Page 65 - 03_April-2025

“
 I said I’m not going to dye my hair.
I don’t do Botox. And sure enough,
[my career] has been pretty great,
and I feel pretty grateful that the
world has changed a little.”
after that audition and said, ‘That’s it. I’m
done.’ I cut all my hair off, let it go grey,
and started painting.”
Wigmore earned her master’s in paint-
ing, and for almost 10 years pulled a
“full Joni Mitchell,” creating award-
winning portraits of people like Canadian
actor Gordon Pinsent (and the actual
Joni Mitchell). But a fortuitous meeting
between her and Canadian playwright
Salvatore Antonio, who asked her to read
his script, brought her back to the stage
in 2018, for his play Sheets.
“It changed my life in every conceivable
way,” she says. “I remembered what I
missed so much about acting and what
it gave me.” A year later, she had a new
agent, “and I said I’m not going to dye my
hair. I don’t do Botox. And sure enough,
[my career] has been pretty great, and
I feel pretty grateful that the world has
changed a little.”
The world changed a little more a
couple years after Wigmore’s return,
when the #MeToo movement began.
With her own audition experience still
in mind, Wigmore got involved with the
grassroots, female-identifying group
Got Your Back, where she heard the
casting-couch and acting-class stories
of other women. “And it became very
clear that there was very little training
for acting coaches and educators, and
really no oversight of them whatsoever,
because there’s no organization that was
providing minimum standards, or just
basic best practices for what anyone can
expect from an acting teacher.”
In response, Wigmore co-created the
Association of Acting Coaches & Educators
(AACE) and a code of conduct “that all
acting educators can sign so that students
know they are respect-based coaches
and can expect an environment free of
harassment, discrimination and bullying.”
Practically every other element of
the industry has a similar association, Wigmore says
(TAMAC for agents and managers, ACTRA for actors,
CDC for casting directors, NVA for voice teachers). “But
just because you’ve been acting on sets and theatres,
doesn’t mean you actually know how to teach it. There
are a lot of power dynamics involved in teaching that
don’t really come into play when you’re acting. So,
understanding the basics of power dynamics is a really
important skill for teachers to learn.”
AACE provides community, courses and classes on
ethical business practices and sector-specific training
for acting teachers. Every other year, the association
holds a two-day conference with workshops, classes,
panels and lectures from guests and industry specialists.
“Because there haven’t been many opportunities for
those of us who like to teach acting to expand our skills,
and find community and resources on how to become
better teachers.”
Whether it’s casting directors wasting actors’ time,
or teachers abusing their power, the problem is local to
nowhere, Wigmore says, evidenced by the international
response AACE has received in its less-than-three-year
existence. “We have members in America and Australia
and all across Canada,” she says, “and we’re about to
open AACE U.K. So it’s growing every day as people start
to learn what we’re doing and recognize the value of
having some minimum standards to follow.”
With recent roles in the TV show Cross, and the 2023
film Dream Scenario (in which Nicolas Cage slammed
her character’s hand in a door), Wigmore’s post-break
career is at least as strong as the days before she went
grey. The biggest difference is the work she’s doing to
help young actors safely find their ways.
“To them, I would say: You are not alone, you are
loved and I see you. And secondly, I would say: diversify.
I think actors sometimes think acting is all they can
do. And I disagree. Start painting, start writing, start
directing, start teaching, start finding other avenues to
express your artistic self. I think there are many things
that you can do if you give yourself permission to do it.” ED.
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