Interview by Michael Carfrae
Ken Pivak Photography. Concepts, creation, and post work all created by photographer Ken Pivak
Heidi Schooler: Building a Creative Legacy with “Eccentric Grace”
Heidi Schooler is an award-winning Los Angeles–based actor, voiceover artist, writer, and producer whose career reflects the entrepreneurial spirit at the core of Global Entrepreneurship Week Nevada. With work spanning film, television, theatre, and digital media, she continues to innovate by shaping her own path as both a performer and a creator.
Schooler’s career includes appearances on hit shows such as CSI: NY, a starring role in Bron Theron’s Half Dead Fred (2023), and major voiceover campaigns for brands like Walmart. She is currently a recurring talent on Nickelodeon’s animated series Rock, Paper, Scissors, where she voices multiple characters, and also serves as the spokesperson for the anemia drug Ojjaara.
In addition to her studio work, Schooler embodies creative entrepreneurship through her own projects. She acts in, writes, and produces her YouTube storytelling series Read to Me, Heidi, featuring her puppet sidekick Millicent—an inquisitive mouse with a raspy, comedic voice. Born from her commitment to give back to children in hospitals during her own health journey, the show reflects how purpose-driven storytelling can spark both healing and joy.
Her short film Millicent & Me and The Apple Tree, directed by John Beaton Hill, has been recognized internationally, earning Best Comedy Short at the French Riviera Film Festival in Cannes, Best Musical Short Film at the Voices Rising Film Festival in New York, and Best Musical/Comedy Short at the Culver City Film Festival in California, among other accolades.
Looking ahead, Schooler continues to expand her creative footprint. She recently filmed a 1930s-set feature that is now in post-production and aiming for a 2026 Cannes Film Festival debut, and she has been cast in an upcoming Netflix project—details of which remain under wraps.
When asked to describe her brand, Schooler distills it into two words: “eccentric grace.” The eccentricity is evident in her quirky, creative personality, while the grace lies in her mission to make a lasting, positive impact on her audience. Through her body of work, Heidi Schooler demonstrates how entrepreneurial vision, creativity, and resilience can redefine success in the arts.
This week, she sat down with Alter New Media’s Michael Carefrae to discuss the media-tech ecosystem’s role in shaping her online presence and projects.
What opportunities have you had because of your work with Alter New Media?
Heidi Schooler posing with her arms folded / Photo by Ken Pivak
The first thing we worked together on, before we did Read to Me, Heidi was that wonderful article they did regarding the film I was in, Half Dead Fred. I got a direct part because of that wonderful PR article. This woman I met on the film circuit, Donna DiGiuseppe, she said, ‘Hey, I saw you in Half Dead Fred, do you want to play an Irish nun?’ And I said, yeah, ‘I’d love to be in your movie.’
What have you learned since working with Alter New Media that you will carry into other projects?
Heidi Schooler laughing while recording voiceover / Photo by Ken Pivak
Part of my connection to ANM is I know I’m going to be told about the most up-to-date stuff. They’re constantly educating themselves. I feel like being with them, they’re the ones teaching me these tools that help me present myself better.
Like Linktree—I didn’t know about Linktree! I was sending people all these links of mine, now I send them my Linktree. They educated me about that, and they’re learning about new things all the time. Look, people come up with new apps all the time, but the thing is, because they do PR, they have to be cutting-edge.
What I’ve learned is I have to schedule posts almost immediately when I’m finished with them. That’s going to be a goal of mine—to post things as soon as I can to get them up there, because then it’s fresh and you’re showing people you’ve got more stuff going on and a presence.
They were the ones that said I should make Read to Me, Heidi into more bite-sized pieces. Not everybody wants to have an 18-minute full story for their kid. Who’s going to really sit there in this day and age? Everything from now on is probably just going to be split up in any story that we do—part one, part two. That’s been one of the most brilliant things they’ve told me.
How has your work with Alter New Media contributed to your presence and brand?
Heidi Schooler wearing a raincoat and holding the Millicent mouse puppet / Photo by Ken Pivak
They’ve definitely been the driving force of what’s helped me narrow down my brand, what I should focus on. Like influencers that love showing people food. I think that’s great for them, but for me, I wouldn’t show people my food because it’s not my brand and it’s not pushing what I’m doing forward.
Some of it is letting people know what you’re doing as a person. I’m so enmeshed with being an actor and doing voiceover. If I follow through with the ‘eccentric grace’ brand, that means I’m versatile. I go from eccentric—all the puppet stuff—to grace—characters with a big heart and a soul.
The big picture is to educate. I want to uplift and encourage and nourish and make an impact on people with the things I’m in or the projects that I’m doing, making people socially aware of things that I feel are important.
What are your upcoming goals or projects, and how do you see Alter New Media playing a role in them?
From left to right: Founders Nadya Rousseau and Lauren Jones of Alter New Media, Heidi Schooler, and Bron Theron at the Sin City Film Festival in Las Vegas for Half Dead Fred / Photo by Ken Pivak
Last year, I filmed a 1930s-set period feature. The director is hoping it will be in the Cannes Film Festival. If that is the case, I’ll definitely have Alter New Media promote that for me, and I’ll be excited to head to Cannes to promote it in person as well.
They give to a lot of different people and groups, and they’re always doing stuff, learning about the larger picture of things like Web3 events. They’re on the cutting edge of a lot of digital knowledge because they’re super brilliant. They’re always learning new things. I always will go to them if I need them to do straight PR because they’re super adept at how to write an article and promote someone really well. I have a lot of respect for them, so I’m always going to work with them. And of course, I would always love to be associated with them in the future like with Read to Me, Heidi, and collaborating with them in new ways or on new projects.
You can find more of Heidi Schooler’s work online at HeidiSchooler.com or her Linktree and Watch, Like, and Subscribe to Read to Me, Heidi on YouTube.
Disruptive Tech And the Hollywood Machine
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