Amy Forsyth may be best known for her role as Ashley Fields in The Path on Hulu, but recently she’s pursued a variety of new gigs, including Syfy’s Channel Zero, the upcoming independent film, Beautiful Boy, alongside the hilarious Steve Carell, and of course, NBC’s latest series, Rise. With a background in dance and extensive experience in musical theater, she’s a regular renaissance woman at the age of 22. Forsyth opened up to Her Campus about the experience of acting in both television and film productions, what her dream role would look like and the multiple careers she’d have if she wasn’t an actress.
Her Campus: You spent nearly 10 years in musical theatre before transitioning to Hollywood, and your current role as Gwen Strickland on NBC’s new drama, Rise, allows you to return to your roots. Have you enjoyed this experience? Do you ever get a feeling of déjà vu?
Amy Forsyth: This experience has been incredible. Being back in the theatre immediately gave me chills and made me want to cry because I just wanted to go back and do it all again. Combing my love for TV and film with stage has been incredible, and it’s also so rare. I feel so lucky, but I’m definitely having feelings of déjà vu. Everything came rushing back in the best possible way.
HC: You’ve starred in both television and film productions. Do you prefer one over the other? How do the experiences compare?
AF: They are drastically different. I don’t know if I can pick one over the other. I think as an actor it’s incredible to work on a film and have a tiny little bit more time to focus on—I don’t know if I’m believing what I’m saying! I just love them both so much. They just differ greatly. With TV, you’re sort of forced to go through everything so quickly, and there are studio notes and all of these things that you’re focusing on. With film, there’s that other challenge. I’ve done mainly independent film-making, and it’s kind of similar to TV in the way that it’s very fast, but at least you’re sitting with one script. You’re not getting a million different scripts for different episodes while you’re shooting. But I don’t think I can pick!
HC: If you could work alongside anyone in Hollywood, dead or alive, who would it be? Why?
AF: I feel like working with Paul Thomas Anderson would be pretty incredible. I guess kind of going hand in hand with that would be Daniel Day-Lewis. Why? Because who else? I think I’d be absolutely terrified.
HC: If you could play any character in a television series or movie, what would that character look like?
AF: I feel like at this point in my life because I’m young and look like the girl next door, I think it would be really fun to play a teenage single mom or an early 20s single mom like The Florida Project style. That would be an extremely challenging but very fulfilling.
HC: When you have down time, how do you like to spend it? Do you have any shows you’re currently invested in?
AF: I will always and forever be invested in Law & Order, Forensic Files and Dateline, and anything related to crime. I spend all of my time doing puzzles and walking my dog. I will sit down, do a puzzle, have a Law & Order marathon on in the background and just cuddle with my dog.
HC: Can you elaborate on your work with organizations like Free The Children and Out of the Cold?
AF: That was something I did a lot in high school. One of my best friends spearheaded it, and we ran the Free the Children club at our school and helped raise money with a bunch of different fundraisers. With Out of the Cold, it was something I did with my mom back in Toronto. It gets so frigid in the winter, and it was such an incredible experience to get to know these human beings that are often just looked over. They would get them on a bus from Toronto and bring them closer to the suburbs. They would be at different churches. Every Tuesday we would go spend time with them and play games, and make sure they were taken care of. We had doctors come in, we would make them lunch and dinner, and we would sit down with them and get to know them. It’s truly incredible to spend time with these people who don’t really get to express themselves to people because people don’t value them as human beings. They’re sort of just looked over, so it was a really special experience. I’d love to continue that at work as much as I can.
HC: What’s your dream college to attend? Why?
AF: To be honest, I’ve never really thought about American colleges because I’m Canadian. It’s very challenging to get into an American school. I feel like going to Brown or something like that would be incredible.
HC: If you weren’t an actress, what career path would you have?
AF: I’m all over the map. I love interior design, but I also love nursing. I love psychology and criminal psychology. Maybe I’d be somewhere in the world of forensics. Maybe I’d be somewhere in a hospital. Maybe I’d be somewhere in a Home Depot shopping for a client.