Second Act Actors with Janet McMordie

S03E07 is with fellow late bloomer (aka Second Act Actor) Janet McMordie of the podcast, Second Act Actors.

Janet , a doctor turned actor, discusses the challenges and benefits of pursuing acting as a second career. She reflects on the initial excitement and surreal energy of being on the front lines of the medical field during the pandemic, but also the loss of identity and joy that came with solely focusing on medicine. Janet found her passion for acting and improv, and now balances both careers. She emphasizes the importance of time management, flexibility, and giving oneself grace. Janet also highlights the lack of control and information in the entertainment industry as a major hurdle for late bloomers, but also the unique life experiences and financial stability that can be advantageous. She started her podcast to provide a platform for second act actors to share their stories and combat imposter syndrome. In this conversation, Janet and David discuss the challenges and experiences of being actors. They touch on topics such as imposter syndrome, the lack of feedback in the acting industry, the importance of training and life experience, and the portrayal of doctors on screen. Janet shares stories from her podcast, Second Act Actors, and emphasizes the importance of trying acting and embracing failure. Overall, the conversation highlights the passion and resilience required to pursue a career in acting.

Takeaways

• Balancing multiple careers requires effective time management and flexibility.
• The entertainment industry lacks control and information, which can be challenging for late bloomers.
• Life experiences and financial stability can be advantageous for second act actors.
• Creating a supportive community and sharing stories can combat imposter syndrome. 
• The acting industry lacks feedback, making it difficult for actors to understand why they didn't get a role or what they can improve on.
• Training and life experience are both important for actors, as they provide different skills and perspectives.
• Trying acting and embracing failure is essential for aspiring actors, as it allows them to explore their creativity and develop empathy through storytelling.

You can find Second Act Actors on all podcast players, or check out Second Act Actors online.

You can also find more about Janet McMordie online.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:26 Second Act Actors Podcast
• 14:02 Combining A Full-time Career with Acting
• 33:13 Focusing on the Positives in the Acting Journey
• 37:05 Confronting Imposter Syndrome in Acting
• 42:37 The Role of Life Experience in Acting
• 55:10 Favourite Guest Stories
• 1:03:09 Post Script

Transcript

David John Clark (00:00)
Welcome back to another episode of the Late Bloomer Actor. This year I've wanted to do some interviews with the hosts of podcasts that I listen to, as most of them are acting podcasts and a very important part of my journey in the acting world. So today I'm very excited to speak to a fellow Late Bloomer Actor who hosts a very similar show in that she chats to other actors who have made acting their second act. Hence the name of her show, Second Act Actors.

Coming from the complete opposite side of the world, I chat today with Janet McMordie. She is a fellowship trained sports medicine physician, actor, voiceover artist, improv and stunt performer. Janet trained as a doctor, as what I like to say her real job for starters,

but is now on a similar path as mine in that she is now a working actor alongside her full -time profession. As host of Second Act Actors, a web series and podcast, she chats with other people who have made a major life and or career change into acting. And so today we chat about her journey into acting and how that journey affects her role as a doctor and what her future will look like going forward. We also discuss what she has learned from all the wonderful Second Act Actors she has spoken to in her show.

I hope you enjoy the show. Janet and I really connected with each other, I feel, possibly because we are so alike in our career and acting journeys thus far. So enjoy the episode and I'll have a quick chat to you at the end.

David John Clark (01:22)
Good evening, everyone. Welcome back to the Late Bloomer Actor podcast. It is an evening for me. It's 8 .30 PM here and we are talking to Janet McMordie, coming live from Toronto. And I believe it's 7 am on a spring morning for you. How are you, Janet?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (01:37)
I am great. It is a lovely, beautiful morning. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.

David John Clark (01:41)
And thank you very much for coming on. I've wanted to do this season and reach out to a couple of the podcasts that I listen to, because my podcast is about my journey as an actor and the people that I've met in my journey, both actors and industry professionals. And podcasts are another thing that I do as an actor that I listen to because I can get so much from them. So I wanted to reach out to those podcasts, some of the podcasts that I listen to so I could share what I've learned from them,

and bring the world closer together, so to speak. So thank you very much for coming on.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (02:18)
Oh, that warms my heart. Thank you for listening to my podcast, that means a lot.

David John Clark (02:22)
And sometimes it's like that, isn't it, as a podcast host, you don't get a lot of feedback, which is interesting because it's much like being an actor and submitting your auditions.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (02:32)
Yes, my gosh, you're 100 % right. Yes, and it's whenever you do get that feedback, I will keep it with me always. Thank you.

David John Clark (02:40)
You are the host of Second Act Actors, which is very much similar in vein to mine, The Late Bloomer Actor, and you interview Second Act Actors who by very, the nature of it are Late Bloomers, I guess. Is that correct?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (02:44)
Mmm.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, I love the concept of your podcast as well too, because I think, you know, it's interesting, I think we're in this weird time in society, not to get philosophical, where we've got this big push from people to say, yeah, do what you love, it's never too late. But then there's also a weird, I don't know if there's pressure put on us or what's put on us, but there's always a little kind of birdie in the back that's like, no.

I think it might be too late. You know, so this, I think we have a weird time. At least I'm feeling it. I don't know if everyone else is, but like has the train left the station and am I running to catch up? But also there's people being like, run faster. You can catch it.

David John Clark (03:39)
I love that. And we will certainly talk about that as we go through the interview. But your podcast was developed because you are a late bloomer or a second act actor. And you are, I believe, a current working doctor. So it's Dr. Janet McMordie. Is that correct? Can you tell us a bit about yourself, how you became a doctor and why you didn't start out as an actor and how you ended up becoming an actor later in life?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (03:54)
Correct. Yes.

Yeah, so yes, I am Dr. Janet McMordie and that is a very expensive two letters before my name. No, joking aside, I do, I love my medical job, I love my medical career. I think growing up I was always, and I'm sure this vein goes through a lot of your guests, it goes through a lot of mine, I was a very creative person growing up. I did all the...

theater, the bands, the choirs I could get my hands on. My parents are such creative people and really encouraged that. But yeah, it was great. Both my parents are musicians and singers. They're just like very creative individuals and always really encouraged us to, you know, do what we love to do. And it's funny, I never felt pressure from my parents or to be honest, anybody to say,

David John Clark (04:40)
Awesome.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (05:01)
don't seek out the creative career path. That's not a logical, it's not a pragmatic thing to do. Find a reasonable job. I think I put that pressure on myself. I'm the type of person who once I get an idea in my head, I kind of go full hog into it. And there were two classes in high school. I remember taking biology Grade 12, which is all about the human body.

We stopped talking about plants and animals. I was like, eh. And we started talking about the human body. And then there was a physical education class, but it was fitness oriented. It wasn't like we're gonna go play dodge ball and everyone's gonna bully each other. It was weightlifting, how the body moves in space, all about keeping physically active, but not from a sports lens. And I was fascinated by it.

David John Clark (05:48)
Hmm.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (05:51)
So both those things led me to kinesiology. So I did an undergrad in kinesiology and a master's degree in kinesiology. So again, sports science basically. And.

