Actor Interview J. Teddy Garces Part 2

If you're an actor trying to build a real working career in the industry, you're in the right place. I'm Shannonet Sturgis and I've worked as an actor for over 30 years and for the past 15 I have coached some of the top working actors in the business. So I have seen this industry from both sides. So I'm uniquely qualified to talk about what it takes to get you hired and have a lasting career in this industry. So today I am joined by J. Teddy Garcus, whose credit, well, he's one of our amazing teachers at the studio, - but he hasn't been teaching so much lately because he's been so busy working. He just got a very big job and he'll be gone out of the state for a while, but he you've seen him on The Pit, you've seen him on SWAT, he's created his own movie. He's a busy, busy guy. What is the fastest way to lose trust on set? - Lie. - Oo. - Lie. Lie. That goes for in front of and behind the camera. - Right. Yeah. - Right. We We have We have this We have this mutual understanding that what we're doing is creating art, - right? - Right. And in this particular art form is uh storytelling whether it's you know your department or mine whether it's what you're accountable for and what you're responsible for or what I'm responsible for. Um, yes. There's the whole thing of if somebody asks you if you can horseback ride or if you say yes, Damon, and then you go take horseback riding lessons or somebody cool, no problem. But there's there's things that can kind of get in the way of a production making their day if you're not necessarily ready. And that, you know, uh, and that goes that goes for everybody. That goes for, um, a a writer or a or or a director that says, you know, um, or that that tries to bait you into nudity, - right, without a writer, - without a nudity writer, right? or that tries to do something like that, which those people are not out there as much anymore. They're not, you know, with the with with the creation of the the the role of the uh intimacy coordinator and certain things and and that have changed in the past years. Um but also as as as an actor you know just your preparation is you is a form of you telling the truth - right - that's a fact. you preparing and you being ready to take on that day and to make everybody's job easier is a form of telling the truth because it is a promise that you've made to them. And if you're not prepared, then that means you've lied. That means that you've you've you've misled them or that you've you've led them to believe that you can actually do this and you can't or you've led them to trust you and you broke that trust. - Right. So there's a lot of ways in which that that can happen. So, I just I really do think that it comes down to keeping up your end of the bargain, showing up on time, - because every every second I used to - I had an acting teacher who used to say who people used to walk into class late, right? - He'd be like, "What are you kidding me? Every second on a Martin Scorsesei set is $400,000." That's not true. $400,000 a second is just not a thing. It's not a thing. your budget would be done in like five hours. Um, but he would say stuff like that, but just to kind of get us to understand it's like, yo, you got to treat this the way you're going to treat that because this is your practice the same way you come in here to practice and you get on stage and, you know, you work on this. - And I think a lot of beginning actors sometimes don't even realize like, oh, why do they bring me in so early? And it's not just the idea that you're going to be working very soon to get people through hair and makeup. So you can make sure that there there might be other factors that you have no idea about. And you know your job is to get there when they tell you to, not to start shooting when - that's it. - You get there. You know, - you're on. Yeah. You're on when the the way I see it. I'm on the clock the minute I wake up. When I get up that morning, I'm in I have a hundred people that are depending on me mode, - right? - That's that's my that's my promise to myself. I have people that are depending on me, which means I don't want to have to stop for gas on the way there. I want to drive straight there, right? I don't want to um I don't want to have to even depend on whether or not they have breakfast because you know depend I mean obviously the bigger productions have you know - but if I'm doing something a lot a lot smaller a lot more intimate you know I'm going to eat I'm going to leave my I'm going to leave my house on time I'm going to get there you need me you need me at 6 I'm going to get there 5:45 you know what I mean early enough to be present but close enough to the time to not get in anybody's way and have to have them worry about me - because Yeah, that happens sometimes. You can't find the parking or the signs weren't up or - and it's still on you. - Still on you. - Yeah. - You know, so Yeah. Yeah. It's Wow. It's funny cuz Yeah. Especially this this this past weekend with this project I was doing. It was it was pitch dark up there. Um at that time in the morning, I'm pulling up. It's like 5:45, 540 