Danielle Macdonald is taking Hollywood by storm and subverting stereotypes along the way. She broke through last year as an aspiring rapper from New Jersey in Geremy Jasper’s indie hit “Patti Cake$” and has since continued to appear in a variety of exciting projects. Just this winter, she starred in two feature films for Netflix: pageant queen dramedy “Dumplin’ ” alongside Jennifer Aniston, and the psychological horror project “Bird Box” with Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich. The Australian native recently sat down with Backstage to discuss her latest string of work and how she navigates the industry as a young actor.
You want supportive co-stars like Aniston.
“We had a lot of acting to a dot on the side of the camera—like, acting to the box, which is never any actor’s favorite thing to do because it’s not very personal. But it was great because [Aniston would] be like, ‘Can I just get an eye, half an eye?’ We would always be [figuring out] how can we jam our head up against the camera to be able to be there for each other.”
Try and take the pressure off auditions.
“I always like auditioning, because it’s like, ‘Oh, my god, I have an audition—yay!’ It means opportunity for work, which is great. But it’s scary, as well, because you put so much pressure on yourself. Especially if it’s something I really want, I’ll put more pressure on myself and I’ll never get it. I find that I have to take a step back and be like, ‘This is the best I can do in this moment, and that’s all I can do.’ ”
READ: How to Audition for Netflix
Being different works in an actor’s favor.
“The cool thing about being different in this industry is that you get different roles; you aren’t pigeonholed the same way. [But] you definitely can be—there’s a lot of the big-funny-best-friend [roles], but I never had a breakout with that…. That’s the funny thing: Just because you look a certain way doesn’t mean you all have the same personality, and that’s a thing that I think the industry’s slowly coming around to. It’s like, ‘Oh, wait, everyone’s an individual no matter what they look like.’ ”
Don’t worry about what you can’t control.
“During the times where you completely doubt yourself, don’t worry. It happens eventually. If you knew it’s going to be a guarantee, you wouldn’t freak out, but you don’t know it’s going to be a guarantee—and it’s still not a guarantee. You can’t predict it, so just go along for the ride. There’ll be ups and downs, but that’s OK. Don’t stress out about the things you can’t control. That’s kind of the biggest thing, because you really can’t control much, especially in this industry. You’ve just got to do you.”
Ready to get to work? Check out Backstage’s film audition listings!