David John Clark (06:01)
See, I could never study that because I can't say that word.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (06:03)
Yay, right, human kinetics is another way to say it, kinesiology, human kinetics. Because yeah, just like fascinated about how the body moves and also again, the science behind it and the physics behind it, which, you know, when I kind of think back, I'm like, there is a lot of, I have a lot of curiosity, I think, as a scientist, that's what makes scientists scientists is, you know, why isn't this working? Why is this working? Ooh, let's think about that. And I think that,

David John Clark (06:07)
I'll go with that.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (06:33)
when I couldn't reflect on my creative upbringing, that's what my upbringing was, right? There was never a, you failed at that, stop. It was, ooh, you maybe failed at that, let's see why. And so that kind of led me to, again, like kinesiology, the study of human movements.

David John Clark (06:38)
Gotcha.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (06:52)
You know when you go to school it's like okay you got it most of you want to be doctors I'm like yeah I kind of want to be a doctor shoot so does everyone else, but I was very fortunate enough to get into medical school and I trained as a family doctor, primary care couldn't stand it

And then I found my true love, which is a sport and exercise medicine. So I did a fellowship in sport and exercise medicine. That's what I practice today. And so I absolutely love it. I work with athletes. I work with weekend warriors. Again, it's all about the study of human movement. Why is it not working anymore? How do we make it working anymore? It being your body. And yeah, I absolutely love it. I get to work in the operating room and it's wonderful. I think I do joke and it's funny.

David John Clark (07:14)
Awesome.

Wow.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (07:36)
funny, I had a funny moment yesterday with every so often I get a patient come in and they go, I googled you and you're an actor too. I'm like, yeah, I am. And they're like, what are you doing here? Like, you know, it's just my side hustle, my side hustle of medicine, my shadow career, you know, just a little side gig. But I do love it.

David John Clark (07:57)
I love it. I love that you call it your side hustle.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (07:59)
My side hustle, yeah, just medical school, my side hustle as a doctor. I do love it. I think the pandemic was really hard for me, as it was for everyone. Healthcare workers, I think, there was a weird kind of manic, I'm...

you know, on the front lines of the war effort, right? We were feeling like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're doing this. It was kind of surreal energy. You had to go, go, go. There wasn't time to process what was going on. And then as the pandemic kept going, I think a lot of us really started to process the like, oh my God, this is, we've been making, at least myself, my medical career was my identity, my calling to the, with the loss of what,

really does fuel my passion, right? That creativity. I'd gone so whole hog, tunnel vision focus into medicine, as you have to, to pass medical school, but to the detriment of my quality of life, my mental health, and to be honest, my joy of medicine, right? It starts to wane when that's all you are. And so that's when I...

David John Clark (08:55)
Yeah, of course.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (09:11)
kind of started seeing what else was out there and reminding myself what brought me joy as a kid and that was acting, that was improv, and now I do a really fun blend of the two. Yeah.

David John Clark (09:21)
I love it. I love it. There's so many different stories for late bloomers and second act actors about how and why they came back to it. Some are, you know, they were forced down that career path by parents or by choice or just to pay the bills, so to speak, because acting is such a tough gig. So, and that's what I like to put and I know you do it a lot in your show as well as about...

Janet McMordie (she/her) (09:31)
Hmm.

David John Clark (09:46)
finding from these people who took that chance to go with something that they love now that they're in a position that they can do it. So that's wonderful. You're very similar to me that in that I'm still pursuing my career of 32 years now in the government. Now you will learn this when if we ever chat again, but I can't talk about my career, unfortunately in the public area, but it's very similar to, to your vein is in that

I'm trying to balance a professional career on one hand and take up the acting. So how do you find that the life balance of keeping both running smoothly?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (10:20)
Yeah, it's tough and I do get this question asked a lot. People saying, how in the world do you balance things? And I think just like medicine, right, we practice medicine. I have a medical practice. So it's...

David John Clark (10:34)
I always love how they said that lawyers are practicing and medical.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (10:35)
Isn't it, it's practicing. I love it so much, right? Again, it's that curiosity piece, right? Like we're never at, we never know everything. We're just, we're just practicing. But I think that's what it is as well too, right? For me, trying to find that balance, it's this constant practice of like what's working, what isn't working. And there are days, there are weeks where I do not balance well and I can tell, like I'm stressed more. I can feel it in my body.

David John Clark (10:49)
course.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (11:03)
haven't taken the time to practice acting, work on my craft. Finances are tight one month, and so I'm really stressed about that. I think it's tricky, but I think, and this is maybe a little braggy, but whatever, I am an excellent time manager. And I always have been.

And always will be. Again, a lot of it was forced to learn it, right? I was busy as a doctor, right? Absolutely. You know, I think I could manage my time extremely well. I think almost to a like military, militaristic way, like, okay, I will spend half an hour on this. I will spend an hour on that. And I think, that's been really helpful. But I think also what's been really helpful is the flip.

David John Clark (11:30)
As a doctor, yeah.

Ha ha.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (11:52)
The creative side of me has allowed me to...

say okay you can be a little you know more flexible with your time you can you know take extra time here spend less time there which i think again now when i kind of say it out loud I'm like that is proper time management it's not being so military with it it's being more flowy more flexible. I think also you know and this word gets thrown around all the time like giving yourself some grace but like give giving myself some grace has been really helpful you know I think we're

all pretty hard on ourselves. I think the medical education system...

is shame -based learning and very proud about that. And I think that's where I got a lot of my like, you didn't spend enough time doing this, shame, shame, shame. Now I'm trying to just be like, no, it's okay. You spent time focusing on your emotional self, emotional health, as opposed to going to the gym and working on your physical health. That's just as important. So then yeah, just giving myself some grace knowing I can't be everywhere at once. And also, yeah, figuring out what I want to do, what I love to do. And then also what benefits myself as an actor and a doctor. But I,

I love supporting other people as well too. So really making sure I focus on spending time, going to people's movie premieres, checking out their comedy shows, because that brings me joy, but then it also, like you were saying, develops community as well too.

David John Clark (13:10)
Awesome.

I love it. I love it. And with your journey that you've been on so far, have you ever had an acting opportunity that's really clashed with your full -time career, putting you in a position time -wise, having to make a decision whether you could do it, how did you overcome that? Having to put your, were you able to put the doctor stuff away or do you have that freedom to do that sort of thing? Cause sometimes acting opportunities are just now, now, now ... go.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (13:43)
Yeah, I think, yeah, I definitely have had those experiences and I think what I learned was...

I've built my medical career to be fairly malleable, fairly, you know, okay, if something pops up quickly, I have the capability to cancel a clinic or reschedule the next day, like quickly, which nobody likes to do. And luckily that hasn't happened very often.