and the GPS just kind of stops. Stops and you have to make your way through this like abandoned rail yard to get to the set. I was like, "Oh, no." I was like, "I'm glad I'm here early." - Yeah. Yeah. - To not be stressed, to not be - It's stuff like that. You don't want to be stressed. You know, you want to make the job as easy as possible on them. And the minute you stress them out, that's where the trust gets lost to answer your question. - Yeah. And and for the actors, you know, sometimes - it's fine for you to say, "No, I don't want to do nudity." But if you - signed on to do the project and you agreed to it and then on set you say, "No, - that's the next thing. That's the other thing. - Keep your word. Keep your word. If you say you're going to do this, you have to follow through. Look, I've done free work for people. I have showed up to their projects and have done stuff for free, right? No paid, pro bono. Like, Teddy, would you be in my film? Cool. I see where you are. I see you and I see what you're doing and I see what you want to try to get done and I see your vision and I see your drive and I'm going to meet you there. You're asking for my help. You need my help. You got it. I can give you a day, right? I can't might not be able to give you much more than that, but I can give you a day on your set. And when I get there, I am not going to give you any less effort. I'm not going to give you any less of myself because I'm not getting paid. - I've I've agreed to it. which means you get 100% of me. It's not, oh well, you're [snorts] not paying me for this. You're not you're not paying me enough for this. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you 50% of myself because you're g you're not giving me anything in return. That's horrible. That's that's probably the easiest way to lose trust. - Yeah. - You know, - you're the one who looks terrible and you're the one who's not you know - if - Yeah. If you don't want to do it for what they're paying, you know, - that's it. You have you have every right, - especially when they've told you, you know, this is what our budget is. - Every right to say no. You you you don't you don't have to do something that you don't want to. But once you agree to do it, you have to promise yourself to give everything, right? Because if if you don't, then what did you just agree to? - Are there any big lessons that you've learned from any of the stars that you've been on set with? or maybe even just another actor or maybe things that you love to see done or maybe something that's like, oh, - time management. Time management. I mean, the the one that most recently and I've learned a lot from watching a lot of different people, but the one that - kind of yeah is is is like most uh is closest right now in my memory. Um I I worked with a high high-profile actress um who's also, you know, just a huge entertainer. and her ability to manage time while she was also h while she also had like a hundred other things on her plate and she was doing all these other things - um within her career she was also shooting a movie with us right where she when she was a lead right - and this woman was very very precious about setting her boundaries right? And politely asking people to respect her boundaries because when you're that when you're that grand and when so many people know you, - um there are these moments in between, you know, takes and setups and and scenes and where people want pictures and they want to talk and stuff like that. They want to get to know you. - Um and it's their opportunity whether it's the background actors or whether it's or whether it's cast, it doesn't matter. Um but but she was just very diligent about keeping her distance in a way that didn't say it's not that I'm better than you. It's that I need to conserve my energy because I've got so much going on. - This is what I need right now. - This is what I need. This is what I need right now. And it it it it was it was a lesson in just creating space for yourself - while you're on while you're on set and just just a lesson in in in what it looks like to have a healthy boundary with the people around you - that that you also care about and that care about you. - But there's also something that that that's that's going on with you that you need to take care of, which is you can't afford to be so frazzled and stressed. because you're the spearhead of this film. Right. - Right. And that's pretty cool. - Your boundary might upset somebody else, but that's not your worry. - Right. Exactly. - Exactly. - You had uh talked about uh that first agent that you got. