Brooklyn Halter
Brooklyn Halter’s first theater role was when she was 5, and she played a dead girl in a Christmas show at her church. Since then, she’s taken on much more challenging roles.
The first time she actually remembers being on stage was when she was 8 and played Tiny Tim in “A Christmas Carol” in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was in that show for the next five years.
“Both of my parents were big into theater. My dad is a big lighting and backstage guy, and my mom is an actress. She went to grad school at NYU, and she was on Broadway understudying for a show called ‘Seven Guitars’ at the August Wilson Theater at one point. She also used to be the theater professor at The University of Tennessee Knoxville, and she was acting there as well. I would be in my baby carrier backstage or in class with her, so I literally grew up in the theater.
“What interests me about performing is how connected I can really be to a character. Once I am onstage, I become that character, and I find that interesting. I also think that the way people can connect and be so moved by theater is really interesting, and I love that about theater,” she says.
She has performed at The Clarence Brown Theater in Knoxville and at Emory & Henry. She also had the opportunity to perform a self-written monologue at the 2025 Black Stories/Black Voices at Barter Theatre. Her favorite role at Emory was #14 in “The Wolves” by Sarah DeLappe. She was the one character who didn’t have a lot of backstory. Brooklyn found her complex and enjoyed the process of figuring her out. She was also in E&H’s “Kinship” dance concert.
One of her biggest influences is her theater professor Patrice Foster.
“When I came to Emory, I was so, so scared to do theater because I didn’t have theater at my high school, so I was worried I was not good enough. She really helped to bring me out of my shell. She is helping me become the best actor and performer I can be, and she always pushes me to be my best and step out of my comfort zone when I have to. I would truly not be the person or the performer I am today without her.
“Theater means the world to me. I love that theater brings so many different types of people together. The impact theater has on people is why I love doing it, because if I can have the same impact on someone through theater that theater has had on me that’s all I want. I 100% prefer dramas. I love getting to connect with characters in a deeper way, and I feel like I can do that more when I’m doing something dramatic rather than comedic. Comedy is actually difficult for me, because I have a hard time following my impulses,” Brooklyn says.
She plans to continue pursuing her career in acting and eventually move to New York. She would also like to try film acting. She is a 21-year-old-senior at Emory & Henry University and is the daughter of Tracey and James Halter.
