American actress Sundra Oakley is looking to impart gems about the business aspect of the industry at a two-day workshop between May 18 and 19 at the AC Hotel Kingston.

According to Oakley, who has two decades of experience, the topic is often overlooked.

“As an actor, I’m very passionate about actors being holistically informed. What I have found on my journey is that we’re never taught about the business side of the industry. We’re told about getting our craft, and just being our best on that side, which is necessary. But this business is so complex, and [there] is so much more than that we need to be informed about in order to navigate, as healthily as possible, the road to pursuing acting as a career,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Themed ‘The business of being an actor: Going beyond acting technique for your career’, the workshop will feature other industry professionals such as Dulé Hill, Leah Daniels-Butler, Selwyn Hinds, Tanya Kleckner, and Alex D’Lerma.

She noted that the panellists all willingly chimed in to help with what is expected to be a successful initiative based on the number of applicants, so far.

“Well, luckily, everybody that is on board I have personal relationships with them; I have known and worked with them in some capacity over a long time, and on the strength of our relationship they all, in their own way, said: ‘Let me know when, and we’re there,’ ” Oakley shared.

The actress, who was born in Queens, New York, is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in French and theatre. She has acted and appeared as a dancer in numerous award-winning stage, film and television productions. These include
Code Black, All American, Being Mary Jane, Legends, and Sex and the City.

Oakley also appeared in the recently released biopic Bob Marley: One Love, which is based on the life of the late reggae singer from his rise to fame in the 1970s until his death in 1981.

Even with such a decorated résumé, Oakley revealed that there are specific achievements which she holds dear to her heart.

“Being able to have been cast in the Bob Marley movie, and for the person who I was cast as [Diane Jobson], felt like a life achievement, especially because I had to work my way to get that role. I’m proud of that. I’m proud of the work that I did to get into that movie, and I’m proud of having done it because, let’s face it, it is going to be a classic… 20 or 30 years from now when they reissue the movie. Can you imagine when Bob is 100? I’m happy to have been a part of this monumental event,” she said.

Oakley further said: “I am still in this business, 20 something years in and I have been successful as a middle-class actor… not everybody is a superstar celebrity. I have created a résumé, I have created a life.”

She is encouraging aspiring actors to pursue their dream with faith.

“We’re hardwired to seek comfort through liability, and you go into a field where it’s the opposite of that — it’s scary. But there is nothing more fulfilling than taking a chance on something and saying, ‘You know what, I did it,’ because so many people are afraid. Take tiny steps,” Oakley told the Observer.