Getting To Know Rising Star Marie Tagbo
Stories editor Pooja Kalyan ’21 interviews actress and YouTube personality Marie Tagbo ’20 to learn more about her acting career, the book she wrote, and more.
I first met Marie Tagbo at Summer@Stanford 2019, and since joining the Pixel Journal, I have wanted to write an article about her. Marie is an actress and YouTube personality, both of which match perfectly with her outgoing, bubbly, confident self. With the school year coming to an end, I was finally able to chat with her over Skype and learn more about what got her into acting, her interests and achievements, and what’s next for her.
Before realizing her passion for theater, young Marie wanted to be a writer or to pursue a career in academia. At the time, she was taking guitar lessons and her teacher happened to have connections in the acting field — “I was pretty bad at guitar,” Marie commented, “but I wanted to keep playing, and I turned down opportunities to audition for roles in theater.” Not too long after, Marie parted ways with her guitar and decided to audition for a play at her local church, where she landed the lead role. From that moment on, her passion for film acting and production only grew.
“I love being able to play different people. I can choose what roles I want to play, and I only choose the roles that speak to me,” Marie shares. She tells me that acting is a “seasonal thing,” where she’s filming or auditioning all the time for a month or two out of the year, while the rest of the year is dedicated to developing acting skills. “January through May is really busy, and October through December is really busy. But, really, it’s just about how much time you’re willing to put into it.”
Navigating her way through the the acting field wasn’t easy. “I didn’t see many girls that looked like me growing up, but I looked to Viola Davis for inspiration, my favorites of hers being ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ and ‘The Help.’ Seeing her do it made me realize that I could purse acting as a career.” Marie had to figure out everything on her own: she spent countless hours watching Youtube videos, reading articles, Googling her inspirations; anything that would help guide her through the process of becoming an actress. The phrase “hard work pays off” soon became a reality for Marie as she obtained roles in commercials and films, her favorites being a local Superbowl commercial about mental health and “Gone Squatchin’,” a film about a YouTuber who vlogs her trip trying to find a sasquatch. “‘Gone Squatchin’’ was great because it was a woman-heavy script with a mostly women crew. I just wish acting wasn’t such a male dominated industry.” Speaking with Marie illuminates how she is carving a path for many others to follow as she breaks the boundaries that come with being a female actress of color.
Marie’s passion for acting shines through, and it’s clear not only to me, but to the thousands of people who have noticed her. “People message me saying I inspired them. It’s awesome for me to be what I didn’t have growing up, and that means a lot to me.” In order to further support young aspiring actors and actresses, Marie wrote a book to share the ins and outs of the acting business. Of course, writing a book was no easy task: she had trouble figuring out how to explain everything there is to know. “I wanted to tell people how to learn the business [of acting] by condensing everything I learned from the internet and my personal experience.”
It took Marie three years to write her book, “How to Become a Teen Actor,” from beginning to end, adding, “I had starts and stops along the way — times when I didn’t work on it, or times when I worked on it all day.” There were times when she was up until 3 A.M. trying to edit, add more information, reformat, develop the finer details, and eventually, create the cover for her book. “It was the hardest thing I have ever done. At some points, I wanted to give up on it, but there was always this little voice in my head that said ‘keep going.’”
The effort was all worth it in the end, because now, you can find Marie’s “How I became a Teen Actor” on Amazon! You can also Google her name, “Marie Tagbo,” her website, Marietagbo.com, or find her on Instagram @marietagbo, all of which will have links to her book.
Marie’s passion for acting won’t fade anytime soon. She tells me that in the future, “I want to pursue it harder than I have before.” She commented that she was was “lucky starting out” because “it was fun, and I was just doing it for fun.” Marie hopes to take her pursuits to the next level and to turn her passion into a career. “After graduating [from OHS], I plan to move to LA or New York and start making my own content, whether that be Youtube videos or film, or something in collaboration with others.” Starting in the fall, Marie will be attending New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, one of the most competitive film schools in the world. “It’s especially important now to have a body of work that distinguishes you. I really want to keep going and push myself because I want to become the best actress I can be.”
For anyone reading this who is interested in becoming an actor or actress, Marie stresses the importance of having a headshot and resume, and to make use of the internet because “the internet has so many resources.” I felt that her insight could even be applicable for students who are trying to pursue other passions. “You have to know yourself and know what you want to do. For instance, theater and film are two very different paths.” According to Marie, it’s also important to study the business to gain an understanding of what you’re getting into and where you want to go with it. Ultimately, she emphasizes using your resources and being prepared. “I watched every Youtube video I could get my hands on. You have to know what you’re doing before you try, just like you have to know what you’re doing when you go on set.”
Acting takes up the majority of Marie’s life, but she still has plenty of other interests and talents, like video editing, martial arts, script-writing, and creating Youtube videos. Before acting, Marie used to edit video clips of her friends and wedding shower clips for people she knew. Marie has also shown interest in script-writing, which combines her love for writing and film-making, especially since having the chance to be mentored by an industry professional to work on her own script. She hopes that one day she’ll get one of her own scripts in front of the world, while balancing her time spent acting, creating Youtube videos, and writing.
Marie commends OHS for changing her views and broadening her horizon in so many ways, with her all time favorite classes being Democracy, Freedom, and the Rule of Law (DFRL) and the Advanced History Seminar. “I liked learning about democracy and politics [in DFRL] and I loved all the documentaries I was exposed to in Advanced History Seminar.” Marie joined OHS as a freshman, drawn to the school because of its flexible schedule and advanced classes.
“If you asked me three months ago, I would have said ‘I’m going to LA to pursue acting. But now I just want to pour myself into my craft, whether that be acting, filmmaking, or finishing a script.” She hopes her future career will model that of Issa Rae, who created and co-wrote the HBO television series “Insecure” while also starring in the series itself. “I want to be a creator behind the acting too. I love doing stories that have a meaning or a message — mental health, politics, and psychology are really important for me.” Marie wants to pursue something that fuses her interests together, and one of her dreams is to be a producer, actor, and writer for a Netflix series. “I want to keep my mind open. Life doesn’t always work out the way I plan for it to, so I just want to do what I love and focus on being the best at what I do.”
Check out Marie Tagbo’s “How I Became a Teen Actor,” and follow her on Instagram @marietagbo. You can also listen to her special appearance on The Blurred Box Podcast hosted by OHS’s UNHCR Club, where she discusses black women in Hollywood, Black Panther, Idris Elba, and more!