As I continue through my acting career I tend to wish I were a little shorter and a few pounds lighter so casting directors would call me in for more diverse roles.
Being large and muscular, you are not taken very seriously as an actor. When bigger roles come up and the actor needs to be muscular they tend to cast a regular sized actor and get him to hit the weight program as opposed to hiring an actor who's already muscular and developed in that area.
My strongest quality as an actor is taking direction. I will give my performance as a template and if the director gives any instruction, I take that information, process it and morph it into the next take. I love the feeling I get when nailing a scene through direction.
Beside my obvious physical structure, I have been told on almost every set I've been on that I am a joy to have around. I grew up as a team player on team sports. Later as a doorman where you had to watch each other's back and trust the guy beside you.
In the scenes I try to be a giver as much as possible, giving the other actor something to work with. When not in the scenes I will stand in for eye lines to help the other actor with delivery and hopefully performance.
I love being a human being, my time and experience here has become even more treasured since I turned to acting.
Becoming an actor has really helped me as a human being. The joys in my life I feel are more joyful, and the sorrows I feel are a bit sadder, but I find I'm more in tune with my feelings as a human being and others as well.
Sometimes you'll see interviews about an actor who was asked to hit the weight room to develop his body for the character, and you hear them complaining about the egg white omelettes they had to eat and the tortures of hitting the gym twice a day - I find that to be a bit saddening, it's all a part of becoming the character and as an actor, that is your job.
The muscularly developed actor is not seen as a serious actor although he should be seen as a serious actor because he has been preparing for these muscular roles his entire life. If you can dedicate years of your life to hitting the gym and dieting and eating right you can definitely take a movie role seriously.
I hope to evoke emotion in others, help them escape for even just a little while into different worlds, different times and different thoughts. Whenever I'm able to lend my name to worthy causes and try and change this world for the better I feel like my work is a success.
