Interviewing actress Marjo Nina Ikonen


1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you started your acting career?

My name is Marjo Nina Ikonen. I am a Finnish actress based in Madrid. Since I was a child, I loved inventing stories, living in imaginary worlds, and finding theatres and cinemas magical places. I admired actresses and showgirls, and somehow I always knew that this was my world.

I studied theatre and dance at several schools in Finland and eventually received a one-year scholarship at RESAD (Real Escuela Superior de Arte Dramático) in Madrid. There I met my future husband, the Spanish director José Herrero, and I decided to stay in Spain.

Together, we founded our own theatre company, Ilmatar, and produced several plays combining Finnish and Spanish culture. I have also continued my training in film and acting, including at the Marjorie Ballentine Studio in Los Angeles. For me, Marjorie is one of the best acting teachers in the world and has been one of my greatest inspirations and mentors.

I have worked in Spanish film, television and theatre, as well as on several international projects in Morocco. There, I had a leading role in the film Soleiman and filmed a pilot for a Moroccan version of Game of Thrones.

At the moment, I am working on Jean Cocteau’s famous monologue The Human Voice and preparing for the short film Comando Vallecas.

2. What inspired you to become an actress?

Great films and plays have given me dreams. They have shown me that life can be as beautiful and powerful as we are able to imagine. There are no limits to what we can feel, create and dream. 

That is what I want to transmit through my work. I want to give people dreams. I like to connect with people troughout my work. I have always looked for some kind of deeper connection with people. 

I love this quote of Anaïs Nin "I must be a mermaid... I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living". It defines me and my passion to be un actress perfectly.

3. Which role has been the most challenging for you so far, and why?

The Human Voice has definitely been one of my greatest challenges. I am alone on stage for an entire hour, with a huge amount of text to remember in Spanish, and the piece is extremely emotionally demanding.

It is a story about heartbreak, love and emotional dependency, so every moment requires a great deal of truth and intensity.

4. How do you prepare for a new character?

I look for all the information and inspiration I can find. I work through scene study and imagination, and I love creating a whole background and life for the character — her past, her desires, her fears, her relationships and everything that may have shaped her.

I also really love the preparation process itself. For me, creating a character is almost like discovering another person.

5. Is there a particular performance that you are especially proud of?

I am very proud of my first major role in Spain, in the play La Orgia. I am also very proud of all the productions I have created with director Juan Gómez, and of playing Belisa in one of my favourite plays by Federico García Lorca, directed by José Herrero.

Each of these experiences has been important to me for different reasons.

6. What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced in the entertainment industry?

One of the biggest challenges is keeping yourself going and continuing to create during the quiet periods.

As an actor, there are times when it feels as though nothing is happening. The challenge is not to lose your spark, your curiosity or your belief in what you are doing. I think that is part of the journey.

7. How do you balance your personal life with your professional career?

For me, acting is not simply a profession; it is a way of life. I don't really separate my personal and professional worlds completely.

I try to be fully present in both and to allow life itself to feed my creativity. Maybe I am a little uncapable for rutinary life... Like Alfred Hitchcock said: "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out."

8. Have you ever learned a valuable lesson from a character you portrayed?

I think I have learned something from every character I have played.

One lesson that has stayed with me is not to lose yourself or your heart for anyone. Characters can sometimes show us things about ourselves that we might not otherwise see. And they give us chance to experiment things outside our actual realidad. They give you a chance to be like a cat with 9 lifes! 

9. Who are some actors or actresses that have inspired you throughout your career?

There are many, but some of the actors and actresses who have inspired me deeply are Javier Bardem, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett, among many others.

10. What do you enjoy most about working in film and television?

I love experimenting, entering different worlds through imagination, creating something that did not exist before, and connecting with people through emotions and energy.

Every character gives me the opportunity to discover something new.

11. How has the industry changed since you began your career?

Everything moves much faster now. Social media and digital platforms have created connections and opportunities across the world, and self-tapes have also changed the way actors audition.

