You probably know Jane Seymour as an international movie and TV star.

But Seymour also knows what it's like to be an entrepreneur - even if she doesn't consider herself one. She also knows a thing or two about handling change, which she will discuss with women entrepreneurs in Calgary in October, when she appears with Ivana Trump and a couple of Canadians, economist Leslie Beck and nutritionist Linda Nazareth.

"When you want to do something and you think life is going a certain way, then something happens and a remarkable change usually occurs," says Seymour in a telephone interview from her home in Malibu, Calif.

"In other words, you end up doing something you never imagined you'd be doing, but it ends up being better than what would have happened if you'd continued doing what you wanted to do in the first place. In other words, adversity turns into opportunity."

Photo courtesy of Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour designed the open heart necklace that made a big splash in the jewelry world after she wore it on television.

Seymour's business ventures range from jewelry and home-decoration lines to an art gallery that markets her paintings to film and TV productions.

1. What lifelong lessons did you learn from your parents when you were growing up?

"My parents were survivors of World War II. My mother was in a concentration camp for three and a half years in Indonesia under the Japanese. I learned from her, 'When life is tough, do something to help someone else, and your problems will become much less.' I've always been raised to try to be of service, or to help people, in whatever way I possibly can. My father was a doctor and he also treated a lot of people free of charge. He worked in socialized medicine. I was also an auxiliary nurse. I used to help the nurse in whatever needed doing, that was part of my background, and my father used to tell me, 'You can only ever be your own best. There's no point comparing yourself to someone else.' My father was a squadron leader and a doctor in the Royal Air Force. He actually opened the gates of Bergen-Belsen, a (German) concentration camp and lost three of his cousins there."

2. Aside from your parents, who were your early mentors?

"Richard Attenborough. Lord Attenborough, as he's now known. I met him when I was about 17 years old. He was the one who encouraged me to become an actress. I also had two art teachers in England, the Duleca sisters. They were just wonderful art teachers, and they really inspired me to become big and bold with my art."

3. What was your childhood dream?

"To be a ballet dancer. I didn't achieve it, really. I was only 16 years old when I had to quit, so I was still very much a student, although I was occasionally doing things like the Nutcracker with a professional ballet company. You know the kids in the Nutcracker? I was one of them ... I had knee injuries, so I was in physiotherapy more than I was in school and realized that my body was not built to dance. It was a huge disappointment. That was all I ever wanted to be and, suddenly, I couldn't do it anymore. I then became an actress by default."

4. Considering all the business projects that you're involved with, do you consider yourself an artist or an entrepreneur?

"I'm really an artist ... I have people who know how to run the business side of it. I'm very fortunate that way. My husband (filmmaker James Keach) is pretty good at making the deals and doing all of that kind of thing, but I consider myself the creative force behind it. I get involved in marketing and sales but, really, I'm the ideas person. There are a lot of different brands out there with famous names attached to them. The difference is that I participate in actually physically creating them and painting them and making them and doing them."

5. What was your first business venture?

Jane Seymour

"I was about 15 years old and I had just learned to crochet. I didn't have enough money - because my parents didn't have enough money - for ballet point shoes. Instead of knitting my warmups and darning my ballet shoes, as everybody did, I learned how to embroider, to do fine Chinese-style embroidery, and also crochet knitting. I went and bought a whole load of knitting wool - red, white and blue, the British Union Jack colours - and I crocheted a whole load of hats and scarves and things, and sold them at Kensington Market in central London. And then I embroidered see-through blouses. It was a time when all the women were burning their bras and showing off their bodies through these see-through blouses. I wasn't comfortable with that, so I embroidered two English birds - a Blue Tit and a Great Tit - on the areas that would have been exposed. A boutique, probably the very best high-end boutique in London, loved my ideas and what I was doing and gave me all their see-through blouses and said, 'Do what you can with them.' So I started a business when I was 15. The good news was that I made enough to pay for my ballet shoes and subsidize my dance career. The bad news was that I didn't finish everything I needed to pass my French A-level (exam to gain admission to university)."

6. When you get involved with these businesses, how many do you actually invest in, as opposed to endorsing?

"The home business is ours. We own it. I've made a deal with the largest jewelry business in the world - Sterling, which is basically Kay Jewellers, Jared's and a number of other brands.

