Last Saturday night, actress Raney Branch gave a talk to students about working in the entertainment industry, specifically as an actor. Spunky and well-spoken, Branch gave advice, spilled stories from her experiences on the set of the CW’s “The Originals” and fielded questions from theatre arts students during her first ever trip to Oregon.
Branch has built an impressive resume, ranging from roles on “House of Payne” to the “The Mindy Project.” She has also recently began a campaign with McDonald’s.
An Atlanta native, Branch attended Emory University, majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Arabic. Although Branch did not formally study theater, she was a member of the college’s resident theater company, which taught sexual education to teenagers through theater. She always knew she wanted to perform, but decided to focus on making the most of her college experience, rather than delving into pursuing her career at that time. After graduating, Branch moved to New York to join Teach for America, where she taught middle school science. Afterwards, she moved back to Atlanta, started doing theater, shot a commercial and a show, joined the Screen Actors Guild then drove her car to Los Angeles. There she focused on booking commercials and formal acting training, using it as a way to grow and making valuable business connections. In 2012, she hired a manager and has been booking steady work since.
UO theatre arts professor La Donna Forsgren is Branch’s cousin and when she asked her to come speak to theatre arts students, Branch gladly obliged. Forsgren is currently teaching a seminar required for all theatre arts majors, which focuses on professional opportunities after graduation.
The world of professional acting is extremely competitive and Branch was happy to share her wisdom, which is relevant to more careers than just acting.
“You have to have patience and perseverance and recognize that if it’s something you really want, then you have to keep working for it. When I finally decided I’m not going to quit, it (was) because I realized that becoming a successful actor is, the majority of the time, 10 years in the making,” she said.
She also emphasized the importance of dedication and putting the difficult work in to achieve your goals.
“It’s not enough to be talented,” Branch said. “It’s not enough to be pretty. It’s not enough to be funny. You’ve got to put the work in.”
Branch reads scripts, memorizes chunks of dialogue and watches multi-camera sitcoms, like “The Cosby Show,” ”Cheers” and “Fraiser,” because that’s the genre she enjoys working in.
“My dream job right now is a multi-cam sitcom that shoots at CBS Radford, that shoots for five years, 100 episodes and goes into syndication,” she said. “That’s the dream!”
Although a college degree is not required to be an actor, Branch believes that having the life experience and discipline gained in college has helped her immensely as an actor. Finally, Branch encouraged people to stay hopeful.
“You have to really believe that you’re supposed to be doing this thing in this time. If this is your path, it’s your path. You’ve got to remind yourself of that everyday.”