Meet Elizabeth Mcfly | Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth Mcfly and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I’ll tell you what- my whole life, I thought I was lazy. Unmotivated. I would get bored easily. But I have come to realize that I didn’t actually struggle with laziness, I was afraid. Ever since I was in elementary school, my teachers would always give my parents the same feedback; “Elizabeth has potential, but she doesn’t put in the work to reach it fully.” Giving your 100% in something, and not succeeding, was in my opinion worse than giving 80% and not succeeding. There is this illusion of safety that comes with 80%. I am to this day learning to overcome these notions. A habit I have been trying to adopt is to do things more mindfully, intentionally, and with structure. Be more aware of my thoughts because they create my actions that lead into feelings, and it’s a whole cycle.
I do think that succeeding is a combination of luck, the right mindset, and putting in the work. I am very grateful that luck has been on my side in very critical moments in my career. I think the best habit that leads to success is the practice of discipline, which is more of an chosen act, whereas motivation is a feeling, and feelings come and go.
Another thing that I consider tremendously important, is adaptability. A director once told me that the biggest form of intelligence in today’s world, is adaptability- and ever since then I have seen this been proved over and over again. Especially since I have moved around the globe so much for acting, it taught me to adapt into different cultures, ideologies, people. I think that this eventually led me to be easy to work with, and that is a huge success in my eyes.
It can be scary, to chase your dreams sometimes. My best advice for overcoming these fears is the simple sentence that Nike turned into one of the most successful slogans of all time- Just do it. Fear it and do it anyway you know? Take those risks my dudes, we are on a floating rock anyway.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Born and raised in Athens, Greece, I knew I wanted to perform from a very young age. I grew up dancing, and later on I developed an interest in singing and acting too, with acting being my main occupation now. I was always a very independent kid and this lead me to move to a different country by myself, the week after I finished high school. I was offered a contract by The Walt Disney Company, to work for their Disneyland Paris park as an actor/dancer. A few years later, I also auditioned for Hong Kong Disneyland, and ended up moving there. After the pandemic, I moved to New York to study acting and finally get professionally trained. I chose the Lee Strasberg Institute because I wanted to explore the world of Method Acting and it has been a very enlightening journey. Since then, I have been spreading my wings in the Film and Television industry. What is becoming more and more difficult, is being away from my family. It’s a challenge we oftentimes don’t talk about. When I left for France, my brother was only 14 years old. I find myself dealing with guilt for missing out on basically his whole adolescence. I also didn’t get to see my family in 2 years because of Covid. Everyone has to make sacrifices for their dreams, and I wouldn’t change the path I have chosen. If anything, knowing how much I have sacrificed of things I cannot get back, makes me even more stubborn. My dad says I’ve come too far for the universe to not be on my side at this point and I agree. I am very grateful for my family, we are a very funny gang.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So I live in New York City right? And I always like to find the cheapest- even free fun activities to do with people when they come over. My favorite almost hidden treat is the Roosevelt Tramway- I don’t tell people what it is I’m taking them to till we’re actually there. I like to see their reactions. Another one is The Highline. I love walking there and listening to audiobooks/podcasts. It’s very different in the day vs night. The MET, is also one of my favorite spots in the city. I go there with my friends or alone to just walk around and just BE around art. Using city bikes to explore the city, is always a fun time. I have an electric scooter, so I just hop on the Hudson River bike lane and take it all the way down to Battery Park. And then you can take the Staten Island ferry which is also free. The Piers in Lower Manhattan are a beautiful place for sunset watching, Washington Square Park always has something going on, and Central Park is where I go with my picnic blanket and friends to play games and people watch. I am so happy spring in New York is just around the corner!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate this to all the extraordinary aliens. You know who you are.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/elizabethmcfly

Image Credits
Ardit Shahu Ahmad Mansour