Carrie-Anne Moss

Lewis Howes:                 This is 5-Minute Friday!!

We’ve got an incredible interview today. It’s with Carrie-Anne Moss, someone that I recently got connected to through a buddy of mine, Eric Handler. Now, most of you might know who Carrie-Anne is, as the character, Trinity, in The Matrix, which was a cult classic instantly and inspired and moved so many people who watched that movie.

And she had an incredible role and did an amazing job. But Carrie-Anne is much more than that! She is a mother, a wife, an actress, and a yogi, who came to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. Now, over the last twenty years, her work in the entertainment industry includes roles in The Matrix, and Momento, and many other films and TV shows.

Now, success as an actress has brought her fulfilment, but for Carrie-Anne it was marriage and motherhood, where she found her deepest sense of purpose and her greatest joy.

Carrie-Anne Moss:         I moved here, knowing absolutely nobody. I had one person that I knew. I had no money, I had no green card, I just had a dream. And I wasn’t super savvy, I mean, I have a great deal of naiveté at the same time.

Lewis Howes:                 That helps. That helps!

Carrie-Anne Moss:         Yeah, it totally helps! I don’t know how! I lived for Oprah back then, because she was my 3 o’clock, I knew I had something that I could do at 3 o’clock, because I didn’t have auditions, I didn’t have friends, I didn’t have anything here, that first year of living in L.A..

Lewis Howes:                 Where did you live?

Carrie-Anne Moss:         I lived right around the corner on Melrose. I met my manager, who is from Vancouver. She and I have been together for twenty-four years, she still lives there.

Lewis Howes:                 No way! So she was in Vancouver, she said you’re going to L.A.?

Carrie-Anne Moss:         I met her, I was walking by her office, bringing a guy that I knew to meet a modelling agent, and she saw me, and she said, “You! Come in!” and we ended up talking and she said, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “I’m going to L.A. to be an actress,” and she said, “I’ll help you.” I was like, “Okay.”

She became my manager, and her ex-husband lived here, and they had a child and I rented a room and I paid her the $500 that was part of like, his support, or whatever. And he’s a comedian and he’s a talk show host, and he’s amazing, he was always travelling, and so I lived in this one room in his apartment, off Melrose, the suites are in Melrose.

And I didn’t have enough money to go for a coffee. And I’m not exaggerating, okay? Not even in the least. And I just knew that…

Lewis Howes:                 Did she start sending you out on auditions? Or what happened?

Carrie-Anne Moss:         She connected me with an agent, and I met an agent and I started auditioning and I started to work.

Lewis Howes:                 Took acting classes?

Carrie-Anne Moss:         Started to do acting classes. So, one of the things that I have always applied in my acting career and I’m actually thinking a lot about it lately, as a woman, is that I would always think, if I got a job or something, that I was part of the wheel, right? Like, you have your wheel with the spokes coming out of the wheel, like on a bicycle.

And that my value as an actor was no more important than the craft service, than the sound guy, than the camera operator, the producer, the writer, all of us, it takes all of us. We all have these equal pieces that create the function of this wheel, and so it’s always been very important to me to understand that.

Because, sometimes, as an actor, you get treated so well, it can be, it’s not always, probably pretty rarely, for most people, but I’ve had that experience, where I’ve been treated so well. People bring you a coffee, and, “What do you need?” and, “Oh, can you get me that from my trailer?” Those kinds of things that are pretty…

Lewis Howes:                 The sound guy doesn’t get that treatment, necessarily.

Carrie-Anne Moss:         Right. But I want, I always want to remember that, that part of the whole.

Lewis Howes:                 If the sound guy isn’t doing his job, then you’re going to suffer. The wheel’s going to suffer.

Carrie-Anne Moss:         Well, it’s just holding that we’re all part of this creative process together. We’re all making. Like, if you look at The Matrix, it was this coming together of all of these people that all had such big heart and expertise and passion and drive, to create this product.

And I love being a part of that, I’m a team player, I love to be on a team. I’m not alone, I don’t want to do it on my own, I love collaborating. It turns me on to collaborate with people, I need that. I’m not an island unto myself, I need that interaction with other people. So, as an actress, I think.

And then, some basic things, like, as an actress, often, you’re unemployed. So, I remember feeling like, if I needed to know that I was enough, regardless of whether I had a job or not. So, I worked hard at that, that was an ongoing…

Lewis Howes:                 Because you can go maybe for a year or two when you don’t have something, right?

Carrie-Anne Moss:         It can be. If you had to look in every journal I’ve ever written in since I was ten years old, I have journals and journals and journals from that apartment on Melrose Suites, saying, “I am enough, I am enough, I am enough, I deserve success.

Lewis Howes:                 Hey, guys! If you enjoyed this inspirational clip from a past episode of the show, then you’ll love the free book I’m giving away right now. It’s called The Millionaire Morning. It includes some of my best tips for starting off your day with a millionaire mindset. Get your free copy at themillionairemorning.com and just pay shipping.

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