Marissa Ghavami is a multi-hyphenate, who started this amazing journey at a young age. She is an actor, singer, voice over artist, producer, public speaker, coach and founder of a non-profit. I met her through a mutual friend while producing the film Killian and the Comeback Kids many years ago. We've kept in touch on her many new projects.
SBTS: Tell me how you got into acting.
Marissa Ghavami: I’ve felt drawn to acting for as long as I can remember. I first fell in love with it through old movie musicals. I was absolutely obsessed. I would act out the entirety of My Fair Lady, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music in front of a camcorder in my living room at 5 years old. I’d act and sing and dance all the parts and find household items for props and costumes.
I didn’t quite understand that you couldn’t audition for films that had already been made, so we have lots of “auditions” on VHS. I was fortunate enough to have parents who supported my dreams but never pushed me into them.
I got into print and commercial modeling around 5, because there were more opportunities for that where I lived, but I really just wanted to do theatre. I did a couple of community theatre productions at 6, and the next year, I found an audition in the local newspaper for a regional theatre's Equity production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. That was the first time I worked professionally as an actor on stage and it was magical.
I saw how real and subtle acting could be up close thanks to this actress from New York named Trisha and I knew I wanted to make a life doing that. Later that year I joined what was then called Walden Theatre, a pre-college conservatory in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, which absolutely shaped my life. We were beyond fortunate to receive lessons in Alexander Technique, Linklater, Shakespeare, Stage Combat, Improv, etc. and to do the classics at such a young age. It gave me an appreciation for the cannon, a sense of community and a work ethic I carry with me to this day.
SBTS: What made you want to explore other aspects of show business?
Marissa Ghavami: I’ve sung as long as I’ve acted, even longer actually. My parents tell stories of me singing along to Mariah Carey at 2 years old and going into hysterics when her song was over on VH1. (Wow, VHS, VH1, I’m really dating myself here.) I sang on NBC’s It’s Showtime at the Apollo at 12 years old which was a huge honor and changed my life. Suzanne de Passe, who brought Michael Jackson to Motown, became my first manager and took me out to LA.
As far as other elements of performing, I did my first voiceover job for Actors Theatre of Louisville when I was about 8 years old so that started in childhood too just because it was related to acting and I loved it. Similarly, I danced for 3 years from 10-13 but didn’t get back into it seriously until 7 months ago. It’s been an amazing experience to dedicate myself to learning a skill like that as an adult.
Apart from performing, I got into producing in 2018. Really, it came from a place of advocacy more so than artistry. I saw a need after giving speaking engagements on the red flags of abuse and trauma at college campuses. College students’ jaws would drop when I got to the emotional and psychological abuse slides and there wasn’t enough time in the Q&A for me to answer all their questions or a way for me to give them the examples they were seeking.
So I set out to make a top notch short film about gaslighting and host educational workshops around it, which is exactly what we did through my nonprofit, Healing TREE. John Magaro (Past Lives, Carol, The Big Short) and I had worked together on David Chase’s film Not Fade Away (Paramount Vantage) several years prior and he was generous enough to offer to direct it for me.
About the Short Film Silk
I co-wrote the film with his friend and colleague David Caudle. Silk got into an Academy Award Qualifying film festival and holds its own artistically, but I’m most proud of the fact that the workshops built around it have greatly impacted lives across my home state. We have a nearly equal number of victims as perpetrators who, because of this piece, realize that they either have been abused or have been abusive, with many indicating a commitment to seek effective treatment through Healing TREE’s resources.
Fran Kranz acted in it and that led to him asking me to come onto Mass as a co-producer. Mass was written and directed by Fran Kranz, and starred Emmy Winners Ann Dowd and Martha Plimpton, Tony Winner Reed Birney and Jason Isaacs. It premiered at Sundance, was acquired by Bleecker Street, had a theatrical release, won the Robert Altman Award and was a Gotham, Critics Choice and BAFTA nominee. So that opened up opportunities for me producing wise which I’m deeply grateful for. I see producing as a way to merge art and advocacy because I’m able to tell the stories I want to tell. I think entertainment is the best way to affect social change, which is very important to me.
SBTS: Tell me about your non-profit and what inspired you to found it. Tell me about the services you offer.