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My first manager. - Manager. First manager. - So, were you a little crazy? How did you bring the crazy in? - So, - one of my questions is how did you know what questions did you ask in that first meeting? But - I was already there. I was already there cuz I was in my 20s. [laughter] - I was already there. I was in my 20s. I was in New York, right? Like I was running around. I was - making friends on the train. - Making friends on the train. And like just my days were so crazy. They were so frazzled. I was also like, you know, I mean, I was I was uh I was a dancer at the time. So I was like I was literally globe trotting like going to like different countries like every other week um to perform. And it was, you know, and so my mind was in a hundred places at once. And once this machine in here starts to kind of like spin, right? It it it washes over your entire body. Like people could see it be like what's [laughter] he's he's not playing with a full deck right now. Like he's all over the place, you know? Um and it probably showed up as like add I know I went into his all I think I complimented like the paint on his walls when I first got in. I was like, "Yo, this is a cool color, man. [laughter] What's that guy got to do?" But he was um Yeah. No, he was he was super cool and and and it, you know, it it all worked out and it was it was a good match. It was a good temporary match for sure. - Do you know what you would ask somebody nowadays if you were taking a meeting? - Yeah. Yeah. I feel like this the business has changed. - Yeah, it has. You know, this this is now and has always been commerce. It's show business, - right? Not show friendship, not show hook me up with a role, right? Business, right? Which means there are um there are things about this that might not necessarily sit well with you. If you really really sit down and and look at your body of work versus somebody else's or what you offer versus somebody else's, sometimes it doesn't match up, but that person might have leverage in another area that the business needs to use. - And so your talent has nothing to do with it. Like, relax, my friend. You're you're you're a good actor, but you being good is not - why you get a lot of jobs nowadays, man. I'm sorry. - It pays to be good. It It does. Yes. It really It really absolutely helps, - you know, and it's not something that a lot of people want to hear. So, the conversations with a representative have to be where do you how do you use me, right? How do you use me if if I'm not a social media sensation? - If I don't have 400,000 followers, how like where do you see me? Who else on this roster? Right. Am I going out? You used to go out in the Manila folder, - right? - Right. You don't go out in the Manila folder. No. I remember when you go and pick up your sides at your agency and you'd see who else was going up for your part. - Exactly. That's not happening anymore. It's digital. So, - who else are you sub You're right. - Who else are you submitting alongside of me? Which is which is which is okay. I'm not necessarily too worried about other people. I'm not. But if you have a representative that is stockpiling five or six different actors just like you for one role, it's bad enough that you have to compete if you're in a if you're in a small agency, a boutique agent. It's bad enough you got to compete against Morris, - right? - And CA, who the director and the producer and the writer are all repped by the same agency. And so now they're just gonna package the actor in from their agency anyway and you know overlook the whole process. - Yeah. - You know, you might not you might not necessarily like some of the conversations that you have to have with these agents, but - I'm glad I don't. - You know, I'm glad that I have my reps and I and I care about my reps. I love them. They love me. My manager, you know, my manager especially is like, you know, um great dude. But if I were to sit down with somebody, I would really really have to see how I fit. And that that that comes with a whole host of questions, - right? - You know, - yeah. I I think it's okay, you know, if you're a guy who's 25, do you have any other young, handsome guys that are 25? They should. [laughter] - They should, right? Yeah. - But, you know, there's different energy that each person brings and it's, you know, - so - there's a Yeah. And and and are you - I think one question everybody should ask - is Yeah. is are you are you reading the last sentence? Are you reading everything through down to the last sentence of the breakdown? - Oh, - you're going to start off with male Middle Eastern - 25 to 30 years old, right? you're going to start and then boom, that's when the trigger starts to get pulled, right? All of a sudden, the next couple of lines might give you details about this character's life that are not in uniform or in unison with what this actor might want to do or may want to play. You know, there are a lot of underrepresented groups out there that aren't getting the opportunity to to to shine within their own within their own demographic, - right? - Because there are actors that are not necessarily taking roles, but they are being submitted for these roles when the real authentic thing is already there. Um, and they they've done really well with that lately. Like, let's say it's um they used to have to do CGI to like remove a leg if you wanted to play - somebody who's disabled or - disabled. Plenty of disabled actors out there, right? That deserve the opportunity to be seen, right? - Don't submit me for a disabled actor. - Right. - Yeah. - I don't want to take that role away from them. That's just me, you