But I have the ability to do that. I have great people around me supporting me. I have great staff, great other physicians who understand. And I think that's, again, where community building is really helpful because for me, it would be a

short notice acting gig. But for my colleague, it's my kid is sick. I have, you know, like, or they have their own what their version of a short notice acting gig is. So I would care for their patients, they would care for mine. There's this mutual understanding that like life happens and we need to be able to be flexible and supportive of everybody. So I've developed that community around me, which has been very, very helpful. I think also, it is so rare for it to happen. Like for me to cancel clinic for me to have to rearrange a surgery

or something like that, that when it does happen, people are very understanding. I mean, patients, right? Because it is so rare. It's not like every single week I'm like, sorry, you gotta reschedule again, right? Yeah, again, it has happened. It always hurts when it happens and it's...

David John Clark (15:09)
That's great.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (15:13)
I think I have also, now that I'm in the union, the acting union here in Canada, it's not as short notice as it was in the non -union world because there's rules about that. There's certain time frames that we have to know when we're supposed to be on set. And yeah, so I think that's been really, really helpful as well too. A bit more, a bit more, I was about to say professional, that's terrible. Non -union stuff can be professional as well too. But there's a bit more rules associated with it, so it doesn't happen as often. Yeah.

David John Clark (15:37)
Excellent. And self -taping, which is a whole topic in itself, that would work in your favour now, wouldn't it? Because you don't have to be at the two o 'clock audition on the other side of town. So you can, if you get home at 10 o 'clock at night, you could say, well, I want to go to bed, but I can, you can get your audition done.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (15:42)
Yes!

Absolutely. Yes.

Yeah. And it's funny, I've never ever, well actually, I should say, I've had a couple of theatre in -person auditions, but I've never had an in -person audition, because I started doing this during the pandemic. So even some of my, like I had a chemistry read callback, was all on Zoom. And I mean, now I'm based in Toronto, so it's easier for me to get around to these auditions if they come up. But before, I was a bit further up north here in Ontario in Canada, about two hours from Toronto, and that would have been a doozy of a drive.

David John Clark (16:07)
Wow.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (16:26)
But yeah, absolutely. I think self -taping, like you said, we could wax poetic about the cons of it, but the pros for me far outweigh the cons these days. Yeah.

David John Clark (16:35)
Awesome. Awesome. And you just mentioned before that your union, what's your union called in Canada? ACTRA. Okay. And so you're very closely aligned to obviously being just north of the United States. So how, and there's a lot of films that get done up in Toronto too. So do you have the opportunities to be a SAG -AFTRA actor?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (16:41)
Yeah, it's called ACTRA. ACTRA. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Yeah, so I think, ooh, I don't know for sure, so don't quote me on this. I think there is the possibility. There's weird visa rules. I don't think there's a mutual agreement between ACTRA and AFTRA, maybe there is, but I know for Canadians to work down in the States, there's a specific visa you have to get. I think it's with anyone who's trying to get into the States, right? The O -1 visa of like, I am an exceptional actor, yes.

David John Clark (17:13)
Okay.

person of extraordinary ability is the name of it. Sounds like something straight out of an alien movie. I love it.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (17:28)
Extraordinary abilities, yes. It's so funny because to be a doctor in the States, it's the same visa, right? But you can't, it's like an O -1 -B or whatever for like medical or science and technology. But the interesting thing about that visa, as you probably know, is that you can only do that. So I couldn't go down as a doctor and suddenly say, it's like, I actually want to be an actor now. You gave me the visa, ha ha. No, they'd be like, excuse me.

David John Clark (17:55)
Exactly. And if you get caught acting, drag you out!

Janet McMordie (she/her) (17:58)
Right? Yeah.

Yeah, so it's tricky in Canada. I think, you know, again, another thing I could wax poetic on is all the issues about, you know, American productions coming to Canada and flying in every single actor from the States and not hiring local Canadian actors, even the little two line roles. Like, come on. But then I also understand why, right? We don't have a star system here in Canada. There's a lot of issues with it. Everyone always laughs about our accents are easy to hear and annoying to hear and lots of issues, lots.

issues. Yeah.

David John Clark (18:32)
I hear the only thing you can do with a Canadian accent is not to mistake it for an American accent. That's rude apparently. Is that correct?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (18:38)
Mmm, sure. Yeah, and I guess it's the same for you with New Zealand. Or South African. Mm -hmm. Yep.

David John Clark (18:45)
Yes, it's yeah, definitely South African for sure. So and I'm I'm quite tone deaf. So I just had to knock back an audition today because it had to be 100 % US accent based. And so I've got to get on top of it because it's there's so many productions and that's probably similar to you that you would have a lot of American productions that you need to have your accent down pat when you.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (19:05)
yeah. Yep. And they say, obviously in the breakdowns, right, standard American accent and kind of have to go through and they always, it's like a test in school. You know the sides are gonna have, they've picked the ones where the character says sorry or about and they're like, we're gonna catch ya. You're like, let's hear that Canadian cut as soon as we hear the sorry.

David John Clark (19:23)
Of course.

Or they put the two worst words together even worse.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (19:32)
Yeah, exactly. Sorry, I'm about to leave. Like, it's so funny. And then of course you're doing your self tape. And I say, so I spent four years on the East Coast of Canada, where they have the thickest Canadian accents in the most beautiful way. And I've like, I've taken a bunch of it. I've got, it's absorbed into my being. And so I say A.

David John Clark (19:36)
You

Janet McMordie (she/her) (19:57)
all the time and I don't even recognize I'm saying it until someone, usually a non -Canadian goes, you said the thing, that's so funny. And I've caught myself in self tapes, you know, trying to be casual and like be myself and it's some Hallmark movie where it's supposed to be, you know, American and you're like, yeah, yeah, I know those Christmas cookies you baked were really tasty, eh? And my reader goes, nah, Janet.

David John Clark (20:11)
Wow.

Hey, and you just said it, I realised what you meant. I have heard that. Wow. There you go. I love it. A quick question. Would you quit your work as a doctor if acting became successful enough to support you financially? And I'm sure you've thought about it because I'd quit tomorrow if I could. I'm getting really close to retirement now. I'm about four years away from taking my

Janet McMordie (she/her) (20:30)
You

David John Clark (20:50)
hard earned pension and then I can just focus 100 % on acting and I'm so excited because it's like having that income and it doesn't matter then I can go where the acting is. So how would you go? Would you go tomorrow?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (21:02)
Hmm. First off, congratulations on being so close. Like the light is at the end of the tunnel. Congratulations. Would I, I think it changes every day. And like, what an answer, Janet. Eye roll, that's annoying. I think, you know, yesterday when I had a clinic that was wall to wall patients and people were cranky, I was like, get me out of here. This is terrible. I hate this. But then, you know, tomorrow I have my favorite clinic

David John Clark (21:05)
Thank you. It's a long tunnel.

Adam.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (21:28)
and I am very privileged and honored to be going to the Paralympics this year with Team Canada as one of their doctors. That's one of the cool things that sports medicine doctors get to do, have the ability to apply for, and I get to do that. So when things like that come along, or like I have a...

David John Clark (21:34)
Wow.

Excellent.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (21:47)
I work in the operating room and you do an incredible surgery and you get like this hug from the patient's family. I'm like, yes, like in that regard, I'm like, this is my calling. This is, you know, I'm contributing to the world. I'm feeling good about myself. I love this work. At four in the morning when I'm called in to deliver a baby, I'm like, I hate this. But I think, and again, I'm not giving you a good answer, but I think it does change day to day.

