That's the challenge as an actor. You put yourself in uncomfortable positions because that's your job. Otherwise, just stay home and watch TV.
I feel like being an actor it is a great way to do your job and be a parent, because you have a lot of freedom. You have a job and then the job ends and than maybe you don't have another job for a while or maybe you chose not have another job for a while. For an actor, it's like maybe you don't see your kid for two weeks while you are filming but then you might have three months off where you are at home every day and picking him up from school. I find it's a great thing.
I slowly came to realize that this job of being an actor, you spend most of your time looking for work. That is your job. Your job is auditioning. You spend very little of your time actually working.
As an actor, technically, when you are off a film, you are out of a job. An actor goes from job to job. By virtue, acting is an unsure profession.
Being an actor is just like being any other sort of self-employed person - we're all just happy to have a job in the first place, but we also thrive off the uncertainty of it.
The best way to stay cool is to stay focused - you have to focus on your job. As soon as you take your eye off that, you will slip up, so you have got to have everything 100 per cent on what is in front of you.
As an actor, you have got to learn your job as thoroughly as you can. If you know your job, then there's nothing that can stop you. Because the bottom line is that only good actors will get work.
I'd never thought about acting as a job. I was an engineer; I was in science and technology. I loved movies and television growing up, but I'd never thought about it as, 'Oh, that guy Denzel Washington is employed as an actor.'
The actors at that time had to learn all that stuff, it wasn't just hyperbole. What was appealing to me about being an actor at that time is that there was a home base, with job security. You were employed on a regular basis, and you had to sometimes do things you didn't want to do, but it was there. I also liked Hobie Doyle positivity.
I'm still waiting to hit it big. But there was the moment when I didn't have to work at the restaurant anymore, which is the milestone for every actor. When your job is just to be an actor and not to have to do anything else.
My goal as an actor, as an up-and-coming actor in this business is to stay consistent with the work, you know, and if you do good work, and stay focused on the work, writers and directors will pay attention.
There are moments when it's unbelievable how people who work on the hair or on the little bit of skin here, they have no other care or interest since this part of their job is the only thing that needs to look good. So you have to push everybody to the side so that you can have a connection with your actor and give some air to your actor.
I'm super grateful to be an employed actor.
The storytelling in a movie is in the cut; it's in the edit. It's not an actor's job, really. Your job is such a tiny little thing, and I love the feeling of juggling or tightrope walking.
You do actor's job for intense scenes like this - you dream about them - and you get scared until the day it finally happens. But when you feel safe with your partners, the crew, and your director who all did a wonderful job, you get into the zone quickly.
Everybody has parts of themselves that they're not 100% happy with - that's what makes you human. And being an actor, your job is to play human beings. Your job is to play real people.