Marissa Ghavami: I founded Healing TREE (Trauma Resources, Education & Entertainment) in 2014 and currently serve as the Executive + Artistic Director. It was founded in direct response to a vast need that I found during my own healing journey after surviving a one-on-one cult and experiencing various forms of abuse. I was a shell of myself and had endured total brainwashing.
Learning about C-PTSD
I was fortunate to be properly diagnosed with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) and Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES). My symptoms were so intense and widespread I could have been labeled with many other mental illnesses and physical illnesses had I not had a therapist who specialized in trauma.
Thanks to my parents’ support and trauma-focused treatment, 5 years later I had made a full recovery. I have been PTSD free for 11+ years and have even enjoyed post-traumatic growth and thriving. I learned that the treatment modalities I had been given were not the norm and that only 10% of mental health professionals are actually trained to effectively treat the trauma underlying their clients’ symptoms.
It infuriated me that I was being educated on neuroplasticity and epigenetics and receiving modalities like EMDR - which actually engages the part of the brain that’s injured during trauma - when so many people around me were being told they simply had genetic predispositions or chemical imbalances and that they’d need drugs and talk therapy indefinitely to manage their symptoms.
I was told it was about what happened to me, not what was wrong with me, and that the brain could rewire into adulthood - and I was given the tools to help it do just that. But for other people I knew, their trauma wasn’t being identified as such in treatment or being linked to their present struggles. If my friends, who grew up with privilege, weren’t getting proper psycho-education or effective treatment, how much worse was it for youth in the foster care system, for the un- or underinsured, for those in the prison system or for people who are houseless?
I learned about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and realized that unhealed trauma was underneath our society’s toughest problems, from suicide to cancer. I learned that without proper treatment, already grim statistics would keep getting worse as it’s an intergenerational problem.
I wanted to volunteer with an organization that was doing something about it. But I couldn’t find any national organization with healing trauma itself - regardless of where it came from or how it manifested - as the forefront. That’s when I founded Healing TREE. Our mission is to advocate healing from abuse and trauma rather than coping with the symptoms, in order to transform lives and, ultimately, society.
On Creating a Healing Movement
We achieve this by providing trauma-focused resources and education and by producing and partnering with relevant film, television, and theatre, empowering the social change necessary to create a healing movement. One of our signature programs is bringing scholarships in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapy Training to therapists serving youth in the foster care, child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This allows training in an often cost-prohibitive treatment modality to be accessible to those serving our country’s most vulnerable children.
Furthermore, this empowers the actual healing of trauma and breaking of cycles rather than putting a band-aid on the symptoms. We reach around 27,500 youth per year with EMDR now, almost all of the kids in the system in my home state. We even had a groundbreaking partnership with CVS’ (Fortune 4 at the time) Aetna on this effort. We’d like to expand it to New York next.
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| For more info: https://healingtreenonprofit.org/gala25/ |
Healing TREE has our 10th Annual Gala coming up on Saturday, October 18th at The Players. You can support our life-saving work continuing another year by getting tickets here. The Gala is an elegant evening featuring fantastic entertainment, delectable food and drinks, an exclusive auction, and a chance to learn first-hand about our transformative programs. There is a red carpet and the attire is black tie optional. It features Tony, Emmy and Grammy Nominee N’Kenge, John Magaro (Past Lives, The Big Short, Carol), Kevin Kilner (Raising Helen, Home Alone 3) and more. We’d love to have you there!
SBTS: You seek to spread awareness about the issues your non-profit covers through films. Tell me about your films.
Marissa Ghavami: I do. I think film is a medium that allows hearts and minds to open in a way that typical advocacy efforts just can't. The films I’ve produced have dealt with abuse, gun violence, trauma, etc. I think the more you can prioritize excellent storytelling and creativity though, the better. Something that looks like advocacy just won’t resonate as much.
Our latest film is a short, psychological thriller, The Knock Shadow: In the 1980’s, a young, female therapist at a psychiatric ward encounters a patient whose symptoms lead her to question what is real and what isn’t working in the field. The Knock Shadow features two-time Emmy Award winner and three-time SAG Award winner Lea DeLaria (Orange Is The New Black) and Kevin Kilner (Smart House, Raising Helen), is directed by Lauren Sowa, written by Ren Dara Santiago and produced by myself, Lauren Sowa and Lea DeLaria.
