Damo & Ivor star Hannah Crowley has told RTÉ Entertainment she is gigging five times a week as she tries to make the big breakthrough with her music in the US.
The Dubliner - best known for her role as Sarah-Jane in the RTÉ series and recent big screen outing - has been based in Los Angeles for the past year after graduating from Boston's Berklee College of Music.
She is in the indie folk act Mawd and her own Irish folk duo, Buska.
"My assumption, based on conversations I had with people in the music industry, was that there would be a lot more opportunities to perform in the US, and this has proven to be the case," said Crowley.
"I get to perform sometimes as much as five times a week. I've always loved the music scene in Dublin, but it is very small. I would like to come back eventually to Dublin, but right now my life and work are in LA."
Mawd's new album is out next year, and Crowley and bandmate Fionn Ruadh's Buska are planning to release their debut EP in December 2018.
"I am now on the road to being an accomplished self-starter!" she laughed.
"Sometimes it seems that everyone in LA is a musician or actor. While there is lots of opportunity there is a heavy, concentration of people in the arts in LA, so things happen at a slower pace than you might think from the outside looking in. LA veterans have advised me to have a strong work ethic, never give up and keep reminding yourself why you are there in the first place."
Asked if she saw herself having to choose between music and acting down the road, Crowley replied: "I have faced all kinds of choices in my life, so I would just make a decision based on how I feel at the time. All projects to date have come to an end - acting or singing - so I don't see this as a scenario I will face - at least not in the next few years!"
She is, however, hoping that the call from the Electric Picnic will come sooner rather than later.
"There is no better audience than an Irish crowd!"
Damo & Ivor The Movie is out now on DVD and VOD.
