PROMO: For Taryn Manning, Having Many Talents “Feels So Good and Hurts So Bad”

Actor, DJ, musician, artist—all in a day’s work.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

There’s an old saying: “A jack of all trades, and master of none.” But some people truly defy that sentiment. Some people devote themselves to many different crafts, and somehow find a way to be masterful at each of them. 

Taryn Manning is one of those people. Having burst onto the scene over a decade ago with powerhouse performances in such films as Crazy/Beautiful and Hustle & Flow, Manning has been creating ever since—as an actor, musician, DJ, designer, and artist. That’s a lot of different hats to wear. To sum it up succinctly, Manning encapsulates herself using one word: Entertainer.

To help her constantly switch gears between one craft and another, Manning not only relies on her own resilience, but the aid of technology as well. “Technology has been so advantageous for being on the go,” she says, and there are few things she depends on more than her Toshiba Radius 12 Laptop. Its multi-faceted functionality allows Manning to switch from reading a script, to sending an email, or watching a film in the blink of an eye.

Manning’s overall goal in pursuing so many crafts is pretty simple: “To get the artist inside me satiated.” But that doesn’t mean that each of her pursuits scratches the same itch. As she says, each of them provides her with something very different from the other. 

As any creative person knows, most artistic fields have a lot of downtime to contend with. For Manning, always having another passion to switch her attention to keeps her from ever getting stagnated or bored. “Many people have many different talents,” she says. “You shouldn’t put yourself into this one lane.” Thankfully, with the Toshiba Radius 12 at her fingertips, she can switch lanes whenever she wants. That kind of efficiency is crucial for someone whose focus is constantly changing, and whose ceiling keeps getting higher.

For more on Taryn Manning and her many passions, be sure to watch the latest installment of the Toshiba #SLASHGEN video series above.

Latest in Pop Culture