"I created the whole thing and continue to create it, but they have the exclusive rights. When it comes to books that I write, the usual publishing deals apply. We have different (companies) for different things. Coral Canyon Publishing is the company that we own that deals with the entire art business. I have a full-time art dealer and employees that do nothing but work with the art and frame it and deal with the different art shows and ship it and do all of the business side of it. I just create the art and show up for the shows. I have a gallery in Los Angeles, and that's where the showing end of the art goes on, and I have a studio in my home where I paint and, also, I do all of the design work. We have a company called Catfish Productions that makes movies. We made Walk the Line (about Johnny Cash) a couple of years ago. We've made another one since then called Blind Dating and we're just starting another one called Waiting for Forever. So we have a full-time film production company. Somerset is the name of (the company that co-ordinates) Jane Seymour Homes. We also have PCH Films."

7. What is a common theme to all the different projects and products with which you're involved?

"Probably my art and my sense of taste and style. For example, the home collection has four different divisions. One is inspired by (our former 14th-century home) St. Catherine's Court (in Bath, west of London.)

Coral Canyon is what we call the house here in Malibu, and one of the collections is definitely inspired by this home. Winding Way is our cottage collection. That's inspired by the cottages in St. Catherine's. The Grand Hotel is our hotel collection. That's inspired by the Grand Hotel (on Mackinac Island in Michigan), where Christopher Reeve and I made a movie called Somewhere in Time."

8. You have remodelled several homes that you've owned, including the St. Catherine's Court property in Bath. Why did you get out of housing redevelopment?

"We realized that we couldn't spend enough time in England and we realized that in the current financial times, it could not really be marketed to Americans in the way that it used to be. We realized that we really didn't want to be running a business from that house (St. Catherine's Court). We either wanted to enjoy it or let go of it, so we sold it last November. But we sold it fully furnished with the art and the decorations - everything, including the staff. So the people bought it exactly the way that we had created it. The other house that we had here in America had previously belonged to my husband's brother. He needed to sell in a hurry, so we took that over and completely rebuilt it and sold it last year. We literally remodelled it. In my time, I think I've been involved with at least nine major remodels where we've sold the house. So this is something that I've done before."

9. Do you see yourself doing it again?

"At the moment, I'm too busy to do that. We didn't go out and say: 'Let's go out and do houses.' We owned one and the other one we were helping out a relative. We weren't doing it as a business, but it turned out to make sense."

10. Why did you get involved in the jewelry business?

"It was not my intention. I made a single piece of jewelry for myself based on this painting that I'd done, a series of images of open hearts.

"I realized that when your heart is open, you can give and receive love. If you close your heart off, you can't let go of anything, and you can't open yourself up to new possibilities. My mother always told me that you have to be able to live with an open heart. In other words, you have to be able to embrace change as you develop new relationships - to really live in the moment rather than in the past or in the future.

"I came up with this painted image of two open hearts that are connected. I made myself a single necklace in diamonds and platinum and I wore it when I did Dancing with the Stars. On day, I was asked by ABC to go to a dinner with some people who were sponsoring the American Music Awards or something like that. It turned out to be me and six people. They asked me about the necklace and I told them. Then they said: 'You don't know who we are, do you?' I said: 'Your names are ... ' I tried to remember their names. They said: 'No, no, no, we're the No. 1 jewelers in the world, and we think this is something very special.' They asked me if I owned the rights to it - I did - and asked me if I'd design about 45 pieces with this inspiration. They took them and manufactured samples and they put them out as a test market just before Mother's Day. It did very well, and now it will be released in 900 stores (in the U.S.) in the middle of October as Jane Seymour's Open Hearts ... They're about to go national, in fact international, because they're also going to do this in England as well."

11. What personal challenges prompted you to start painting?

"When I turned 40, a series of things happened. My father died of cancer, and it was something that should have been detected by his friends and colleagues in a hospital. But they didn't. They made a mistake. That was very devastating to me. Then I discovered that my then-husband (David Flynn), who was my financial adviser - he was also probably one of the top people in the film industry, he represented everyone from Paul Newman to Goldie Hawn - had not only been unfaithful ... but also he had left me four lawsuits from major banks and debts that were in the many millions. Instead of having a nervous breakdown, I took my mother's advice and gave some of the last money I had to a child-abuse agency that I worked with. (The donation was) as a silent-auction bid for an artist to do a drawing of my children. The artist came to my house, that I knew was about to be repossessed by the bank, and saw my little finger-paintings that I'd done with my kids hanging in the playroom. He asked who did them. I said I did. He offered to give me some free art lessons and that's how I started. The painting was like an unbelievable therapy for me. Suddenly, instead of being panicked and depressed and angry and unable to cope, I realized I had to cope. I couldn't express these feelings I had, because I had to keep my children on track. I was the sole caregiver for them. By painting, I was able to process a lot of feelings and really find a kind of Zen place in my life. So I painted in the way that some people might take drugs.

