Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Tetiana Gaidar Is Helping To Shake Up The Entertainment… (2024)

Say something nice to someone everyday including to yourself. Life is hard, work is hard and when you put your focus on other people your own struggles don’t seem so big.

As a part of our series about Inspirational Women In Hollywood, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Tetiana Gaidar.

Tetiana Gaidar is a SAG Actress of Ukrainian origin. She began her career in her home country at the age of 18 as a dancer and choreographer on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Ukraine.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine in a family of very hard-working scientists. My entire family is scientists and physicists. I turned out to be the first artist in my family. We had a little house in the village by Kyiv where I spent most of my childhood in nature with my grandparents. I remember every summer sneaking into the woods after watching Sara Michel Gellar in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and trying to copy her badass aerials (cartwheels without arms). I loved it there and I loved my grandparents who unfortunately passed away during the current war in Ukraine. We had a little one-bedroom apartment in Kyiv for the five of us (my parents and my sister with my brother). We grew up in the post-Soviet Union Ukraine where freedom was just starting in Ukraine but there were still a lot of limitations. I remember in school we were forced to wear uniforms, and nothing else was allowed. My brother and I were both bullied and beaten up in school, but I never told my parents so as not to upset them. If you read this mom, don’t worry about it now, now I can stand up for myself. During those years I dreamed of being like my favorite action characters so that no one can hurt me anymore.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

When I was 10, my dad came home one day and turned on “X-Files”. I fell in love with David Duchovny. I mean, who wouldn’t? I remember I thought I wanted to become like Scully, an FBI agent. I started learning English by watching David Duchovny’s subtitles. My parents thought I was joking. In the Ukraine I probably would have ended up working for the KGB and my dream of becoming an FBI agent would never come true. Plus, my mom thought if I didn’t become a scientist, I would be a great designer. When I was a kid, she brought me dolls and I would always redesign their outfits. I had this recurring dream that everyone in Ukraine would laugh at me when I told them that I wanted to become an agent. I was so enamored by the skill sets that Mulder’s character has. Skill sets that make humans seem superhuman. And as I mentioned earlier, being bullied and humiliated in school was inspiring me to become a well-rounded badass who can stand up for myself and help others in need like Jessica Alba’s character Max was doing in Dark Angel. My mom wanted me to be a ballerina, however, I said my dream is to be an agent. She didn’t like my answer, we got into an argument while walking home and there was a Kung Fu school right there and she dragged me inside and signed me up. My dream came true. And that’s when my legit martial arts training and competitions started. Doing martial arts taught me so much about discipline that I found it so useful when I started acting. Later in life, we had a tragedy in our family. My boyfriend and closest friend from the Kung Fu school died. And that was one of the darkest moments in my life, losing the ones we love is the hardest thing to go through. One day, a friend of mine invited me to go to the first hip-hop dance school in Kyiv Myway Dance Center, and I was like “yes”. So, I did it, I said yes, and I found therapy in dance. Dance helped me to heal and express grief, fear, sadness, and loneliness, I had buried inside of myself. Because I was dancing day and night to relieve my sorrow, I became a great dancer very fast. Within a couple of months, I joined the first hip hop team in Myway, I assisted in choreography to Sasha Bobik the owner of the school. I ended up on SYTYCD Ukraine. And after that my official career in acting showbiz began.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I think the most interesting story is coming to LA on my own with $200 in my pocket to pursue my acting dream in Hollywood. You see, I tried for 5 years to get a visa to the US, but I was rejected every time I tried. So, once I got lucky when a 5-day working visa was changed to a 6-month visa, I took a risk and flew to LA. After, I just landed in Los Angeles without luggage or any clothes and not knowing what to do next. I started texting my dancer friends to try to find a living situation in LA. A friend of mine helped me to get an old manual transmission car so I could drive and live in the car until I found a place to stay. I had just gotten my driver’s license back in the Ukraine, so I barely knew how to drive, and I had no one here to teach me. I had to figure out everything on my own and become that badass character like Dark Angel or Mulder. So, here I am in LA with $200 in my pocket, no place to live, sleeping in my car, learning how to drive, trying to get a job, working on my Visa situation so I could earn money to eat. It was brutal. I went through a lot of challenges, a lot of dark times, hustling tons of jobs, and surviving it all by going into my head and playing the badass character I saw in my favorite shows when I was a kid.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I have two stories to tell, a sad one and a funny one. Let’s start with a funny one.

