this short beautiful little journey on this planet, each day… a moving prayer….