David John Clark (22:12)
No, no.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (22:14)
Sure, if I inherited $30 million, I probably would quit certain aspects of my medicine. I wouldn't work on call, meaning like working overnight. I wouldn't do that because I would want to sleep forever.

David John Clark (22:24)
Yeah.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (22:27)
There's certain things I would take off of my plates, if money was not a question, but I think I probably still would do some aspect of my medicine. And I'm so happy that I'm saying that now because if you had talked to me two years ago, I would have said, absolutely not, get me the heck out of here. I hate it so much. So it's definitely improved. Mm -hmm. Yeah.

David John Clark (22:47)
I love that. And that's great. If you've got that, that type of job or that employment where you have those such high, great moments, then if you get the position when you're later and when you want to focus more on your acting, then you can, you can just pull out and say, well, I'm not going to do the crap stuff. I love it. So with your podcast, you get to speak to a lot of us second act actors. So either from your own experiences or from stories you've

Janet McMordie (she/her) (23:03)
Exactly. Yeah.

David John Clark (23:16)
gathered from those many guests on similar journeys as us, what do you think are the biggest hurdles to getting into acting at a later stage in life, especially when maintaining another full -time career?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (23:27)
Hmm. There's a lot, right? I think the biggest hurdle that I found from listening to people telling me their stories, but also feeling it myself is two things I would say. The first one is coming to terms with the lack of control

in the entertainment industry and I think that's impossible to do. You will never come to terms with it. So maybe it's coming to terms with the fact that you'll never come to terms with the fact that there's no control. But I think that's a real hurdle that a lot of people get stuck on. And I think that's where a lot of people, when they get stuck on that, they, to be honest, they quit, right? Because there is, and we talked a bit about this before we hit record, right? There's no feedback. You have no idea if you're doing good.

You send your self tapes out to the ether. You never hear anything. You're seeing everyone who's an actor on social media being the biggest, brightest, best selves. And you go, why am I not that? What am I doing wrong? What is this? And I think that's a big...

It was a big shock to me because most other careers have very definite milestones that you need to get to become the thing. And once you get that Girl Scout badge, once you get that certificate, you can be the thing, right? As a doctor, if you pass the medical licensing exam, you can be a doctor. There's nothing for that in acting because there are these stories of,

of people plucked from obscurity in a shopping mall and are famous now. And then there's, yeah.

David John Clark (25:10)
And you've spoken to quite a few people like that who were found that way, who never even considered being an actor. And then they were stuck in there. I think there was one guy, he was a security guard or something. And then now he's just going berserk and it wasn't even a thought in his head.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (25:15)
Yep.

Yeah. Yup.

Yeah, and then there's the other flip, right? There are people who have studied this craft since they were, and they aren't second act actors, right? They've studied since they were four and they've never quote unquote broken out, right? So there's no control there. Why didn't I get this role? I'm perfect for it. it went to the director's daughter. Or no, you look too much like the first AD's ex -girlfriend.

This is gonna go to somebody else, right? So it has nothing to do with your talent. What? That's crazy to me. So I think that's a big, big hurdle. Ooh, the other thing I find is because, again, there's no control. There also means that there's no, there's no real information about how do I do this, right? Okay, you say you can take an acting class. Sure, what acting class? There's a billion out there and a bunch of scams and cults, right?

you know, for me it was how do I learn who everyone is on a set when I have no idea? You know, I walk onto a set and it's like, here's the first AD, who am I allowed to talk to? Who am I not supposed to talk to? Who's important? Everyone's important on a set obviously, but like who's important for me as the actor right now? Who, right? And you walk on a set and you're kind of like, I don't wanna bug anyone. So I think that is really tricky as well too because there is no....

David John Clark (26:34)
yeah.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (26:47)
School for second act actors. Sure, you could go to film school or theater school, but even the people who did that, I find, are like, Janet, can you tell me what a second AD is? I just learned a couple days ago what a grip does. I'm having one on my podcast. If I'm asking what do you do, somebody else has got to be wondering that.

David John Clark (27:03)
Exactly.

Mm, definitely.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (27:10)
So I think that's really, that's a big hurdle I think people kind of go, I don't want, I have no idea, but I think it's something we need to learn as actors is the crew side of things. And so I think that's a big one is that we just don't know what everyone does. Like how are we supposed to know?

David John Clark (27:25)
Exactly. And you don't want to find out by being that person that makes that wrong mistake. You can't talk to him. That's a director. I was just asking if he wanted a coffee.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (27:34)
Right? Or, What I think the hard thing is is that we need to know these things before we get onto a multi -bajillion dollar set where time is money and they don't want the little two -bit actor whose job is just to say, here's your coffee, sir, to the star, being like, hi, can I actually change my costume? Can I work the script? No, no, no. I think we need to know how it all works before we actually get onto set. And I think, yeah, yeah.

David John Clark (28:01)
Exactly. And I've heard so many stories about the 20 worders on an Aaron Sorkin project going up to the star saying, can I just wing these scenes or do I need to know it word for word? And they're going, you're in so much trouble. And fast. So on the flip side of that, what are the benefits of coming into acting at a later stage of life?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (28:07)
Mmm.

Aaron Sorgan! Word for word. Yeah. Yes.

So So many, oh my gosh. I think the biggest thing that I've learned, my biggest fear coming in was again, like we talked, the train has left the station and I am chasing after it, trying to catch up and I'm competing, competing against actors who've been doing this since they were born and who am I to do that, right? And I think my original thought was, I'm at a disadvantage,

because I wasted my 20s and most of my 30s in the library learning how to become a doctor. And I'll never forget my very first acting coach, her name was Michelle, I've actually had her on the podcast, she's amazing. She almost had to smack me upside the head being like, the things you did in your life leading up till now don't just disappear in a puff of smoke, they don't just go away. It's not like you're just starting again. You have...

David John Clark (29:08)
I've listened.

Mmm.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (29:21)
life experience and you've been literally witnessing the world like you're in a, like you're at a zoo watching people, watching the zoo animals, right? You have a laboratory that you're watching everyone. You basically, that's what your job is. As a doctor, yes, but also as any job, right? I think as we get older, we're supposed to become better human beings. Not everyone does, of course, but.

David John Clark (29:48)
No.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (29:49)
As you go along, you're supposed to be witnessing the human condition, witnessing suffering and joy and developing empathy. And I sure as heck did not have that when I was 18, 19, 25, you know, even a year ago, even yesterday, right? Every day, there's something that I'm learning and absorbing from the world around me. And I think that's so, so key as actors. And...

I think the other thing, and this is the pragmatic approach, is I have a job that has allowed me financial freedom -ish. This is an expensive part of the world and time of the world, but it has allowed, the whole world's expensive, right? But I, it's exactly, but I'm not relying on my art to buy groceries, right?

David John Clark (30:32)
The whole world's expensive now too. Yeah, it's all getting worse and worse.

