Radiance in Human Form: Annalise Basso is a Light in the Darkness
By Ashley Paintsil
“I started so young, I never really asked myself why I was doing it—if I really loved it. It was just something that I enjoyed as a kid.”
- Annalise Basso
The first thing that comes to mind when you see Annalise Basso is that she radiates a seemingly intangible light – a captivating presence that suggests there is something or someone greater than herself emanating through her that somehow can be reached. It’s as if her life is captured in the essence of this statement, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Speaking with Ms. Basso is a sight to behold. She literally radiates with light. Her
ethereal and graceful nature is a rarity in a world that can be at times so dark, which goes to show how dynamic she is an actress starring in mostly dramatic, intense and sometimes dark films such as “Standing Up,” and “The Bloodhound,” based on Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic classic “The Fall of the House of Usher.” “I would say that what draws me to darker material is that it magnifies the light and the importance of it,” she says. “It just makes hope shine even brighter and the necessity of it.” Her standout television roles include starring in Amazon’s sci-fi anthology series “Electric Dreams.” Basso’s featured episode “Safe and Sound” followed her character Foster, a small-town girl
gripped with social anxiety who is exposed to urban society’s emphasis on security, and terrorist prevention for the first time. She also appeared in go90’s 2016 hit drama series “Cold,” in which she starred as Isla Wallis, a 16-year-old who discovers that her biological father is in prison for killing her birth mother. Other television credits for Basso include HBO’s “True Blood,” Sundance TV’s “The Red Road,” The CW’s “Nikita,” and NBC’s hit comedy series, “Parks and Recreation.” For her most recent on-screen appearance the actress is starring alongside Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill and Kate
Siegel in “The Life Of Chuck,” directed by Mike Flanagan, and not only does she act, but Basso also has experiencing producing alongside Josh and Carissa Stutzman in “Blind River.” Read on to hear her poignant conversation with AMAZING Magazine’s
Managing Editor, Ashley Paintsil.
“I’ve worked on a lot of dark stuff. I want to expand my creative portfolio to theater, to comedy— to everything, because I have realized over the last couple of years that I have so much more to give.
I love theater so much and before Stuart Rogers Studios, I auditioned for a theater school, and I made it to the last round of auditions for RADA, and then I signed a contract for “Snowpiercer”, and that came first.”
Ashley Paintsil: I noticed reading through your bio and taking a look at the work that you've done, that you've been in a few sci-fi thrillers, a post-apocalyptic thriller, and then some dramatic and maybe even dark roles. What are you so drawn to about these roles?
Annalise Basso: I would say that what draws me to darker material is that it magnifies the light and the importance of it. It just makes hope shine even brighter and the necessity of it.
AP: That's an interesting point, because oftentimes, when you watch such movies or you see somebody play a certain role— you're acting and you're taking on a character, that sometimes is very different from who you actually are as a person. How do you tap into that side of yourself when you're playing roles like this?
AB: I have been given opportunities to play and be fearless in my pursuit of these characters, who are so far away from who I am to just take risks, and the creatives, directors, producers and writers who have built these worlds have given me space to explore, and made it a very safe place to explore, because it's a very vulnerable place to go outside your comfort zone. All I can say to that is, not necessarily my talent, but the worlds that the people around me have created make it easy and comfortable and challenge me enough to just explore without fear.
AP: I saw via Instagram live from a few years ago, that your acting career started with a discovery by a local St. Louis talent, agent. Was acting always a dream of yours, or was it something you sort of just fell into?
