Julia Culbert On Her Emotional Documentary And Recent Acting Role In ‘Birdemic 3’

Someone to watch!

Julia Culbert is destined for greatness! From her successful acting career to her rising fanbase, we can’t wait to see what this actress accomplishes.

We had the amazing honor of talking with Julia about her Irish dancing background, signing with her talent agency, and more!

Your most recent project Birdemic 3 has attracted great attention! Can you tell us more about the film and your role?

J: “I will always begin talking about Birdemic by saying the experience was very unique. I met a lot of really amazing people, specifically my costar Ryan and of course, Alan Bagh. I got to travel to some beautiful places since the entire movie was filmed “on location.” James Nyguen, the director, has a very unique, very spontaneous style. It definitely helped me improve my memorization skills, because we were mostly getting the sides the night before the scene was shot. That’s not something I’ve ever done for a project before, so it definitely kept me on my toes. The days were long, but with Ryan it was always a blast. It was my first lead role in a feature film, so that was super exciting for me. I had so much fun when we got to screen it at Fantastic Fest and Beyond Fest. The producers flew me out for Fantastic Fest, since it was in Austin, Texas, and it was a really fun trip. At the screening, everyone got a shot before the movie started, which was amazing. Most recently, Birdemic 3 just screened at Mayhem Film Festival in London. I think our next stops are Philadelphia, New York, and Portland!”

When did you discover your passion for acting?

J: “When I was little I did theater in school and I absolutely loved it. I was given lead roles in school plays in elementary school and I just loved entertaining people and being creative. The minute I turned 18 and I was able to make my own choices, I was off to the first set I could find, ready to turn my passion into my career.”

Tell us more about your experience signing and working with Avalon Artist Talent Agency.

J: “I signed with Avalon Artists right before Covid hit, and that was definitely a unique experience. We wanted to hit the ground running with work, but then all of a sudden the world shut down and there wasn’t any work. I ended up having to move out of LA temporarily because I couldn’t afford it anymore. My agency was so wonderful through all of this, they really believed in me. I kept auditioning even through all the stuff going on in my personal life, and I worked my way back to LA and booked my first lead in a feature length film. I’ve been with Avalon for two years now, and I’m even more excited for the years to come.”

After recovering from a concussion and returning to the dance world, What is one thing you learned throughout recovery and upon returning?

J: “So fun fact about me, in 2018, while I was on vacation in Scotland, I fell off a horse head first when she decided to take off in the field we were riding in. I injured my back and my neck, but the most fun part was definitely the concussion. This happened up in Oban, Scotland, which is a pretty small town with an even smaller hospital, and they didn’t have the equipment they needed for my injuries on hand. So I got to spend four hours in the back of an ambulance, driving through the Scottish countryside down to Glasgow. Now you may think this sounds like a pretty drive, but I was strapped on my back starting at the ceiling, with my neck stabilized, for four hours. That is the most carsick I have ever been in my life. After several days in the hospital in Glasgow, I was finally allowed to fly home to California.

Let’s just say after that hospital stay, I am very grateful for little things in life, like being able to sit up or lie on my side. During my hospital stay, I was immobilized on my back for several days, and I couldn’t do anything myself. The day I left the hospital, I realized I would never again take for granted being able to walk to the bathroom.

I owe the fact that I can even dance at all to the patience of my teacher at the time, Shannon. I have no idea how she handled trying to teach me things when I couldn’t remember a step right after she’d tell it to me. Every class would be her re-explaining the same thing she’d told me the time before, and the second she was done explaining it, I’d already forgotten it. I also just could not get my feet to do what my brain was asking, so it was super frustrating. Aside from not being able to go outside during the day without sunglasses and ear plugs, I was constantly asleep, I could barely do schoolwork because my computer screen hurt my head so badly, and I couldn’t really jump or get my leg up very high at all, so my dancing was always terrible, no matter how much I practiced. And I practiced a lot. Several years later I’m getting back into my rhythm (pun intended), but it’s taken a lot of work to get here. I guess what I’ve learned after all that is not to take little things in life for granted, and most of all to be patient with yourself.”

Tell us about your prior experience and achievements in Irish Dance?

J: “I dance because I love it so much. I worked several minimum wage jobs when I finally left treatment, and doing dance steps at work always helped pass the time. Dancing helps me when I’m in a bad headspace as well, because it’s impossible to think negative thoughts or be stuck in your head while Irish dancing. It takes so much focus, your only thoughts are along the lines of, “did I point my toe on that click,” and that just gives my brain a break for a while. I started dancing when I was three because of my family’s Irish heritage. My culture is extremely important to me and I want to be able to share it with my own family someday. I minor in Irish studies in college, and I did a semester in Galway, Ireland to practice my Gaeilge. As for achievements, I’m no world champion, the best I’ve done is 13th and national qualifier at Oireachtas. But I just really love it. I’ve trained a few summers with Riverdance in Dublin, Ireland, and that’s always such a lovely experience. I have so much more to learn, and I can’t wait to keep improving my dancing. 

What is your favorite quote in Irish and its meaning?