know. - No, I I totally understand that. Now, if they read people and it's not the right whatever it is, the mix that they need, - go through go through the channels. - But first, yeah. - Yeah, absolutely. Go go go through the channels for sure. And then, of course, look, there's a caveat to that. Obviously, what if the character starts off - right - looking like me and walking and talking and stuff like that and hasn't, you know, an accident? - Of course, CGI can work the other way, too. CGI can work the other way, right? So, you know, but I I just I just think that, you know, there's there's conversations that that everybody should have with with with their agent about how they are going to be used within that. - So, is that thinking about things that might frustrate actors that agents do or things that actors do that frustrate agents? anything that you know not reading all the way through not uh - yeah I think I think look I think actors do more things to frustrate agents than agents without a doubt than agents do to frustrate actors for sure - I think agents are just trying to do their jobs and per capit I think there's more experienced agents than there are experienced actors I just think that they're I I think that agents have a stronger hold on how to do their job than a lot of actors have on theirs. And that's not to say that that that there's, you know, this disparity is has anything to do with how smart you are or anything like that, but agents are submitting all day, every day. All day, every day from 10:00 in the morning till like 4:00 or 5 at night, they're submitting. They're looking at breakdowns. They're reading breakdowns. They're talking to casting directors. They're forming relationships with producers. They are busy all day. As an actor, when you wake up at 10 in the morning, what's the first thing you do till five o'clock? Let's just say those seven hours. Are you working on your craft for seven hours? You're not - right. - Don't lie. You're not. - Wouldn't it be amazing? - You'd be you would be absolutely phenomenal if you did that. So, they have more practice at their job each and every single day. So, they're they're probably not going to do a lot of things to piss you off. I also think what I hadn't thought about until recently is that now agents are looking at so many self tapes. They they had no idea what was happening. They'd send you out, you go to the audition, they'd get the feedback. But now they're I know a lot of people like, I'll send you three takes, choose the one you want to send. And it's like they're spending a lot of time watching your auditions. - They're spending a lot. They're watching your auditions. You're sending them auditions. They're watching your auditions. Sometimes Sometimes it goes through them. Sometimes it goes direct to casting, you know, in in the breakdowns uh the portal or whatever the female, - right? - But they are a lot more um they're a lot more savvy in terms of who you are in front of the camera and in these audition situations than they were before. You know, I think actors might call agents too much to or email them a little bit too much to find out what's going on and hey, you know, what are you what are we doing and this that and the other stuff. Little do you know that they're submitting you. Ask for a submission report. If you're not - Yeah. You know, I ask for a submission report like every other year, and it's not for any reason other than I want to see the casting directors that I've been submitted to so that I could be able to kind of like follow up either on social media or try to just make a list - of these things, right? I'm not checking up on you. I'm not trying to check to see if you're doing your job, right? Because I know you are. But if if if you're not confident that - or sometimes reminding them, oh, I haven't seen that I was submitted for this casting person, right? - You know, we're really tight. I really think, you know, right? - Remind them that you represent me if there's something that's right for me that pops up. - Right. - Was there ever a time when you thought that you might quit? - I never thought I'd quit, but I've gotten really pissed off at - I've been like, yo, come on, man. Um, but I've never thought that I would quit. Uh, because I I I believe not looking back and and you know, hindsight is 2020, you know, you get to kind of like look back and say, "Okay, this is why it worked out." I've always loved what I what I did. - And I have a problem with quitting on something I love, right? Like I don't got it in me. [laughter] I don't got it in me. I'm not like I'm not that savage like to just walk away from something I love. I like to fight for the things that I love. And I've always loved this. And I've always had an ego, a very a hidden ego that not too many people can kind of see. You have to be around me for a long time to see it. And that ego is like, "Oh, you bailing out, huh?" Right? It's that voice in the shoulder. You leaving, huh? All right. Sorry, punk. Go ahead. Go ahead. Free up some space on the freeway for the rest of us. We don't need you here. And when that voice starts to go, I'm like, "Kiss