Meet Kirsten Grace Hoge

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirsten Grace Hoge.

Kirsten Grace, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started acting professionally when I was thirteen years old. No one in my family had previous experience or relation to the entertainment industry at all. I grew up very heavy until around twelve years old when I hit a growth spurt and lost over fifty pounds. My weight was a big issue growing up. It caused a lot of bullying, mental abuse and caused me to believe I would never be able to be on stage or any sort of platform where people would want to watch me. I remember back when I was three and four years old watching Britney Spears perform on stage and for the first time, imagining myself on stage too.

I mean really imagining, as in I fully believed I would take Britney Spears’ place one day. I think around age five or six was when I realized I was going to be in the entertainment industry, but not in the way Britney was. I became obsessed with movies. I loved Disney. I loved Anne Hathaway, Danielle Fishel, and later, Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato. I looked up to them so much, and I didn’t understand how or why but I just felt so much in common with them. After I hit my growth spurt, my mom was ecstatic. She was getting constant comments about how I should model, how beautiful I’ve become, etc. You can imagine how I felt… Great that I was getting this new attention, but why wasn’t I beautiful before?

Long story short, my mother had a portfolio shoot done for me. I had a fourteen-hour photo shoot with a photographer in Atlanta by the name of Lou Freeman. She gave me a sort of confidence and reassurance I hadn’t experienced previously. She believed in me enough to help me get cast in other photo shoots to follow and helped me get an agent here in Atlanta. So there I was. I had a real talent agent for modeling and acting, previously always thinking I was way too shy to even try either. It was one of the scariest and most exciting times of my life. I was in the city all the time, attending acting classes, doing photo shoots, all things I had never experienced before. It was an odd feeling because it felt like somewhere I’d never dreamed of being, yet I felt right at home.

The first year of signing, I had a few auditions, got two final callbacks for a Disney special that ended up being between me and two other girls. I didn’t end up getting that job, but I thought it was incredible that I was even that close to my one goal and dream I had my entire life. That’s when I really started believing in myself and taking my career seriously. From then on, I was training constantly, putting on my own shows, creating my own Youtube videos, practicing dance, vocals, song-writing, all skills all the time. It’s all I wanted. One day, a friend of mine sent me a number to call about auditions to train with a group of Disney actors. It was terrifying, but I went two days later and auditioned for the program.

It was essentially an opportunity to train under Disney stars from Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Sonny With a Chance and more. I got into the program. That has shaped such a large part of my life ever since. I started training with stars like Adrian R’Mante who played Esteban, Phil Lewis who played Mr. Mosby, Chester See, Corbin Bleu, Jonathan Goldstein, Bella Thorne, Matthew Timmons, Debby Ryan and so many more. I trained with them first in Atlanta, then started traveling back and forth to Los Angeles within the first year. I’ve been bi-coastal as much as possible for about eight years now.

Every year, I go out to work with their current programs where they help teach young actors everything about the industry from headshots and resumes to actual acting technique. They shoot headshots, reels, get everything in place for the actor to have success and then we all perform in a live production showcase for over 40 casting directors, agents, and managers in the heart of Hollywood. It’s like a big family every time I am back with them, and I cherish those moments that I get to help coach kids that are in the same exact place I was when I knew nothing about this industry as a young kid. So I signed with different agents and managers throughout the years mainly in Atlanta and New York, then at sixteen, I finally got an offer to be signed to representation in LA. Yet another dream come true.

Currently, I’m auditioning all the time with an agent and manager both in Atlanta and LA. This brings me to what I like to call, the second chapter of my career – casting and production. As I mentioned, I started creating my own content at a very young age. It wasn’t good, but it was great practice for what I’d be doing later in life, aka now. I started working for a casting director in Atlanta by the name of Cynthia Stillwell when I was eighteen. I left my junior year of high school to go to college early and have more time between classes to focus on acting. I was at the University of North GA participating in full-time dual enrollment when a friend of mine sent me a screenshot of a casting director that had just moved here from LA.

The screenshot said she was looking for interns to work on upcoming projects and needed help asap. Well, I applied. I knew enough about casting and the process to feel confident I could do a good job. Acting wasn’t going great for me at the time, I didn’t have an agent anymore, so there was no reason for me to move to LA (I thought), my parents didn’t think acting or getting a degree in arts/film would get me a job out of college, so my whole family decided I was going to attend Ole Miss that fall. I started working with Cynthia one day a week in September of 2014. By the end of spring quarter 2015, I was driving almost two hours round trip every day to work with her in the city. She became like my second mother. I was having so much fun working; I didn’t care about hanging out with people my age or having a social life.

