The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

135 Scottish BAFTA Award Winning "Queen of Scream" Actress Shauna Macdonald on Navigating Grief, Inspiring Scottish Youth & Supporting an Epic Quest to Row Across the Atlantic

December 30, 2022 Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian Episode 135
The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius
135 Scottish BAFTA Award Winning "Queen of Scream" Actress Shauna Macdonald on Navigating Grief, Inspiring Scottish Youth & Supporting an Epic Quest to Row Across the Atlantic
Show Notes

Please welcome to the 'Clearing' Scottish BAFTA Award winning actress & “Queen of Scream” Shauna Macdonald. "If you Google me a lot of horror comes up!" partly because of her role as Sarah Carter in the iconic film "The Descent" circa 2005.

A rich and textured conversation indeed on handling grief after the loss of her mother just under a year ago ("all roads lead back to my mum"), inspiring the future of Scottish Film & TV as Director of the Edinburgh Youth Theatre.  And currently also supporting, (as "Queen of Digital Media"), the Atlantic Rowing Team "Atlantic Body & Soul" with her husband Cal Macaninch as one of a team of 5 at the oars, currently mid-row across the Atlantic as part of the Talisker Whisky Challenge. 

Do listen out for the postscript "Captain's Log Supplemental" extract just beyond  the outro, where Shauna tells us more about how we can support Cal and "Atlantic Body & Soul" in their Epic Quest and row across the Atlantic to raise money for young people that have experienced trauma.

More about Shauna: 

Born in Malaysia 40 odd years ago, Shauna Macdonald took advice from her mother early on and Shauna has lived by it ever since. Shauna’s mum’s health was compromised by spina bifida and polio but her spirit never was. Her advice to Shauna was straightforward: “You can do anything you want !”

It applied when Shauna wanted to be an actor and joined the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It applied when she fell in love in her twenties, with another actor, one somewhat older than her. It applied when she joined the Edinburgh Youth Theatre as a relief teacher and helped build it to over 200 souls strong in the last 7 years. 
Despite her only recently diagnosed dyslexia, Shauna is now a dab hand at applying for funds to benefit the future young talent of Scotland the brave. 

Her husband, Actor Cal Macaninch is a brave man. At the time of this recording, he is 10 days into an epic journey of 40+ days of rowing across the Atlantic as part of a crew of 5, helping to raise money for Charity as one of 43 boats competing in the flotilla of the Tulisker Whisky Challenge.

And yes, Cal is the actor Shauna fell in love with numerous years ago. Apart from the traditional vows they exchanged, Shauna and Cal committed to sharing new adventures on a regular basis. All being well, their next will be being reunited in Antigua in a few weeks’ time and in the past their adventure-loving spirit has taken them to countries as far away from Scotland as Australia, South Africa and Canada. On the way, they have added 3 children and two dogs to their family troupe. 

She now has a Scottish BAFTA award to her credit and has worked more or less non-stop since she left drama school. Her credits include the TV series ‘Spooks’ and on the big screen the genuinely spooky movie masterpiece ‘The Descent’. 

Shauna has always been active. Originally with badminton, basketball, 

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