We were lucky to catch up with Jeremy Radick recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jeremy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I think I had always wanted to be an actor. My family wasn’t an artistic one, particularly, but when I was six, I told them I wanted to do what the people on TV did, and they really supported my dream, getting me into acting classes and helping me in elementary school plays, taking me to auditions.
I had wound up starting to audition for local radio spots and theatre, and I did a couple things, but the real moment came when, at 11, I landed a lead role on a local TV show. Once I was in a professional production, I loved everything about it; collaborating with other actors and with the directors, delving into a character and a story and making something that affected people.
From there I spent the next 25 years or so working in film, TV and on stage.
Jeremy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
After I got started in film and TV, even as a child actor, I quickly found out what made me different from some of my peers was that I was already more of a character actor, and I really wanted to cultivate a reputation as a professional. I had seen many kid actors be pretty high maintenance (which is fair, they’re kids!) but I didn’t want that for myself, so I created a rigorous work ethic when it came to my craft.
That really made a difference I think. I wanted people to enjoy working with me, and know that I would show up prepared, with good ideas, ready to work.
As an adult actor, once I refined my process through classes and theatre school in NYC, I held onto that attitude and now I think my eagerness to both collaborate well and to really focus on exploring the text and be as diligent as possible is as important as whatever talent I have as an artist.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was in my early thirties and had just become a father, I was hugely frustrated as an artist. My career had plateaued, and I wasn’t enjoying the work I was doing. Having been a professional actor since the age of 11, I just thought it was time to do something else, that I really had failed as an actor because I wasn’t famous or wealthy or whatnot.
I took a 13 year break to raise my kids. And early on, I was happy and relieved. But over time I became more and more lost and aimless. I didn’t have a thing that really gave me joy in my life that was just mine. This dissatisfaction actually led to the breakdown of my marriage, and I really needed to re-evaluate things.
Eventually, I tried returning to the first thing that gave me joy; acting. Ten minutes into my first class in over 15 years, and I felt like coming home. I haven’t looked back since, and my theatre career has thrived.
So, what did I learn? Well, that your goals and what you view as “success” need to shift as you go. The important thing is how the work makes you feel, and then your idea of success will shift and recharge and sustain. Breaks are also good, I do think I needed one 13 years ago. But always be willing to look at yourself and really let your own satisfaction drive your art rather than external ideas of what makes you a successful artist.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
The enjoyment of art makes for more empathetic, well-rounded, engaged people. And our society has really abandoned exposing kids to the arts overall. It’s an underfunded afterthought in schools, despite committed educators, and as a result I don’t think kids are exposed to enough arts to really make them integrated into their lives so they continue to enjoy them as they grow into adulthood.
Of course, there’s so much to compete with the arts for kids’ attention, but there are so many companies and organizations that are focused on vibrant, engaging and innovative programs. Simply taking kids to the occasional Shakespeare production or high school musical is not going to allow them to find the thing that might turn them into a lifelong participant in the arts.
There should be as much focus on exposing kids to arts as there is on teaching them math and science, on exposing them sports and physical activity. We do those things to create healthy, well-rounded people with the best chance at a successful life. If we want them to also be fulfilled and engaged people with a broader understanding of life, then we should consider exposing them to the arts as vital and necessary.
That means more public partnerships with more companies, more community programs offering resources and opportunities to companies so they can thrive and come to the kids where they are, show them bold and creative projects that are of interest to kids and don’t feel like homework so we build people with a lifetime of experience, rather than “I saw a couple plays in high school once.”
Art brings joy and connection and has made my life so much more fun and rich; I love sharing that with others.
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David S. Hogan