"Make art to heal and to inspire." - Chatting w/ Film & Television Star Amy Pietz!
Kevin Ray Johnson
I would like you to meet the wonderful and talented Amy Pietz. Amy's has over 25 years and Television and Film experience under her belt. You may recognize her as Donna Newton from the hit television show The Office, but that is just one and many amazing credits for Ms. Pietz. Amy has also appeared in shows such as Annie Spadaro in the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City (a role where she received the Screen Actors Guild Award Nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series), Cursed, Rodney, Aliens in America, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ally McBeal, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Drew Carey Show, ER, Law and Order: SVU, Nip/Tuck, American Dad, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Dexter, Two and a Half Men, Modern Family, Flash, and Mom, just to name a few. She has also appeared in films such as Rudy, Jingle All the Way, Prom, The Pact 2, and Halfway, among many others.
Amy is such an amazing actress and her longevity, honesty, and ability to stick to her convictions and overcome some toxic times that all artists will probably encounter is truly inspiring and refreshing to hear especially for any artist who truly wants a career in this industry. It was a true joy to interview Amy. I truly learned a lot!
When did you become interested in acting/performing?
I was an extremely introverted child who played alone by myself, sang songs, drew pictures, and watched a great deal of Sesame Street, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, and Captain Kangaroo. I began dancing at a very young age, and for many years dreamt of being a ballerina. I’d practice for hours in my basement in Wisconsin, and wanted desperately to graduate to toe shoes instruction, but we lacked the resources. I did some community theatre and dance recitals but was painfully shy and was only comfortable in the chorus.
When I went to junior high school everything changed when my English teacher, Philip Gissen, made me read my writing aloud and insisted I try out for the musical Oliver. When it was my turn to hop onto the gymnasium auditorium stage that was lit for all of us to sing a song from the show, I knew then that I would be a professional actor for the rest of my life. The spotlight enveloped me in a safe place where I could see no-one and it felt very private even though I was very exposed. I knew in a moment I’d need that safe place to be myself.
Are there any mentors in your life who truly helped you become the amazing artist you are today?
Phil Gissen was my first mentor who not only introduced me to the power of speaking aloud, reading, writing, art, and sport, but he insisted we explore the world and be curious about all the different foods cultures and ways of living that existed outside of our small town. He celebrated us as individuals and free thinkers. He was the officiant at my first wedding and is still my friend today. We were looking forward to celebrating his 70th birthday in Paris when the pandemic hit.
My next mentor was Ric Murphy who teaches Spolin Improvisation. He brought my technique to the highest level it could be by training me to utilize my instinct, intuition, imagination, body, voice, and the empty space around me to make the invisible visible. I still work with him today at various times.
My current mentor is Jerzy Gregorek who, along with his wife Aniela Gregorek developed a way of caring for the body mind and spirit called The Happy Body. I met him 25 years ago when I needed help with chronic pain at the age of 28. He taught me how to take care of myself, and grow stronger mentally as well as physically. I am the Godmother of his daughter Natalie, and am finally able to train to be a mentor in the Happy Body now that Hollywood and theatre are shut down. It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time and am finally able to spend the hours gong deeply into it. It has probably saved my life on more than one occasion.
Amy Pietz and Steve Carell in The Office.
We are living in some unprecedented times in the world. For all artists (especially actors) it is definitely a time of uncertainty. What has your everyday routine been like during Quarantine and what are some things you do to keep your spirits up?
When the pandemic started, I was as depressed and anxious as all of us. I was watching the news all day, alone with my cat, lonely and going stir crazy. Two months into quarantine, I was fortunate enough to start a Happy Body class led by Jerzy Gregorek every day for two months on Zoom with people all over the world, that focused on self-care physically and psychologically. It got me refocused on what I could control rather than what I couldn’t. I dove into lifting weights, meditating, eating mostly veggies, and studying stoicism. I lost 30 pounds and got my head screwed on straight enough to stay positive during this incredibly difficult time.
I now spend an hour a day training myself, and a few more hours a day training others and studying The Happy Body. I am also taking a voice class by Bruce Eckstut, and a film directing class run by director, Jason Ensler to keep myself sharp until the entertainment industry opens back up. In addition to that, I am recording the voice over for one of Jerzy’s audiobooks, and am working on a pitch for a docu-series about Jerzy and how he has transformed people’s lives. I am extremely grateful for the time to pursue a deep dive into The Happy Body, recalibrating my center, and increasing my strength and flexibility mentally and physically.
One of the other things I focus on is connecting every day with friends and increasing my intimacy, honesty, and kindness with them. Now that all of us are forced to have a tiny social circle, it’s extremely important to feel the comfort of being really seen and heard. I am consciously reaching out to others trying to give much more of myself to them on a deeper level, and in turn, ask for it from them. As a person living alone, It’s the thing I crave the most and know it is there for me if I give it to others.
I have truly admired you for many years. Are there any shows, roles, or performances that will always stick out and be near and dear to your heart?
If I allow nostalgia to creep up, then I’d say the past performances I miss the most are those that occurred in the theatre. I am especially concerned about the future of live theatre right now and have such visceral memories of being on stage or in a rehearsal room or the feeling of being in the zone during the run of a play. I try not to project into the future and guess how long it will be before I get to be on stage or sit in awe in the audience of a theatre. I try to just stay with today as much as possible since it’s futile to try and outsmart or out plan whatever the future has in store. I am starting to do readings of plays in a socially distanced way to reconnect with carefully crafted language and characters so that I can experience the theatre in that way.
In terms of television or film, I don’t miss the performances, I miss the crew. I miss being on set with a family of 200 worker bees. I do NOT, however, miss the toxicity of show business in general. I was actually quite burnt out with the industry and welcomed it shutting down for a time.
None of us can handle the unemployment aspect, but we sure needed to rethink the unrealistic expectations of shooting schedules, and the general treatment of a cast and crew like they were machines to be worn down and replaced. Even the strength of a pandemic may not affect the culture of film and television making in the US and Canada. It’s an extremely unhealthy and aggressive industry that has needed to remain so because of how expensive it is to create anything. Corners are always cut, risks are always taken, health is always the lowest priority. I cannot see that this pandemic will change that unless it somehow can increase the bottom line favorably. It’s not that I think there are bad people running it, it’s because the foundation of the industry itself was never healthy, never functional, never sustainable. What we do for love, right?
Amy Pietz in In Mother Words at the Geffen Playhouse
What advice would you give any aspiring artist in these challenging times?
The advice I would give to any aspiring artist is to make your art in a way that shatters the established toxicity of show business. In whatever you create, REFUSE to be unhealthy in the number of hours worked, the language used with others, the food eaten, the sleep needed, and the message the script communicates to society. Make art to heal and to inspire, and do it in a healing and inspiring way. Now is the chance to make a new entertainment industry. Do it.
Make sure you follow Amy on Twitter at @AmyPietz