Four years ago, actress Samantha Mathis, who rose to fame in the 90s by acting in films such as Turn up the volume and Super Mario Bros., was, like all actors, suddenly out of work after the pandemic shut down all TV and film productions.
“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” she tells industry PEOPLE.
At exactly the same time, she and her sister closed on a house in New York’s Hudson Valley, so she moved to upstate New York and did what a lot of people do during that time—she discovered a side hustle.
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Mathis says her realtor, who was also a friend, told her, “‘You’d be a natural at this. You love architecture, you love homes, you love the upstate, you’re great with people.’ ”
“At first I thought she was crazy,” Mathis says. “I think a lot of us actors suffer from this thing where it’s like, ‘Oh, but I don’t know how to do anything but act.’ ”
But the more she thought about it, the more the idea appealed to her. “I’ve always been obsessed with real estate porn,” she jokes.
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“And my friend kept encouraging me to keep doing it. So I went and took classes and got my license. It kind of organically started happening to me. I posted on social media that I was doing it, and a friend told a friend, and all of a sudden I had a bunch clients.” She adds: “It was definitely a decision due to the pandemic!”
It turned out to be a perfect fit. “I love being an advocate for people and helping them find their dream home,” she says. “What could be more exciting? It’s one of the biggest decisions someone can make in their life, and it comes with so many hopes. When someone finds a place where they feel they can build their future, it’s really moving.”
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Of course, the schedule also perfectly suited her acting career, which took off again after production began. (She recently starred in Billionsand will be in a new off-Broadway play this fall.)
“I can be my own boss and work as many hours as I want,” she says. “And I have a partner upstate, so if I get an acting job, I can tell him yes.”
On March 26, Mathis announced on Instagram that she had joined the Corcoran luxury real estate team in Manhattan. She says real estate in the city is a different beast than upstate, but it’s been incredibly exciting. “I’m learning a lot,” she says, noting that she’s also seen some amazing properties.
But he says there’s another amazing aspect of a career in real estate: He’s kind to women.
“As a woman and an actress, aging has its challenges,” she says. “But as a woman in real estate? You are respected. You can grow old. My mentor was a woman. Now I have a mentor who is a woman. We really support each other in the real estate business.”
She adds, “My friend’s mother became an agent at 60 and worked until she was 85. My agent in Los Angeles didn’t start real estate until she was 50, and she’s 80 and still working. So it’s nice to know I can age and work. That’s not always the case in show business.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education