Billboard Chart Topping Artist Natalia Safran Talks New Music, Her Crazy Experience Working on Blockbuster Aquaman and More!
Back Story – From her superstar modeling roots in native Poland to her film and music charting success in the USA; Natalia Safran is forever expanding her artistry as a multi-talented performer across the spectrum of the arts.
Her career began as a high-fashion model strutting down runways and appearing in ad campaigns for top designers. From Calvin Klein to YSL to Dior and beyond – skyrocketing this towering supermodel from her home turf in Poland to couture shows from Paris to New York. Later, she relocated to Los Angeles to pursue music and acting. In 2001, Natalia was cast as the “Crying Bride” alongside Jennifer Lopez in the hit comedy, romance The Wedding Planner. From there, she co-starred in films, including Over Her Dead Body alongside Eva Longoria, Hours alongside the late Paul Walker, on a film that includes her haunting song, All I Feel Is You which went into the Top 20 on the Billboard Music Charts. This was followed by her appearance in the worldwide blockbuster film Aquaman, as the Queen of the Fisherman Kingdom Rina. Currently in theaters is Safran’s most recent major release, the third installment of the classic Horror film Annabelle Comes Home playing the role of “The Bride.” Safran’s acting credits prove an impressive roster of genres, showcasing her abilities beyond one cast type.
Aside from acting, Natalia has also lent her voice to the big screen. Most recently, Safran’s song Daylight was featured in the Nicholas Sparks film The Choice. Her music credits also include features in other films, including Hours starring Paul Walker. Natalia writes and performs with her brother, Mikolaj Mick Jaroszyk, collectively known as “The Forevers,” with her songs having a singular style dubbed by the critics as Rocker Chill. Natalia and Mikolaj’s craving to create meaningful musical masterpieces is heard through their impassioned songs and lyrics that they continue to make.
Natalia Safran’s current projects reach beyond acting and music, as she is also a producer with her husband, Peter Safran, through their production house The Safran Company. Top film releases from The Nun, The Conjuring, and Vehicle 19 have all come out of the acclaimed production company.
Safran maintains an image of excellence and not only through her notable work, but also through the ways she continuously and selflessly supports the community around her. She is proudly on the board of Project Angel Food delivering life-nurturing food to the ill and struggling in Los Angeles. In addition, she is also a supporter of Kidsave, an organization that hosts neglected, foreign orphans and assists them in getting adopted. – Bio
The Hype Magazine got the Natalia to weigh in on a few things including her upcoming music project, what brought her to music and more!
From the outside looking in, who is the entertainer Natalia Safran?
I am a singer-songwriter, actress and film producer. I have a band with my brother Mick Jaroszyk called The Forevers, and when I’m not making music I work on movies. You can hear my songs on iTunes, Spotify, etc and many film soundtracks like ‘All I Feel Is You Radio Mix’ in Columbia’s ‘Flatliners,’ ‘Daylight’ in Lionsgate/Nicholas Sparks’s ‘The Choice’ and in the late Paul Walker’s last film ‘Hours’. We also like to collaborate with great DJs. Our last remix entered Billboard as a Top Debut and was in the Top 20 Club Play for 9 weeks. Movie-wise, I am currently scaring on screen as The Bride in The Conjuring Universe’s latest film ‘Annabelle Comes Home,’ and right before that I was the Fisherman Queen in ‘Aquaman.’ There’s never a dull moment.
What brought you to the entertainment industry and what makes music such a big part of your life?