I'll feed you.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (30:45)
And I think that is an immense privilege, I recognize, but also I worked extremely hard to do that. So there isn't a desperation in my craft of acting. And it's that lovely hierarchy of needs that we learned about in like psychology 101. If you don't have your base needs of like food, water, sex, a shelter, everything, the first thing that falls off,

is creativity because it's something you don't need to survive. So if you have those base needs met because you have another job that's giving you the finances we need to survive in capitalism, then you have the ability to say, I can take some time to be creative. And I think that's so, so, so key. I hate the starving artist mentality.

David John Clark (31:35)
And I love that because that's what we need to, for all actors, I think we need to focus on the positives of the journey, regardless of whether you're 18, like my son has just started doing a performance course, or ourselves, where we're coming out of a career, you've got to find those positives and focus on them, because there are so many negatives in life in general, and so many negatives in the acting world that they can smash you down so quick. And...

I was just talking today for another episode with some casting directors and they were saying the same thing that you've got to find the way through the troughs because the positives can be so far and few between. So you need to make sure that we as actors and we teach each other that the positives are there and that's what you need to focus on. I love that.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (32:27)
We teach each other the positives. That is wonderful. That is a beautiful thing.

David John Clark (32:31)
And that's, and is that one of the reasons why you started your podcast? I know that's why I did it because I wanted to put the information that I learned that I either found the hard way or I went and found because I needed to know. I wanted to put it out there. So it was another avenue for people to find.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (32:49)
Absolutely. I think, again, we talked about community building, right? I think that is so important to maintain the positives. And again, we have social media showing that everyone is living their best and beautiful life. But then we talk to other second act actors, late bloomer actors, and they're like, this is hard. It's hard, I'm frustrated. This industry is rough.

There's a weird mentality in acting in the entertainment industry where for some reason people don't talk about the struggles. Like I haven't had an audition in a couple weeks. I don't want to say that out loud because I want people to be like, whoa, she's so successful. Like, isn't it bizarre, right? Where I'm like, no, like it's been a really rough time. I think we want people to think that we're wanted, right? Like, and also we want people to think like I've made the right decision choosing acting when everyone else

said dumb decision right no no no I'm still wanted. I think also what I really love about doing my podcast and I never really thought about this before until somebody mentioned it and now that's all I think about is the vast majority of people I have on my show and I wonder if it's similar to you probably when I've listened to it yeah this is their first real interview talking about their acting life and there's a bit of

David John Clark (33:49)
Yes.

Definitely.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (34:15)
I know they're self -serving in that and the fact that I had somebody mentioned how like, you're such a philanthropist. Like you're giving so much good to these like young, young in the not in the chronological age, the entertainment industry age, actors who've never had an opportunity to speak to someone about their craft and you're giving them a platform to talk about it. And that's really encouraging and it's affirming to a

newer actor, especially a second act actor, who I'm sure is getting berated from all fronts saying, what are you doing? You're leaving your career as a lawyer to become an actor. What is wrong with you? So there's an affirming to my conversations, which I love. And I love hearing from actors that that was the case. Yeah.

David John Clark (35:07)
I love it. And do you find that a lot of those actors or even yourself when you get to talk to some people that you have great respect for, I know you've done some casting directors and industry professionals, well, that imposter syndrome that they all talk about, do you find that both yourself and your guests go, why me?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (35:27)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And I think it's terrible. And I think it's terrible, but it's also, it's, it's, it is, right? Again, it's liberating the fact that we're all thinking it, right? So there's strength in numbers. Like if we're all imposters, like who, then who is the real, then we're all not, right? Like it's a very weird, weird feeling. But I think again, in the creative field,

David John Clark (35:29)
Terrible.

Liberating sometimes, isn't it?

Who's the real?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (35:54)
you can't not have imposter syndrome because there's, again, there's no control, there's no feedback, there's no, it's you are the art, you are the vessel. It's not like here is the surgery I just performed and everyone goes, good surgery, right? There's something in between me and the product.

You know, here is the painting I made. If you hate my painting, you don't hate me. You know, but in my art form of acting, that is so personal and so, like, if you don't like my acting, it means you don't like me as a person. And that is where I think it's like, why me, why me? Like, why am I allowed to do this very emotional, personal thing? Like...

David John Clark (36:25)
Hmm.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (36:44)
How dare I? And why is some, why are you letting me do this? And also please don't hurt me. It's a very weird, weird sensation. It's, yeah.

David John Clark (36:56)
Yeah. And you were talking before about how you get your doctor's degree and you become a doctor. If you go for a job interview, they ask you a bunch of questions. You either get the job or you don't. But they're more than likely will come out and tell you why you didn't get the job. Look, we think you need another couple of years in the lower hospitals or more lower cases of being a lawyer or anything. Or we just found someone who's got another degree. They're much better than you. They've got more experience. And you go, I can handle that.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (37:06)
Mm -hmm.

David John Clark (37:25)
But the problem with the acting side of things is that you, you don't get that feedback, but it can be as simple as that, we need the dad to have blue eyes. Sorry. You just, you were perfect, but you've got brown eyes. Sorry. So it makes it really tough. And that's where that imposter syndrome comes is when you do get some of those successes and you, you're on an interview and you're going, I don't think I should be here. Cause all these years I've been thinking I sucked. So.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (37:48)
Yeah, yeah, and honestly, I think so often we don't hear that it has nothing to do with our talent. Like I think we're all talented, right? We're good at this. Like this is why we're here. We love it. We can express our emotions. It's perfect, you know? But we don't get that feedback. And so when it is because you have the wrong color eyes,

David John Clark (38:08)
Exactly.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (38:14)
I don't know, there's a frustration there, there's a relief there, there's a, okay, at least, I don't know, there's a lot of emotions that come through. And I'm a person who thrives on feedback. I mean, that's what medicine is, right? And I think medicine is, when you're in your training, it's quite negative feedback, right? Like I was saying earlier, shame -based learning is how, is actually the medical curriculum, which is terrible. But to, I wish so much that there was a little thing, a little drop -down menu,

David John Clark (38:24)
Of course.

Hmm.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (38:43)
for casting directors on Actors Access or any of the casting sites that they could just do like, it could be a little, you know, they could choose from like 10 different things like great tape, not right, you know. Could have done this a little more, like so close. Just that little, like a little smidge of feedback. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And then we would just, I would love that.

David John Clark (39:01)
Hmm. I am. It's interesting because I am. My podcast is sponsored by Castability, and I do quite a few tapes with them and because they rate ... the casting director that reviews your video and all the actors have done the same video and you put into groups of five. So they'll rate you in five different areas. You know, believability, specificity and a couple others I can't quite think of, but you can ....

Janet McMordie (she/her) (39:11)
Mm.

Mmm.

David John Clark (39:29)
you sort of get that sort of feedback coming back. And that's interesting to see if the casting directors could do that. You say, hey, you rocked it. You could get a five out of five in believability. You just had the wrong eye color or something, but it would be wonderful.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (39:43)
Yeah. And I understand, like, art is tough because art is subjective, right? But I think there's so many things in this world that are subjective that do get judged, right? For good and for bad. I think, like, figure skating, gymnastics, you know, like, stuff like that get graded because they have to, right? You have to find a winner and you have to find a silver medalist. And I think it would just be so nice to have, even if it's, like you were saying, even if it's just this little thing that says you're...

