Emily Kinney on the Art and Business of Acting and Music

Today my guest is the multi-talented Emily Kinney. Most people know her as an actress. She starred in The Walking Dead from 2011-2015. She's also been on Masters of Sex, The Flash, Arrow, Law & Order: SVU, and many others. She was also in Spring Awakening on Broadway.

She just launched a podcast of her own called My Caffeine Withdrawal where she interviews musicians, actors, and other friends like Josh Radnor, Local Natives, K.Flay, and many others. She's also a very talented musician.

We go in a different direction than other episodes. We touch on the business, but we straddle the line on how acting relates to music and how music relates to acting. We talk about the differences in both and the learning curves in both. She has a lot of releases under her name, so she has experience in the business of music and movies.

Quick links:

3:15 - Emily's podcast, how she's recording them, and what inspired her to launch it

8:45 - Enjoying music vs. listening music for a purpose

12:05 - Emily's recording process behind her song "Easy"

15:25 - What happens if you're not easy to work with in the acting world?

20:40 - Are there similarities between the different artistic mediums?

28:45 - Do you ever ask yourself if you question whether you're the best fit for the role you're playing?

31:06 - Playing in Spring Awakening on Broadway in New York and auditioning for film and TV

38:33 - How did you learn the acting and music business worlds?

43:09 - Defining success is extremely personal

55:15 - Is Emily business-minded or does she bring on a team to handle everything?

1:01:45 - What it means to Emily to make it in the new music business