{"id":2366732,"date":"2026-04-10T08:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2366732"},"modified":"2026-04-10T08:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T08:16:48","slug":"meet-julia-crockett-the-movement-coach-helping-stars-transform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/meet-julia-crockett-the-movement-coach-helping-stars-transform\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Julia Crockett, The Movement Coach Helping Stars Transform"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\u201cJust feel like a messy puppy,\u201d Julia Crockett instructs me, her eyes beaming with enthusiasm as if she\u2019s already part-way to embodying one herself. \u201cJust be a sloppy puppy,\u201d she excitedly repeats. \u201cSloppy puppy, sloppy puppy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Crockett isn\u2019t literally requesting that I turn into the animal while we sip matcha lattes in a Lincoln Heights caf\u00e9. But that was the very real advice she bestowed upon Sarah Pidgeon (or \u201cPidge,\u201d as she refers to the actor) when it came to tapping into the physicality of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, whom she portrayed \u2014 to much acclaim \u2014 in the recent Ryan Murphy-produced TV series, \u201cLove Story<\/a>.\u201d \u201cHer senses had to be alive,\u201d says Crockett. \u201cAnd I kept saying to Sarah, \u2018Really use your eyes to see the world, touch the world, taste the world, breathe through your mouth. Notice every little thing.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tCrockett\u2019s sensorial awareness makes sense considering she\u2019s a movement coach, which, in the simplest of terms, means she helps actors transform. In addition to teaching performers how to personify a broad array of animals (a deer in the woods is one of them, her longtime client-turned-friend Sarah Paulson<\/a> says), she coaches them on how to do things like move as though they have greasy joints and slippery bones; walk with their nose first; and collapse their chests as if their heart has been broken. Sometimes it\u2019s her job to identify physical habits. \u201cIn a session the other day, I was like, \u2018Let your butt cheeks go,\u2019\u201d says Crockett. \u201cAnd she went, \u2018How\u2019d you know?\u2019\u201d Usually it entails unlocking the underlying ethos of a character, which she compares to a \u201croom inside of an actor we just have to find the door to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s always been apparent to Crockett that the body should be keenly considered when telling a story, and as of late, more actors are wanting in on the process; she\u2019s worked across film, theater and TV with her ever-growing list of clients, which includes Emmy Rossum, Cristin Milioti, Austin Butler, Rachel Brosnahan, Luke Kirby, Rachel McAdams and Tommy Dorfman, to name a few. She wishes she could work with all of them more, though it\u2019s difficult to be in one place long enough to \u2014 ahead of our interview, Crockett has just gotten back to her home base of Los Angeles after wrapping a not-yet-announced project in Montreal, and after, she\u2019s heading to a Katana sword session where she\u2019ll watch a musician-turned-actor who shall remain nameless practice before flying to Kyoto with them the following week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Crockett typically prefers to keep the A-listers she\u2019s worked with private (\u201cIt\u2019s a very intimate experience,\u201d she explains, one that feels \u201calmost perverse\u201d to post about), her clients are more than willing to sing her praises. \u201cOur sessions together leading up to filming felt like being a kid again\u2026 They were exploratory and limitless and safe and free of embarrassment,\u201d says Milioti, who worked with Crockett for her Emmy-winning portrayal of Sofia Falcone in HBO\u2019s \u201cThe Penguin.\u201d \u201cJulia introduced a way of working to me that I had never known before,\u201d says Paulson, who first met Crockett while preparing to play Linda Tripp in \u201cImpeachment: American Crime Story,\u201d for which she also earned an Emmy nomination. \u201cThat was almost six years ago, and I have never worked on anything without her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIf this is the first you\u2019re hearing of a movement coach, you\u2019re not alone. While it may be niche, there are certainly others doing it; \u201cI didn\u2019t invent it,\u201d Crockett maintains. In acting conservatories, she points out, a movement class of some sorts is typically required. \u201cEven if it\u2019s just a dance class, there\u2019s an understanding that your body has to be doing the thing,\u201d she says. \u201cYou need a dynamic, sensitive, alive body.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat Crockett should be identified as is the inventor of her own specific method of movement training, a cocktail of conditioning and character coaching she\u2019s developed over nearly 20 years of studying bodies. The NYU Tisch graduate was taught the discipline while training as an actor by Nathan Flower, the Terry Knickerbocker Studio\u2019s head of movement training, who\u2019d noticed she was particularly gifted at it. At the time, she wasn\u2019t totally sold; \u201cI was like, \u2018Okay, cool,\u2019\u201d laughs Crockett. \u201c\u2018I\u2019m going to be a movie star, so I\u2019ll do this in the meantime.\u2019\u201d But for the better part of the following decade, Crockett served as a movement instructor on the faculty of schools like her alma mater and conservatories like the Maggie Flanigan Studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRossum was one of the first celebrities Crockett worked with as a coach; the \u201cShameless\u201d star was preparing to step into the role of real-life blonde bombshell Angelyne for the 2022 Peacock series about the personality\u2019s life, and Rossum\u2019s acting coach called on Crockett to help with the process. That\u2019s one example of a role Crockett\u2019s services would come in handy for \u2014 one based on a figure that demands the actor embody someone distinctly different from themself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tCrockett and Rossum on set of \u201cAngelyne\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tAs the name suggests, character coaching focuses on developing a character\u2019s inner life. (Conditioning, another\u00a0 element of Crockett\u2019s coaching, helps release the \u201cinstrument\u201d of one\u2019s body; it\u2019s somatic-focused work actors typically do when they\u2019re not on a project.) In Crockett\u2019s case, that also means conceptualizing the physicality that can reveal this to an audience, or, as she puts it, \u201chelping someone tell a story with their body.