Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Baxter.
Victoria, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been a performer my entire life from summer camp skits and church plays to drama and choir in high school. It has always brought me so much joy to bring characters and stories to life on stage. Once I got to college at the University of Central Florida, my roommate was a Theatre major and I was always keen on learning whatever she was willing to share. I spent many a Saturday morning down the street at Full Sail University, auditioning for any short films the students were working on. The Film & TV industry was always the most interesting to me, but I just wasn’t sure how to go about it at the time. I took my first professional acting class at the Maile Image, Modeling, and Acting School. With some short films under my belt and classes on my schedule, I felt like it was time to find an agent.
I signed with my first agent in 2011 and immediately had an audition, callback, and first-refusal for a Busch Gardens commercial right out of the gate. It gave me confidence that I was taking a step in the right direction. Upon graduating, I became an Elementary School Teacher in Orlando, and acting fell a bit to the wayside. I still believed that I had to do a “real job,” and acting was only ever going to be a hobby that I occasionally got some money to do.
In 2015 I left the country to live overseas with a missions organization on the “World Race”. I didn’t want to continue teaching, but still struggled with the idea I could make a career in acting, so I felt like God was calling me overseas to get a better idea of what to do with my life. The irony? I came back in 2016 with confidence that I was called to the Film & TV industry no matter how foolish or scary it seemed.
I left my family, friends, and teaching career in August of 2017 and rolled into the city of Atlanta with big dreams in my heart. After a year of searching, I signed with my first Atlanta agent in 2018. I couldn’t wait to dive into the hub of the Southeast film market. I jumped on sets as an extra, stand-in, and photo-double. I met fantastic teachers and The Company Acting Studio and Drama Inc. I got into Facebook groups, went to workshops and career panels. I was hungry to learn and eager to be involved. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of growth in myself, both as an actor and my whole-person. It’s wonderful to see what happens when you go after the thing that sets your heart on fire and follows where God leads. It’s always an adventure; It’s also a lot of hard work, determination, and faith.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest battles I face daily as well as most actors, I’m sure is fear. There is a great amount of vulnerability that comes with being an artist. As an actor, we’re vulnerable with our whole selves, since our artform is demonstrated through our entire body. It is also a “non-conventional” path of life. While many of our peers graduated college, got a 9 to 5, and are married with two kids and a dog by now, I’ve chosen the path that involves roommates, constantly auditioning for work, and working two different day jobs to support my dreams. It can be very scary when there doesn’t seem to be a “clear path”. This is where my community comes into play. I have an incredible group of friends and fellow actors. We support one another in our auditions, come up with short film ideas, and offer love and support to keep each other going. If you’re trying to be in constant competition with everyone as an actor, you’ll never make it. This is a collaborative art form, and we need each other along the way. “Iron sharpens iron”, so find the people that make you better, who you can learn from, and grow with. We’re going up together.
My initial struggle when moving to Atlanta was leaving my salary job with benefits to working for $2.13/hour plus tips as a server in a restaurant. That financial shift made me wonder if it was all even worth it. You have to make sacrifices. I moved into a wonderful family’s refurbished basement (who I didn’t know until the day I moved in) and lived there for the first nine months. I had to learn to budget differently, quit my daily coffee run, and clip all the coupons! There were times when money was so tight that I would eat the chips and salsa at work during my shift so it was one less meal to pay for. But God always came through. I was able to see His faithfulness when a customer tipped me $500 out of the blue, or I was given a $1000 check by an incredible couple who desired to “support the arts”. Not to mention all the times my parents gifted me with a plane ticket to fly home to visit for the holidays or my best friend offered to pay for my acting class because she believes in me. There was a definite need to “grind”, and if it ever came to a moment when I thought about packing up and going home, God would show up somehow. That continues to be the reason I stay and keep the path.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
In the past three years, I’ve had the privilege to work with some incredible production companies like HOCA Studio, No Usual, and HOLY. With lead roles in “Caretakers”, “Vanilla Milkshake”, “Mute”, and “For You”. I’ve had the pleasure of pulling pranks alongside Pauly D in MTV’s “Revenge Prank”, as well as telling the incredible stories of survivors on multiple episodes of “Homicide Hunter” on Investigation Discovery. I’m thrilled to see where God leads me next; I know the best is still yet to come. I hope I continue to be part of stories that will move people, make them think differently, give them hope, and make them laugh (or occasionally cry). Our stories matter. It is an honor and privilege to be able to be the teller of them.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My first experience on a movie set is one of my favorite stories. I was in high school and seventeen years old. My best friend called me and told me a movie was filming in her neighborhood so I had to go. My parents said I had to be home by 10 pm (it was a school night, after all). As we were all crowded around the caution tape watching them film, someone walked up to my friend and me to ask us to be extras in the film and I was beyond stoked. I had to convince my mom to come down and sign the paperwork to be in “Untitled Teen Road Movie”. The next day I bragged to my friends in school and youth group (even to my youth pastor!) that I was in a real movie. A few months later, we found out the movie was titled “Sex Drive” and Rated-R. I had a good time trying to tell my youth pastor and friends that I was NOT accidentally in a porno. My parents wouldn’t even let me see the film right away until they went to see it first to vet the movie. It turns out, we made it in the movie and it was my first time seeing my face on the silver screen I was hooked after that.
Contact Info:
- Website: imdb.me/victoriabaxter
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/victoriaabaxter/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaBaxterOfficial
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theVAB
- Other: www.victoriabaxter.com
Image Credit:
Headshot: Josh Stringer
BTS Photographers: Sijing Yang, Thang Ho, Erick Salati, and Danny Delgado.
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