AB: It was something that I fell into professionally. My sister is a director, and my brother is an actor as well, and growing up I was always acting. There was never really a camera, but my sister would create these worlds for my brother and I to play in. At that little local St. Louis fashion show an agent gave me an opportunity to do that professionally. At that time, when I was so young I didn't know who I was, so I didn't know that I was even passionate about it. I started so young, I never really asked myself why I was doing it—if I really loved it. It was just something that I enjoyed as a kid. I've realized in the transition from child actor to adult actress that I needed to expand my capacity for gratitude for this art form, because I think because I started so young. I took it for granted for many years, and I always was pursuing something outside of this, because I love dance. I love to learn. I wanted to go to college. I wanted to do all these other things, and I really had to take the last couple of years, especially over the strike [and] over Covid. I was given time to really ask myself, ‘Do I love this?’ Because it was taken away, it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh! What if I never do that again?’ In that I've discovered a gratitude for it, but also surrounding myself with teachers who challenge me, like Stuart Rogers at Stuart Rogers Studio. I can't speak highly enough about him because I didn't know why I was doing this until I started at his class. I had never really taken an acting class before his, and he's helped me rediscover the joy in it. I had [this joy] as a little kid, and so to have that as an adult, I'm really grateful for that.
AP: Incredible. Like you, said Covid, and the strike really had everybody thinking deeper about what this really [means]. It's interesting that you were able to pause and reflect and take time to figure out what you really want. As someone who's worked with notable directors like Mike Flanagan and D.J. Caruso how do you collaborate with directors to bring your characters to life?
AB: There has to be a foundation of mutual trust and respect. That's one thing that I love about working with Mike, and what I loved about working with D.J. at such a young age. Even then, these directors both trusted me, and in that I was given the courage to seek truth, the truth of the character. Ultimately, what makes a good director or a good actress, or a good writer, [a] creative in general, I found, is the spirit of collaboration, and to collaborate, you have to be able to trust who you're collaborating with, and they gave me that even at a young age, and that meant everything.
AP: For your recent project, “Blind River,” you're not only in front of the camera, but you are behind the scenes as the producer. I know you talked about how you grew up in this acting home, but what motivated you to step into producing, and how did it shape your approach to the film and your character?
AB: This was the first opportunity where someone had asked me if I wanted to produce Josh and Carissa [Stutzman] opened the door for me to contribute above and beyond what I had expected, and to be so involved with a project. I had never been so intimately involved with a production before. I just signed on as an actress and they were like, ‘If you have any suggestions for other cast, if you have any connections,”— like, The Newton Brothers who I worked with on “Oculus” years ago. They signed on to score this with Lily Marlovits. It was an opportunity to bring other people in that I really hadn't been given before, so I didn't sign on to it, being like, ‘Alright now, it's time for me to produce, and this is the project.’ It just happened, like how acting all just happened. My dad's a lawyer and my mom was a computer engineer. They're secretly closeted artists, but they didn't build careers off of the industry, my mom's a beautiful painter, and my dad is works with ink on paper, and they both are artists, but I don't think that we ever planned for any of this to happen.
AP: After going through this experience, being able to be so intimately involved with the film, would you do it again?
AB: Yes, absolutely. I just signed on to be a producer, actually, on the first thing that my sister is directing. It's basically a proof of concept or a short called “Redneck.” I don't know how much I can say about the plot, but there's this whole lore—I don't know if you've heard the myth of redheads stealing your soul, and how throughout history they've just been known as these really terrifying, dangerous, mystical creatures, something to be aware of. So, this is a modern-day adaptation of all those myths. Think of “Romeo and Juliet.”
AP: You have experience in both film and TV. How do you envision your career evolving?
AB: Well, going back to your first question—I've worked on a lot of dark stuff. I want to expand my creative portfolio to theater, to comedy— to everything, because I have realized over the last couple of years that I have so much more to give.
I love theater so much and before Stuart Rogers Studios, I auditioned for a theater school, and I made it to the last round of auditions for RADA, and then I signed a contract for “Snowpiercer”, and that came first. I've always wanted to explore that part of storytelling just in a black box theater on a stage. There's something that's so raw and pure and special— Not saying that film doesn't offer a same sort of fulfillment or creative satisfaction. I want to keep creating. I want to tell every story. Greatness doesn't discriminate. You can find great stories anywhere from any genre and just working with people who, I trust, who trust me, who are seeking truth and truthful stories. That's what I want to continue working on. Hopefully, I'm given opportunities where I can pursue that.