When I was living in my car and teaching myself how to drive, I remember one day coming home late from a performance. It was cloudy and rainy, and my Waze app kept saying “turn right”. So, I turned, and it was the freeway entrance. I didn’t yet know how to drive more than 20 miles per hour, so I made a U-turn. I didn’t know what a freeway was. I didn’t understand why all the cars were coming at me and flashing their lights at me. The police came, towed my car. I could have been sent to prison. I was lucky a good cop took pity on me and let me off with a warning. That was quite a story. Blessed that nothing bad happened that day. So, the lesson is to learn how to drive properly with someone, not on your own, especially in another country.

Also, I have a lot of funny stories about my English, like calling beach a bitch in front of producers. You see I started learning English from my favorite shows and movies, but it wasn’t enough when I came to LA. Have you seen the movie “Demolition Man”? Sandra Bullock’s character was my everyday experience here. The lesson here is if you want not to embarrass yourself, study English with a professional coach. Thank you, Rob Hanh.

My second is a sad one, but it taught me a great life lesson. Back in Ukraine, a couple of days before I went to the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Kyiv, I decided to leave town for a couple of days to see my grandparents. I left home without saying goodbye. And the next morning I woke up and my mom said that my boyfriend had drowned. It was a horrible accident in my life that taught me early how to appreciate every minute of our lives to always, always say I love you and goodbye to the people that we care about, because we never know how long we are all going to be here and don’t take people or moments for granted.

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? Can you share a story about that?

It is very true indeed. No matter how many challenges life puts me through, I am beyond grateful for the wonderful people in my life who help me or inspire me in any way to pursue my dream or become a better person. Sasha Bobik from Myway Dance School, my first hip hop teacher, helped me a lot by believing in me, giving me my first job and inspiring me to pursue my dream to come to America. He was always telling me that my level of dance was good enough to take me to a market bigger than that of Ukraine. I am very thankful to Ruslana Luzuchko for helping me open a 5-day work visa to come to the States. My first friend in LA Jane, who gave me a bed to sleep in instead of a car and my friend Dima who went through hell surviving with me here and sleeping on a mattress we picked up on the streets.

I will be forever thankful to Taran Butler and Titus Welliver who truly believed in my talent and gave me a life changing opportunity to prove it. I am thankful to Jon Bernthal for introducing me to Joshua Bitten and Steve Petramale and advising me to “focus on doing the work and your craft and people will notice you”. I am also thankful to all my teachers, coaches, friends, and my family who always put up with me and my crazy dreams and goals.

I will never stop saying thank you to all these wonderful people. My mom always says: “say thank you, nothing will fall off your body if you thank someone one more time, stay humble and grateful.”

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Yes, it can be challenging at times and at times rewarding. Here is my advice: 1) I will repeat what Jon Bernthal taught me “focus on doing the work and people will notice you sooner or later”. 2) Don’t listen to anyone or anything. Have faith in yourself because no one else will. Be open-minded and listen to advice and constructive criticism, but don’t let anyone get into your head and tell you that you can’t do something. The only person who can limit you is you. You would be shocked if I told you how many times, I have heard that I can’t do this or succeed at that. How many times I was advised against doing something that they themselves later did. The point is to be kind, humble, respectful, and open hearted but believe in yourself and don’t give up. And when failure happens, because it does happen, take whatever lesson you can from it. And I have learned and advise you to seek positive in every negative. From every failure most of the time some good happens. Every detour leads you to a better path that was meant for you as long as you stay truthful to your heart and your soul cravings.

Every industry iterates and seeks improvement. What changes would you like to see in the industry going forward?

I believe that everything in life comes full circle. I think once they’ve done so many different superhero movies, more films with good storylines like “Good Will Hunting” will be made. And in my opinion, I wish there will be a trend back to more realistic action in films. Hyper realism and cartoon action is fun but there is a lot of it sometimes.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

I am very excited for people to go see “John Wick-Chapter 4” in theaters right now. I was very blessed to be a part of this incredible film that is number one in the world right now. Also, I am very excited to be a part of “Borderlands’ ‘ with Kevin Hart and “Back in Action “ with Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. And off course season two of my show Bosch Legacy. If you haven’t seen the first season of Bosch Legacy please watch it, it was one of the happiest moments of my life to work with such a talented team of actors and products. They are still my family. And I am in post-production of my first short film. I love producing films. It is very hard but at the end very rewarding when you get a chance to put together a team of talented people. It is coming out soon and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

We are very interested in looking at diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture and our youth growing up today?

