Conversations with Marina Darling

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Darling.

Hi Marina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Burbank, California in 1988- down the road from where the taped The Johnny Carson show. I began going to acting classes with Andrew Magarian at age 5, and booked my first commercial that year and my first film the following year. I continued in acting classes and was steadily auditioning by age 8, which just seemed like a normal part of life. I would get out of school and we’d be driving to an audition. At 10 I landed my first series regular role on ABC’s Odd Man Out at the WB studios down the road from my house. That was an incredible experience for me, and set life was solidified in my young mind as the place where literally “all the action happens”. On that show, as well as on the “Bette” Midler show, which I would be cast in a few years later- it was a full time job. Monday mornings we had a table read, Tusday-Thursday rehearsals and blocking, and every Friday we taped the complete show in front of a live audience. I loved being on set, I still do. There is just nothing quite like it in the world. Each set was a brand new experience, an opportunity to learn, to be a part of a team and to belong. The rules on set are fairly simple, and I understood the complexity first hand- when to goof around, when to NOT goof around, how to take direction, not stepping on one another’s lines, asking plenty of questions whenever someone gave me the opportunity with a “Do you have any questions?”.
I liked to sit by the writer’s and they generally had the funniest things to say, and the best lessons to learn. “Park it”, they would say, as they pulled up a chair for me. I grew up on set, and loved every minute of it. It was an experience that allowed me to mature and grow into who I was going to become, with the professional expectations and boundaries that are important for any artist to learn. I worked with a lot of wonderful people who taught me many incredible lessons and left stories and impressions in my mind and heart that I take with me everywhere.
At age 17, I went to NYU for film school. I had stopped auditioning and it seemed with my age came NOT more opportunities, but more exploitation. I guess I was a little too punk rock. I didn’t like what I was having to audition for, the roles were scandalous with no value. In 2005, reality TV was huge, Mean Girls had come out the previous year and the people were grasping at straws for original stories and I felt we were being misrepresented. I still feel that way, somewhat. Now I’m 37 and we’re being misrepresented.
After NYU, I came back to LA wanting to make independent films, but it was just not the right time and I was still too young, and we were not gathered together as artists- as actors it can be very isolating feeling like you are floating out in an ocean alone hoping to stumble upon a welcoming ship. The ship will have all the crew and family and friends you need when you get there, but until you get there you are drifting on your own.
I knew I didn’t want to get right back into auditioning, so I kept writing and also started making music. I always loved making folk music, and when I came back to LA I found a community of young artists who were doing the same.
The young musicians all stuck together, it was different because since they were also the “creators”, they had more choices. They played shows with their friends bands, got them onto bills they otherwise wouldn’t have. There was a different vibe, and it had so much more ownership, and I loved it. I wondered how we could do this for Actors, how could films and short films become more like this model? It’s been done, certainly, and very well. I would watch Kid In The Hall, The Broken LIzard’s movies like “Club Dread”, etc- where it’s talented friends making awesome stuff together. THAT’S what I wanted.

I happened upon a terrific job, from some friends I was playing shows around LA with. I got hired at SOUTH Music in Hollywood, where I mostly produced and shot/ edited documentary style videos about studio life, and also helped composed on several spots. We moved in 2011 to Nashville, and opened a studio right on Music Row. That was my first introduction to Tennessee, and I was in love.
I loved working in a studio, because it was very similar to set life. There was much fun to be had, plenty of opportunity for laughs and stories, but mostly an expectation that you will work HARD, not complain about the work, and act professional. Quiet on set, quiet in the studio. Focus, and the very very insanely difficult task of trying to make “ART”. Splendid, to me. Absolutely splendid that we will gather as professionals to take very seriously and attempt with all our heart and soul to make… art.

Since moving to Tennessee, I have continued writing and making music- but it was still mostly with people I knew from LA and would fly back there to take meetings and do personal artist business, I just didn’t know anyone out in Nashville who was wanting to make indie films, I had co-written a screenplay that was in pre-production at the end of 2019- then COVID happened. We tried to navigate what that looked like what when we would be able to get our movie shot, but it just was too difficult and the industry in LA was bracing for a huge loss- covid shut down ALL production immediately.

I know a lot of people who actually moved to TN during this time, the creative and artistic refugees of the two colossal cities LA, NY came pouring in, and I’m so glad they did.

They are all currently working on awesome stuff here in TN. They started the “Nashville Film Club” where we gather together and watch films, documentaries, and have wonderful discussions and and passionate heart to hearts, there may even be a few elevator pitches coming your way. It’s a blast. I am currently attached to a few projects from this crowd, that I am super excited about and grateful to be a part of. A feature being filmed at the end of the month, and a short we are hoping to shoot in the fall. There are so many actors, directors, writers, and filmmakers in Nashville all doing really wonderful things, and original stories and I am so happy to be here for it.