\u201d From project to project \u2014 and actor to actor \u2014 it differs. \u201cSome people really respond to energetic ideas or metaphors,\u201d says Crockett (see: sloppy puppy). \u201cSome people are very technical\u2026 think about your head being taller, you know.\u201d In the case of helping Paulson metamorphose into Tripp, it called for a bit of both; \u201cIt was like, \u2018Linda\u2019s heart had her heart broken. So I want you to collapse your chest,\u2019\u201d explains Paulson. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just like, \u2018You\u2019re going to play a duck. Here\u2019s how you walk like a duck.\u2019 It was like, \u2018Why does the duck walk like this? What is the physiology of the duck?\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tApply that to a role like Bessette Kennedy; \u201cShe had these anecdotes about her as somebody who was very magnetic, very comfortable to be around. She touched everybody, and she made everybody feel like family,\u201d says Crockett, who combed through research and the existing footage of the late publicist to aid in her conceptualization. \u201cShe just seemed like she had to be a very sensual person.\u201d This shaped the mannerisms of Pidgeon\u2019s Bessette Kennedy; \u201cThe eyes were a really big part of it,\u201d notes Crockett, as was the mouth: \u201c[It] was so important to me that she had it slack and open.\u201d Pidgeon\u2019s lip biting and hair tossing was also an intentional choice. \u201cThat became a kind of Sarah Pidgeon development on an idea,\u201d says Crockett. \u201cI also think it was something that when Sarah did it, she felt like her.\u201d \u201cThis is what\u2019s helpful about the physical work,\u201d she continues, \u201cbecause to actually arrive at that level of sensual confidence for some people \u2014 not necessarily for Sarah Pidgeon, but for some people \u2014 it might mean a lifetime of fucking therapy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette in \u201cLove Story.\u201d CR: FX<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tIf there\u2019s anyone suited to deal with an actor\u2019s unease, though, it\u2019s Crockett, who\u2019s well adjusted to it at this point, and as Paulson describes, generally unperturbed by anything which might make the average person turn red.\u00a0 \u201cThere is no judgment,\u201d says the actor. \u201cShe\u2019s so comfortable doing anything that you feel immediately comfortable doing anything.\u201d And, yes, even acclaimed actors get embarrassed, which is why is usually takes a few sessions (three being the minimum, Crockett says) to really get someone to open up: \u201cThe first couple times, he was like, \u2018I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m doing this,\u2019\u201d says Crockett on Chris Messina\u2019s first-time nerves (another treasured client). \u201cAnd then was just so much fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMost clients like to have Crockett around as much as her schedule allows, whether that\u2019s for rehearsals, on set, at a table read, or, as would be the case with Paulson, in their living room. In the case of \u201cLove Story,\u201d Crockett was around as much as she could be, both physically on set with Pidgeon and via FaceTime at night before shooting. Logistically, it looks different every time; \u201cWe have pictures of Julia on millions of sets, crouched in tiny corners, sometimes sitting in a trailer with my dog, sometimes in a big open space with the director,\u201d says Paulson, who is more often than not accompanied by Crockett while filming. In an ideal on set operation, Crockett is able to follow along on an iPad connected to QTAKE, an on-set video assist software; depending on a director\u2019s comfort level, she\u2019ll give, or translate, notes on the performance. And when sets are less welcoming, explains Paulson, \u201cshe hides in my trailer and she\u2019s on her own iPad, she\u2019s on QTAKE, she has the headphones on and she will text \u2014 I\u2019ll have my phone sometimes, and I will just put it in a couch or somewhere \u2014 and she\u2019ll give me notes from there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFor her clients, Crockett functions, both on set or off, as a sort of artistic ally in a process that typically\u00a0 transpires in solitude. \u201cThe rehearsal really happens then and there with the camera, and then you get adjustments from the director,\u201d says Crockett. It\u2019s something that can be tricky for an actor, especially on TV where directors come in and out, notes Paulson, as it becomes the actor\u2019s job to \u201chold the totality of the thing.\u201d Crockett can help with that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would always leave our time together feeling galvanized, vibrating with excitement, during a moment when I was terrified of messing it all up,\u201d says Milioti.\u00a0\u201cSometimes it\u2019s easy to lose sight of why one does this for a living, because there is an enormous amount of distraction, an enormous amount of noise. There is no noise in the room with Julia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source variety.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cJust feel like a messy puppy,\u201d Julia Crockett instructs me, her eyes beaming with enthusiasm as if she\u2019s already part-way to embodying one herself. \u201cJust be a sloppy puppy,\u201d she excitedly repeats. \u201cSloppy puppy, sloppy puppy.\u201d\u00a0 Now, Crockett isn\u2019t literally requesting that I turn into the animal while we sip matcha lattes in a Lincoln […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2366733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[364481,348308],"class_list":["post-2366732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-love-story","tag-sarah-paulson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Meet-Julia-Crockett-The-Movement-Coach-Helping-Stars-Transform.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366732"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2366734,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366732\/revisions\/2366734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2366733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}