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Today we want to re-introduce you to one of our Statera Blog contributors, Tiffany Denise Hobbs! Our blog contributors offer their unique voices and perspectives in the form of short essays, vlogs, interviews, and other creative content. Tiffany’s vlog series “An Actress Prepares” offers mentorship for early-career theatre artists as well as valuable insight for anyone wanting to know more about what it means to be a working actor.
Hobbs is a StateraArts Ambassador and a talented actress, dancer, and singer. She has trained for over two decades at prestigious liberal and performing arts institutions (UGA, SMU, Yale) and shares that she loves every minute of imitating life onstage, on set, or in a rehearsal room. Some of her favorite roles include Juanita in James Baldwin's Blues for Mister Charlie, Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Tonya in August Wilson's King Hedley II. Hear more about what motivates Tiffany’s artistry below!
Tiffany Denise Hobbs
StateraArts: What lights you up?
Tiffany Denise Hobbs: Quality time with people I love. This could be with people I’ve known all my life or people I’ve just met. If we have a great connection and we’re choosing to share time and space together, that brings me some of my greatest joy.
SA: What is your "WHY"? Meaning why do you do the work you do - your personal mission.
TDH: There are a few reasons “why” for me; the first being that I have made it my life’s mission to show all the “little Tiffanys” of the world that it is possible. I often think of what my younger self would think if she’d seen where I am now, as well as all of the young dreamers just like me who could see the older, successful, and realized versions of their biggest dreams. It’s beautifully overwhelming. When I think about that, it gives me the most motivation. My other reason is to give back in whatever way I can to those who first gave to me (my family), as well as other people in the world for whom I can be a vessel.
SA: How is your "WHY" integrated with your work at Statera?
TDH: This may sound like a cop-out answer, but it’s true: my “why” is integrated into every single moment in my life, every breath that I take. So, naturally, it comes into play with my work at Statera. I always seek to forge new relationships with others, to be an offering in some way, and to seek and share inspiration whenever I can.
Tiffany Denise Hobbs, Danielle Brooks, and Margaret Odette rehearse Much Ado About Nothing. (Photo by Joan Marcus)
SA: Tell us about a mentor in your life.
TDH: One of my most memorable mentors is Liz Mikel. I met Liz when I was cast in a production of A Christmas Carol at the Dallas Theater. We shared a dressing room and I was so fortunate to share space and break bread with her day in and day out during that process. Over the next few years, I was brought on to the Brierley Resident Acting Company at The Dallas Theater Center and I had the ultimate pleasure of sharing a dressing room with her again and again during my time there. Her story is amazing, and she taught me a lot about following my dreams in the face of adversity. She became a most necessary “mother figure” to me while in Dallas. She taught me how to keep my head on a swivel and offered me the courage to stand up for myself in ways I’d never thought. We also shared hundreds of deep, belly laughs (she’s a natural comedian and her laughs are infectious!). She is and will always be one of the greatest additions to my life.