By the end of March, we were in mid-production on a feature film shooting in Louisiana that I was helping her cast, when she got a call to cast an Amazon series in Savannah, GA. She offered me the position of official first casting assistant, and I never looked back. I didn’t care about my plan for school or what I was going to do after the show wrapped at the end of August; I knew it was right for me. That started my journey of casting 23 characters on that show before the production moved to New York, then casting with Cynthia Stillwell Casting for the next four years. On that show, I worked closely with the casting office at SCAD Savannah. This is how I ended up attending SCAD in Atlanta where I’m currently senior approaching graduation with a B.A. in Television Production and Minor in Acting for TV and Film.

In the midst of this, I worked part or full time with Cynthia on various shows, live productions, and feature films for the last four years. I also got into casting music videos with Kay Clark Casting. I was a talent for her on two music videos until she found out I had casting experience and I joined that team too. To date, I’ve appeared in videos for local artists such as Future, B.O.B., K. Michelle (which got me a gif on Cosmo Snapchat articles) and more. I’m still pursuing acting with representation again in both Atlanta and LA. I work with CGTV and The Celebrity Experience for two live productions in Los Angeles every year. It’s been a crazy journey that even I can’t believe sometimes, but I just pray that I can continue working down this path.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I had to deal with the struggles of coming from a “traditional” family. My whole family – parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles – they are all very involved in each others’ lives (in not the best) ways.

My whole family has put so much pressure on me my whole life to meet a good man, go to college, get a degree and get a good job. I’ve had to pitch my dreams and career to them so many times; I lost count. They are always on me about what I invest in – headshots, trips to LA, etc., yet when I book a project, it’s like they forget they ever said anything and brag to everyone else. I never get the props directly.

Other challenges I’ve dealt with are forms of the #MeToo movement. I once was under the impression I booked a huge pilot show. I was given a personal trainer in Atlanta for four weeks to prepare for the shoot only to find out the “producer” wanted nude photos of me. Needless to say, I didn’t end up working on that pilot, and he ended up with federal charges about four years later. Not from me, but apparently he had run this game on other women too.

It’s always been a struggle of choosing when to stick up for yourself and choosing to not sacrifice a connection or career. Although it is hard and frustrating, I’ve typically never had a problem holding back on sticking up for myself in those situations. I think you just have to know how to respectively stand your ground and make your voice validated as much as possible.

Lastly, the rollercoaster of this industry is always a struggle. It’s like every job comes at once, and I’ll be busy for six months at a time, then it will just drop off for a few months. This makes you feel useless, and it can be very hard to keep your head up if you haven’t booked anything in a year, but then you realize how common that is and keep pushing forward with a positive attitude.

Money is always a worry when you’re an artist, but that’s why you should always have a side-gig. Something that you can do outside of your dream to bring in income. That is partially why I stayed in casting, although I do truly love the process of casting too.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to work on more than twenty productions between casting and acting. Some projects were filmed here in Atlanta such as Vampire Diaries, Devious Maids, Daytime Divas, Z: The Beginning of Everything, Sparks Fly, All Eyez on Me, Finding Carter and Swamp Murders. Some were filmed in Los Angeles such as Shake it Up! Chicago, It’s Time, Oklahoma Sun, etc. I think what sets me apart in my work is how seriously I take it. I grew with the industry expanding here in Atlanta.

When I was thirteen years old, there was hardly any auditions here yet. The older I got, the more training and auditions became available in Atlanta. Starting so early in the industry here and making those connections before everyone started trying to jump in, I think has really helped me. I’m so comfortable with the industry here from this, which is why I’ve moved to other industries to challenge myself.

The drive and passion I’ve had since I was a young teen has really been the biggest asset to myself and my career, not to mention the ability to network. That’s huge in this industry. I’ve always been told, “the quality of your work gets you your reputation. Your networking gets you the job, and your passion is your biggest currency.” I live by that quote because it just says it all.

I just finished filming in Hong Kong for a month on two short films. I played the love interest of the lead in one and also held the position of First Assistant Director and ran local casting.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I wouldn’t change much of anything out of my journey, except maybe starting training earlier and moving to LA at a younger age. Although, I believe everything happens for a reason and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I wouldn’t have gotten into casting as heavily if I hadn’t stayed in Atlanta.

Now, I have friends and connections in LA and Atlanta, and I wouldn’t trade those relationships for the world. In fantasy land, it’s easy to say what I’d change, but in reality, I don’t think I would change a thing. Everything apart of my journey has led me to where I am now, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskirstengrace/?hl=en

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