We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dustin Phillips a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dustin, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. As soon as I graduated high school, I told my Dad, who’s an American citizen, that I want to pursue acting in the US. He was very supportive about my decision and as a graduation gift, he started filing my petition so I can move here. As cliche as this sounds, I have been dreaming of becoming an actor since I was a little kid. The minute I finished watching Jurassic Park for the first time. I actually met Steven Spielberg last year! I was working at Starbucks at the time and he ordered a Chai Latte and I took the opportunity to tell him he’s my hero.

I finally arrived in the US in 2015 but I spent some time with family in Sacramento first before I finally took the big risk of moving to Los Angeles in 2018. One of the other risks I took was choosing my dreams over love. I had to break up with my boyfriend at the time because he didn’t want to come with me to LA.

My Mom, who is the most important person in my life and has always been supportive about my crazy dreams, helped me with my move from afar. I didn’t even want to move to LA until the Summer because I want to save money first but she insisted I should just make the move beginning of the year. So I did, and then she enrolled me at New York Film Academy in Burbank to study acting and get the ball rolling.

From then on, I told myself I want to stand on my own while I continued to chase my dreams. I am lucky to have such supportive parents and family but it is crucial to me that I become successful because of my own hard work and dedication. I worked at a Shake Shack in Hollywood while I was attending acting school. After that, I worked at Starbucks and at a restaurant in Beverly Hills at the same time so I can save up money for my SAG initiation fee. With all those jobs, I was also attending acting classes at the Groundlings in 2019 and then at the Lee Strasberg Institute in 2020.

I found myself auditioning for 2 roles for the Netflix series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” in December 2020 until the summer. Obviously, I did not get any part. But what makes me proud is that after auditioning for the first role and didn’t get it, they called me back in again for the second role. It was a series of multiple callbacks as well and we all know as actors that it’s hard to get callbacks most times. So I’m amazed that I made it far through the audition process and it gave me a sense of reassurance as well that maybe, just maybe, I could make it one day.

Now as for my social media pursuits, I started a YouTube channel back in 2021. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a success either. I should’ve started earlier than that before the platform became too crowded. But then a stranger who I randomly was sitting next to at a rooftop pool asked me what I do. He suggested I do TikTok. I told him I was hesitant about it because I want to be a serious actor and no one’s going to take me seriously if I’m a “TikToker.” I listened to him anyway.

My TikTok era in 2021 was full of disappointments. I remember being stuck in the 200-views jail. I didn’t see results until I changed my game plan. I started posting more consistently, every day, and every post was planned. May of 2022 is when it finally gave me the consistent views I deserved. My following started growing as well. I pivoted to different niches and when I started doing my comedic skits at Starbucks was when it really turned my social media game upside down. But for the better. I was getting over 10 million views each skit with the most being 30 million. Unfortunately, the company made me stop. Then they fired me. So after that, I had to figure out new ideas and pivot again. I’m also very passionate about fashion so now I do a lot of vlogs, skincare, and “Get Ready With Me” videos. From the moment I was fired, I said I’m just going to focus on posting every single day again, multiple times a day, with my new niche, and in 3 months I was able to gain 15,000 new followers. The views and engagement may not be as high as my comedic skits but they’re still great. I believe I have built quite a solid audience on the platform.

Fast forward to today, I may not have the success I’ve been dreaming of yet but I am still willing to take risks. Staying in this expensive city with a day job I hate is already a risk. And refusing to change careers because I’m almost 30 is even a bigger risk. I still have very high hopes for both my acting and social media pursuits.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Dustin Phillips, I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. I left my
hometown after high school to pursue acting here in the US. I always knew as a
kid, after watching Jurassic Park for the first time, that that’s the career I wanted
to pursue. It is my biggest dream to be in movies and TV shows. But as I continue to navigate that unpredictable world, I am using social media, specifically TikTok, as a creative outlet where I create engaging, relatable, and entertaining content.

I started posting more consistently and regularly on TikTok back in May 2022. Without any solid niche at the time, I was still able to grow my account to 10,000 until I decided to do skits, while working at Starbucks, and found some success. The company eventually found out and made me stop. Since then, I knew I had to find new ways to continue growing and expanding my audience. I am also very passionate about fashion and being able to entertain people through my personal life, so I knew I had to go down that route next. Having been a fan of Emma Chamberlain and Bretman Rock all these years, I wanted to follow in their footsteps. I started posting more vlogs, GRWMs, dress ups, and silly little videos just for some laughs, and found myself a silver lining. My TikTok account now stands at 140,000 followers and consistently gets a good amount of views and high engagement as well.

I am aware I’ve still got a long way to go but I have high hopes that one day, I’ll get a seat at a table next to some of the world’s biggest actors and creators.

How did you build your audience on social media?

People are drawn to relatability, authenticity, vulnerability, confidence, and humor so I always took advantage of that. I keep all five of these in mind when I plan my posts and when I’m filming. Authenticity is my favorite because a lot of my successful videos were ideas I came up with in the moment, filmed it like I’m just doing a FaceTime, then posted right away. It makes people feel you’re their friend. That being said, you also need to engage in their comments. Always remember their names and usernames and when you interact, always say their name. You build your audience like you build your friendships.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I am so proud to be a Filipino and Filipinos are well known for their resilience. Every time I encounter a road block like rejections from auditions or having to pivot on social media when certain posts don’t work, I just remind myself that it’s part of the journey every successful people has gone through. One of the things I like to remind myself too is any hardships shall pass. Just like the previous hardship I faced before this new one. They always pass.

I’ve really shown my resilience on TikTok. I started with little views and I couldn’t find my niche. Every post was whack. So then I pursued comedic skits while I was working at Starbucks. Found success in there but the company made me stop. So I had to pivot again. Then I got fired from my job and on that same day, I told myself I’m going to just focus on posting and growing. So I did. 15,000 new followers in 3 months isn’t bad, I think?

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duztn/profilecard/?igsh=MWQ1ZGUxMzBkMA==
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/duztn?lang=en
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@duztn?si=XBftcUMHTxlAkxnc
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@duztn?_t=8r9q3dOUUPq&_r=1

Image Credits

Bella Saville Photography for my Headshot