I’ve been a music and movie fanatic since I can remember, so it’s a good thing I ended up in the entertainment industry or I’d be a very frustrated person. I was born in Poland, but I was always nuts for American and English music and films. At 13 I fell madly in love with the music of the Boss and film noir, I learned English from Springsteen and the Hollywood golden oldies and knew my life was meant to be a creative pursuit. It took me a while to make it out to California, many years of work and some doubt, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger as long as you don’t let go of what it is you truly want. I became a model first, ended up making a good career out of it for a few years, I worked for all the Paris greats like Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, and Chanel. That also brought me to New York and then at last to Los Angeles. I started writing songs with Mick, my brother, along the way and it felt like a true coming home – being in control of something very personal from start to finish, unlike modeling. We opened up a profile on a crowdfunding site Sellaband and in record time got to the top of over 10,000 artists raising $50k to record our first album ‘High Noon.’ It was super validating to know this many people from all over loved our music and believed in us and it made for a great kick off point. We are music-obsessed, we write and record all the time, we never settle and pull a lot of all-nighters, so it feels great to have the support of the fans and the critics. One reviewer called our music ‘rocker-chill.’ I like that. I think our music rocks and it’s pretty chill 🙂
Tell us about your upcoming single “Frederique” and where it stands for you in your body of work
We are so excited about Frederique! A good friend from Paris inspired it, which is why it has a little French in the intro. It’s got a super happy vibe and chill energy of a late afternoon that makes you feel really good. One reviewer said it has an ethereal spirit of the 60s French New Wave movies like ‘Breathless’ and ‘Belle de Jour’ so that just made us thrilled. The song started as a kind of joke, but we ended up liking it so much we worked on it way hard and really built it. We made a video for it filmed entirely in Venice Beach. It’s a story of a hot-heeled pursuit around Venice’s most iconic locations at sunset, a real homage to its vintage-filtered beauty and singular vibe that I think works perfectly with the song. Watch it and let us know what you think.
From the big screen to centerstage do you have a greater love? Acting or music?
You know, I’m so happy I don’t have to choose. I love both and they make for great contrast and really exciting work. But, our music is 100% our own creation. From writing to composing, playing and producing the pieces we make are exactly the way we envisioned and that is impossible in the movie business where so much depends on so many other people.
“To Whom Much is Given…” Tell us a bit about your work and passions OUTSIDE of entertainment…
That is so true, I feel like with all the good fortune I’ve had in life I need to give back and I work with two incredible organizations to help me do that. I am on the board of Project Angel Food, a local Los Angeles foundation which feeds our city’s critically ill and forgotten. We cook and deliver over 600,000 meals a year to those affected by life-threatening illnesses, who are too sick to shop and make food for themselves. This year I also started working with KidSave, a project that finds adoptive families for older foster children who have a low chance of being adopted. KidSave is run by two brilliant fearless women who put hundreds of amazing kids in new loving homes! They help American kids via the Weekend Miracles program and international foster youth via Summer Miracles, where a group of children from another country get to spend 5 weeks with American families that help advocate for them. We hosted an 11-year-old Colombian girl this Summer and it was a truly unbelievable experience for both sides. We will be doing it again for sure.
Last but not least, HYPE wants to know…What’s your CRAZIEST “Where they do that at?!” aka WTF?! moment…
Getting fitted for my Aquaman costume was pretty nuts. I look like a full-on fish queen in the movie so they had to make me a skin-tight custom suit out of latex, which you get live-cast for. They basically cover your whole head and body in the kind of cast you get when you break a bone. Only this one’s gooey at first, then hot, then it hardens and then you can barely breathe through a little straw they stick up your nose. I am a super level headed girl, but I almost lost my cool in that cast coffin. You can’t see, you can’t hear and you can’t really breathe. Fractured FX is the effects studio and they are so unbelievably talented there! They make all the coolest creatures, masks, body casts and all that you see in the best films. They’re also super nice and talked me off the ledge.
And music-wise, it was pretty crazy when we released our track ‘All I Feel Is You’ Cajjmere Wray Mix and four days later it became the top debut on Billboard’s club chart!
About the Author
Dr. Jerry Doby Editor-in-Chief of The Hype Magazine, Media and SEO Consultant, Journalist, Ph.D. and retired combat vet. 2023 recipient of The President's Lifetime Achievement Award. Partner at THM Media Group. Member of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, the United States Press Agency and ForbesBLK.
