ON PURPOSE

ON PURPOSE
Giving What You Have On and Off the Screen
Exclusive Interview with Kerry Frances
Featured in 'Innerviews'
Hosted by Allié McGuire

​Kerry Frances has built a career around inhabiting other people’s stories, but what’s just as striking is how intentionally she shows up as herself. Whether through her art, her advocacy, or the quiet choices she makes offstage, Kerry shows how impact is not about scale. It’s about paying attention, offering what you have, and choosing to use your time and talent in service of something larger than yourself.

ALLIÉ: As an actor, Kerry, you’ve spent your career stepping into other people’s stories.

What has that constant act of listening and empathy that’s involved taught you about responsibility beyond the stage and beyond the screen?

KERRY: I think we all have a huge responsibility to listen to each other, to listen to ourselves, and to find those connections between other human beings and animals, of course, while we’re alive, while we’re here. We love TV shows, we love plays, we love movies, we love all these things because we watch humans interact in a way that we long for, whether that is conscious, like, oh, I wish I had that kind of connection, right?

​So I think if you’re an actor or really any creative in any space, or any type of empath, you make sure that you are listening, you are trying to give other people what they need, you are trying to show up for them, and hopefully also for yourself. So that’s been a primary lesson for me being an actor all of these years, is pay attention, put your phone down, look around, connect, listen, and then respond. Otherwise, the shows and the things that we love to watch just wouldn’t make any sense. We’d all be cutting each other off all the time.

​ALLIÉ: Absolutely. Well, like they say, pay attention to the ratio. Two ears, one mouth. There’s a reason, right?

So there’s a moment when giving back stops being something that you do and becomes something that you are. Very much in your case, for all the giving back that you have done. When did service first shift from an idea to explore into a lived truth for you, Kerry?

KERRY: That’s a great question. You know, it’s just always been part of my life. I think that has a lot to do with coming up through, you know, going to CCD and the Catholic Church. You have to do service hours.

Do you want to get your confirmation? You have to do service hours. Then I went to a private high school where service was implemented as well, so you had to do a certain amount of service. And I think at a young age, tying that to something I love to do. So in high school, a lot of my service was going and singing at retirement homes, and I already loved to sing. So I think I just naturally extended that what I love to do can bless other people. The things we naturally are gifted at can easily give back to others.

So I think when people think about giving back, they’re like, oh, I have to sign up for something I’m going to hate. It’s going to take my whole Saturday, and I don’t want to go to this place, and I don’t want to do this. What if giving back is just a reflection of the things that you were blessed with? Your talents, your gifts. Maybe that’s being able to spend time with people if you’ve got a lot of extra time. Or for some people, they’re blessed with a lot of finances. They’re blessed with a lot of wealth, and so they can give back financially.

It doesn’t have to be strenuous. So I think it’s just been something that’s always been in my life. Then it became a sorority, and then it became just being on tour and setting up different things. So I think if it starts young, it’s something you take through life. I think as an adult, if you look around and you’re like, where do I start? What do I do? I would encourage people to look at the things they naturally love to do and ask how they could give back to others through that.

ALLIÉ: And I love that perspective, that it doesn’t have to be a chore or something that you’re going to hate. It could be something that you love and that you enjoy and that fills you, doesn’t take away from you.

So you’ve found ways to turn milestones like birthdays, tours, and creative projects into these acts of generosity. What taught you that your time and talent could be just as powerful as money?

KERRY: I don’t really know. That’s such a good question. I think, again, just watching it modeled in my house. My mom’s someone who always gives back, and my family gives back. And I think I just learned very early on.

And I think also when you are given certain talents, when you are given certain skills, to me, it makes perfect sense to turn around and say, here you go, let me share this with you, right? So I think I’m so blessed. I’m such a lucky human being to begin with. And I am one of those people where everything just works out for me. I stumble into the right place at the right time. And I feel so grateful for that. Why would I not?

I’m living my actual, literal dream that I’ve wanted since I was a very, very young child. Why would I not be trying to help others, or even just encourage others? What I’m doing is not brain surgery. It is not running a country. It is not, I don’t know, being in charge of all the money in the world. It’s a million other things that would be so stressful and so intense, and I hope all of those people are giving back too.

But it’s acting, it’s singing, it’s having fun. It’s something that I enjoy so much. So I feel so lucky every single day that if I didn’t give back, I would really be questioning who I am as a human being.