J: “This isn’t like a famous quote in Irish, it’s just something I saw on a sweatshirt that I ended up buying in An Spidéal, Galway/Gaillimh. It made me laugh, and I think it’s very true. As Gaeilge, the quote is, “Ní thagann ciall roimh aois, ní thagann ciall le haois… ní thagann ciall.” It means, “Sense doesn’t come before age, sense doesn’t come with age… sense doesn’t come.” Basically, we’re all a little stupid sometimes, no matter how wise we’re supposed to be at whatever age in life. Side note, do not put this into google translate, they absolutely butcher it.”

It is rumored that you are working on a documentary about the troubled teen industry. Tell us more about this project and what it means to you?

J: “I am a survivor of the troubled teen industry. It has left me with trauma that I will cope with for the rest of my life, that people outside the industry won’t ever fully understand. Some examples of the abuse from the troubled teen industry that I went through: I was legally kidnapped, twice. I was woken at 3 am, dragged out of bed almost completely naked (wrapped in a blanket), handcuffed, and was taken on a plane by strangers I didn’t know. When I attempted to run away from a second program at fifteen, I was found, my hands were twist tied, and I was stuffed in the backseat of a car for an 18 hour drive back to Utah, again with people I didn’t know. I was held in a basement against my will. All of my meals were brought to me, a mattress brought to the basement so I had somewhere to sleep, and I had to sit in one chair and do nothing for days on end. I was not allowed to speak, read, or leave the chair. If I went to the bathroom the staff would go with me. I had no privacy. They would watch me shower.

One program I went to at fourteen had no beds or food for us, (eventually they ordered us rice from somewhere when I hadn’t eaten all day.) They just held us there, and I was there for two days, sleeping on the floor, before being sent to another facility. At Monarch specifically, when a roommate was acting “out of agreement” we all had to sleep in the lodge, on the couches, no blankets, in a circle, with the lights on all night. You were also given manual labor as punishment. I was having health issues and they refused to take me to the hospital because I was “doing it for attention.” Until it got to the point that I was having an allergic reaction. They left me sitting on the couch for hours, and when I couldn’t breathe anymore they finally took me to the ER. This is just a snippet of the years of abuse I endured, I could go on for hours. So this is why this project is so important to me, because as I live my life and pursue my acting career, kids are enduring the same abuse I did, and no one is helping them. 

I want to tell my story, and to be able to tell stories for those who aren’t here to speak for themselves anymore. I’ve lost six friends I met through this industry,  most of them being from the program “Monarch.” This project means everything to me. It has been so difficult to work on and I still often need to take breaks from the editing because I have trouble with reliving some of the memories myself and my peers discuss throughout the film. But I really want to edit it myself, because the story is so personal. I want to bring awareness to the type of abuse that is literally legal in this country, abuse that companies and individuals even profit off of. I don’t want any child to ever have to go through what I went through, and I want kids who are in programs right now to know that there are people on the outside fighting for their rights and freedom. We know this isn’t right, we see you, we are still fighting. You aren’t as alone as you feel right now.”

What is one thing you hope to achieve in your career?

J: “I want to book a recurring role on a TV show. I think it would be so cool to be able to work with the same team for a longer period of time. I’ve loved doing films, but it’s always so sad when the project is over and we all just go our separate ways. Everyone on set is part of a little family to me. I think working on a TV show would also be fun because I’d be able to work with the character for a longer duration of time. Instead of only having one storyline to develop their character arc, you can continue to add depth to your character throughout an entire season, or series even. This gives you a lot more time to add dimension where you wouldn’t otherwise be able to.”

What have you learned throughout your acting career?

J: “Throughout my acting career, I’ve learned that in order to be successful in this industry you need to know a lot more than just how to act. There’s so much that goes into the casting process, how you promote yourself, even to your resume. It helps a lot when you know how to do things yourself. For example, I designed my own website, and that’s been super helpful for me in regards to casting. As I’m on a tighter budget, if I wasn’t able to do that myself I just wouldn’t have a website. Eventually I’d love to build up a bigger team and not have to do so much on my own, but for now it has been super helpful to know how to do certain things outside of acting.”

How has Irish Dance shaped who you are?

J: “Irish Dance has shaped who I am by giving me an incredibly strong work ethic and reminding me to always pay attention to detail. Aside from the sport just being incredibly fun, it can teach you a lot about who you are as a person, how you learn, how to carry yourself and how to perform. An example of this would be that I’ve learned I’m definitely an auditory learner (I need someone to say the steps out loud, or do them so I can hear them with the music before I can remember them.) That comes in handy when memorizing my lines- if I have seven pages of sides for an audition and only a few days to memorize them, reading them over and over won’t do anything for me. I need to record the scene in my voice memos and just listen to it as I drive around and before I go to sleep at night. Before I know it, I have the whole thing memorized just by listening to it.”

Photo Credits: Dan Kennedy | Alison Narro | Shoutout LA

Alessia Shaw- Movie/Entertainment Editor– Alessia is a rising Junior in high school located in Southern California! She is an actress, writer and avid mental health advocate. Alessia loves writing in many forms, especially spoken word poetry. As her resume continues to grow, so does her love for the arts. She hopes to continue her acting path and attend a performing arts college in the near future.