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

Mark, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Yes, I enjoy my life as an artist. It’s taught me to really take charge of my life. For a long time, I didn’t know what I was put on this earth for in terms of what kind of job I would be working to make a living. I was always that person that was always trying to seek validation even to a point that sometimes it would annoy people and I always felt bad when I would ask for help or felt I had to be given permission to do the things I want to do. I always knew I was talented in terms of acting, singing, playing guitar and I thought about being a musician at one point or being an actor at another point but then I also didn’t want to move to a town that wasn’t near home. So I looked into getting a degree in either Economics like my dad or statistics since I was a big fan of baseball but didn’t understand how statistics worked in that area. But I didn’t enjoy the work and my grades weren’t always the best. School was always a struggle for me and my parents sat me down and they gave me the suggestion to drop a bunch of the classes I was taking because they knew I wasn’t happy. So after the semester was over, I just decided to work as a courtesy clerk at Sprouts so that I didn’t have to worry about so many things. And what has really helped me since I moved LA was joining the Richard Lawson Studios in 2019. I had made the decision 2 years prior that I wanted to be an actor and I knew the kind of work I wanted to do. I moved to LA in 2019 and I took classes for the first few months I lived here at the Andrew Wood Acting Studio which focused on theater and the Stanislavski method. After a few visits to see my family in Northern California after I moved and going on a trip to Ireland, I knew that I really wanted to focus on film and TV, I did an interview at the Sanford Meisner Center but didn’t feel that it was the right fit for me. After doing more research, the Richard Lawson Studios which was walking distance from my apartment. The interview went so well and I knew that good things were about to happen. However, I found later that it was a place where you can claim what your dreams are, you will be given the opportunity to audition on camera, make your own content, learn what is required in terms of how to get an agent. And I’ve been with them ever since.

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?

In terms of discipline and making sacrifices, it hasn’t always been the easiest thing because you know in terms of working on my craft and trying to submit myself for auditions and trying to open myself up to the world, a lot of considerations have come my way and I’ve come up with excuses to not better myself in terms of my craft. But there came a point where I received a suggestion from my Professional Development teacher and friend, Lindsay Hopper to make this my craft a full time job 4 years ago. I knew I had to stay disciplined and not try to get too comfortable and I knew that meant I needed to make sacrifices. And what was hard about claiming for myself throughout the years in terms of my career is that not only do I have to make sacrifices in terms of the work I’m doing like filming, creating my own material, singing, playing guitar, taking dance classes, working out, networking, studying, and auditioning but I always try to make sure I advocate for myself no matter what is being said to me. I was taught when I was a kid that it was important for people to advocate for themselves and make sure you’re letting yourself be heard when something isn’t clear to you.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Yes, a year after I wrote a 5 page sypnosis called Almost Dead Issues, I had to learn how to create plot points anwhid do character breakdowns. Creating the logline was the hardest part and I felt stuck for 3 months and then after I was finished, I continued with the next part and had to make some changes I took a loss because I wanted to make sure I was meeting my own deadlines for this project but luckily Lindsay Hopper helped me for the next two weeks get to the other side of everything that was making me sad so that I can get back to work. Luckily it worked out and I was able to appreciate where I was in the process until I finished the plot points and began to write the script. I always enjoyed bringing in the script and having my Professional Development Program classmates read it out loud. I knew that my uniqueness was finally being seen and I did two table reads for the script and I had fun hearing other people reading the lines off of something I created. Now that I had done two table reads, I was told that I had to create a proof of concept which was my big project last year. After I had finished a rough cut of the short, I felt a weight was off of my shoulders and I was at a place where I can enjoy life a lot more and not take myself too seriously.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part about a creative is that I don’t have to put pressure on myself and I’ve been given a lot of permission to explore and play with a bunch of different ideas and that I don’t need to take a loss if I fail. I’ve learned to enjoy the fact that I’m being offered auditions and not worry about the end result. Being an artist, means you have to mindful and you have to let yourself feel the things that you are feeling. It’s taught me to be really be honest with myself. It’s helped me understand that it’s ok if I make mistakes. It’s also helped me develop a lot of confidence and establish a bunch of friendships along the way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @mlarwood04
• Facebook: Mark Larwood

Image Credits

Photo #1 – Emily Sandier

Photo #2 – Jayne Marin

Photo #3 – Steven Foley

Photo #4 – Corey Barker

Photo #5 – Selfie