Shannon Esra

"It has always been the most natural thing in the world to me"

"It’s a beautiful thing to embody someone else’s experience, to forget yourself in the pursuit of relaying someone else’s love, pain, and healing"

"It’s also a challenge to push myself into spaces I may not be entirely comfortable with to grow, to transform."

"Through breath, pace, and being present in the words themselves"

"when you know each word written on that page, when you get so deep into the writing, the story, and the meaning, the familiarity of it allows you to fall into it. It just comes."

"It’s okay to laugh at hard things – and we must laugh. Life is filled with light and shade"

"It’s okay if healing feels hard – it’s not a straight line."

"Love is love, and we’re on this planet to connect, to find a sense of belonging and purpose, and so much of that is experienced by sharing space and vulnerability"

"Life is dynamic and complex, and it’s also simple. We’re all more alike than we think we are."

"I grew up in a home with a voracious love for storytelling and cinema. I have very early memories of my mother taking me and my brother to children’s theatre; spending weekends camping with our grandparents telling stories around a fire - both of my grandparents were highly skilled raconteurs; I was always involved in plays throughout school - It was such an intrinsic part of my life"

"I realised I had a talent for acting when all the grown-ups around me started to pay a little more attention to me and started to encourage me and my love for it. I just knew I loved playing pretend, as most children do, but it seemed to grow and deepen in me the older I became"

"I am constantly creating, I write, I paint, I also have my own production company and have two television shows I have in development, and hope to get made soon"

"In my spare time, I walk, a lot!, I can average around 200km per month, it’s not just an exercise/fitness regime, it’s in large part a meditation. My time on the road brings me a great amount of solace and peace. I read, I listen to music, I watch a fortune of films and television; I love spending time with friends and family. I enjoy being able to do whatever I feel for at the moment and I count myself incredibly lucky that I get the time to do that"