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

Sean, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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.

This one is pretty simple: I was in acting class with Glenn Morshower (and through which class I know Donna), and I had been playing it safe, doing pretty much the same character in different clothes: myself. Glenn told me one day that unless I took a risk, people may ask him what it is like to work with me, and though he could vouch that I’m a nice guy, a sweetheart, etcetera, he wouldn’t know what working with me is like because I hadn’t taken that risk of stepping out of my comfort zone, of being somebody I was not. If I stay in my comfort zone, call it a nice, comfy hut, that’s fine. But that’s a limited world. If I step out of the hut, yeah a tiger might get me. A lion. A whatever. But I also might find metaphorical gold, I might meet somebody who could help change my life or, equally importantly, I could allow myself to be a vessel to help positively change their lives.

There is a whole world out there, and we must take a risk to experience it. So train. Go to the gym (literally and metaphorically). Gain knowledge. And then step out, even if I’m not “ready” (if we all waited until we were “ready”, we’d never get much done, never mind having any adventures.

So I took that risk. If it was between not working, not doing what I am here to do and being “safe”, it was really no choice. I started showing up as other people.

A year later, Glenn mentioned that while a year ago I was not taking risks, now I was the king of taking risks.

A friend of mine once countered my question of “what if they say no” with “what if they say yes?”

Thank God, I have some very good friends.

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?

When I was a kid, my life often didn’t work for me. So I escaped into movies and television. I got enamored with it. And then a trucker friend of the family came by a couple of weeks before school was to start on the way to Los Angeles. Dad thought I might like to go. So I went. That trip changed my life. I became enamored of the film industry and, through even a thirty-year retreat from acting into writing, my love of acting has recently become my career choice. Even though I loved writing, I kind of thought I had said what I wanted to say, wasn’t getting a lot of success and felt like God was encouraging me to make a priority choice: if presented with a contract to act vs. a contract to write, which would I take? Well, I didn’t want to be sitting in a rocking chair at 80 years old wondering what might have been.

And that was it. I made acting the priority. Not to the exclusion of all writing, but acting has the strong preference for me.

Now, largely through the acting class I’m in, God has helped me grow into a much more confident actor who can see this as a career–it’s the only thing I’ve ever done that, once I’ve found out how hard it is, I’m still all in on. That tells me everything.

So it was a decision–turns out a decision to actually do what I’m sent here to do.

As to problem-solving, I bring truth (along with love and energy) to the role. If my truth is what the director wants, or is something they can mold into what they want, hopefully we get to work together. Truth, love, energy, coach ability, preparation…and a good sense of humor. Which is important because I look like the menacing guy who, by my “intimidating” presence alone, can get people to do what I want. I love to play the bad guy, the protector, the one people would do well not to mess with. And it’s entertaining to look like I do and then speak–once that happens, people know I’m just a big teddy bear. Maybe a teddy bear with a bit of a dark side.

One other, important, thing is the opportunity to use all of this to inspire others, to help them escape into movies and TV when they need to. And to, if they see me on the street, give them a smile, shake their hand, not preach to them but be ready to answer questions. It is entirely possible that I can be used to brighten someone’s day and, if they they are a non-Christian, never gave God much of a chance, and then find out I’m a Christian and I was loving and nice to them, maybe allow Christians are not necessarily what they thought; maybe give God a chance. Lifestyle evangelism.

I’m not proud of much of anything, but I am glad for how far God has brought me, for the confidence I have in doing what I’m here to do, in finally not hating myself for my decisions and flaws and finally loving myself in spite of them and enough to work on those flaws, to make better decisions. It’s a process (a lifelong one!). But I think a Whisper said this to me: God made me. He loves me enough to have sent me here with something to do for Him. Who am I to gainsay Him?

Bottom line: if I can be used to make a difference in somebody’s life, especially by acting in films and television and so on, whether that’s an escape from the say, a smile on the way or a doorway to hope, and be solid financially and creatively by the way, I’d call that a well-lived life.

That’s a lot of words, but hopefully there’s something good in there.

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

The opportunity to be used to do something I love _and_ have been sent to do _and_ have a good living at it (which can be used to make another kind of difference in someone’s life). Honestly, how many people have a living doing what they love to do, and that in some positive way, affects others? The prospect of doing that is in itself inspiring and hugely rewarding.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That I’m worthless, that nobody wants to hear what I have to say, that I want to go through the world and not be noticed. I was picked on a lot as a kid, and the best way to minimize what was to pretend it didn’t affect me, to, as they might say in professional wrestling, “no-sell” it. This led to a sort of freedom in that I thought I could do what I wanted without affecting others because who cared what I had to say or what I did. Problem with that was it ignored the positive effect that God could use me to have on others and I abdicated responsibility for many of my actions.

I’ve learned that I am here on an assignment, that the words I say matter (so be led–listen to that Whisper–pray before I say!), that people are inspired by some of the things I say, do, share, and that I am valued. We are often told not to get too big for our britches, but sometimes it’s good to at least grow into them. We are loved, valued and what we (everyone) do matters. There’s great freedom AND great responsibility in that.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://linktr.ee/Seanfrostactor
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanfrostactor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072862175784
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@seanfrost2509
• Other: My blog:

  https://dribblingsandexpositions.wordpress.com

Image Credits

Sean Johnston (aka Sean Frost)