What is the best thing that I love about my work? I consider ‘work’ a four-letter word that implies effort and struggle – I follow a path of least resistance in as much, when you do what you love for the sole sake of loving it, you are serving humanity and the Universe works in your favour…. Acting is a way of life and my love for it is all encompassing and subsequently; healing. I have said this before when I act I feel connected to life-force, I feel I am a vessel for Source and every feel-good chemical my body can produce seems to flow through my veins in the ultimate natural high.
What is my idea of perfect happiness? Happiness is a paradox since it implies something that must be found externally which is fleeting – true ‘’happiness’’ would be characterised as complete peace of mind (meaning financial freedom, negation of problems), joy, peace and abundance within a time of Spiritual Awareness and Co-operation – and my idea of this would be a time that humanity has raised the collective global frequency and is operating on a higher plane of consciousness. Instead of a primal fear-based consciousness we would shed those fears, based on need for survival which has no place in the modern world and operate on love – this would mean an end to religion, governments, money, corporations etc… since there would be no need for these social structures and rigid belief systems.
What is my greatest fear? I believe that fear is an illusion created by the mind and when you can step back and observe the chatter in your head without getting caught up in it, you realise it is not who you really are, since we are so much more than that, we are a divine spark of consciousness with unlimited potential and capacity for creation – The true self that you are is the awareness beyond the mind. Fear is simply a mind trick which keeps us out of the present moment and so I choose Love over Fear since Love is the light which casts out the shadows…. Fear is manifested in many ways be it anger, depression, rage, boredom…. I tend to get over-anxious and so I simply remind myself of the Zen proverb ‘This to shall pass’’ which is a pointer at the impermanence of form.
What is the trait that I most deplore in myself? Ego–mind – that is identifying with the negative chatter that non-stop tells us we are not good enough and plays on our insecurities, stopping us from living life to the full for fear of ridicule etc…. It is this voice that throughout humanity gives rise to depression, anger, assault, addiction, murder, war…. Whenever I catch myself feeling low I know I can trace it back to a ‘’thought’’ that has come from the negative mind which consistently highlight fears and tricks you into identifying with its illusions.
Which living persons in my profession do I most admire? Daniel Day-Lewis because every role I have ever seen him in has been so complete and truthful (My Left Foot he played a paralysed man with severe handicap, In the name of the father he played an Irish man who spent 17 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, the stuffy English gentleman in Room with A View, the wild, sexy Warrior in Last of The Mohicans.) – The work he does in terms of building a character is meticulous and I salute him. And Sir Anthony Hopkins because he is such a generous actor – it appears to me that he would be fantastic to work with I feel that he ‘gives’ so much to his fellow actor and all of his characters are really solid and honest.
What is my greatest extravagance? My greatest extravagance is life itself – I am highly spontaneous and prefer to spend all I have on a ridiculously lavish picnic because I am hungry and the sun is shining rather than a week of shopping. On an occasion I received a lump sum cash payment, rather than live off it sensibly for a year I chose to go to Thailand for a month of complete extravagance. Life is about being in the moment and experiencing as much joy as possible. I will always choose to enjoy now rather than sit waiting for some time in an imagined future where I can start living life. Now I have children I do have a level of responsibility to adhere to although if I am down to 10 euros I would choose to take the boys out and do something fun rather than have petrol (I tend to berate myself afterwards but at the time it feels so good).
What is my greatest achievement in work? Work requires effort and struggle neither of which apply to my chosen path of Acting. In the past 14 months (when I decided to return to acting after a life-time away since leaving Drama School) my growth has been exponential –Producing my own short films I have gained IMDb credits (both as an actress & producer), Spotlight membership, amazing industry contacts and I was in Cannes this year where one of my short films was screened, I have a great reel, website etc. All of the aforementioned was in the space of a year (approx.) – each day I am achieving more, and I am not done yet – the best is yet to come.
