Dr. Arianna Hall began singing at a very young age. Once she was old enough, it was a natural choice to follow her dreams of becoming a Broadway star and apply to the Musical Theatre Conservatory at Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA). However, as she continued her education, she realized that her passion for science was much stronger.
Hall’s dream of being on the Broadway stage slowly morphed into a passion for performance in the surgical theater where she could devote her time to saving animals. Nine months ago she earned her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Sydney and dove head first into the role. Hall is now completing about 75% of her clinic’s surgeries and tackling a new surgery at least once a week, all the while belting show tunes to the delight of her colleagues.
Growing up, Hall was always surrounded by the arts. Her mom, Marlene Hall, is an established dance instructor and has been a ballet teacher at OCSA for 21 years. Her older brother, Eddie Campbell (IM, ‘08) also paved the way for her to become an OCSA student.
While at OCSA, she was able to prepare for a career in musical theater, but what she didn’t realize was she was also being prepared for vet school and a career as a veterinarian.
“Looking back on my time at OCSA, I felt very much like a science geek in an arts school. But I just found that the level of academia at OCSA and the balance of the creative, building the confidence and building the skills really prepared me for the specific career that I have. So retrospectively, I owe OCSA sort of a lot for the person that I am today, both personally and professionally,” she said.
After graduating from Musical Theatre, Hall’s creative side was an asset in approaching her science-based education. It allowed her to thrive during her undergraduate studies in Florida, and later as she studied for her doctorate at the University of Sydney.
During her doctoral studies, she wrote a children’s book about a disease pertinent to her coursework, acted in veterinary clinical scenarios and even starred as Dorothy in the vet school musical The Wizard of Paws. Hall said she also recognizes OCSA’s positive impact on her confidence and ability to clearly, eloquently communicate, even under stress or pressure. Public speaking, client communications, presentations and Zoom conferences as a new veterinarian were all second nature for the actress turned animal specialist.
Not only did the academic and artistic education at OCSA prepare Hall for the future, but the experience made a lasting impression on how she works. She manages to keep the musical theater girl in her alive and keeps her nerves calm by singing during her surgeries.
“I am a Frozen fanatic. My dad is of Norwegian descent and I’m a mezzo soprano belter so Elsa is like, literally my queen. When I have a surgery that I’ve not done before, or its a little bit more complex or I’m nervous, I put a Frozen playlist on and I just sing...it’s my theater so I can put on whatever music and it just calms my nerves throughout surgery which has been really helpful,” she said.
Now that Hall is living out her dream of being a veterinarian, what’s next? The ambitious animal lover has noticed an issue in the industry of nutrition as pet owners begin moving away from commercial food products and toward home-cooked meals. She said through this change, many pets are missing key ingredients from their diets that can cause their physical health to suffer. Hall plans to solve this problem through nutritional consultations and customized meal plans for animals.
Inspired by her three months in Africa working with an on-call wildlife medical team, Hall also hopes to someday open her own wildlife sanctuary.
“It’ll take a lot of research and experience,” she said of the venture.
With her confidence, creativity, intellect and passion, Hall will continue to make the world a better place for animals—likely belting out “Let it go” and “Into the Unknown” along the way.