my ass. I'm staying." But I've I don't I don't think I've ever come close to cry. I've gotten very upset. I've felt like goodness, you know, I have thought, "My god, if I wasn't doing this, somebody told me they were like, this was a while ago." And he goes, he goes, "Ted, man, you know, you're you're pretty smart, dog." I'm like, "Thank you." Just like that. You're pretty smart, dog. probably be making a couple hundred grand a year doing something else. Um I'm like, "Yeah, you're right." And then that was the end of the conversation, right? - Be miserable, - right? Yeah. I mean, I probably wouldn't be happy, but um - Yeah. No, no, no, no. I can't remember a time when I when I when when when that feeling was actually real, - right? Where it was like right at the door. No, - I don't [clears throat] know about quitting, but I'll say usually because my to be a little stereotypical. Sometimes my my female actors tend to be a little more emotional. I'm like, you know, there might be a time when you're going to be in my office crying, - right? - That's okay, - right? - You can be frustrated. You can be upset. It's not a fair business. - Yeah. Oh, no. It's not fair at all. It's not It's not fair at all. And it's - that's the pissed off you were talking about. - Yeah. And and so you you you get you get pissed off and you get upset, but I can act anywhere. I can act on stage. - Yes, - I can create my own like 2026. Come on. And I mean, the invention of these DSLR cameras just like evened the playing field on and so now getting a a group of like-minded artists to do this thing with you and go on this journey with you and create this story for with you and make this movie with you gives you even more of an opportunity to do what you love without having to ask permission from the gatekeepers. Right. - Right. - And when that started being a thing, I was like, "Oh, I'm definitely not leaving." No, - I'm definitely y'all don't want to hire me, cool, no problem. It gives me time to write my own stuff and to do my own stuff. No, I love it too much. I love it too much. You know, it's it's it's it's too much of a part of me. - What was one of your highest moments in the business? - Wow. You know something? I can I out of habit, I like to just to to to remember the most recent things. - Uhhuh. Yeah. And I think, you know, because I just got a chance to work with a lot of people that I respect just now. Um, this this past week, I just worked on a on a project called the 65th. And it is about a group of it was about the the 65th regiment during the Korean War. - Okay. - Which was a battalion. I don't want to misname what they were, but it was a a a a group of Puerto Rican soldiers. They called themselves the Borinkaners, and they fought against the Koreans in the war. And it's such a beautiful story because really it's about identity versus honor versus loyalty to a country that really was discriminating against them even while they were over there in Korea busting their asses for the US. Um and it wasn't it was an all Puerto Rican cast. I think I was the only Dominican in there. Right. [laughter] Um but but they I mean it the the this is the thing about relationships. Um the the the director and I have known each other for a very long time and you know he trusted me with this with this little Roy was a small role but it was so pivotal and it provided levity a moment of levity uh during a during a really harsh time. Um, and there was another scene that was just heartbreaking and I and that was just it was just such a high moment for me. I know that it's the a recent one, right? And if I thought maybe that, you know, and I went back 20 years or whatever, there might be something else. - But I'm always grateful about the most recent stuff because it's the it's it's what I just it's what I just did. It's what I just accomplished. And this means a this actually means a lot to me because it is about um it it is a story that hasn't been told on film. And it's about Latinos and it's about my folks and my people and and you have so many like brown people in one place in front of and behind the camera. It was so beautiful. And nobody competed with each other. All of us would probably get called in for the same roles, by the way. - Right. Right. Right. - But now we're all on the same cast. - Yeah. - And that's beautiful because it doesn't happen. It doesn't it doesn't happen. I haven't experienced that too much. - How do you handle comparison? - Yeah. It's it's it doesn't bother me as much. Um, it really - did it when you were younger or - you know something I when I was young there was there all right look there was there was the one the only person I've ever been compared to was by just by looks and I never thought I looked like this. There was a there was a an RV artist I think he's still around Genuine. - Uhhuh. - Right. So, when I was in college, I went on spring break and I had an entire club of people thinking I was genuine and my friends were playing it up and they were getting drinks because of it. It was why I've never thought I look like genuine. I'm like, "Y'all think I look like genuine? I don't look like