Joshua Odjick visits students to lead acting workshop and share words of wisdom
Indigenous-Canadian actor Joshua Odjick visited Algonquin College on Feb. 4 accompanied by his acting coach and fellow actor Claudia Jurt.
During their visit, Odjick and Jurt did a Q & A session with students, who learned a lot, from what life is like on the big screen, to advice on how to kickstart their own acting careers.
“Know that anything is possible. Whatever your heart tells you to do, follow it. Don’t listen to naysayers, even if they mean well. You know best,” said Jurt.
Odjick also echoed Jurt’s advice.
“Be daring, don’t give a crap what anyone else says, and if they do talk badly, it’s more about them than it is about you. And go with love,” said Odjick.
The Q & A was followed by an acting workshop activity. Students could volunteer for an improv activity with Odjick and test their acting skills
The students had a blast working alongside Odjick. They also got to watch Jurt and Odjick run lines together, which many students found very entertaining.
“Whenever they were doing the exercises and when Claudia and Josh did the weed skit, Claudia kept laughing which made me laugh because it looked so real. It felt like a real thing happening,” said Marlayah McLeod, a performing arts alumna of Algonquin College.
McLeod was the only alumna to attend the event. Many others came to the Algonquin Campus just to attend the event and meet Odjick and Jurt, including students from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake community who travelled a long distance to be there, as well as a local high school student.
“I was really excited to see Joshua and get to ask him questions, and do the workshop because I love acting,” said Samira Ibrahim, a high school student from Ottawa.
This event was organized by the Mamidosewin Centre’s events and communications officer Summer Wabasse, who explained how the event came to be.
“The event came together pretty quickly. My boss, Anita, was invited to the premier of Welcome to Derry by Joshua, and she invited him to campus after Christmas. We also got amazing catering from The Birch Bite, which is from the same community that Joshua is from,” said Wabasse.
Wabasse also called attention to the importance of the event and what it means to Indigenous students at Algonquin College.
“Our mission is to support Indigenous students and promote our culture. Inviting Joshua who is from a nearby Indigenous community is really inspiring to our Indigenous students. And it also helps our non-Indigenous students learn about our culture,” said Wabasse.
Students left the event with lessons and inspiration that Odjick and Jurt hope will help them with their future endeavours.
“Fear is a call to action. If you’re afraid to do something, that means you got to do it because you will regret it otherwise,” said Odjick.