​ALLIÉ: That is beautiful. So let’s talk about some of these things specifically. From fostering dogs to Fire Leave to Broadway Cares, your service shows up across very different spaces in very different ways.

What’s that through line? What stays constant no matter the cause in all of that?

KERRY: I think I am, right? I’m the constant. So if I can show up and make someone’s day better, whether that is a sweet animal who needs a place to crash for a little bit, or the people running the rescue, or maybe, like I said, a senior citizen, or a children’s hospital, it’s just the initiative and me, and then bringing my own magnetic, happy, light, bright energy to the situation.

Also, maybe it is, in a way, a bit of a selfish thing. I think also, I’m sure there’s a way to look at it and say, oh, well, you know, I love attention, right? I’m an actor. So doing something really good, like doing a St. Jude’s card-writing party for your birthday, which is so easy. Anyone can do it. You can just write cards together with your girlfriends, put on your favorite TV show, put on a podcast, and then send them out to a children’s hospital or St. Jude’s.

I’m sure at some point there were some non-altruistic motivations in there at 22, 23, 24. Yeah. I think the common goal is I just love making people happy, whether that’s being in a movie that they love so much, or a movie that helps them just escape how they’re feeling right now, or it’s going and singing at something or cuddling a sweet puppy. I just love it. I love making people feel better.

And in turn, of course, the big secret, and I know this and you know this, is then you feel better too. So there is a bit of a push-pull in terms of it benefiting me as well.

But, you know, it gets me out of the house. It gets me doing something good for others. I think that’s okay too. You don’t just suffer to give back, right? You don’t have to. For me, if I was going to give back in a suffering way, I would be donating blood, right? I am not a medical girl. I am not a needle girl. So that would be horrific and traumatizing.

Even right now, being in a hospital, I would be so panicked about germs. So it’s not about suffering. It’s just you find the thing that makes sense for you. And there are plenty of people I know who would go and donate blood in a second. They don’t care about that. But they can’t foster a dog, right? So you just have to find that right fit.

ALLIÉ: Yeah. I think that’s such a good point too, that there are a lot of different ways to give, and all of that is about making it work for you.

So it seems that you move fluidly between being in front of the camera and behind the scenes, on stage and in the community. How has service reshaped the way you understand, keyword here, success in your life?

KERRY: I think success is that you really like yourself and you mostly like your life as much as possible. You know, everyone’s going to have a day or two. And you are loving and kind toward yourself, and the people that matter to you. You go home every night and you can look in the mirror and feel good about your choices. That, to me, is success.

And then if you want to layer the next part of the cake, that would be also doing what you love and getting paid for it, that it supports your life, your lifestyle, and your bills. That’s absolutely success.

I think for a long time, especially as an actor, you almost learn, well, the goal is to become famous. If you’re not famous, if you’re not a huge movie star, then you’re failing. Or if you’re never union, or if you only work in theater, or more and more and more.

At this point in my life, I think anyone doing anything that they set out to do is a miracle and a huge achievement and successful. If someone’s desperate to be the next Tom Cruise, but they’re currently only doing verticals, right? Great. You’re literally doing the thing you want to do. It’s just on a different scale. You made it. You’re doing it. You’re booking acting work. Someone’s paying you.

​I think success is reframing all the time, being willing to pivot. But really, it comes down to you and you. There’s no other competition. You go home every night together, you and you. I don’t care if you’re married to the love of your life. I don’t care if you have nine children. It’s you and you. How are you facing yourself? Do you feel good about who you are morally in life and how you treat others?

There are plenty of successful people in the world who are awful to their loved ones. There are plenty of successful people who are not good role models. You can have all the success and fame and money in the world, but there’s no arrival point. There’s no place where you don’t have problems or stress or upset or any of the things that I think people believe fame and money and success will give you.

It’s just new levels and new devils. You’re just going to have bigger, different problems that you did not anticipate, and that’s just how life goes.

So yeah, I think success is about, no matter where you’re at, no matter the level, no matter the things coming at you, do you like yourself? Do your loved ones like you? Are you being kind and loving? Are you making morally sound choices? Do you go to bed at night and feel like you did the very best possible job you could do? Great. ∎

Find & follow Kerry on Instagram:
​@kerryfrancesofficial