We recently connected with D.J. Hale and have shared our conversation below.

D.J. , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue an artistic path for my career with total dedication, was actually the first week I started taking acting classes at Studio 24 in Sacramento, California. My interest was at an all time high and deep down I knew this was what I was supposed to do with my life, but nothing drove that point further than watching my studio mates perform a tough break up scene after just one week of preparation. The way they acted on that stage without truly knowing each other having just met a week prior, and the way they were totally locked into their characters and the situation…it was real. I saw the desperation, the coldness, the anger, the sadness, the hope, the love. I saw it all, and it moved me. I saw the magic acting produces, I felt it. It was at that moment I knew completely with everything fiber of my being that this is what I want to do. This is what I need to do. This is what I’m supposed to do.

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?

I got my start in the industry literally working from the bottom up. Coming from an urban area of Sacramento, there simply was nobody trying to do what I was doing. No friends, no family, nobody to show me the ropes. I found my first short film auditions on Craigslist, actually. Booked them and starred in a few shorts where I was able to get the footage and create a demo reel, which I sent to San Francisco and was rejected by every Agency accept Tonry Talent. She took a chance on me, and after a year of no bookings, I finally booked a national commercial and a few industrial commercials that paid for my relocation to Los Angeles. I have been here ever since, and have transitioned from just being an actor to a screenwriter and filmmaker as well, having learned everything from my acting career. What my story shows are the core principles of my production company, Starshooter Entertainment, in DREAM BELIEVE PERSIST ACHIEVE. That’s what it takes to start your path, and what you follow until you make it to the end. Anything is possible, you just have to figure out how.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

The biggest thing I think people who aren’t pursuing this path struggle with understanding about us is how we are okay with the uncertainty of our profession, and the uncomfortable situations it places us in in terms of financial instability, relationship reclusiveness, and the ongoing subjection to failure and rejection. Who on earth would want to sign up for a life like that? Nobody sane! But that’s exactly what we are. Artists and creatives operate in a different world, a different frame of mind. Those things aren’t as important to us as creating a work of art to be reviewed and resonate with, to tell a tale we want shared with hopes to drive our point across. We suffer the slings and arrows and keep walking forward, because there is no back peddling. Forward is the only way we march, no matter how beautiful and refreshing and safe our surroundings are.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In my third year in Los Angeles I experienced rock bottom. I hadn’t auditioned in three months and my Manager didn’t have a reason why, my car broke down, I was barely surviving paycheck to paycheck, my girlfriend left me after two years, and I was not satisfied with my living situation in the Valley. In my mind, there was no other way to see it; LA had defeated me. I set out on this quest from Sacramento to slay the dragon, and he proved much more than I could handle. I had to move away. It broke me, for the first and only time in my life, I was broken. I moved to Las Vegas to get away, and luckily enough landed my first stage play at the Las Vegas Little Theatre, where that love for acting rekindled it’s flame. I knew that I had to go to back to LA. No matter what I had to do, how many jobs I had to have to stack my money, I knew I had to be back! Two years later, I moved back to Los Angeles and now have a short film called “Lionheart” that is performing well in the film festival circuit, and am in pre production to shoot our first feature film next year. Never give up! If it’s what you feel you are supposed to do, make it happen!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Starshooterent.com
• Instagram: djhalesupreme
• Facebook: Facebook.com/actordjhale
• Twitter: djhalesupreme
• Youtube: D.J. Hale
• Other: Twitch @djhalesupreme IG @starshooterentertainment Twitter @thestarshooters Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast – The Starshooter Podcast -Uncensored and Whatever – The Philosophic Principles of Lifesim, Selfism, Stoicism – The History Nut Podcast – The Dope Nerd Podcast – The Ones That Never Made It