Today, it is possible to reach projects and filmmakers internationally without necessarily being in the same country.

12. What advice would you give to young people who dream of becoming actors?

If you feel that acting is truly your purpose and your dream, go for it fully.

Enjoy the journey, because the destination is always unknown. But that is also where much of the magic lives.

13. Are there any upcoming projects that you are excited to share with your fans?

I am very excited about the short film Comando Vallecas. It has a very Almodóvar-inspired style and follows a group of women who decide to blow up beauty centres because they are fed up with the unrealistic and unnatural beauty standards imposed on women.

It has an important social message and explores a very current issue in our society, where even teenage girls are being exposed to increasingly invasive beauty treatments.

I am also developing my own project, The Bride of the Forest, which I wrote and began shooting this summer in Finland. It is a mysterious story about a woman who spends the summer in the Finnish forest beside a lake and begins to feel a strange attraction towards the forest, eventually disappearing into the woods one night. Something wild is waking up inside her...

The project is inspired by the Finnish-Estonian writer Aino Kallas and her mythical story The Bride of the Wolf. I am thrilled about writing and creating this project, and this is something I would love to continue developing alongside my acting career.

14. What would you like your legacy to be as an actress?

I would love to create great stories that light up screens and souls — stories that make people feel deeply, dream, imagine and perhaps see life in more limitless and exiting way.

If my work can give people even a little bit of hope, magic and dreams and the sensation that they are not alone with their fantasies and fights, that would mean a lot to me.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interviewing the actress, model and musician: Abigail

Image
1-. How was your childhood? "I moved schools and cities in British Columbia quite a bit growing up, which meant I was constantly the 'new person' having to figure out a new system. Dealing with that much change early on taught me how to be highly organized and proactive. Because I didn't always know what was coming next, I learned to prepare thoroughly for every situation. Today, that translates into a very disciplined work style—I’m someone who stays ahead of deadlines and anticipates challenges before they become real problems." 2. - From what age did you decide to be an actress and how did you know you had theskills to go on TV? "It wasn't until I was 18 that I made the definitive choice. Before that, it was just a hobby. I knew I had the skills for TV specifically when I did my first student film. I realized that while theater is about projection, film is about truth. I felt very comfortable with the intimacy of the camera, and my dir...
Read more

Interviewing actress and filmmaker Jane Elizabeth Dillon

Image
1-. How was your childhood? My childhood was not the most normal. My mum was a Spanish Speaking Tourist guide, and my dad was a Grip in the Film Business. My dad worked behind the camera and my mums speaks fluent Spanish. They were both freelancers and I was also close to my uncle who used to come over to the house, and he was very comical. 
He was a funny character. We lived on the outskirts of London in the suburbs a town called Ruislip. 
We were happy but not an average family. 2. - From what age did you decide to be an actress and how did you know you had theskills to go on TV? My mother said that when I was a child, they asked me to do a play at school, and I did not want to do it. I was defiant because my best friend was not gonna be in the play, so I was unhappy and I was sulking throughout the whole stage.  I was little, I must have been about three or four but then after that, I found my love for acting.  I got cast in the school play when I was like fiv...
Read more

Interviewing actress Ashley Kirkland

Image
1-. How was your childhood? When I was four years old, I was diagnosed with an incurable childhood kidney disease. One way I managed to get through it was by focusing on art instead of the illness. I was a creative child with an active imagination, always drawing, painting, writing stories, or making movies with my mom’s video camera. I remember creating characters in my head and building entire stories and universes for them to exist in. I believe this skill has deeply helped me in acting, especially when it comes to connecting with characters. I was a shy child, still am. But there’s something about acting and stepping into a character that removes the walls I normally carry. 2.- From what age did you decide to be an actress and how did you know you had the skills to go on TV? This was something I struggled with for a long time. I wanted to be an actress for as long as I can remember, but I lacked the courage and confidence to fully pursue it. Growing up in the southea...
Read more