Where would I most like to live? I have lived in over 100 different locations spanning 3 continents and it is Amsterdam that I felt most at home and I have been here longer than anywhere else (even in my own country). However, I would really love to live near the sea and have a sea view. I would love to be able to walk to the beach – even on cold, windy days there is nothing better than the sea air.
What is my most treasured possession? A hand made music box which came from Switzerland. It is so beautiful – the box is polished wood, beautifully crafted and when you open it you see the mechanism turn and all the cogs and shiny bits of metal are so precise and beautiful. You wind it up and it plays the Magic Flute – it is also worth quite a bit of money since it is hand made and so unique and quite rare. It was a gift and I really love it – because I have travelled so much I don’t really have any material attachments but this music box is really something I treasure.
What is my most marked characteristic? My high energy is my main characteristic – I am always smiling and when I am involved in an acting project it literally fuels my vitality and physically it is my hair which is always very long and because it is thick and hangs in curls it is like a mane – I am a typical Leo and so my hair is my crown!
What is my most inspirational location, in my city? the public library in Amsterdam is just amazing – the view over the city is stunning and it is just an amazing environment to be in, the building is really high-tech and the floor to ceiling windows are breath–taking on the higher levels. I also really enjoy the EYE Film Museum, it’s a great meeting place.
What is my favourite place to eat and drink, in my city? Although I am vegetarian I do eat fish and adore sushi. The Osaka is an amazing Japanese restaurant where its cooked in front of you and you are presented with several courses which are all delicious – the sake is great too! There is an amazing Italian restaurant around Rembrandtplein where I often went (before I had children) they prepare the salads and starters with a real show at your table and the desserts are sensational – Brad Pitt and George Clooney ate there on a few occasions when filming Oceans 12 in Amsterdam. I also enjoy the Hard Rock Café for the Long Island Ice Tea which knocks your socks off!
What books influenced my life and how? Eckhart Tolle The Power of Now was the book that really sparked a major revelation within that led to my growing awareness and unfolding consciousness since then I have read many, many spiritual texts including A Course in Miracles and more recently Gene Keys which I pick up at least twice a week and turn to a random page – The Gene Keys is an amazing resource and is based on I-Ching and how it relates to our DNA, evolution, unlocking our latent genius and following our true purpose
Who are my favourite writers? I absolutely love, love, LOVE reading and so I thought about this question for quite some time but there is only one name that really is special and that is Shakespeare without a doubt. And due to the calibre of writer I have selected I think it is unwise to choose a second since no writer can share the title with Wil….
You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day? Oh, definitely old school drum and bass and Ministry of Sound annuals of the 1990s – The 90’s was my era and that was the time of first love, leaving school, growing up and leaving home, travelling and so whenever I listen to 90s dance music I am transported to a time of complete freedom and joy.
Who is my hero or heroine in fiction? Oh… I have a huge girl crush on ‘Harley Quinn’ from suicide squad – I just love the whole vibe of her she is beautiful, bad and a little unhinged but super cool and sexy.
Who are my heroes and heroines in real life? cannot give a list of names because these are the unsung heroes and heroines but everyone who looks for the Divine light in others despite being treated badly – these are the diamonds in the rough – they shine like gems in a sea of mediocrity and are an inspiration. Those that have overcome adversity and literally transcended it by serving humanity. For example, there is a very beautiful woman who was a model until she was completely deformed after an acid attack from a jealous ex–boyfriend – she has been through both physical and mental agonies, yet she is a beacon of light and dedicates her life to helping others who are living with a facial deformity
Which movie would I recommend seeing once in a lifetime? A Room With A View
What role plays art in my life and work? There is only one role I know and that is the Lead!
Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime? My son Samuel on every level he is 8 and so still at the age where I am the most important person in his life. I know the time is short and soon he will find me very un–cool! I have another son JJ who is only 4 right now so very young but he will be delighted to take Samuel’s place as partner in crime the moment Samuel decides hanging out with Mummy is ‘so boring’
Whom would I like to work with in 2018? If there is a specific Director, Writer, Sound Designer etc. I really admire then I will endeavour to make contact and collaborate. That is the beauty, I have found, in creating your own content, you get to build a super team. I always ensure that I recruit those at the top of their game. If you give 100%, have talent and a mind-set to exceed expectation, then I want to work with you!
Which people in my profession would I love to meet in 2018? I would like to meet the dynamic, highly successful and experienced talent agent, PMA accredited (personal managers association), excited to represent me and that I can work with and make great success and wealth for us both – I would like them to be London based or LA perhaps…. There is little room for growth for me in the Netherlands since they do not have an International film making presence, so I am intending to find myself an Agent that will assist me in locating opportunities in UK and USA.
What project, in 2018, am I looking forward to work on? I have 3 projects I am working on this year that immediately spring to mind. Most notable is a first feature film which I have been cast as the lead – I am so excited with it being my 1st feature and it is a sensational role that was written with me in mind and so this character is everything I cannot wait to embody. We should go into pre production end of this year. I am also excited about a short film which I am producing and acting in (obviously), I intend to enter it into many film festivals which is exciting. I was recently approached by a very experienced actor and scriptwriter who I know from the TV growing up. He found me on imdb as an actress with Producer credits and he asked me about producing his stage play in Amsterdam (his favourite city) which has enjoyed global success – I am going to London next month to discuss it and also audition for the lead – I am very excited about this new collaboration.
Where can you see me or my work in 2018? You can follow me on IMDb and Spotlight. I have some short films that will be doing the festival circuit you can also go to my website
What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me? This statement applies to the frequency you operate on since we are all living magnets drawing into our lives that which resonates with our output – All those who made the bold decision to follow the path of their heart rather than their head. When you follow your destiny it is, as aforementioned the path of least resistance and you will find the Universe will give you reason to be energised and revitalised & empowered because you are operating on love which is the highest & most powerful vibrational frequency. (fear is the weakest and at the opposite end of the spectrum) – when your intention is grounded in love over fear you have the power of the universe behind you – who would retire from pure life-force!
Which creative heroines should Peter invite to tell their story? Alexa Rodrigues & Arminé Telimi & Anchel Bosque de Madera (all names beginning with A – the A team hahaaa)
How can you contact me?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/englishactressinamsterdam
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/englishactressinamsterdam
Twitter: @BryantHennie
Here follows a message of Peter de Kuster, the founder of the Heroine’s Journey
The Heroine’s Journey Conference 2018 – Rome
The Heroine’s Journey is coming to Rome. We are bringing The Heroine’s Journey Conference to the vibrant city of Rome on 12-14 October with a transformative and properly entertaining three-day event on the most important ideas we teach. Our conference aims to transform lives and build the best kinds of connections. It is designed to equip participants with a toolkit of creative entrepreneur skills that can revolutionise relationships, careers and self-understanding.
What to Expect
Our conference is hugely memorable and distinctive. For a start, you are not being taught in entirely standard ways. Peter de Kuster and his team of coaches on stage don’t merely lecture to a passive audience; they invite almost continuous interaction, getting participants to look inside themselves, to complete a variety of exercises and to share their stories with others.
Talks are peppered with films, art, pieces of literature, pieces of music and visual prompts; all the senses are properly stimulated to keep the mind fresh and receptive. Furthermore, there is an enormous emphasis on friendship. We are not merely seated quietly on our own, isolated from other participants. We are guided to mingle, form smaller and larger groups and reveal meaningful things to one another. It is impossible to leave after three days without having made quite a few firm friends.
Conference Leaders
The Conference, led by The Heroine’s Journey founder Peter de Kuster together with a team of coaches specialized in working with creative people takes participants through a three-day immersive experience.
Programme Details
Day 1 FridayThe Heroine’s Journey: Career Management for the Creative Person.
