Shreveport local Mary Thoma is one woman who not only knows how to go after what she wants but knows how to accomplish her goals and bless others along the way. An award-winning actress, founder of three theater companies, a teacher, wife and mother, Thoma is as well-rounded, fun-loving and sweet-hearted as they come.

Tell me about your acting career. Thoma: I’ve been an actor since the bug bit at age 7 when my parents put me in a community theater summer program in Englewood, Colo. My first play was “Bye Bye Birdie” playing the “little sad girl.” It was an immediate love affair with the theater. I grew up doing musical theater in school and got my theater degree from Centenary College. I love the theater and the power of our shared stories in community, and am deeply supportive of the fine work done in our local theater. When film landed in Shreveport, I decided to give it a shot, and I began learning how to transition from theater to film acting. I booked my first audition and worked a week on “Not Like Everyone Else” as the wife of Gary Grubbs. I did a few more featured roles on other films like “Mr. Brooks” and others. Eventually, I moved into principal speaking roles beginning with my first line, “No smoking in the restaurant” in “The Last Lullaby” with Tom Sizemore. You always remember your first line. I also spent a few weeks for two summers training with The True Acting Institute and becoming certified in the Meisner Technique of acting. I wanted the experience for myself as an actor, but I also wanted to be able to help other local actors train in one of the top three techniques used by professional actors internationally, and to open my own acting studio.

Q: What has been your favorite film acting experience?

Thoma: Last year, my favorite film experience came from working on the feature film “Olympus Has Fallen” with Morgan Freeman. I played Freeman’s White House Aide in the film and spent a week on set with him. He actually worked my name into the script when his character says, “Mary, get me a cup of coffee.” Now I am now relentlessly teased by friends to get them coffee in their best Morgan Freeman voice. Freeman loves to sing, and one day he sat down by me, leaned his head next to mine, and sang “I’ve got you under my skin.” So I leaned closer to him, and we sang the first verse together. Our director, Antoine Fuqua, even joined in the song.

Q: What kind of studio do you own? Thoma: TASA Studio is the only full-service acting studio located in Shreveport. Our multiple services assist in the development of a vibrant acting technique, a strong business model for your acting career and a healthy and holistic approach to life as an actor. I’m currently teaching a 12-week course to actors in New Orleans out of a studio on Magazine Street. Even though I teach and coach, I don’t pretend to have all the answers – I’m still learning and growing. That’s one way to know you are doing what you’re passionate about – you never tire of it. It continues to fascinate you.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you? Thoma: A typical day for an actor is anything but typical. Auditions can come at any time and life has to be suddenly reorganized. But a normal day for me includes lots of coffee, quiet time, some kind of exercise and time outdoors, checking email, touching base with friends and family, checking casting notices, working on an audition for film/TV or printing up a scene from a film to work on to keep my acting muscles strong, updating my marketing as an actor, meeting with other actors, directors or writers to discuss projects, learning a new skill or working on a role I’ve been cast to play and prepping for and teaching acting lessons, whether in class or to an individual.

Q: Tell me about how having children played into your career choices over the years. Thoma: As predictable as it may sound, it’s true that my daughters have been my greatest teachers. They teach me what it really means to love and to pay attention to what is important in any given season of time. I took five years off after the birth of each of my daughters. Women have to listen to what will make them the most vibrant, loving parent – whether that’s working outside of the home or within.

Q: What is your advice to women in the working industry today?

Thoma: So many women do not have the luxury of choosing whether or not to work outside of the home, and deserve love and support for the hard work of raising children. I think women have gotten much better at supporting the choices other women make instead of criticizing them. No one knows what is right for your family but you. However you work it out, women work hard, inside the home and out. I believe we are finally beginning to appreciate the wide range of ways women craft balance in their lives and in today’s world.

Q: Does faith play a part in your life? Thoma: Faith is the foundation of everything I do and am. I know that I would have never made it this life without the unending grace and guidance of an all-loving God. I have found the most beautiful church family here in New Orleans, First Grace Nola, which is a post-Katrina church. Two years after Hurricane Katrina, two United Methodist congregations less than one mile apart merged to form a new body. The remnant of First UMC, a historically white congregation, and the remnant of Grace UMC, a historically black congregation, merged to form First Grace UMC.

Q: Where do you hope to be over the next several years? Thoma: Within the next five years, I would love for my acting career to be producing opportunities to work with people I admire and do projects I can be proud of. Within the next 10 years, I plan to return to a project I created called THIS IS WHO I AM, which is an eight-week summer program that assists marginalized young people in telling their stories with truth and power as they heal. The kids are introduced to a wide variety of arts experiences, which are then used to create an original theatrical production based on their lives. I’ve done this three different times with populations from the Juvenile Justice System, Rutherford House and the Providence House and feel quite certain, other than raising my own children, it was the most important work I have done to date.

–Betsy St. Amant Read more about Mary Thoma at www.marythoma.com