David John Clark (39:48)
course.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (40:12)
on the right track. You know, and I know they say, every time a casting director brings you in, it means you're good at your, they like you, you're, you're like, no, it's not enough. It's not enough. I think I would love just a little bit saying, yeah, like you're saying, great tape, not the right person. Not moving forward. Just a little bit. Come on, we can handle it. We're tough.

David John Clark (40:29)
Yes, wonderful. Yeah.

We'll see what maybe the implementation of AI in the casting process will bring that in. But that's a whole another talk for another day maybe. One of the biggest discussions I have with a lot of my people, and I know you do too, is the differences between young actors and us more mature types. And that is with training. So wherever you focus your training on, and do you see training as more important than life experience, or do they go hand in hand?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (40:38)
God.

lord.

I think they definitely go hand in hand. I think we should put a bit more emphasis on training at the beginning. And by training I mean script analysis, self -tape techniques, like kind of like logical, this is what you need to do step by step by step, and how to get an agent, blah blah. How to,

dissect a script and get intentions and actions and all that stuff. But I think we do a complete disservice when we don't, again, focus on the life experiences, right? And I think the trouble is that as we get older, at least for me, I find it really difficult to label emotions in my body. And I think it's because I know as a doctor, I have been taught emotional restraint. Like I'm not a, you know, I'm not,

David John Clark (41:48)
course.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (41:49)
I'm still a human, I get emotional, but as doctors, we are taught very much to bring that down as a self -preservation technique, right? You can't get really emotional every time you see something horrific in medicine, because it happens every single day, you're gonna burn yourself out, right? This is a marathon, not a sprint. So, and again, that's been a detriment to my acting career early on, is not knowing where emotions sit in my body. And so that's where I think we need to kind of bring life experience in along with...

David John Clark (42:09)
Okay.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (42:18)
acting training and kind of mesh the two together and also recognize like okay bring up some of these memories that can develop the emotions in your body for your scene but then also I think us with life experiences we need to remember that I feel like because of my life experiences I'm better at bringing the emotions forward and then pushing them aside,

once the scene is done. I don't stay in that deep dark hole, say if it's a scene that I need to be in a deep dark hole. And that is truly due to my life experience. And you know, I have the ability to harness a deep emotion, then I have the ability to say, all done, cut, gone, right? I can go about my day as opposed to living in it forever and ever and ever. It's huge. Yep.

David John Clark (43:05)
That's a big thing because that is such a big mental health issue for a lot of actors because they, they obviously, the Heath Ledger's of the world, got into these dark, dark areas and they haven't been able to get out of it. And, you know, a lot of people have thought, no, that, there was just something wrong with them, but now we're starting to learn that, no, this is a thing and we need to find those ways of being able to use those emotions, but then to be able to put them aside and get back to your normal life.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (43:14)
Yeah.

And it comes with time, you know, honestly, I think I've done some pretty interesting, especially theater work in my time as an actor, that it was rough to pull myself out of some of these scenes and out of, you know, I'd have the post -show blues after a theater show and it would really, I'd be in a dark place, you know, for a while, but it was learning to recognize that and say, oh okay, I understand this. This happened to me before when I was a teenager, an angsty teenager, and this is what helped.

Same same, right? Do the same things that have helped you before. I think for me, when you're asking what training has helped me, two things have really helped me, especially recently. Improv, 100%. I think everybody, everyone needs to do some improv, every actor.

Especially those of us who are second act actors. It's so scary, but it's so fun. And I think the thing, yes, it's scary, but I think the thing I realized was if you do it with people who are also there to learn improv, you get, there's nothing better than the support of your improv peers when you're on stage.

David John Clark (44:18)
Improv is so scary.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (44:43)
Like the improv group that I perform with, before we go on stage, we look at each other and we all go, got your back, got your back, got your back.

Right, there's the yes and approach, right? You're never leaving someone behind. You're always building off of what somebody else says. There's never a bad idea. You're supporting someone. You're not leaving them hanging. And there's such a freedom to improv that is, yes, absolutely terrifying as a logical brain person who likes routine and likes data and likes, this is what you do. But man, does it feel good? And I've brought so much of that into my self tapes to the point of,

David John Clark (44:59)
you.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (45:21)
I'm like a little worried sometimes because I do improvise some stuff in tapes. I'm like, I'm probably thinking like, what is this girl doing? But it's off script, but like it brings joy to a very annoying self tape, right? You're like, no, I'm going to enjoy this. This is supposed to be fun. The other training I've done that's been really lovely just recently has been some somatic body work. And again, like I was saying, feeling where my body emotions sit.

David John Clark (45:27)
It's off script, off script.

Okay.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (45:49)
For good and for bad and the ability to kind of bring them into more of a not so much like I'm waving my hands around but that sensation of okay my body is also part of my instrument it's not just my voice and I think the problem was I learned acting in

the pandemic, so it was Zoom, it was here. So I'm like, what do I do with my hands? I don't know. So this has been really helpful in figuring out where my body is in space and also where my body feels emotions. So a lot of that, yeah, somatic body work and breath work and stuff. It's been really, really fun.

David John Clark (46:10)
of course.

Wonderful. that's good. And if you had the opportunity to go back or to go and do a three year degree, would you do that now? Or do you think you like the approach that we take, though, the ad hoc courses and the casting director workshops, et cetera, that we learn from?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (46:39)
Yeah, I think if I was to go, I probably wouldn't go back.

If I could pause time right now with the brain I have, because if I had to go back and do theater school when I was 18 or 19 or 20, there's no way I'd be able to take advantage of all the goodness that you're learning. It's the same with any type of university. We go to university way too young. I would love to be able to go to university now and do all the learning. Oh my gosh, that would be so great. If I could pause time and do a theater degree right now, I would love to. Not because I think I need it, but because I want to do it.

David John Clark (46:55)
Gotcha.

One, two.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (47:12)
It looks so fun. It looks like, like you get to, ugh, you get to do all this cool, you get to study theater, you get to work with other theater nerds. Do you need to do it? Absolutely not. In fact, everyone I talked to who's done theater school or film school was like, yeah, I loved it, it was great. But I don't think you'd have to do it. It's just a lovely concentration of studying what brings you joy. Ugh, yeah, I'd love to like, yeah, hit pause on the world and just go do it now that I'm like in my late 30s, almost 40.

David John Clark (47:23)
Nah.

No.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (47:42)
I'll be the best.

David John Clark (47:43)
I love it. The only drawback would be that you'd be in there with all the 18 to 19 year olds and I'm not sure how that'll work.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (47:49)
This is true. This is true. Yep.

David John Clark (47:52)
One thing I did want to ask you Janet, as a working doctor, how do you feel when you get an audition to play a doctor or better still you win a role as a doctor? Now again, I, without saying what my career is, but I get auditions for my job all the time and I got into acting to be somebody else.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (48:09)
Mmm.

So I never get auditions for doctor because I don't look like one.

