[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Why do you gravitate toward storytelling?
Sheila Houlahan, Actor, Singer, Producer and Writer: I think storytelling is what separates us from beasts and animals. I think storytelling is what uniquely defines what it is to be human. It is the oldest thing that we have done apart from eating and sleeping and dying. If we’re going back to the sort of fantastical view of the cro-magnon man and prehistoric times (because I know we all kind of put a fairy tale glaze over that), having not lived during that era myself, I really can’t comment on the accuracy of what I’m about to say, but even before agriculture there was a telling of a story. Even before words really existed before there was language it might have been Ha! That could mean Hey, there’s something over there that I just saw, that in and of itself is a story.
The most human thing is to tell stories. When people ask what I do because I have a lot of You’ve written things, you’ve done this, I just say I’m a storyteller. I say that I tell stories. I am interested in the art of storytelling because it is the oldest way to connect from one human to another. It is the way that we pass on our experience. If you think about how people taught each other 2,000 years ago it was…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Sheila Houlahan is a Webby Award Winning Indian-American actor, singer, producer, writer and advocate. Sheila played the supporting role “Paige Callahan” opposite Denzel Washington in the Warner Bros. feature “The Little Things”, which was written and directed by John Lee Hancock. She also has a role in the Michael Bay thriller “Ambulance”. In 2021, Sheila was the executive producer for a feature film adaptation of Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer-winning play “Night, Mother” in partnership with Twitch.tv; this film was a “hybrid” film, mixing pre-recorded segments with live performance that was recorded and edited in front of a live audience. Over 8000 people watched “Night, Mother” live, and since then, the film has received critical acclaim and has been screened at 68 festivals in over 24 countries. “Night, Mother” has over 64K views on it’s flagship Twitch.tv channel and has been praised for its’ fresh, innovative approach to filmmaking winning over 60 awards including the Webby Award for Virtual and Remote Entertainment & Media. Sheila is a Celebrity Champion for Project HEAL, a nonprofit organization that helps people suffering from eating disorders source affordable treatment options and pay for treatment. She is also an ambassador for Ability Magazine’s platform AbilityE, a casting portal that seeks to increase inclusion and representation of differently-abled talent and creatives on both sides of the table in Hollywood.
WATCH ‘NIGHT, MOTHER’
CONNECT WITH SHEILA HOULAHAN
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