genuine, man." But that was that that was the only as far as being compared artistically to anyone. No one no one has ever done that. Visually, image and likeness, you might see somebody that kind of I resemble or stuff like that. It's like, oh, you remind me of such and such person, which is which is okay. It's cool. You know, there's there's a lot of us out there, right? Um, but as far as artistically in terms of like No, no, I don't. I personally don't know too many. - And is there ever anybody that you go up against a lot? And - yeah, good friend of mine. Good friend of mine. We met at an audition at CBS Radford. - Uhhuh. - In 2006, maybe. Yeah. Shout out to my boy Celesteon. Cele yo, good dude. Good dude. Dominican guy and it was a call back and it was between me and him and we were the only two that showed up, right? Um, and we were like, "Hey, what's up? What's going on?" And so, you know, we hit it off. He ended up getting it and then ever since I've gone for roles that he's gone out for and I booked and then he's gone out for roles, right? saying that and he's booked and um but I think it's an essence thing because it's definitely not we look different - right - we look different but it's - the breakdown you look the same - breakdown we look the same you know whatever 62 63 you know a certain size a certain certain skin tone um but but he but he's he's he's a different actor very successful do great great body of work, but we're we're two different people. I'm going to offer something different. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. - That's such a healthy way of looking at it. - Yeah. For sure. No. And an honest way from you, you know, as opposed to - You might have even worked with him. I think I think I think I might have you might have even worked with him at some point. But yeah, good dude. And and yeah, so it's it's it's cool. Doesn't bother me whatsoever. No. - You know, it's not your job. It's the job. And maybe, you know, and if it's not going to be you, I always wanted it to be a friend. - That's right. You know. - Oh, yeah. No, truly. - The only time I get upset, especially if I'm coaching somebody is if it goes to somebody that I don't think is as talented as my client, - right? - But then it's usually they're a bigger name. What, whatever. They're going to pull more people into the seats. It's - right. - It's not fair, but it is what it is. - That's that's the conversation you have to have with yourself, honestly. You know, this is this is show business. You know, sometimes ticket sales matter. Sometimes, you know, that familiarity and that quote unquote celebrity matter. - If you were the producer, would you hire - Would you or the other person, you know? - Exactly. Exactly. If you're trying to make your money back, are you going to try to Are you going to hire the more talented person or the person that's going to like bring butts into seats? - Right. - That's that's a real thing. - It Yes. And the butts and deceits usually is talented enough. - Hell yeah. Enough. Oh yeah. For sure. For sure. It's not that they're not talented, - you know. It's that if if you ask if you truly ask yourself, you know, what was the pr what was the principal reason in which someone was hired over the next? You'll never truly truly know until, you know, until you you see the final product and it's like, oh, okay, no problem. this this person has, you know, a certain amount of social media followers and or maybe their body of work is just so grand that it's like, oh, familiarity matters in this business. People want to go to the movie theaters and and watch TV to see people that they've seen before, - right? Yeah, it's true. - Is there anything I We might have covered this. anything that you tell yourself when you don't book, especially if it's one of those jobs you really hoping. - Ah, they're lost. They're lost. They're lost. You know, I offer, look, I've always seen it as I offer something hyper specific. - I do I and and and that's that's my reality. I've accepted it. I am a Dominican man. I am sensitive to a certain point. I have um a certain way of expressing myself. Um whether it be through mannerisms or vocabulary, those things put me in a certain place. Right? You're not going to you're you're if you don't go with that and you go with something else. I understand why because I understand who I am. I understand who I am. Um there's there have been, you know, a lot of times like if you're casting like let's say you're casting black, right? Um a lot of times it's I can see the brown skin. I can see it. I can see the brown skin. I can see I see you with the brown skin. But but but it can cast him can cast him as black is I mean is the is the black community going to believe that he's black and Spanish also? I've I've gone out I've uh we we we can see the brown skin. [laughter] But is the Spanish community going to believe that he's Spanish in this cast? Can he play his, you know, this person's love interest or brother or sister or son? you know, um there's there's an ambiguity to me, you know, it's it's it's and it's and it's interesting and it makes me that's my superpower. - Have