AP: You’ve already got some indie films and box office hits under your belt. Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years— is there some sort of like dream project that you're working towards?
AB: If you would have asked me that a month ago, 2 months ago, a week ago, I would have had a very straight answer for you, but just over the last week I realized I want what I have now, and if things continue to progress, then great. I will continue to pursue this with the hopes of achieving greater, bigger, better things. I just have such gratitude for where I'm at and the people who I've worked with and performing at this little black box theater at Stuart Rogers Studios for my classmates who are so talented— for a teacher who has a deep appreciation for art. That has come to mean more to me than the dream project or working with these other artists who are out there and established in this industry. If that happens, then wonderful, beautiful, yay! I have been given so much by just surrounding myself with artists who love what I love, and that is rewarding enough. Finally, it took since I was 9, to learn to accept that and just be like, ‘Oh, I don't need any more than this.’ I had to take the time to really ask myself what success is to me in this industry, because it's all very relative, and it's so easy to fall into this comparative mindset where you see, this girl get that thing, and that person is promoted to that level. It can be very disheartening if you aren't creating for you, and that's something that I've learned over the past year and a half again, surrounding myself with dance teachers and acting teachers who have asked me to go inward and bring out the best in myself, and whether that's for an audience of one or an audience of 1,900, like the Princess of Wales Theater at Tiff, watching people respond to “Life of Chuck” with such joy. It was beautiful.
AP: What was it like working on “The Life of Chuck”— what did you take away from that as an actress?
AB: I've been doing this since I was 9, and it's very rare that you get opportunities to show people a different side of yourself when they're convinced they know you. what Mike [Flanagan] did is— he gave me an opportunity to show people how much I love dance, and I'm not a professional dancer, but I have a sincere passion and joy for it, and I got to share that with people. I had my full-on Ginger Rogers moment— lost toenails, feet bleeding, you know, just dancer stuff. I grew up wanting to be a ballerina. So, I went through pointe shoes and the pain of that. It was a pain that was familiar to me. I remember Mandy Moore, who's this incredible choreographer— she came in one lunch where I was soaking my feet in ice, and I was crying over my feet, but tears of pain, but also underlying all of the suffering, was joy. As I was sitting there weeping with my feet and ice, she was just like, ‘You're a dancer, those are dancer feet,’ and that's what that project gave to me—this knowledge that I had nothing else to prove to anyone. I am a dancer. I am an actress, I am a writer, and hopefully, one day I'll be a director. I have such limitless creative aspirations for myself. This project was just the beginning of me. Finally, having the courage to show everyone in this industry and the whole world who I am unapologetically.
AP: Where do you get your sense of groundedness from? Some people turn to faith. Where does yours come from?
AB: It's a great question. I mean candidly, it is faith and faith in what I believe is the source of truth and light and love and peace and justice, whatever people want to call that— I found what it is. I want to show people what I believe, instead of tell them. Truth is the foundation of everything for me. The more I focus on that, instead of success or pursuing these goals that I set for myself—honestly used to think that acting was lying like, ‘Oh, I'm a professional liar, I just pretend to be somebody else.’ When it's actually the art of seeking truth in every circumstance, in every character, in every world. So, that's my foundation for everything, and that's what grounds me.
AP: You have a lot of hobbies, dance, Muay Thai, painting, and your Instagram is full of such incredible photography. How do these creative and physical outlets influence your acting—do any of them help you prepare for your roles?