Given the fact that I am from Ukraine myself with Italian roots, to have more diversity would be nice. I just want to see everyone working and have enough opportunities to create and work. I think the more diverse a set is, the more creativity sparks. We will have different skill sets, people with different mentalities and background which can lead to some new interesting innovations in film making.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Well, a lot of people say that Hollywood is 90 percent promises that don’t materialize but keep your faith focused on the 10 percent that are true while continuing doing your work. I was promised a part opposite one of the biggest 80th action stars of all time and I delivered on my end what they wanted from me for months with connections and other things, when I came to find they cast someone else for the part without letting me know. And when I asked what happened they said I wasn’t pushy enough. I didn’t let it ruin me and I could have. While it was very difficult to accept this, I wish I knew that sometimes people can be like this. So, I should not focus on promises but focus on doing the work, growing as an artist and being grateful for wonderful people I know.
2. Be careful what you say. We live in a world where people don’t always look at their intentions anymore even when you are trying to help. They just look for something to trigger them.
3. Stay true to yourself. When I started, a lot of people told me I would not work if I didn’t get rid of my accent. They put me in my head and for a time I lost my authenticity in my acting. Now I do have a dialect coach, I still work on my voice but also on staying true to my portrait of the character.
4. Try to focus and find positivity in every failure and every negative moment. It will keep your body and mind healthier. It promotes growth and you are not wasting the most precious gift in life, which is time.
5. Say something nice to someone everyday including to yourself. Life is hard, work is hard and when you put your focus on other people your own struggles don’t seem so big.

Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Please share a story for each one if you can.

My self-care routines are very simple and easy. 20 minutes a day every morning, on an empty stomach, I stretch with light workout. If I am lucky, after a long day of work, I love to unwind with more stretching and a good movie. I enjoy green juice followed by matcha latte with MCT oil and a scoop of unflavored Vital protein in the morning. It is my comfort zone ritual. Even when I travel, I try to do it daily. I do meditation, either in the morning or before bed. My daily skin-care routine each morning and night is also a must. In the morning I don’t wash my face, I love to keep my natural oils since I have dry skin. I use Barbara Sturn anti-aging serum followed by her super rich cream and sunscreen. I use sunscreen daily as well, no matter where I go. I love mineral tinted Tizo sunscreen and CC Chanel sunscreen. At night, I use cleanser from Barbara Sturn or the Honest company, followed by Night serum Barbara Sturn, Environ Retinol and Vitamin A,& C twice a week, and rich cream Barbara Sturn. No matter how much money I always had, even when I didn’t have any money, I always invested in skin care products, sunscreen and facials. Reading Cameron Diaz books and Jessica Alba inspired me to do that and understand why investing in your skin is more important than buying clothes or anything else, because you only get one skin! I love my facials with Julia Luciv at Julia Luciv Skin Salon. She is a great esthetician and has helped to change my skin a lot. And my micro needling PRP with Dr. Zara. And as I mentioned before, diet and hydration is very crucial for me and when I eat healthy and drink lots of water I feel good and look good.

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

“Consequences”. Every action we take leads to consequences sooner or later. When I begged my parents to get out of Ukraine and I didn’t push too hard, and off course they didn’t listen to me, I had to pay the consequences of paying all my savings to get them out of Kyiv. And if they had listened to me and Taran, we would have had different consequences and different years of our lives.

The 5 people we surround ourselves with determine who we are. Show me your best friend and I will tell you who you are. I have noticed that people I surround myself with really affect me on a subconscious level. For most of my life, I have tried to be the smallest person in the room to learn how to be better.

Red flags. A person is their word. If a person promises you something and does not deliver what they promised, most likely they will do it again, if someone lies to you most likely they will lie again. People are a product of their habits, according to Joel Dispenza. And in my personal experience I found it very true. It is possible but very hard for us to change. It takes a lot of will, discipline and sacrifice, and some people are not willing to do that.

The truth shall set you free. Having an honest and honorable relationship with yourself and people around you will help you to have a healthy and long-lasting relationship with yourself and others.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

After last year, my city, Kyiv, and my home country, Ukraine, where I grew up and my family has lived their entire lives were bombed. I would love to create influence and help orphans and families who have lost everything. You know when the war happened, and I was finally able to reach my family, they told me they had to evacuate immediately leaving everything they had ever owned behind except for whatever they could fit in a backpack. They lost everything. Over the next 4 months, I spent all my savings and earnings from my first show to try to get my family to the border and raise money for my dance friends in Ukraine. I was very blessed to get my family out alive, but a dear friend from acting school was killed helping to rescue kids and get them to the border, so yes, I would love to be able to help more people who have lost everything, like my family, and especially help those who lost loved ones.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

I would love to have lunch with David Duchovny and tell him he was my first love at first sight.

And my first English coach. And I am here in LA because he inspired me once.

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

Yes, I am, I do my own social media. I do my Instagram daily and I do it personally. On all my platforms I love to connect with my people and build a community.

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/TETIANAGAIDAR/

IMDb imdb.me/tetianagaidar

Youtube https://www.youtube.com/c/tetianagaidar

Facebook is https://www.facebook.com/tetiana.gaidar

Square where you can order posters you like https://tetianagaidar.square.site

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!