One of the many appealing features of attending the New York Film Academy is your ability to study “bicoastally” at both our New York City and Los Angeles locations. Essentially, getting the best of both worlds. Acting for Film graduate Johanna Finn studied her first year in New York and the second year in Los Angeles. In this time, the Finnish native acted in about 35 student student films in both NYC and LA.
“At NYFA, I learned a specific skill set for film acting, met a lot of future filmmakers, and I also learned about building a career as an actress from a business standpoint,” said Finn. “However, the great thing about life is that you are never ‘done’ and there is always more room to grow and learn.”
Finn was fortunate enough to work with her NYFA instructor Lanre Olabisi as an actress in his award-winning film Somewhere in the Middle. Olabisi’s film won the grand prize ‘Best Feature Film’ at the San Antonio Film Festival in Texas and the audience award ‘Best Feature Film’ at the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York.
“Somewhere in the Middle was born out of a year long improvisational process, which made it a fascinating project for me as an actress,” recalled Finn. “The main cast was able to contribute to the script much more than in traditional filmmaking, and I have huge respect for Lanre for taking this approach as a director.”
In the short film Hot Therapy, Finn won an award for ‘Best Actor in a Short Dramedy’ at the Best Actors Film Festival 2015 for portraying an insecure woman, battling to find inner peace.
And now, Finn will be appearing in an episode of Lifetime’s and A&E’s My Haunted House.
Finn says her ultimate goal as an actress is to help tell stories that create understanding, empathy, compassion, and hope in the world. “I believe that compassion is a powerful force that can really change the world. The camera comes so close to the actor in a close-up that the audience can see the actor’s bare soul living in the character, and the audience will reflect this onto themselves.”
We look forward forward to seeing more of Finn on film and television as she continues to empower and inspire her audience.