Episode 13

Forensic approach fuels career change for police officer turned actor Michelle Jeram

Published on: 10th October, 2022

If you’ve ever wanted to get into acting but wonder if you’ve left it too late, this episode is for you. Michelle Jeram and I discuss the benefits of coming to acting with a wealth of life experience and a different career under your belt. 

Michelle had a 23-year career as a police officer until she was medically retired after an assault on duty. Rather than sit back and relax, she decided to learn all she could about acting during lockdown and on her 52nd birthday she stepped onto set of a BBC drama Granite Harbour to play series regular DS Montrose. 

Michelle explains how embracing her experience of procedure and discipline has fuelled her new career and how she uses a forensic approach to script work and her process on set. It’s a fascinating episode, full of top tips for actors. 

Michelle mentions her coach Emma Crompton of the Casting Feed https://www.thecastingfeed.com/ and the book The Golden Rules of Acting by Andy Nyman, which can be found on the Creative Twist booklist here: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/creative-twist

And we talk about Ross Grant and the brilliant Act on This, of which we are both members. Find out more or join with my affiliate link here: https://www.actonthis.tv/a/10071/yZbq5gz2  

Granite Harbour will be shown on BBC Scotland, BBC1 and iPlayer and you can follow Michelle on Twitter @MichelleJeram

You can find out more about me and book me for voiceover via my website https://www.sallyvanderpump.com/ and if listening has got you feeling creative and ready to learn, why not get a month off Skillshare's amazing variety of creative courses using my affiliate link: https://skillshare.eqcm.net/YgzKgO

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About the Podcast

Creative Twist
How taking up a creative passion again or trying something new can rejuvenate your life. Sally Vanderpump chats to comeback creatives
In Creative Twist Sally Vanderpump talks to other comeback creatives about the power and joy of rediscovering your artistic dreams after a break.
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Sally Vanderpump

Sally Vanderpump is an actor and voiceover based in London. A lifelong lover of all things arty but previously shackled to the more "sensible" career of journalism, she decided to start Creative Twist to talk to people who have rediscovered their creative passions after a break or taken a twist in their path and tried something new.