It explores the start of the modern trauma field and the origins of modalities like EMDR and IFS through the lens of a psychological thriller. We had 8 trauma experts consult on the project. This has been a long-term dream of mine and we’re working towards making it into a television series. I also act in the film and I have to say I’ve never had a more magical time on any set. I can’t wait to share it with the world.
SBTS: Are there some people that have inspired you along the way, and how?
Marissa Ghavami: Absolutely. Anna Deavere Smith inspires me. I find her artistry and advocacy both so fully developed and motivating. Oprah and Shonda Rhimes inspire me. They’ve created empires. I’m very inspired by what Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Aniston have done in the producing space over the past several years, as well as their acting of course. Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, Jessica Lange and Jean Smart are some of my favorite actresses. Cynthia Erivo’s acting through song is unparalleled.
My teachers and coaches inspire me, Katy Pfaffl particularly has been a guiding light over the past few years. My best friend Dr. Jess Means inspires me. She’s a mother of a 5 year old and 2 fur babies, a wife, an attending surgeon and a pianist for Broadway stars. Whenever I’m feeling exhausted, I think about her stamina.
Trauma experts pushing the field forward inspire me, like my colleague and friend Dr. Jamie Marich, my newer colleague Dr. Dick Schwartz (who developed Internal Family Systems) and Dr. Ramani, the leading expert on narcissism, whom I’m just a big fan of. My clients inspire me. I provide healing trauma focused coaching for artists and when I see people bravely using the tools and then actually healing their lives and blossoming it reminds me of how important the work is and inspires me to keep going.
SBTS: What lessons have you learned about people while building your non-profit?
Marissa Ghavami: Whew, good question. A lot of people will get excited by the big ideas and say they want to help. But it’s the folks who will really be in the trenches with you, doing all the unsexy work, that will enable the vision to come to life. People discouraged me early on and had I listened to them many people who say our work saved their life might not be here. Multiple leaders of organizations didn’t give me the time of day or care about the trauma-focused treatment I was promoting but their organizations have now been on our waitlist for training for years.
So I think founding and running a nonprofit has taught me what it means to be a leader. You have to believe in yourself and your vision, take input of course, but trust yourself and keep going. Not everyone has the courage to do the healing work I did or to try to change the system that prevents others from doing the same. I had to learn not to take the naysayers personally.
SBTS: Okay, here comes the proverbial interview question. What would you like to achieve in the next 10 years?
Marissa Ghavami: I’d like to be living my dream, starring on Broadway, across musicals and straight plays, originating roles and taking on some classics/revivals. A life goal of mine is to win the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for a show that gets the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. I’d like to turn The Knock Shadow into a hit television series, with our core vision and team in place, yielding major societal impact.
I’d like to own my dream Greenwich Village home, travel to my top destinations and feel financially secure and abundant. I’d like to continuously build my mental, psychical, emotional and spiritual health. I’d like to be in a healthy, passionate, safe, reciprocal, deeply fulfilling partnership. And I’d like to leave room for magic and the surprise of things coming through that are even better than I imagined.
SBTS: Where can we connect with you?
Marissa Ghavami: I’m active on Instagram: Instagram.com/marissaghavami as is Healing TREE: Instagram.com/healingtreeorg
My website is www.marissaghavami.com and you can learn more about all of my artistic work, as well as my public speaking and coaching there. Healing TREE’s website is www.healingtreenonprofit.org.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Favorite Books
The Alchemist and The War of Art
2-3 Series you have been binging
The Morning Show, Hacks, The Studio
Top 3 Films
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Titanic, My Fair Lady
Motto you live by
Martha Graham’s letter to Agnes De Mille and Rudyard Kipling’s “If” poem.
How You Unwind
I’m big on meditation and mindfulness and breathwork. But if I need to get my mind off of a stressful day, lately I’ve been watching clips of Cardi B being hysterical and spamming my best friends with them.
New York or LA?
New York
Burgers or fish?
Neither I'm vegan
Your dream vacation
Bali with my dearest friends.
Most important item you carry around with you
A physical item? My iPhone. But also, my resiliency.
What brings you joy every day?
My cats, my friends, creativity, hearing the work I do has helped someone.