Earlier this week I had the esteemed opportunity to give a lecture at the University of Southern Alabama...and I did it in my PJ's! The lecture was for the class Acting IV, and I was invited as a function of an article that I had written for an uncoming issue of the SAFD's Magazine, The Fight Master. In the article, I discuss my experiences as an American action film actor being based in Asia, as well as a lot of the stylistic and philosophical differences that exist between how we do (and what we call) "action" in the West, vs. how it is perceived and trained for in the East. The Magazine's editor thought it was interesting enough that he wanted me to speak be a guest speaker at one of his high level acting classes.
Unfortunately due to the time difference, their 10:10am class was actually at 1:10am for me, but as I didn't have any shootings the next day, it was no trouble at all to stay up a bit later. The lecture itself went pretty well. As they were all graduating actors who were soon to be thrust into trying to survive in the entertainment industry on their own, instead of focusing solely on the differences between the East and West, I decided to also focus on my personal experiences...both the things Ive learned that have gotten me somewhere... and the mistakes that Ive made that have held me back. Given the fact that Ive spent the past 10 years working my way through the industry (on both sides of the world) without any starting connections or mentors to show me the way, I feel as though I had a wealth of info to share on the topic, and I was happy to have the chance to do so. About the only regret that I had was that the class was just to short for me to talk about everything that I wanted to, and still leave time for questions.
Even so however, it seemed as though they really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it, and it was really a great feeling to be able to do something to help life make easier for the next group of up and coming actors. Much like any other industry with a potentially huge payoff for success, the entertainment industry (and the people you meet in it) can be absolutely ruthless. As such, a little bit of advice can go a long way not just in terms of helping you to find your way- but also in terms of keeping your sanity in the process. Once I return back to the states (tentatively later this year) I do hope that there will be more opportunities to do more stuff like this, as well as seminars such as the one I did for Michigan State. Even if I am an actor/stuntguy/martial artist by trade, at heart Ive always been an academic, so Im sure I would love every minute of it.