you always been so confident as an actor? - No, I had to learn I had to learn that. I had to learn that because after looking at myself over and over again and after being overlooked - over and over and over again and understanding that what they needed was something that was so much more defined within their mind and within what the writer wrote and within the way they actually saw the character. When I when I realized that that was that their hyper specificity to what they were looking for was not being met by my broad ambiguity and by my whatever versatility I offer or whatever. It didn't bother me. It it started it started becoming like it it really became a your loss kind of thing because I know I can offer something that you didn't think you were going to get, but if you're not in the market for something you didn't think you were going to get, then why would you go for that anyway? I understand your part in this and I'm not mad at you - at all. At all. Yeah. - Right. - Yeah. Is there anything that you wished that you had worked on earlier in your career? - Probably voice. - Uhhuh. - Probably voice. Probably probably like in terms of uh uh music, singing. I can't sing. I sing happy birthday, [laughter] singing the shower, singing the car. But I I And when I say I can't sing is, you know, I like one of the first plays that I booked, I it was, you know, it was uh a musical, right? And I sang in chorus, but I was the only one that didn't have a solo, right? And they knew. They knew. I played three characters in that play. And but I did not sing. Everybody else sang, everybody else had solos. Everybody else belted. And I mean like this this was a huge this was like off Broadway or whatever, but it was a huge auditorium, probably like a thousand people. And every night I would watch them sing and I'd be like, "Man, I wish I could sing." But I wish I had trained my voice to be in the in the singing capacity, - right? Um because there's obviously different things different things you can train your voice for. Um and that would be nice. It would be nice to be able to hold a tune. I don't know that I don't know that I'm too late. - It's never too No, it's it's ne it's never too late. Um, I'm just thinking that as as it as it pertains to to the craft itself and to - to what's most useful of me, right? Um, - they need a singer. It's not you. - If they need a singer, they're going to find Oh, they're going to find one before - there's there's no Darth No. No, no. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you were going to restart your career now in 2026, what would you do - or start start fresh? I'm thinking about my my actors that are out there in the world right now. - Yeah, I would um I would write I would write my own film. - Ah, - I would write So, there's two things I would do. I would write I would write the feature, right? I would keep it I would keep it to between 85 and 90 pages. small independent art house film with myself as the lead. Right? And then I would take that and I would extract the most important thematic points and create a short. - Ah, - right. I would try to shoot the short and really a good short and try to get financing from the short, like shopping the short around and stuff like that, showing what you're capable of doing. Um, I would learn how to get behind the camera and direct it for myself and I would sit my butt in an acting class at least three days a week, hands down. So, I would be writing, I would be in my acting class, and I would spend my days just sharpening my instrument every day. Every single day. - You're somebody who looks at this business as a business. this. Yo, - you know how how many businesses are successful if they put three hours of work in a week? - You know what? Three hours a week, - right? - Listen, man. You're not No, no, no. You've got to go. It this is this you're we're this is the Olympics of of of right. This is this is the Olympics of of of - and there's other people out there training right now. - There's Right. There's people training out there. You know, that's what I tell young actors all the time. I'm like, you're right. Listen, [laughter] you know who you're going up against? What are you about? 25, 26, young white male. All right, that's Timothy Shalom, - right? - That's that's right. To the point where let's let's let's put it like this. You're not even going up against him. - You're not He's being offered the roles that you would not even be considered for at this point. You've got to work - to put yourself into - categorically into the conversation, right? - Yeah. You can't wait for them to come find you. - No. No. No. - What do you think actors should stop spending money on? - Wow. I don't know. You know, I always feel knowing that I make my living from actors. - Yeah. - They make the whole town run. - Yeah. - Everybody makes their money from them. - Everybody, - you know, and I'm always looking for ways to save them money and I'm always, you know, so - Yeah. I don't That's a good question. I don't know. I I've never - Thank you for not saying acting class. - No, acting [laughter] class. You You got to You got to sit You