AB: All of them do, really, because I have so many muses in my life. My sister is one of them, a fellow photographer, stylist, just a woman who is able to see beauty. Her name's Jessica Ozette Goldstein. She's the one who shot the most recent pictures of me that I posted. She's an incredible photographer who is sort of my north star of like fashion and everything in that area. My mom, as an artist, grew up with a very particular eye. So, I have to give her props. I have to give my sister props, because I've never met someone who understands story so well. I write, and I have drawn a lot of my inspiration , [and] a lot of my story structures and my understanding of that comes from what she taught me My dad [helped] with all my other pursuits. Intellectually he's the one who set the foundation for that, because as a lawyer he has this relentless pursuit of truth, and I've inherited that. In everything I do—if it's Muay Thai, if it's dance— on those planes where you're dealing with the truth of what your body is capable of, it helps me trust myself more. It helps me trust my body because I used to be so up here and so concerned with what people think, and ‘Oh, is this what they want?’ But what they want might not be the thing that's most authentic to me, or the performance that's most authentic to me. I love Muay Thai because it reminds me that I'm a fighter, but in a much deeper sense. The common thread that brings together all of my hobbies or interests is a reminder that I can trust myself especially with my film photography. I don't get to see what it is I captured. I just have to trust my instincts and what guides me.
AP: What subjects or themes are you most drawn to when you are photographing?
AB: I don't really have a preference. It's bizarre, because I wouldn't call myself a photographer. I would just call myself someone who enjoys photography. I'm working on portraits, and I just went out to Colorado to take some pictures of my friend. She wanted to give her husband some pictures of, not those kinds of pictures, but like some nice glamorous pictures of herself. This is a woman who hasn't given herself a lot of permission to feel or embody just confidence and beauty. She grew up with these very specific standards of how to be, and very strict rules. It was really beautiful to have this experience with her where I sort of gave her permission. I was like,’ Okay, so we got the shots that make you happy, but what if we just do a couple for you and you get to be the confident, beautiful woman you are deep down? I just want to see that woman come out, give her space, and if she's never seen again, that's fine, and if you hate the pictures no one else will have to see it, but I just want to see your fearlessness,’She started weeping, and we had this really profound moment where she was given space. Everyone in my life has encouraged me to take up space. Now, all the teachers I'm talking so much —I really can't speak highly enough about them, and how much space they've given me. We had this profound experience, and I love photographing people for that reason. It’s very intimate, and usually as someone who's in front of the camera and having to fill that space. It was nice to be able to provide that space instead. When I photograph landscapes, or when I photograph literally anything else. Again, it's a reminder the landscape gives me that space. It's weird. Being behind the camera is something that I really enjoy. These tree, these mountains don't have to apologize for where they are. It's just up to me to seek the beauty, and that's one thing. Seek truth, first, beauty, second because I think we have a very limited understanding of what beauty is, and the most beautiful thing to me is authenticity.
AP: You seem like somebody who places a huge importance on building a life and identity outside of acting. What's something that you're passionate about that most people probably wouldn't know?
AB: Aside from dance—well, I guess now it's out there. Honestly. there's nothing about me that's hidden. And this is one of the reasons why I'm so bad at poker is because I can read other people, but everybody else can read me and I think most people who meet me feel like they know me right away, and not to say that I'm not a private person, I have things that I'm private about, details that I'm private about, but in terms of what I'm passionate about, that's out there for everyone to see.
AP: Why is it like that for you?
AB: I don't think fear and love can coexist, and if I'm truly passionate about something, if I truly love something, then I'll stand there and declare that I do without fear. I won't try to hide that. If I truly love something, it's something that I'll take pride in loving and nurturing— something that I'll love loudly.
AP: If you reach the peak of your career, and I know that everybody's definition of the peak of their career is different, but we'll just arbitrarily say you won an Oscar for something. What would it be for?
AB: If I won an Oscar for something, I think it would be for acting. Hopefully, for Best Picture. Let's say best picture, because then that means, did I direct it? Did I produce it? Did I act in it? Am I in front of the camera at all, or did I write it? Best Picture would be the best one to hope for, because it leaves my options open. My first Oscar has to go to my mom because all of her hard work needs to be recognized.
PHOTOGRAPHER maxine BALCHUS
STYLING donald LAWRENCE
BEAUTY EDITOR / MAKEUP HAIR alfred MERCADO @Agency Cloutier Remix
products used mac cosmetics and kiehls
PHOTO ASSISTANT jack CONLEY
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