Actress & Producer Madison Ekstrand: Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel; 5 Reasons To Be Hopeful During This Corona Crisis

Published in

Authority Magazine

5 min readSep 27, 2020

We can spend this time to find ourselves again and reconnect with our loved ones and friends. I have come up with so many new hobbies that keep me busy as well.

I had the pleasure to interview Madison Ekstrand. Madison is an actress and producer, known for For the Boys (2020), Very Frightening Tales and The Walk (2019). Originally from Niagara, Wisconsin, Madison Ekstrand is a highly trained dancer in ballet, lyrical, contemporary and hip-hop. Her background in dance was a key aspect in playing the role of Lauren Foley. Ekstrand’s acting performance was also recognized at the New York International Film Awards for the Best Acting Debut and the Best Performance by a Young Actress.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Madison! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I started off as a dancer when I was three years old. In the back of my head I always wanted to pursue acting. I started acting when I was about 14. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I have been to LA back and forth since, and I absolutely love it. I am now seventeen, and I love staying busy and the rush of being on set.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

A lot of interesting things happen on set, so it is so hard to always tell one. We were filming at this old house for The Curse Of Stone Hill. Everyone was scared to be at the house by themselves in a room, so we all stuck together. Some people were upstairs to set up the camera, and they saw something moving on the screen. Dale was not even by the camera when that happened, so of course all of us were freaking out.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now?

I am currently working on another episode of Very Frightening Tales! This has been an amazing experience for me.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

I am so grateful for so many people. My parents have always been supporting me no matter what it is. They always believe in me and want me to succeed. Suzanne has been like family to me as well. I wouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t for her and my parents supporting me. They will always have my back, and I love them so much.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our lives today. Can you articulate to our readers what are the biggest family related challenges you are facing as a woman during this Pandemic?

My family is a very close family, so thankfully we were all together when the pandemic started. What has been the hardest on us has actually been not being able to do as much as we used to do. We always went out for dinner and always travelling.

Can you share what you’ve done to address those challenges?

We have learned to adapt just like everyone else has. We take it day by day and take all the necessary precautions.

Can you share your advice about how to best work from home, while balancing the needs of homeschooling or the needs of a family?

I have been online schooled for a couple of years now, so it was not hard to adapt to everything being based online. A lot of auditions are now virtual, so that helps. I can also take my acting classes through facetime and zoom.

Can you share your strategies about how to stay sane and serene while sheltering in place for long periods with your family?

I am going to be honest, staying at home with your whole family gets hard sometimes. We all get on each other’s nerves sometimes, but at the end of the day we will end up in the living room watching something together. We just adapted and give each other space when needed. That’s all you can do at this point.

Many people have become anxious from the dramatic jolts of the news cycle. The fears related to the coronavirus pandemic have understandably heightened a sense of uncertainty, fear, and loneliness. From your perspective can you help our readers to see the “Light at the End of the Tunnel”? Can you share your “5 Reasons To Be Hopeful During this Corona Crisis”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.

Five reasons to be hopeful during this time would be:

That everything will hopefully go back to normal. You have so much to look forward to when you can go anywhere without masks or being cautious. Everything will hopefully be in person instead of online, so we can interact with people like we used to.

We can spend this time to find ourselves again and reconnect with our loved ones and friends. I have come up with so many new hobbies that keep me busy as well.

My last reason to be hopeful is no matter how bad things get, we should always have hope.

From your experience, what are a few ideas that we can use to effectively offer support to your family and loved ones who are feeling anxious? Can you explain?

We can try to stay in touch and connect with family, so they don’t feel so alone during this time.

Can you please give us your favorite ”Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I have many quotes I go by. I love these quotes below by the people that inspire me the most. It is always good to be confident and always have hope.

“You need the tiniest bit of bravery. People get scared when you try to do something, especially when it looks like you’re succeeding. People do not get scared when you’re failing.” — Mindy Kaling

“I hope everyone gets to a place in life where they’d rather talk about things that inspire them over the things that bring them down.” — GiGi Hadid

Actress & Producer Madison Ekstrand: Seeing Light at the End of the Tunnel; 5 Reasons To Be Hopeful During This Corona Crisis

Written by Misty Schwartz