If you have that little spark in you, that life long itch to creative and be among other artists- don’t second guess it. Don’t ask why we need to make art or why you should, if you have it in you to give- give it. I started Authentic Actors Studio in April of 2025, being so inspired by all the talented artists around and the desire to bring people together and encourage and support them to tell their stories. I took lessons with Andrew Magarian for over ten years, at what we used to call “The Shop”, and is now called “Simply Acting” in Los Angeles. Andrew teaches “moment to moment” acting for camera. He made up games that we play in our studio today, and which all our actors love, which he invented himself to demonstrate this ‘moment to moment’ technique. Andrew was very much rooted in Sandford Meisner’s teachings, and we are the same here. “Living truthfully under imaginary circumstances” as Meisner says is exactly how we approach our craft. Yes we do “repeptition” and even our teens can do and tell you what “repetition with a point of view” is. We play the “door knock” game (also known as an “activity and hover”) and those are incredible valuable exercises which we try to incorporate into every class, but we do not spend more than 30-45 minutes on this. We always begin with moment to moment games, and the last larger portion of class is always dedicated to real scene work. This was exactly how Andrew structured his classes, and this is why we loved them. Everyone gets to act at EVERY class. We also use another method that as far as I know is distinctly from Andrew, where we write our own monologues, broken down in moments, and perform them for the class.
We have a writer’s corner, and we encourage all our actors to come meet up and empower them to create for themselves, a unique story to act in. We will be hosting film screenings for our studio members, and have a small “film festival” designed to support and encourage everyone to get creating something, and watching our work together at the festival.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are always struggles as an artist, mostly the internal ones. The “why?s” As soon as you might overcome those, then come the external forces to shut you down. The “door openers and closers” of the world, as I like to call them. When I was young, I really resented this- I saw firsthand, many incredibly talented and hardworking people were constantly being pulled and pushed at the whim of those powers. I saw great projects green-lit and then have the rug pulled out from under them. I was aware of what “sells” and not willing to agree to it or go along with it. That was before the internet was what it is today. The challenges today are different and somewhat more complicated BUT the reason to make art is still the same. Today we have the streaming services. We have tons of content flying at us in all directions at all times, and it’s difficult to sift through, to engage in something- if we engage at all. Youtube and Vimeo are still places you can share, but they have and continue to turn into the same streaming service modal. The teenagers in my class talk about “physical media” all the time. DVD’s, Books, CD’s, Records, etc. They grew up with none of that- just the subscriptions in a digital cloud far off in the ether that they could never get their actual hands on. We have a polaroid camera, dvds, books, and much “physical media” at the studio for them.
It’s hard not to get complacent or frustrated when you feel like you have to fight to find your place in all of it- but that’s exactly why I started the studio. That’s exactly why we still must continue to make art and work hard to make it happen. That’s what remains the same, everything else will continue to change and be challenging and for that I have no other response other than- Keep going.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I grew up on film and television sets, I love acting, I love to write- especially dialogue, and especially stories about real people and families. My experience in spending thirty years in the entertainment industry has given me a unique perspective and vision for what I wish to see for myself and others in the future. I’m still writing, I know lots of people who are shooting or in post for great projects happening right now. I just finished shooting and am editing a documentary on a biodynamic blueberry farm in Hampshire, and wrote a short we are going to film in the fall. I love the opportunity to be a part of their projects, as well. People are doing awesome things, we can keep supporting eachother. We can make really cool things happen. I’m not concerned with AI because AI cannot make us obsolete, only we can do that by laying ourselves down and giving up. Humans make art, it’s an expression of our emotions and experiences and how we relate them to each other and the world. Anything less is a mockery, sure. It’s not “art”.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Jaques Ellul (French Philosopher 1912-1994) Any of his books, “Meaning of the City”, “Propaganda”, “The Technological Society” are all fantastic and may be more helpful in our time than they even were in his.

George Macdonald (1824- 1905) “The Golden Key” and “The Wise Woman/ The Lost Princess”

I also like history books, poetry, philosophy, and I listen to music all the time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://authenticactorsstudio.my.canva.site/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYN7sZ0eOZi_g6oJrT0zJbvB5y8L4QeuCuHuWUvfDUkvO5cGKO8TsXk2Ps_aem_-vANCjCz4B4xnP5zuSsH3Q
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentic_actors_studio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61573082491888