got to sit your butt in an acting class. Seriously, you think this is Oh my god. Um I I honestly I I don't know because I can't and I'm looking at my own life. I've never been frugal, right? Like I've just like I get the money, spend the money. Like I don't know. Maybe it's like the New York in me or whatever. But I've never on I've never overdone anything when it came to my my spending money on my craft. I've I always spent it on the things that I thought were necessary. When printed head shot were a thing, I would spend it on the head shot, right? Um, I spent most of my money on classes or um some type of training, right? Some type of training that benefited the craft, right? - Dance, dance, - stunts. - Yeah. All of that. Um, I in, you know, I invested in a nice little, you know, DSLR camera, you know, because I'm I'm a little bit of a camera geek, right? [clears throat] - You know, for my auditions, even though I I and look, I've been, you know, putting auditions on tape, I think, since 2013, 2014. - Um, and but and iPhones have come a long way. So, you could do it on the iPhone now and stuff like that. But um I I really don't know what an actor can stop spending money on that that's not benefiting them. I think you know it's easy to overdo anything in this town. And how do you overspend when you don't got no money? Actors, - right? Credit cards, - right? Oh god. [laughter] Yeah, that's right. - It's like right. Yeah. Actors actors don't have that much. I mean, you know, if you're a working actor, then that's kind of different. But if you're a struggling actor, - save your pennies, man. - Yeah. It's a business. Invest in what you need to. The training, - you know, maybe you don't need new head shots every month, every every year, but every three years, you know, - for sure. For sure. For sure. If there's something drastic that you've done if you've cut your hair, - right? And you need a couple of new shots. I think that's important mostly for for for women, - right? If you if your hair was very long and you cut it, you know, stuff like that. - Um, yeah. But other than that, who knows? - Yeah. - Oh, I've got a few uh fast questions, I think. - Yeah. - Uh - self tape or in person? - In person for Inerson? In person? - Comedy or drama? - I can't say dramdy, man. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go with the I'm going to go with the comedy. I'm going to go with the comedy. I have to. - Okay. - I love I love I love the drama, - but the only reason I'm able - to do - the only reason I'm able to actually do drama is because I can laugh at things. And there's there's pain on the other side of that. So, - best audition advice in five words. - Best audition advice in five words. Uh Let go. Let go. Let go of your ego. - I love it. - Let go of your ego. Let go of your ego, man. Seriously. - And we touched on this earlier, but biggest myth about acting. - Anybody can do it. I think you I I think that's the biggest myth. I I that anybody can do it. Um, yeah. I I I think that acting is the one craft or art form where you can kind of backtrack what you just did and say, "I meant to do that. I meant to do that." - Uhhuh. - Right. But if you're a if you're if you're a musician and you pick up a guitar and you can't play a guitar, the minute you play the first note, we're going to know that you can't play because it's going to sound wrong. If you're an intermediate guitar player, I'm going to know that you're an intermediate guitar player, right? Because you can't hit certain chords in time. If you're a singer, the minute you open your mouth and you sing that first note, we're going to know if you can sing or not. But as an actor, for some reason, if you're untrained, you can kind of hide behind that and feel like you can say that this is, oh, no. Well, I I intended to to to to do that. That's kind of what I wanted to do. And I and I just feel like you got to respect the training. You got to you got to respect the the the the the grind and and getting in and and really working on the craft. - Is there any advice that you wish you'd heard at the beginning of your career? - Don't take it personal. - No one ever really really really truly said that. - Nobody ever Yeah. Nobody ever really truly said that. I mean, I'm the truth is that I might have I might have heard it and not paid attention to it, but it it didn't resonate until like I had already kind of been settled into this is where I'm at and this is this is my journey. Don't take it personal. They're building an entire world, right? If you're right for their world, you're right for their world. And if you're not right for their world, there's another world being built that you might be right for. - Oh, I love that. That's it, man. - Thank you for being my very first ever guest. [laughter] - Yeah. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, this is this is - I'm very sad that you can't be teaching at the studio right now, but very happy [clears throat] for the reasons. So, you'll be back. - I will be back. I will be back. We'll we'll make it happen for sure. - Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me. All right. - [music]