Quincey Szymeczek on Acting, Growth, and Overcoming Fear of Failure

Quincey Szymeczek's acting journey has been shaped as much by setbacks as successes. Through vertical dramas and a growing body of work, she has learned to trust herself and keep moving forward.

Quincey Szymeczek is drawn to flawed characters.

Whether she's playing a vulnerable romantic lead, a manipulative villain, or a woman trying to reinvent herself, the actress is most interested in people who are messy, complicated, and deeply human. It's an approach that mirrors her own journey as a performer.

Her appreciation for imperfect characters comes from experience. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue acting, Szymeczek found the industry's constant rejection difficult to handle and eventually stepped away from the profession.

Years later, she returned with a different perspective—one shaped by experience, self-reflection, and a renewed commitment to acting.

“I gave up on my real dream of acting because I was afraid of failing,” she said during a 2026 interview.

Returning to acting meant confronting that fear directly. Since then, Szymeczek has built a growing résumé across vertical dramas, film, and digital storytelling while learning to approach both her career and personal life with greater self-compassion and confidence.

Returning to the Dream

Szymeczek first found acting through school and early screen work. Growing up, she expected she would follow a more traditional career path.

In an October 2025 interview, she recalled that her father was an engineer and her mother an accountant, but a small role on a Discovery Channel show during college changed the direction of her plans. She moved to Los Angeles at 21 to pursue acting, but within her first year, the rejection became overwhelming.

In a later interview, she admitted it was "too much rejection" to handle at the time, leading her to take what she described as a "long detour" before returning to acting around 2020.

Since returning, Szymeczek has built a résumé that spans film, television, commercials, and vertical dramas. Her credits include titles such as “Under the Hood,” “CEO’s Baby Mama Secretary,” “The Husband Swap Game,” “30 Years Frozen, 3 Brothers Regret,” “Out of Ties, Out of Bloodlines,” and “Bound to the Bastard Billionaire.”

Quincey Szymeczek behind the scenes of a vertical drama shoot | Source: instagram/quinceyszymeczek

Finding Momentum in Vertical Dramas

Vertical dramas became an important part of Szymeczek’s return to acting.

In one interview, she described the format as a “great launchpad” for her career, noting that after booking her first vertical through Actors Access, the work became nearly nonstop.

She has also credited verticals with helping her gain confidence on set. The fast pace, technical demands, and volume of work pushed her to learn quickly.

“Because the verticals are so demanding, it’s like a boot camp for film,” she said.

That momentum matters. She worked on more than 20 projects in 2025, a period that helped her sharpen both her confidence and her screen instincts.

She has also spoken about wanting the space to continue evolving creatively. While she understands why platforms often return to stories that have already proven successful, she has said she wants to see more risks, stronger writing, and deeper storytelling in verticals.

“Let’s move the needle,” she said during an interview. “Let’s make even better art than the last.”

The Role That Stands Out

Among Szymeczek’s vertical drama roles, “Under the Hood” holds a special place.

In the Vigloo mini-series, she plays Selene Beaumont opposite Cayman Cardiff. Szymeczek described the project as one of her favorite experiences in the entertainment industry, saying the cast and crew knew early on that they had a strong story.

The role gave her room to explore vulnerability. She explained that Selene was not a “one-note lead” because she carried pain privately until she found emotional safety with Jaxon, played by Cardiff.

Szymeczek has also shared that one emotional car scene between Selene and Jaxon became especially meaningful because Selene was talking about her father.

“Anything about my dad, I’m like, ‘Oh, I know that pain,’” she said.

That connection helped her understand Selene’s choices more deeply. She also praised Cardiff as a scene partner, saying he brought openness and emotional presence to their work together.

Drawn to Flawed Women

While “Under the Hood” allowed Szymeczek to explore vulnerability, she has also found herself drawn to darker and more complicated characters.

In “CEO’s Baby Mama Secretary,” she played Lyra, a villainous character whose choices were not easy to defend. But Szymeczek said the challenge was finding a way into the character’s desperation and humanity.

“I do love a good villain,” she said. “I love a problematic character because there’s just so much more you can bite into.”

She expressed a similar feeling about another role named Delilah, describing the character as a villain whose actions came from a painful relationship and internalized negativity.

For Szymeczek, flawed women are often more interesting because they leave room for conflict, contradiction, and growth.

That interest has also shaped her own creative ambitions. She has been developing a passion project centered on an alter ego named Cherry, a story about a people-pleasing woman in a bad relationship who begins to transform into a darker, more empowered version of herself.

Finding Confidence in Herself

One of the recurring themes in Szymeczek's interviews is self-acceptance.

After stepping away from acting and later returning to it, she has spoken openly about the importance of trusting herself and embracing what makes her unique. That perspective shapes both her approach to acting and the advice she gives to others pursuing creative careers.

In another interview, she offered similar advice: “Be very sure of who you are.”

Defining Success for Herself

For Szymeczek, success is not just about fame, followers, or the size of a role.

“Success to me means satisfaction,” she said.

After leaving acting, returning to it, and finding new momentum through vertical dramas, Szymeczek seems less interested in chasing perfection than in building a career that feels honest and fulfilling.

She still has big dreams. She has mentioned wanting to appear as a series regular, work in films, collaborate with more female directors, travel more, and even one day win an Oscar.

But beneath those ambitions is a more grounded message: mistakes are part of making anything meaningful.

As she said in one interview, “You either make mistakes or you don’t make anything.”

For Szymeczek, that lesson may be just as important as any role she has played so far.