I discovered something that I loved."

12. It's said that your art has a strong Canadian following. Why is that?

"I guess Canadians like to buy my art. But I haven't really done a major art exhibition in Canada."

13. Did you learn any business lessons from Johnny Cash?

"No, I just learned about spiritual things. Johnny and June (Carter Cash) became very close friends of ours. As was well known, especially since the movie, John had to deal with a lot of substance-abuse issues. He was really very much this Jekyll-and-Hyde type person.

"The movie basically told the truth, which is that, to combat the forces that would take him into the dark side, his spirituality and his belief in God and his love for June really are what kept him going and got him back on track."

14. Do you get ongoing royalties from letting the band Radiohead record (album) OK Computer in your home?

"No, they rented the house and stayed there for a while. The Cure also rented that house and they recorded two albums there. A bunch of different artists used that space."

15. Since you've been involved with your husband on projects, what do you think is the key to running a successful film and production company?

"When I first met him, I was producing a movie with him. He was directing and I was starring in a movie (Sunstroke). We're equal partners in everything that we do, whether it's taking care of the kids (twins) or making decisions for the family or making movies. He asks my advice and I will give him my sixth sense, and I do the same with him. When it comes to all the business ventures, I create the ideas and then he organizes the negotiations and helps with the business end."

16. What is your message when you speak to women business leaders?

"Living with an open heart and realizing that challenge invariably is the moment to be ready for opportunity."

17. Do you try to ensure that the companies that you're involved with practise corporate social responsibility?

"Absolutely. I would not have done Sterling work if not for the fact that every single tiny chip of a diamond is what they call conflict-free. Every single, tiny diamond that ever goes into that building and ever goes on to any jewelry that has my name is guaranteed conflict-free."

18. Did you see the movie Blood Diamond?

"Of course I did. I thought it was quite horrifying. Because of that movie, a lot of these major companies are realizing it's unacceptable to buy diamonds from those people (who use the diamond trade for illicit purposes) and (companies need) to try and wipe out that business."

19. What would you be doing if you weren't doing the things that you do now?

"I clearly know that I'd be doing something that was creative. I would just be creative in another area."

20. Do you ever plan to retire?

"I think it's doubtful. You can't retire a creative mind."

Coral Canyon Publishing

* Brass: Jane Seymour, James Keach, owners.

* Profile: Coral Canyon is the company that distributes and sells Seymour's art and operates a gallery in Los Angeles. It also produces, sells and distributes instructional art kits that bear her name. Seymour and Keach also operate film companies.

* Website: www.janeseymour.com * HQ: Coral Canyon Publishing, 3380 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, 90034 * Phone: (310) 842-7256

Jane Seymour

* Occupation: Actress/businessperson.

* Born/raised/age: London, England/57.

* Education: Seymour attended a private girls' high school until she was 13 and then a private theatre arts school until she was 17. Her studies ended after she failed a pre-university French course, because she was a working actress and operating a seamstress business at the time.

* Family: Seymour and her fourth husband, filmmaker James Keach, have twin 12-year-old sons.

She also has a daughter, 26, and son, 22, with former husband David Flynn and two step-children from her marriages to Keach and Flynn. She is the sister-in-law of well-known actor Stacy Keach.

* Career: Seymour began as a ballet dancer at 13, appearing in some professional productions, and launched a short-lived seamstress business.

At 17, she was discovered by legendary British filmmaker Richard Attenborough, who was briefly her father-in-law, and embarked on a movie, TV and stage career that has spanned four decades. She is best known for her role in the 1970s James Bond movie Live and Let Die and the TV series in which she starred, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. More recently, she appeared in the TV movie, Dear Prudence, which was shot in Calgary, the popular film The Wedding Crashers and the TV show Dancing with the Stars. In addition to her film and TV work, she has launched an art company based on her paintings and a lifestyle brand, the Jane Seymour Home Collection, which includes textiles, lighting, home fragrance and decorative accessories. She has also developed a jewelry line with Kay, part of a global firm known as Sterling, and penned eight books on such topics as home decorations and raising twins.

* Awards: Seymour was named an Officer of the British Empire in 1999. Other honours include a Golden Globe award for her role as the lead character in the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman TV series.

* Moonlighting: Seymour is active with Child Help USA and City Hearts, a Los Angeles-based non-profit agency that provides arts programming for inner city kids, and the American Red Cross.

* Passions: Water issues, including accessibility and availability of clean drinking water, non-denominational humanitarian issues, foster-care programs, mentoring inner city kids, acting, filmmaking, painting, jewelry design.

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)