The world of independent cinema sees many faces come and go. It isn’t the world of big budget blockbusters and superhero movies driven by studios searching for marketing opportunities above artistic excellence but, instead, a world where directors, writers, producers, and performers are often driven by the desire to either entertain in edgy creative fashion or else make statements major studio productions balk at sharing with audiences. Nevertheless, many of those aforementioned movers and shakers in that world move on to other things, other fields, content they have done what they can and searching for something different.
URL: https://www.lindacollinsactress.com/
There are other figures in the independent movie world, however, with staying power. Actress and producer Linda Collins is among them. Collins recently accepted an award for Best International Film from the Brightside Tavern Short Film Festival for her short film Perception, written and directed by Andres Irias. The movie deals with two different stories linked by a common theme. There is the story of a Honduran woman under pressure to migrate while the second story tackles the thorny subject of an American teen in a white supremacist family taught to hate immigrants. Collins stars in the second story as the mother of the teenager and it stands as one of the most satisfying achievements thus far in a career rife with such moments. The performance earned Collins a Best Supporting Actress award at the Omaha Latino Film Festival.
St. Louis born and performing from childhood on, Collins made her debut in the 2011-2013 television series/documentary Stalked: Someone’s Watching and hasn’t let up since. She has appeared in further television documentaries, short films, and features. Theatrical productions are part of her résumé as well – she has worked in theatrical orchestras for productions as diverse as Showboat featuring the legendary Elaine Stritch and Robert Morse, a Toronto production of Phantom of the Opera, and Fiddler on the Roof. Her boasts various academic credentials as well. She attended the University of Alabama, Duquesne University, and Northern Illinois University where she earned a Master of Music degree and induction into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LindaCollins.Actress/
Collins is clearly not an actress searching for hollow glories. She wants to entertain, but there’s likewise an obvious desire, manifest in short films like Perception, to involve herself in projects saying something substantive about the world we live in today. Those following her career can expect her to continue entertaining viewers and making meaningful statements about people and their lives. It’s one of the many things distinguishing her from more run of the mill performers. She isn’t going anywhere. The awards and acknowledgment of her peers are undoubtedly important to her but, in the end, it’s the gratification she experiences connecting with audiences that matters more than anything else. The little girl who, with her siblings, plotted and performed for their parents is still inside her. Her irrepressible need for self expression defines her, among other qualities, and you can never still the intensely human nature of such drive.
Levi Colston