Published: August 5, 2010 4:03 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., BGS, MBA (Juniorscave.com)
JC Interview Exclusive (Celebrity Interview with Rising Actor, Aaron Golden) August 2010 Edition
Aaron Golden
One of the joys about this Webzine is introducing our readers to new and exciting talents coming up in Hollywood. This next rising star is certainly heading into the direction of stardom with his skillful acting abilities and his passion & desire to create characters that are memorable. Meet actor Aaron Golden as he reveals his personal journey for entering into the acting profession and why he feels acting is what he is meant to do.
Isaac: Hello Aaron! I want to thank you for doing this interview with our Webzine. I read in your bio that you recently moved to California. What did this move mean to you professionally and where you in culture shock when you arrived in Los Angeles for the first time?
Aaron: Hey Isaac, you're more than welcome.
I moved to LA just over two years ago now (haven't updated the website for a little bit...should probably get on that...), and it's been a hell of a ride since I got out here. I made the move a year after graduating college. I had earned a BFA in Acting from the University of Illinois, and burst out of school excited to enter the "real world". I had always planned to come out to LA and try to be a film actor, but I thought it was important to spend a little time finding my footing before heading west, far from the protective blanket of my Chicago-based family. So I began my career in Chicago, auditioning for various commercial and film roles to minor success, while performing onstage at a small wonderful theatre. But I knew if I stayed longer I would become more attached to Chicago, so the sooner I started my life in LA, the better.
The culture shock was tremendous. I grew up in London, Ontario, Canada, and the transition from my hometown to Chicago was much less intense than the transition from Chicago to LA. LA is very hard to describe to people who have not lived here. It is a different planet. The highs are so high and the lows are so low. You are closer than you've ever been to your lifelong dream, but can feel achingly far. In my hometown and Chicago, the fact that I was an actor was an exciting and unique thing. As soon as you get to LA, not only is it not exciting, it is, in fact, a negative thing about you. You're just another actor. So it was very hard to overcome this change of perceptive and remember that you are still the hard-working talented person you've always been.
I should mention, as well, that at this point in my career, I am focusing on writing and film making as much as pursuing acting, one other major development from moving to LA.
Isaac: Were you always interesting in acting or did you happen to stumble across it?
Aaron: Art and expression are important in my family (my father is an orchestral violist), and I was an expressive little kid. I was the youngest of three brothers, and routinely earned their annoyance by singing for them very loudly. I loved acting in school plays, but I really caught the bug at about age 12, when I was in a kid’s theatre company. During high school, I got more and more involved, and it became obvious to me that I would pursue a professional career in it.
Isaac: What has been one of the best rewarding experiences you can talk about from acting?
Aaron: There are so many. I played an American soldier stationed in Ireland during World War 2 in "Dolly West's Kitchen" at Timeline theatre in Chicago. After one night's show, an older gentleman approached me, almost in tears, describing what it had actually been like to be an American soldier stationed in Ireland during World War 2. The depth, to which it had affected him, brought up feelings he hadn't felt for years, and given him a voice was tremendous, and reminded me of why theatre is so powerful and vital.
Isaac: What has been one of the worst experiences from acting that you have experienced?
Aaron: At my final evaluation during college, after four years of intense training, I was told by a highly respected professor that I "did not understand the fundamentals of acting". It was a crushing criticism, one that kept me up many nights, and took me a very long time to understand and be able to benefit from.
Isaac: What do you feel has been your favorite project that you have completed and why?
Aaron: I recently co-wrote, executive produced, and had a small role in a feature film called "Falling Overnight" which we shot earlier this summer in LA. I worked harder on this film than anything I have ever done before, and I think the finished product will be tremendous. (Hopefully you'll get a chance to see it...keep your fingers crossed for us...).
Isaac: What movie/film do you consider a masterpiece and if you had the opportunity to make something similar briefly describe what type of film it would be?
Aaron: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is, in my opinion, the perfect symmetry of writing, directing, and acting. The concept "what if you were given a note saying you had been removed from someone's memory" is ingenious. I'm very drawn to surreality, bending the rules of our world, and I would love to come up with something that simple and heart-wrenching.
Isaac: That is one of my all-time favorite films too.
Isaac: What type of roles do you find to be the most fun portraying and why?
Aaron: Power. I played the Grand Inquisitor of Spain in a production in college. When I was onstage, everyone else was silent. They say the most of the reason some people have power is because others give it to them. In my personal life, I don't usually think of myself as powerful. But in a role where others are required to treat you as such, you can let yourself tap into the dark, dominating impulses that I think we all have.
Isaac: What do you enjoy the most about performing live in front of an audience while on stage and why?
Aaron: Live performance is such a thrilling experience because of the danger. At any point, I could not say my line, or jump offstage, or take off my pants and yell Italian swear words. Believe me, you have those thoughts. There is pressure to tell the story in a certain space, for a certain time, and there's nothing worse than watching a bad live performance. So when it clicks, and you can feel it drop in, and the audience relaxes and gives you their attention...when you've "won" them, it's intoxicating.
Isaac: What do you think has been the biggest adjustment that you have had to make as an actor when it comes to your personal life?
Aaron: This career is incredibly unstable. My friends from college have houses, and 401k's and all kinds of other financial things with fancy letter combinations. I live in a living room. I don't buy clothes. I drink PBR. You make certain sacrifices. You serve a lot of eggs, and don't get to fly to Europe. I've had to learn many hard lessons in financial planning. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Isaac: What do you want to achieve for your career in the entertainment business?
Aaron: I want to create stories that challenge conventional thought, communicate honest human experience, push the boundaries of artistic beauty and expression, progress our culture, educate the ignorant, and help get us through this very scary and dangerous bump in human history we're living through. Also, I want a sweet convertible.
Isaac: What are some currently projects you are working on now?
Aaron: We're trying to get "Falling Overnight" finished by the September Sundance deadline, so that's occupying most of our time right now. On top of that, I'm taking an improv class, we're developing a TV show, and we're starting to vaguely think about our next feature project...lots to occupy my time.
Isaac: Words of wisdom and final thoughts….
Aaron: Hustle. Make your own work. Don't wait by the phone. Don't stifle your passion, convert it into hard work. It's so easy to get lost, dejected, or plain exhausted from pursuing this career, and we all know the odds. But the odds are deceiving. It's really about individuals, and if you're not doing everything you possibly can, if you hide behind the "well, you know, the odds are so long", that's where you will remain. And remember, everyone's just making it up as they go along...you just gotta convince someone you know what you're talking about even if you have no idea...
