Westporter Wynter Kullman Warshaw had an almost cliché dreams-coming-true moment not long after she moved to New York City for an acting conservatory as an 18-year-old. The Pittsburgh native had wanted to become an actor since she was in elementary school, so when a talent manager stopped into the restaurant where she was working in Manhattan and asked if she was an actor, Wynter couldn’t believe her luck. “Two weeks later, I was having breakfast with Sam Mendes [the director of American Beauty],” she says. She began booking guest spots on TV shows and landed roles in iconic 2000s films like Uptown Girls and Garden State. She bounced back and forth between N.Y.C. and L.A. for nearly 20 years, booking “small parts in big movies and big parts in small movies,” she explains, but never what one might consider a breakout role. “There were so many times it was between me and one other person. And then it wouldn’t work out. I was like what is the universe telling me?”
The answer to that question wasn’t clear to her, at least at first. She married her husband, Jeffrey, in 2012, and they had two children. With two young kids, and working as an actor, Wynter went back to college to get her undergraduate degree from The New School in N.Y.C. It was her minor, psychology, that ended up calling to her. “One Friday, my manager called me and said ‘you have an audition on Monday.’ The deadline [to apply] for grad school [for clinical psychology] was in a week. So I called her back and said ‘I know this is a bit of a pivot, but I’m not going to my audition. I’m not acting anymore. And I need a letter of recommendation.’” Wynter had decided: she wanted to become a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her manager wrote the letter, and Wynter went on to Fairfield University to get her master’s degree. After completing her clinical training, she joined You Are Complete Psychotherapy here in Westport in 202X.
Therapy may seem like an unusual career change for an actor, but to hear Wynter tell it, the two professions are more linked than they might seem. Studying and learning a character, after all, is a kind of psychological analysis. “I have such an appreciation for the differences in people’s lives— I really embraced that part of learning to become a therapist,” she says. She also relished the opportunity to meet people openly, honestly, and without judgment after so many years of being on the receiving end of critical feedback. “We don’t have bias,” she says.
Her new job has been rewarding in ways she could never have imagined. “Nothing brings me more happiness than when people leave our sessions feeling less alone,” she says. There have been some surprises, too— like how much she’s enjoyed talking with male patients. “In the therapy room, they’re fascinating and dynamic and deep-feeling. They don’t have to be so stoic,” she says. She’s been able to freely embrace her new role. “I genuinely love my clients, and they can feel it. It helps me say something that may be hard for them to hear, knowing I absolutely care for them.”
Wynter’s story shows that a Hollywood ending might not always turn out the way you expect it, but tuning in to what you excel at is always rewarding. Wynter credits Westport with a lot of that— moving here came at a pivotal moment in her journey. It’s allowed her to build a thriving career in her practice (along with her colleague Bianca Rodriguez), and foster her passion for performing (she still appears in local productions). “We ended up in paradise,” she says. “It’s the most welcoming, supportive, safe environment. Really, my dreams came true when I moved here.”
For more information about You Are Complete Psychotherapy, visit youarecomplete.com
"I know this is a pivot, but I’m not going to my audition. And I need a letter of recommendation."