We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Richard Carr III. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Richard below.
Richard , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
For me, acting has always been something I’m passionate about. However, my parents always told my sister and I to get a good degree behind us then we could do whatever. So I had pursued nursing at Oakwood University (A small HBCU in Huntsville, AL). In the early parts of 2020, I got sick with something. Now I had heard rumors of this thing called corona, but wasn’t sure too much about it. I was working at an icu in GA at the time on my days off, just kept getting more and more sick. One night I felt as if I could hardly breathe and though I knew I wasn’t dying, the thought crossed my mind: what if. What if I did die? Would I feel accomplished with what I’d done? After all I was a nurse working in the icu. We save people everyday. But no.. I knew I had a dream to pursue acting. It took two years of the pandemic before I could move to Atlanta and start really pursuing it. In those two years I filled my time with hardcore icu nursing (figured I get the most out my career while the acting world was on pause). I worked in NY during the pandemic. Then Texas. Then California, then Hawai’i. I went where-ever they needed us. Crisis contract after crisis contract. In NY we were working 7 nights a week. I think I did 46 nights. It all kind of runs together. But after it was “done” I moved to Atlanta and joined acting classes to start pursuing!
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 think I rambled enough to answer this question in the first one haha. But in all reality I would like to just speak on behalf of nurses for a second; we don’t just wipe butts. There’s so much that goes into nursing that is so often misscharacterized especially in the media. So often in the media doctors are shown to be the ones doing what we do. Now I’m not putting one against the other. We need eachother. Just want to get the respect on our names.
As an actor I strive to bring the same training that makes me a great nurse, to acting. Attention to detail, passion, paying attention to my partner/patient, and working together as a team. Vital in both fields.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Anytime I’m on set it feels amazing. Sometimes you hear about the actors high… maybe. But when you’ve worked crazy hours saving lives to be able to have a chance at doing this.. everytime on set feels like a gift. An opportunity. I get to tell a story for someone. Bring it to life for someone. It’s the most surreal feeling and it feels good to do what I’m passionate about.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is always people. People are different and that’s okay. I think so many times we get scared of someone that’s different instead of realizing our differences make us stronger. I hope to tel stories that help us realize the value of each-other, especially in todays climate where everything seems so polarized.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @RichardCarrIII @TheNinjaNurse
Image Credits
The picture of me shirtless on the beach was taken by @beejayphotography IG My headshot was done by @unique.bolden IG