David John Clark (48:18)
Serious? Fair enough.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (48:20)
Right? And everyone goes, anyone can be anything. Yes, most doctors now, if you looked at the stats, look like me, right? We're females in our late 30s. That's the vast majority of doctors in Canada deal with it. But the industry says, no, doctors are old white dudes, right? Especially if, still, especially if they're like little two liners, right? You're gonna bring in the voice of God and that is the old white dude in a white coat. Sure, it makes it easy for the audience to understand here's the voice of authority, here's the person of authority, right?

David John Clark (48:37)
Still.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (48:50)
So I rarely go out for doctor roles. I have had doctor roles, but they are because the shows were like, for example, there's a show that I'm in coming out, season two called Two Brothers. We'll shout out to that. My friend is the executive producer and said, oh we have a doctor role. Oh my God, this is gonna be so fun. Let's get the actual doctor. Yay. And so it was so great. I go out for nurses, ultrasound techs, x -ray techs all the time. And I'm happy to, I mean, I'm not smart enough to be a nurse, but I'm happy to.

David John Clark (49:04)
Okay.

OK.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (49:19)
I like the lingo, right? I can speak the language and it's a ton of fun. I also help people who have medical self tapes. I've done that before, done some coaching. Being like, how do I pronounce this? How do I do that? Right? Again, the medical lingo. But I remember working on a show doing surgical hand doubling.

So it was a medical show, so anytime they zoomed in on the actress, any of the females, their hands in surgery, those were my hands. And I remember thinking in my head, why am I not auditioning for this show? I'm an actual doctor. But then, no, like if you're an actor, you can also be a, you can act as a doctor, just like I can act as a lawyer.

David John Clark (49:50)
Nice.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (50:08)
I'm not an actual lawyer, it doesn't put me at an advantage. So I don't mind it, I would love to be cast as a doctor any day now. I can speak the language real easy, but I also understand why I'm not. Yeah.

David John Clark (50:23)
It's interesting, is it? Because we've got a lot of talk in the acting realms now about real life. So, you know, so gay people playing gay people and transgender playing transgender. But it still boils down to the best actor for the role, doesn't it? And now as a doctor, do you look at the doctors on TV and go, we don't do that. That's not how you do it.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (50:29)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Yeah. Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Absolutely, and that's the most fun, right? I think that's the most fun that, again, when I was on this medical show, I was consulting, right? Giving them, like, okay, you're doing, like, this is how we would do it. For example, scrubbing in for surgery. They never do it properly on TV because it doesn't look good, right? You have your mask on, you can't see the person's face, so every time you see them scrubbing in for surgery in entertainment, a film and TV,

David John Clark (50:51)
Hahaha!

Janet McMordie (she/her) (51:15)
they don't have their mask on, right? So everyone in healthcare is like, aaah wrong, Grey's Anatomy, your stethoscope's in the wrong way, you won't be able to hear anything. Yeah, absolutely, it drives us nuts, but that's also half the fun, right? I kind of wonder, do they do it on purpose just so we keep watching being like, oh yeah, it's not real life, blah, blah, blah, as I'm sure lawyers do and cops do when they watch Law and Order.

David John Clark (51:29)
Yeah.

It's a bit like, well, police are big because police, you know, you see it, it's always the classic on a police show where they're just about to bust the door down, they take their gun out and then they rack it. Now, no police officer walks around with an unracked firearm because it's not going to shoot if they need it. So it looks good on to it. It sounds great.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (51:48)
Yes.

but it looks so cool on camera. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. I know when you're scrubbing in for surgery, this is usually on film and TV when they're having deep, intense conversations, you know, cause they're like, it's a very, it's a stressful, beautiful time to do a deep conversation. But when they got their mask covering their face, I remember the director, I was showing the actors how to scrub animal blind. He goes, no, it doesn't look good. Okay. Sure. Sure. Fine.

David John Clark (52:23)
and all the other

Now, as we wind up, I'm mindful of time, but just coming back to your show and you've spoken to so many people. I really, I just don't know how, I know your show's weekly. I struggle to get my episodes out monthly. So I congratulate you on that with such a big career. But do you have any stories from your guests that really stand out to you? A journey or a process that has really motivated you to keep going on your journey? There's so many. Yeah.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (52:39)
thanks.

There's so many. my gosh.

David John Clark (52:54)
Before we recorded, I was trying it because I've got some great episodes that I remember listening to. I'm just going, I wish I could remember where to find them because you've got some great people who've just been through some amazing processes.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (52:58)
Yeah.

Yeah, my gosh, there's so many. And I think about, it's funny, because there've been a lot recently where if people watch on YouTube, they can see me getting choked up because people's stories are so intense and beautiful. One that comes right to my mind is Barry Clifton, who was a US Marine turned actor. He just...

David John Clark (53:31)
I know Barry, I listened to your episode with him and he's, I met him first in Castability, in the green room. He's a great bloke, really nice.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (53:34)
Ugh.

He's so wonderful and I think he just has so much, like there's really like a moment in that episode that stands out. It was just the whole episode of just hearing his story, hearing his family support of him and then seeing, I think, you know what, the biggest thing for me now with Barry is seeing him succeeding. You know, seeing him getting cast in all these cool things and knowing his story.

Be like, yes, you deserve it. We all deserve it, of course. My friend, I'll always go back to my buddy, Sean Sims, who was a professional football player. Now he's a corrections officer turned actor.

David John Clark (54:12)
We do.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (54:24)
He has a really intense life story and again, I think he made me cry three times. I mean, we've been friends for a long time, so I knew it was going to be intense. I'd heard his story before and he was just so generous with it, telling the public about it, which was wonderful. And again, I think my, my, what's sticking with me with a lot of people is seeing what they're doing now. So like he's on set right now on a massive film, like massive, like this is it for him.

David John Clark (54:53)
Awesome.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (54:54)
him, right? Like this is the thing that should propel him forward. Or even if it doesn't propel him forward, this is the thing that you like are on your deathbed being like, I got to do this film. And so seeing my guests do what

do the thing, even if it's something small, like I made my first film or I'm in a commercial or I'm doing standup for the first time. That is what brings me so much joy, like makes my heart explode. And I have like a little sign, it's like to the side here, it says Rage Happy. And somebody described that's me, that's Janet in a nutshell. Like when I get happy, I get like mad, I'm so.

David John Clark (55:20)
Love it.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (55:34)
proud of you, I wanna flip this table. And I think that is the feeling I get with this podcast and just seeing everyone just doing the thing. They're all trying, we're all doing it. And I just am so honored and proud to be a small little part of doing the thing for them and trying ...

David John Clark (55:48)
that we're all trying so hard to do.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (55:59)
promote these people who are just trying to be a bit more creative in this garbage world.

David John Clark (56:06)
I love that and that you're now part of their journey and that's why I reached out to you because I always talk about my journey, so to speak, and your podcast has been part of my journey. So your show has been a huge contribution to my learning outcomes because I learned something from every guest and that's what I, it's like maintaining the rage, so to speak. I think you just mentioned it before. So.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (56:19)
Thank you.

