THE COACH
Message from Jo Kelly, The Acting Coach
I am Jo Kelly, and I am here to help you awaken and shake your infinite & unique talent.
When I started acting, I realized I had potential (like everybody else) but I had apparently a strong resistance to tap into it. And I was not alone. It seemed like 99% of the actors I knew had the same problem... And all the acting classes I took were avoiding the question by feeding me mathematical approaches, techniques and "foolproof" success recipes.
So I decided to research the matter of the instinct and eventually, I succeeded to reset my instrument to its original state: FREEDOM & AUTHENTICITY. As soon as I did, I got immediate work and success. ( You can watch my Acting Reel here)
This was so exciting to me that I immediately decided to share this with other actors, and as I started coaching them, I witnessed mind-blowing results.
What I did was this: I addressed their inner blocks installed by their conditioning and I helped them awaken and then muscle up their very unique instincts to the point of retiring their instrument to be completely free again.
On a side note, I am half Belgian, half Irish... And I have lived and still coach in Brussels, Paris, Zurich, Madrid and I currently live in Los Angeles with my husband and our 2 kids Elvis & Tyger.
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Jo Kelly, an artist, director, acting coach & founder of To Be or Not to Act
For more than 20 years, I have guided actors to undo all social and emotional conditioning so that they can be reminded how to BE (and not act) in full authenticity and freedom, in order to deliver incredibly alive, raw, and truthful performances.
After having worked with some of the hottest actors, directors and other artists all around the world, I have guided and coached thousands of pro actors, just like you, to land roles with the biggest studios like Netflix, HBO, Disney, Showtime, ABC studios, and more.
I have always been committed about being an acting coach and not an acting teacher. I do not believe that one can be taught how to act but certainly can be reminded how to BE and can muscle that—like any pro.
As for my education, I have an MBA in business & human resource and mastered in systemic psychology and attended performance schools in Brussels, Paris, Madrid and the US.
Jo Kelly, Acting Coach-PHILOSOPHY
"Kids play to experience. Adults play to win."
Have you ever noticed? Kids play ALL DAY, they are the best actors and they have never been to acting school.
They are still free & authentic, because society hasn’t had time to tell them how "they should" behave yet. So they are still their unique self. Freely tasting and exploring every moment.
"I believe you can't be taught how to act. You know how to act.
Get rid of your conditioning (resistance) and
train your instrument back to its freedom and truth."
Acting is the art of living. "L'art de vivre"... Who could teach you that?
The life that runs through your veins is very unique and once you get rid of your resistance and muscle up your instinct, you will feel very truthful and free again and you will be able to impact your audience and book the roles that are meaningful to you.
"Break the cage you were trained to behave in and celebrate your uniqueness. My job is to assist you in doing just that.”
Jo Kelly, Acting Coach-APPROACH
Since Jo does not believe in a method as such, she never asks herself what a coaching session will be about. She is always looking forward to discovering the moment with her actors. Paying attention to their uniqueness and what is in its way. And though there will be no long talks about old techniques and methods, she will work on the actors physical, emotional and spiritual instrument in an unstoppable quest to uncover their freedom and truth, the point at which one surrenders and the life in them springs.
Want to join the ride? Start by watching my free training
PROCESS
Our process is grounded in a few core principles:
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Truth and freedom are the only results we are aiming for.
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Commitment through passion balances fear out.
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We always explore and never look for a result.
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We stop acting and start being.
At ‘To Be or Not to Act’, Jo Kelly is joined by her team of acting coaches, providing coaching in languages, including, English, French, Spanish and passive German.
THE REST OF THE TEAM
Priscilla is our tech genius. She handles everything that works with our systems basically;-)
Any problem we have, she can handle it and we wouldn't be here without her! She is also helping to edit our free content and our online communities.
Iolanda is our everything. She is our community manager, customer satisfaction genius and free content manager on social media ;-) Anything that comes from us to you, she's got something to do with it!!!
Iolanda is also an actress, assistant director and producer and she has studied my programs in and out in order to provide the best support to our customers. She is also part of the Jo Kelly Team in our programs.
Casimiro takes care of our YouTube channel, our partner collaborations and is part of our customer service and the Jo Kelly Team in our programs.
He is also an actor, director and singer and has taken part in my programs as well as in other humanistic studies (BA in English Philology and Acting, Singing Courses, Pedagogical Aptitude Certificate and the introduction to the SAT program) so that he can support our community of actors.
Mark and Kiki are the owners of KomVent GmbH, the agency that takes care of the communication of my workshops in Europe.
Mark has been working in the communication and event business for over 12 years and is my wizard behind the scenes. He has a solution for every idea I come up with and figures out how to make it work. Next to business he has a passion for music and loves to spend hours in his studio as a DJ.
Kiki works as an actress herself – she knows the business and knows how you feel. She`s your personal contact and helpmate. Her aim is to fully support you and to take care of all your concerns during my European workshops.
Next to acting she`s also working as a co-host in a swiss TV-Show called "Happy Day"- the name says it all!
