Tanya Anticevic is an exceptional creative artist, who shines as an actress, voice-over artist, story-teller, writer, and teacher. Her passion for the arts is paralleled only by her love for teaching and helping others.
Tanya is a first-generation American, with South African, British & Croatian ancestry. Growing up in New York City- right next to Lincoln Center and in a musical family- she was surrounded by artists, theater, dance, musicians and all the creative energy NYC had to offer. She was by nature a performer and teacher from the very start, and her family lovingly helped to nurture those talents.
Tanya graduated from the celebrated “Fame” High School of the Performing Arts (LaGuardia) and went on to pursue a degree in Drama Studies at S.U.N.Y Purchase. Afterward, she received a B.A. in Education, with a minor in Language Arts and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hunter College. After teaching elementary school for 10 years (notably at the prestigious Lycée Francais de New York for 5 years, she decided to go to graduate school full time and received an MFA from the acclaimed “Actors Studio” Drama School. This fulfilled a dream goal of using her acting experiences and abilities to work alongside her immense aptitude and passion for teaching.
After unhappily dipping her toes in the pool of “celebrity real estate sales,” and hustling to sell the homes of celebrities like Diana Ross, Steve Jobs, Madonna and Bono she went out to The Hamptons for a change of pace and to redefine her goals. There she became a member of an amazing Theater Group, The Naked Stage (no she wasn’t sans clothing – it was just staged without props and sets in case you were wondering) and became a very popular radio voice-over artist for local businesses and events including The International Hamptons Film Festival. Her lifetime of experience with children and acting led her to develop a very successful Theater Games course called “ACTion Workshops” which she brought to schools and businesses as a visiting artist. She ultimately realized how much her workshops and classes involved Drama Therapy, for adults and children alike, and established a curriculum as a resource for both recovery centers/ rehabs as well as educational settings.
It would be impossible to write a biography without mentioning Tanya’s near-death car crash that occurred in The Hamptons in 2006. She suffered massive head wounds, a broken neck, and body…and spent a few years putting herself back together with surgery, a few metal body parts and healing from the heartbreak. What didn’t break from this tragic life event was her indomitable spirit. In fact, it fostered an unwavering determination to have no regrets! Sometimes setbacks are actually just set-ups for a comeback.
A lifetime of working on her craft, traveling the world, healing, and evolving finally lead her to Los Angeles California, where she had always wanted to live. Closer to family and friends in the sunny warm climate she started to really shine. She decided to continue molding and defining her career in the entertainment industry, to be of service, and find her place in a community. She has spent the past several years volunteering quite a bit of time to The Young Storytellers Foundation as a mentor, in addition to volunteering her storytelling abilities and other skills throughout the school year as a Book Pal, Pen Pal, and Drama Pal through SAG-AFTRA.
In 2016, she faced additional health challenges when she was diagnosed with stage four melanoma, skin cancer. With the support of the best oncology dept in California, more surgeries and treatment she managed to pull through, ready to add yet another victory story to her book!
Work Bio
No stranger to an old fashioned work ethic, Tanya has been working since she was 12 years old! – when she started her own, highly successful, babysitting and dog walking business on the Upper West Side of NYC. Since then she has had a resume of job experiences that would rival Claudia Shear in “Blown Sideways Through Life !”
Being an artist, everyone knows, requires job flexibility, so of course, there was a smattering of the various hotel, restaurant, and catering jobs in her college years. Because of an innate nurturing sensibility and love for kids, professional nannying was a favorite job choice for Tanya. Thanks to her permanent license and teaching certification, Tanya was lucky enough to tutor/coach children in TV, Film, and Theater for a short time. These days she has found her way into a very satisfying role as a teacher, coach and workshop leader in Acting Technique, Scene Study, Directing Scenes, Improv Games, Theater History, and Drama Therapy.
Voice-over study/classes started in the 90′s right after Tanya was approached through a receptionist job to do the voice-over for the company phone messaging! It is one of those gifts we all have received – the ability to instinctively do something really well and find great joy and purpose in doing so. Tanya has worked on several local voice-over projects since moving to LA (Verdugo Hills Hospital online – click on the video then middle commercial, books on cd, walla groups for film and commercials) and now that she is with Bobby Ball Talent she is auditioning for cartoons, video games, and more character voice-over roles. She recently signed a deal with the publishing company “The Author Platform Guru” to be one of only a select few voice-over artists for their audiobooks.
After living in Los Angeles for a few years she was approached for her writing ability to work as a copywriter for Nada Advertising which is now CiFli Holdings. This led to highly sought after freelance work in the beginning as a copywriter for magazines like ” ACT Like A Child” and blogs for websites. It later advanced to ghostwriting for celebrities, Huffington Post articles, book proposals, documentary film scripts, children’s books and top of page content writing and curating.
Tanya became a member of The North American Drama Therapy Association in order to help a wider range of people through what she believes to be a universal and collective need for healing.
And lastly, Tanya started “Signs Of Love In LA” and “SOL Seeking” as a passion project driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and need to share beautiful heartfelt support through her photography passion project.
Next up? “Stories In The Sun” with live and interactive storytime for all those families stuck at home!
Whatever Tanya is doing for “work” she approaches it as a consummate professional, with a tenacious nature and strong work ethic. She has always found great joy in giving, sharing, and being of service.
Personal Quotes
” I feel better and more alive when I am doing certain things: Acting, Voice-overs, Teaching… when I am doing them well, I feel like I am living up to something…”
” The words that need to be expressed are in all of us: how, when and where to get what’s inside out of us, seems to be a challenge for most people, kids and adults alike. I find it fascinating that we have this imperative need to begin with! Finding a way to express myself has been an essential part of my growth and development and I absolutely LOVE being able to share that with others.”
” I have always been a keen and sensitive observer of human behavior. Ever since I was a young child, people have always wanted me to tell and re-enact the stories of ” what happened”- even if they had been there! Somehow I innately knew how to make the story happen; I could make it vividly funny, tragic, or scary and real. I could exaggerate some of the stories so that it became almost mythical, the characters larger and the meaning or significance something that every listener could relate to… I finally realized that being“dramatic” and having a flair for vulnerability and emotions is actually very useful!”
