Through her power of imagination, Ariana Jackman can transform a world of make-believe to evoke real emotions in her audience when she is on stage.
“Everything that the character you’re portraying is going through is something you need to find a way to emotionally relate to from your own life,” the Litchfield native said about what it takes to be an effective actor.
“So taking a situation that your character is in,” she continued, “let’s say my character has dealt with a death of a parent — I can take that and say, ‘Well, I’ve lost a pet,’ or when I was in high school, we had one of our students pass away, so I can take my own experiences and put that into that character.”
The 21-year-old first performed in a Litchfield show, “The Little Prince” when she was 8. She went on to perform in more than 15 other plays in Lichfield. She said after trying a variety of things, it was theater that fascinated her the most, so she continued to pursue it. She studied at St. Cloud State University and St. Olaf College, and currently she is studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York.
Jackman’s personality fits the acting life. She has been told she is bubbly and funny. In addition, Jackman is determined and relaxed, she said. Such qualities could help her advance in her career.
“It’s not like I can go to school and get the best grades and graduate top of my class,” Jackman said, highlighting the riskiness of an actor’s life, “and then bring that into a job interview, and they’re going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, you’re completely qualified for this. We want you.’ When you go into an audition, it’s more of, ‘Are you a fit for what we’re looking for?’”
Jackman has found branding herself is also important for success in acting, she said.
“If ‘Myself’ is enough, then that’s great,” Jackman said. “If it’s not, then it wasn’t a right (audition or role) for me and that’s just how it works.”
Jackman severely injured her foot about seven months ago while taking several dance classes at AMDA.
“I take four dance classes … and they’re two-hour dance classes,” Jackman said several weeks ago. “Each class once a week … so it’s a lot of time spent on your feet. And if you’re like me, I walk everywhere.”
After finishing her summer classes, Jackman flew back in early October to Litchfield to receive urgent care, she said. Doctors confirmed she had a stress fracture and that she needed to allow it six weeks to heal.
Jackman has since returned to AMDA to complete her certificate degree. But during her stay in Litchfield, she was a substitute teacher for Litchfield schools, worked at TJ Maxx in St. Cloud, and co-directed the Litchfield High School one-act play “The Hearing” alongside Heidi Thoma. Jackman said it was her third year working with Thoma in the one-act play.
She was “very lucky” when Jackman accepted to co-direct with her, Thoma said.
“It really added to the one-act play,” Thoma said in an email. “The two of us could do more and develop a great experience for the students. She is a hard worker and will give her all to everything she does. She just needs to find what direction her life leads her and follow her dreams.”
Jackman said the experience at AMDA is “intense.” But she joined the program knowing what to expect — she enjoys the challenge — she said.
“I’m the type of person who — when I’m working on something — I want it to be the best that I can be,” Jackman said. “And if I’m doing something wrong or something needs to be changed — I want to be told — I want to be given that constructive criticism.”
Many might respond to the kind of criticisms Jackman receives as negative or rude, but she said her teachers want her to be phenomenal.
“So when someone is pushing me to get to that higher level, I want that,” she said. “And that’s, again, part of the reason I wanted to get into such an intense program. I knew it was going to push me, and I said, ‘Where can any growth come from if you’re not surrounding yourself with teachers who are going to push you?’”
Although glamour and fame are built into the lifestyle of an actor, Jackman’s intention isn’t about that. However, if the opportunity for acting in a movie presented itself, Jackman would gladly seize it, she said, and that would be “crazy … in a good way.”
“If that’s what my life has in store for me, then it’s something that I’ll have to be ready for or learn how to handle when I get there,” Jackman said.
Jackman doesn’t have any allusions of living in Los Angeles or moving back home to Litchfield. She enjoys living in New York and plans to stay there for a while, she said.
“I love the city,” Jackman said. “I just love the energy of it, like there’s just so many different people, and I just love it.”
The last few years have taught Jackman not to doubt herself, or be self-conscious or insecure, she said. The college experience afforded her opportunities to grow confidence in herself and build uplifting friendships, all of which have emboldened her self-worth, Jackman said.
“Finding that strength in yourself and just being able to say, ‘You know what, I don’t care what other people think. This is who I am,’” Jackman said. “And if they have an issue with that, and they don’t like it, then they don’t need to be in my life.
“And that’s hard,” she added. “But I don’t think we … can be happy and surround ourselves with people who are going to bring us down. You know, keep us from being the people we want to be.”