We begin with a look at what the life and career of a creative professional is, how it can be taught – and what we can acquire of it in the days ahead. We consider our particular position in history: living with the desire for creative fulfilment and career success – and we propose that The Heroine’s Journey has a distinctive set of answers to the opportunities, disappointments and dreams of our time.
We identify that a core task of any creative professional is to achieve self-knowledge. To this end, we take you on a journey around your own mind, paying particular attention to the stories you tell yourself about you, your creative work, your time, your money, your self promotion, your relations. Which of these stories brings you to what you want and which of these stories has to be rewritten, transforming in the process your business and life?
Next we consider your meetings with others – clients, friends, business partners. We admit to our longing for sincere connection with others, but also to the challenges of finding this. We learn about the art of connecting, about ways to listen to others fruitfully and how to overcome barriers to intimacy. We teach strategies that help remove excessive superficial contact from our lives, and put all these into practice at a social event with our newfound acquaintances to close the day.
Day 2 Saturday Morning The Power of your Story
On our second day we study why we have the creative career we do – and how our early experiences give us scripts of what, how and whom we are passionate about in our creative career. We learn that there are always more possible paths in your creative career than we initially believe and that we can broaden our unconscious scripts of how we can make money doing what we love by understanding our past stories more clearly.
We also look at the techniques that can make creative careers work in the long term. The Heroine’s Journey firmly believes that passion is ultimately a skill, not an emotion. We learn about how to communicate, how not to sulk, how to allow others to get close to us, how to understand and explain our distinctive way of creating, how to promote ourself and our creations, how to negotiate conflicts through humour and how to deal with conflicts and awkward desires.
We’re reminded that many of the answers we need are within us already, waiting for the correct story to extract them.
Day 2 Saturday Afternoon Creative Confidence
We move on to consider the emotional dimension of our work; what impels us to want to do a certain sort of creative work, and why it is often so hard to align our emotional desires with our practical requirements. We explore our working personalities and sift through our authentic interests.
We consider a variety of blocks and inhibitions which prevent us from pushing forward with our hunches, with particular attention paid to parental and societal expectations.
We pay particular attention to the idea of creative confidence. The difference between success and failure often hangs on this almost humiliatingly small and elusive concept that standard education never touches. We spend vast amounts of time acquiring confidence in narrow professional fields, but we overlook the primordial need to acquire a more free-ranging variety of confidence which can serve us across a range of tasks in professional, but also in personal, life.
Day 3 Sunday They Created Happily Ever After
Passion has a natural and deep appeal. Most of us long to be more passionate and creatively confident, unruffled, at ease and capable of reacting with quiet good humour to life’s setbacks and irritants. But we are often still only at the very beginning of knowing how to be passionate and confident. This morning will give us a range of the most effective answers.
Next we consider passion & happiness. A passionate life is close to, but at points importantly different from, a happy life. It draws upon and exercises our higher capacities, for example, tenderness, care, connection, self-understanding, sympathy, intelligence and creativity. We investigate how to orientate our lives in a more happy direction.
In our final hours together, we go back over the journey we have been on and recap its most fundamental lessons.
Timetable
Who Should Attend The Heroine’s Journey Conference
The Heroine’s Journey Conference is ideal for those looking for an in-depth experience that covers three main areas of our creative lives; Career Management, Creative Confidence, Happiness.
What you can expect:
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A rich programme drawing from the key insights across our core curriculum
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A learning experience combining lectures, films, music, art, exercises and continuous audience participation
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Three-days of engaging content written and led by storyteller and writer Peter de Kuster, supported by inspiring coaches specialized in working with creative professionals
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Daily educational programme and curated morning and evening social activities
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An opportunity to make new friends in a community of like-minded individuals
The Heroine’s Journey Conference 2018 – Rome
Early Bird Price:
Euro 999 (Standard Price Euro 1099) excluding VAT
How to book:
Send us a mail at peterdekuster@hotmail.nl
What:
When:
Where:
The Heroine's Journey 