There are problems everywhere, of course, but you can only see those certain problems when you reach a certain level. So I try to think of those problems as, "This is a sign that I'm having success, that I'm also having issues with this."
Aya CashBeing an actor is definitely not the hardest job in the world - it's definitely a first-world problem to have, but I'm not very good with rejection. I constantly question whether or not I'm suited for this business, because it is your job to get rejected.
Aya CashI don't know if I'll ever direct, but producing is dipping my toe into my behind-the-scenes world.
Aya CashThere's innate competition, I think, between mothers and daughters - mine no more so than anyone else.
Aya CashThe idea of a journeyman actor, people sort of say negatively - "Someone who never made it for real" - [but] I think a journeyman actor is the complete goal.
Aya CashThere's been no nepotism in my acting artistic life, but I think it's been pretty clear in my writing life. I knew what a pantoum was at age 11 - I knew form - therefore I would win the poetry contest. But I also realized that I would never be a great writer.
Aya CashI feel crushingly embarrassed when I do bad work, so being rejected after doing bad work is actually harder than being rejected after doing good work.
Aya CashAs you get older and you progress in your career, you start to want to have more control over things and you have ideas.
Aya CashI think that it's a myth that there's one job that makes your whole career, unless you're winning an Oscar. But even that doesn't work for some people.
Aya CashI wanted to be a writer for a while. I was an excellent child writer. I won multiple poetry contests. I was published at age three - I think that was more about novelty than my immense talent.
Aya CashI really don't have a specific idea of where I want my career to go, I just have an idea of wanting to continue to work and work on things that I like and think are good.
Aya CashIn school I really loved Shakespeare, and I participated in a country-wide Shakespeare competition.
Aya CashYou know what, maybe I just want a different kind of life. Maybe I want to open an antique store and coffee shop, and have a different kind of life.
Aya CashYou never know what's going to happen, so you just continue with your head down and never expect things to start being handed to you.
Aya CashFor years while I was working as a waitress, all I wanted to do was get on a TV show. You think, "This will solve all the problems. I'm making more than 400 dollars a week; I don't have to worry about money ever again," but it's just not true.
Aya CashEven though I'm on a show that I love with people that I love - I have basically the dream job - that doesn't mean I'm not getting rejected on a daily basis.
Aya CashSometimes the characters that I'm most resistant to are the ones that I find the most satisfying to play, because you have to dig deeper and you have to find different parts of yourself that are not necessarily the first thing you access and that's fun and interesting.
Aya CashWhat you learn in any acting class is how to make a fool of yourself and enjoy things and get out of your head.
Aya CashI've seen some of my favorite actors give bad performances, and I have to tell myself that failure is a part of success.
Aya CashWe live in a time where improv is king and people love improv, and I think there's a time and a place for that and people who are really good at structuring improv.
Aya CashI've always just shown up to set and said the lines, [but] I want to help develop scripts and help cast and help bring a visual tone to something.
Aya CashMost of my comedy is accidental, I would say. If I don't know what the joke is, I'm going to play it better than if I do.
Aya CashBoth of my parents were incredibly supportive of me being in any arts, because they were both in the arts. They weren't the typical story of, "Oh, get a real job. You need to make money." They basically said, "Yup, be an artist. You'll be broke your whole life but you'll be happy."
Aya Cash