David John Clark (56:33)
Before we wind up, before we say goodbye, do you have one piece of advice that you would give to an aspiring second act actor, AKA late bloomer or any actor looking at getting into acting now? What would you give a person? It's a big question, isn't it?

Janet McMordie (she/her) (56:49)
I should have planned this because I asked this question too and I know you do. Because I listen to your show too. Oh gosh. And it's such a cliche but of course the first thing that comes into my mind is to just try it. And I mean that's what a ridiculous thing to say. But.

I think, and it's been the piece of advice that so many people give because it's true. You know, I think the barrier to entry for acting these days with the...

David John Clark (57:18)
Hmm.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (57:24)
virtual world that we now live in is fairly low. It's pretty low. If you want to take an acting class, you can take it from anywhere in the world. And I did just that. I took online improv during the thick of the pandemic, Second City Chicago. There were people from every corner of the planet in that class. And you don't have to have the...

delusions of grandeur and this weird acting business of I wanna be famous, I wanna be blah blah. If that's your goal, great. But if you just wanna test the waters and explore who you are as a creative individual or if you're just feeling that itch of something's missing in my life and it used to be performing when I was a kid, let's just try it.

I think there's no harm in just trying something and I'm going to steal these words from a prior guest, Nicole. She was like, when you start something, when you're a beginner, you will always suck.

That's what being a beginner is. And that's great, right? Be curious about why are you kind of sucking? Are you enjoying this? Are you enjoying the build of learning how to do this? Are you frustrated? Again, it's that scientist curiosity, like what is it about this that you love, that you hate, but just try it and just have fun sucking, have fun failing. That's what...

being a curious human in this world is, like why not? There really is no downside to just trying it out and just see if you love it. And I think contributing to the world as a creative is extremely important and we don't...

David John Clark (58:57)
quickly.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (59:04)
value that very much. But I think if you contribute to the world as a creative individual sharing your story and telling your story, that hopefully will help others become better people as we get older as we're supposed to. Because you sharing your story develops empathy. That's how we pass legacy on. And then again, that's how we hopefully develop into better human beings. So please share your story and be creative. Yeah.

David John Clark (59:32)
Awesome. I just love that. Thank you very much, everyone. You can get to your podcast platform, player, whatever you listen to and look up Second Act Actors, and do what I did when I first found it, binged them all. I had Janet McMordie in my ear for a couple of weeks there until I caught up, I remember. So thank you very much, Janet. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on my show. So now our journeys are now intertwined. I love it.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (59:34)
Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. It's a true privilege. Thank you.

David John Clark (1:00:01)
So thank you very much. And it's, you all got a wonderful spring day. We've got a wonderful winter evening as I, I'm not a big fan of winter. So you probably would not find me as a resident in Canada, but I will come up there because there are so many Australians up there in TV shows that have filmed there, I'm sure. So thank you very much, Janet. It's been a pleasure. And as I like to say that perhaps,

Janet McMordie (she/her) (1:00:23)
Yep. Thank you.

David John Clark (1:00:30)
I'll see you on set.

Janet McMordie (she/her) (1:00:33)
Bye!

David John Clark (1:00:35)
Thank you. See you later. Bye bye.

David John Clark (1:00:41)
Well, well, well, how was that? That, in my opinion, was just fantastic. Janet is just a wonderful person to chat with. And she's just learned so much from everybody that she has had on her show, as well as her journey as a doctor. It just has molded her into this person that has so much to give in the community, which I found was fantastic. And if you haven't checked her show out, I do thoroughly

recommend it. There's some great people on there, not just from Canada, but from around the world. So it's a brilliant source of information for your journey as an actor. And you don't even have to be a second act actor or a late bloomer like myself. There's just so much to learn from what people have discovered in their acting journeys and how they've made it work for them. So yes, definitely, definitely check out the podcast. So I just like

reflect on my conversation with Janet. I found a profound sense of inspiration in our shared journey as late bloomer actors and Janet's path transitioning from a successful career in medicine to the unpredictable world of acting mirrors my own experiences and struggles in many ways. I'd like to talk about some key takeaways and insights that resonated deeply with me and will undoubtedly shape my journey going forward and hopefully yours.

Both Janet and I embarked on our acting careers later in life, bringing with us a wealth of life experiences and a strong foundation from our respective first acts. This common ground allowed us to connect on a deeper level, I feel, discussing the unique challenges we face as late bloomers or second act actors in the entertainment industry. You know, from dealing with imposter syndrome to balancing our professional careers with our passion for acting, our stories highlight the resilience and determination required to pursue this path.

One of the most significant insights from our conversation was the value of life experience in acting. And I've talked about this a lot on the show and I've asked many people that I've interviewed what their thoughts are with it. Janet emphasized how her background in medicine has enhanced her ability to empathize and connect with her characters on a deeper level. This perspective reinforced my belief that our diverse experiences outside of acting can profoundly enrich our performances, bringing, you know,

authenticity and depth to our roles.

Another key takeaway was the importance of financial stability in pursuing our creative endeavors. It's a tough pursuit for anybody at any time in their lives. So Janet's continued work as a sports medicine physician provides her with the financial freedom to explore acting without the pressure of financial desperation, which so many actors do get and can be such a hard part of your journey and something to push through.

This balance between a stable career and a passion for acting is something I strive to maintain as well. It allows us to take risks a little bit more and embrace opportunities without the constant worry about our financial situation. And I mentioned before our discussion was also touched on the imposter syndrome. It was particularly enlightening. Janet's candidness about her own struggles with feeling like an imposter in the acting world was both comforting and empowering because it's something that I go through every day.

And even as a host of this podcast, sometimes I think really me, is anyone listening sort of thing? Do they want to listen to what I have to say? So recognizing that even successful individuals like her, experiences, these feelings helps to normalize them and reminds us that it's okay to feel uncertain at times. Embracing these feelings and continuing to move forward despite them is a crucial part of our growth as actors. And finally,

Janet's passion for sharing stories and creating a legacy through her podcast resonated deeply with me because that's why I put this show together, to have conversations with other second act actors or late bloomers, not only inspires us, but it also provides a sense of community and support by sharing our journeys. We contribute to a larger narrative that encourages others to pursue their passions, regardless of where they are in life.

So in conclusion, my conversation with Janet was a reminder of the strength and resilience required to pursue a second act in acting, to be a late bloomer actor. Our shared experiences and insights will continue to inspire and guide me as I navigate my own journey. Embracing our life experiences, maintaining financial stability, confronting imposter syndrome and the power of storytelling are all lessons that will undoubtedly shape my path going forward. I hope our discussion inspires others.

inspires you to embrace your second act, if that's what your journey you're on. And if you're a young person like my son, you can learn so much from this as well. It's not about doing this as a second act. It's about being on the journey and taking it forward. So that's the end of a wonderful episode. Like and subscribe on your podcast platform if it's enabled. And if you took something away from this episode or any of the other episodes that I have,

consider sharing it on your social media for others to find it. And to finish, if you find value from my show and are in a position to support the show as I am completely self -funded each month, then follow the links in the show notes to become a monthly subscriber. I'll truly appreciate it. And it will enable the show to continue and improve. Thank you again for listening

As always, I'll see you on set.