Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Girgenti. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
From an acting standpoint, the most meaningful project I’ve worked on was the most recent film I was blessed to be a part of titled “Reese Enterprises” that releases later this year 2022. I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic schools as a kid but got away from my faith and God as I got older, especially when I moved to LA. It’s interesting because another nickname for Los Angeles is “The City of Lost Angels” and that’s exactly what I was becoming a Lost Angel like the majority of creatives or entertainers in Hollywood. Made a handful of bad decisions and realized I was in it all for the wrong reasons. Thankfully after getting a job opportunity with a strong Christian, his faith was infectious and before I knew it I was reading a daily devotion and going back to Church. If I wasn’t going in person, I stream it every Sunday. There’s this really great LA Church group called “Fearless LA” that I follow regularly and this priest Father Mike on YouTube my aunt showed me, but after relocating the love for Jesus while in California, I had also discovered my father was diagnosed with a form of cancer so I did what I think anyone would do and dropped everything to move back home with my family which was Florida. My parents had recently relocated there from Chicago only a year or so ago.
My soul was definitely filled being around my family again everyday but from a “career” level it felt like I was walking away from the entertainment industry. There was a part of me that forgot the power of God and felt because I wasn’t in Hollywood anymore I wouldn’t be able to secure any new roles or maintain a presence in the industry. Earlier this year in February I was watching the Oscars and they were giving a 50th year tribute to Robert Deniro, Al Pacino, and Francis Ford Coppola for their movie “Godfather”. I thought to myself, wow these guys are legends but also, wow there’s no new school Deniro / Pacino. I started calling my friends in Hollywood and expressed that I could for sure become the next Deniro. They all agreed but said the only way it will happen is if you get active and do something about it. Knowing I wasn’t going to leave FL but still had an urge to act, I signed up for all the casting website services again such as “Backstage” and started submitting to all the Florida independent films I could find around me. I told myself though, if I get back into it again, I must be in it for the right reasons and always give all glory to God and encourage people to follow Christ with my influence.
Not even a day later I get a self-tape audition request to play a young italian college kid (in my mind new Deniro opportunity) then following, I am asked to come in person to audition in Miami at this mall. The next day, I got a phone call from the director and producer that I booked the part. They wanted me to play the role of a character named Vincent Ricca. After accepting the role, I looked up the director’s instagram and in his bio it said … “I love Jesus”.
Coincidence? I think not. My aunt refers to those moments as “God Winks”. The project was originally supposed to be a 3 part basic YouTube movie. Trusting God, months later after recently completing the film, we have interests from ALL the major streaming services in the industry, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix. No more YouTube self release. God had bigger plans.
This also could be the movie that changes my acting career forever. Through this experience it has confirmed that if you lead with God, all your actions will lead to a meaningful place. It’s important to let go and let God!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As a kid I wanted to be a professional athlete, after a few major injuries and my dad being a drummer, I caught the love for music. Although I didn’t learn any instruments like most of my family members, I wanted to be a rapper. Went through middle school, and high school pursuing a career in music, I went to college for a semester but dropped out, while pushing to become the next Eminem lol, I had received a suggestion from someone to model which I had no interest in, taking the suggestion serious, I went to an open call in downtown Chicago to one of the biggest modeling agencies and they offered me a 2 year contract on the spot, not sure what to do, I followed the opportunity which ended up taking me out to California, while in LA testing out the fashion scene, I was exposed to Hollywood and fell in love with acting after doing a couple of background jobs on a couple major network shows, I always loved movies but wasn’t until I got older I began the chase as an actor, once again I started to shift from sports, to music, to fashion, to now acting, for years I juggled them all, over time I got involved in writing children’s books as well, I have well over 25 published books through a brand called “Strawberry Pencil Magic”, my main focus is the kids books and acting, I am still very heavily involved in the music industry because of the all years I spent in it, the contacts an relationships, but now I don’t really rap much these days, I manage young talented producers and writers, I help others achieve their music dreams, I think there is beauty being of service to people, I’ve realized over time no matter what it is, I’m pretty certain I was meant for the entertainment world in some way shape or form.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
During the pandemic lock down I read a ton of books, and two of them that are very helpful for entrepreneurs in my opinion is “The Millionaire Fast Lane” and “Your Next 5 moves”.
Everyone should also follow “Gary Vaynerchuk” on social media, very positive and encouraging mega wealthy entrepreneur who’s whole goal is to help people especially entrepreneurs
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I love technology and I’m excited for the future but something about NFT’s doesn’t sit right. Feels like a big hustle but maybe it will make more sense later. I love the concept behind new systems that allow creatives to be paid in perpetuity such as the “smart contracts” that go hand in hand with NFT’s but it’s personally still way too clearly for my taste nor am I interested in spending a 100k on a random colored / decorated person or figure. I can think of a 100,000 other things to do with the money then again “Art is in the eye of the beholder”. Right now for me it is still in dial up internet mode but once it all gets ironed out and it evolves to the wifi / bluetooth flow it could very well revolutionize the world. If I’m not mistaken I believe Facebook / Instagram is supposed to be introducing a feature that allows users to turn their posts / photos into NFTs? Let’s see what happens
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michaelgirgenti.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/michaelgirgenti
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/michaelgirgenti
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgirgenti
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgirgenti
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/michaelgirgenti
- Yelp: n/a
- Other: Anyone interested in those children’s books, this the website / brand – www.strawberrypencilmagic.com