Stepping out of our comfort zone is something many of us like to avoid, and Kiwi stunt woman and actress Zoë Bell is no different. Despite her success in Hollywood, with roles in box office hits including Thor, The Hateful Eight, Iron Man 3, Inglourious Basterds and Kill Bill, the LA-based action movie queen is the first to admit “it’s scary” putting yourself into new situations and dealing with unknown territory.
“When you’re used to being good at something, you get quite relaxed about it then you’ve got to learn something new and step out of your comfort zone. It’s scary.
“I’ve learnt that you have to be willing to be a beginner and novice, and know that the more open to that I am, the less amount of time I’m going to spend being a novice.”
We asked her what she does to boost her own sense of confidence and empowerment, and what strategies have helped her the most.
Zoe Bell at the Hateful Eight New Zealand premiere with Quentin Tarantino.
What do you do to help you feel empowered, confident and strong?
I feel my most empowered and confident when I feel like I’m in a position where I’m useful.
When I feel like I’m without purpose or use in any situation, I feel like I’m free-falling. I feel most powerful when I’m creating my own momentum and direction.
How can women and girls empower themselves and grow their confidence?
Think about the things that intrigue you or inspire you and attempt to learn those things. Take the first step.
The biggest part, and I struggle with this every day, is learning that the fear of failure isn’t a real thing. The only thing things that I know that I’m now good at, I have definitely failed at prior.
The fear of giving something a go, the fear of not being good at it or being perceived pushy or arrogant for trying is the thing that gets in women’s way.
Fearless is different to bravery. Bravery means you’re afraid but you give it a nudge anyway. Fearless implies that you didn’t have fear and you did it anyway.
There is something about learning new things and having the right to claim it for yourself that does amazing things for your confidence and that sense of empowerment.
Have you ever been in a situation where you haven’t felt strong or confident? How did you handle it?
Yes, I feel like that all the time! Particularly when I’m walking into a situation where I’m inexperienced.
When you’re used to being good at something, you get quite relaxed about it then you’ve got to learn something new and step out of your comfort zone. It’s scary.
I’ve learnt that you have to be willing to be a beginner and novice, and know that the more open to that I am, the less amount of time I’m going to spend being a novice no matter how uncomfortable that is.
A very wise friend of mine said something that I’ll always remember: I was directing and called him in a state of panic as I’d hit a point where I hadn’t had experience in that area before and he said “you’re only a first timer once”.
I so needed to hear it at that moment and have never forgotten it.
What’s the most challenging stunt or role you’ve ever had?
From an acting perspective, Deathproof was my first time facing the camera so I was having to fight self-doubt demons on that one. I remember one particular stunt I was doing, it was a 20-story descender. I was up 200 ft on the top of a building and had to jump off.
I love heights but that one was a massive head game for me. Before the stunt, I sat out on the platform all the way up for an hour so I could feel all those emotions and thoughts before I did the actual stunt so that when I came to actually do it, I had already experienced and quietened those crazy thoughts in my head.
Zoë recently teamed up with Reebok to help raise awareness about violence against women.
Saturday 25 November marks annual awareness day White Ribbon Day and to support the campaign Bell and Reebok hosted a free, female-only self-defense class, CONFIDENCE UNLEASHED. The class, which promoted female empowerment and safety, brought together more than 100 women who were taught self-defence techniques.
