Folks We Love with Bianca Kajlich, actress
Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you’ve come to arrive here. Who’s in your family? Ages? Names?
I’m originally from just outside of Seattle, WA. I came to Los Angeles after I had a mental breakdown in college due to severe anxiety attacks(and probably one too many shots of jack daniels). I dropped out, moved to good old Hollywood to pursue my dream of becoming an actor and never looked back. Well, I’ve looked back, but only with gratitude and absolutely no regrets! I met my husband Michael as a guest on his radio show Loveline. It was absolutely love(or lust) at first sight for me and after stalking him for 9 months I convinced(forced) him to take me out on a date. We have been married since 2012, and in April of 2014 we welcomed our first child, our daughter Magnolia Moon Catherwood.
Our little family consists of Me, Michael, Magnolia(age 2) and our three mutts Santiago, Luna, and Coco.
Location?
We live in Venice Beach, CA
Occupation?
I am an actress/mother/wife/eternal seeker of truth/web weaver
How did you choose your kids names?
Magnolia was the title of one of my husband’s favorite movies and it’s also a neighborhood in Seattle, so I felt connected to it. We choose “Moon” because I always loved the idea of a middle name that was like a secret alias, one that spoke to her connectedness with all of life. I also died of a cuteness attack every time I thought of the nickname “maggie moon” which is what we call her a lot!
Tell us some of your most loved ways to spend the day with your clan?
My favorite days with my family are the ones in which we find some fun little adventure to run off to together, whether it be a fairy hunt, the aquarium, or some funky little celebration that’s going down in the city. I love learning new things about this city and the best is seeing them through my daughters eyes. I also love a lazy day in bed together, cuddle crew!!!
What are some silly/fun things that the kids do or say?
Magnolia is saying so many funny things right now. She tells me “mommy, I love you. But sometimes I don’t like you.” Also one time when I asked her WHY she doesn’t like me she responded “because of your armpits”. Maybe it’s time for a new deodorant. She is also obsessed with dinosaurs and when we are walking to our front door she screams “the dinosaur is coming!!!” and runs and laughs like a lunatic.
When you were a teenager what did you dream of? Do things look different?
When I was a teenager I dreamed of so many things. I used to tell people that Madonna and Belinda Carlisle were my sisters. I was such a weirdo, I mean to not even think that people would probably know that THEY weren’t sisters. I believed in the good in people, I wanted to save the world, I loved to say cheesy romantic things anytime I thought I had an audience. Pretty much nothing has changed.
What are some things you really believe in?
I 100% believe in our ability to change our lives from the inside out when we can get the f%#k our of our own way. I believe that meditation can heal the world, and I don’t believe that you need to be able to do it WELL for it to work. In fact it’s better if you show up and suck at first. It’s more fun that way. I believe in energy and magic and LOVE, holy crapballs do I believe in love!
Where do your passions lie?
My greatest passion is to help people feel good about themselves. Whether it’s making them laugh, or entertaining them, or just saying something that helps them realize that they are not alone. so very far from it.
What are some of your favorite life lessons you’ve grown to love? (Even if learning them at the time was hard)
life lessons. oh there have been so many. I think the most important one for me is that you are always where you are supposed to be at any given moment. That certainly wasn’t the easiest to comprehend when my first marriage ended abruptly or my incredible father suddenly passed away… however now I can celebrate those moments and see how perfectly they play into my life as it has unfolded. And the unfolding is without question, the most heart achingly, beautiful part. My favorite quote by the poet Rilke says “I don’t want to stay folded anywhere. Because where I am folded, there I am a lie.”
What do you wish you could’ve told yourself when you were a teenager?
oh man, I wish I could have told my teenage self how amazingly perfect she was and that she didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. I wish I could have explained how silly and mean the teenage years can be and that she should never compromise herself or play small so that others wouldn’t feel like she thought too highly of herself. I wish I could tell that awkwardly beautiful girl to burst forth with all the light she could muster and for god’s sake NOT TO PLUCK HER EYEBROWS BECAUSE THEY DON’T GROW BACK.
What do you find most challenging about being somebody’s parent?
The most challenging thing that I find about being a parent is to get the hell out of the way and let Magnolia show the world who she is on her own. It’s so easy to want to post a million pictures and tell every story of every amazing thing she does, and guide her towards things that I think she might be good at. But the best is when I sit quietly in observation, and allow her the space to just be. When I remember that this is her life, and she is waaaaay closer to source than I am, no matter how many hours a day I meditate!
What do you want your kids to learn about the world?
What I want more than anything for my kids to learn about the world, is that the life that they perceive, will be life that they’ll experience. If you want to to talk about how awful everything is, and that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, then that is the world that you will live in. We are actually living in the most peaceful era of existence since human beings have occupied the earth. Is there shit to be dealt with? Totally! But we can do it if we just stop being so damn dramatic.
What are four things you can’t live without as a parent?
1. my morning meditation
2. my friends with kids
3. my amazing husband
4. Minnies Bowtique on youtube. because “there is NO business like bow business”