We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Al Nouri. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Al below.

Al, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I was very fortunate throughout my acting education to experience a varied and multifaceted approach to the craft. Including today, as many fellow creatives can attest to, the learning never stops. There is reference material and inspiration all around us that can be accessed and utilized at any point, in both the present as well as the future. It is not only incumbent on the artist to be a hunter, seeking out such inspiration and stimuli, but more organically to stay open and allow forces to present themselves and penetrate the artist’s creative mind and heart. I believe this phenomenon, in some sense, may also harken back and relate to the old wisdom of “less is more”. This point specifically enforces the strength of relaxation and malleability for an actor, and how paramount I have found these qualities to be in my years of further developing and honing my craft.
Although I have studied the craft of acting in various settings and manners over the years, my training at Sarah Lawrence College, where I received my B.A in Acting, still proves to have been the most fundamental and shaping. Particularly as a storyteller, I found the comprehensive and extensive nature of the program to be of tremendous benefit as the supplemental training in screenwriting, playwriting, directing, producing, and cinematography all aided in my understanding and interactions with collaborators and counterparts in the industry. The art of storytelling, and filmmaking in particular, is inherently a “team-sport” and the consummate actor is able to work in harmony with all other collaborators, artists and technicians on set, as if telepathically almost; there’s often a “short-hand” and more importantly, a profound trust and mutual admiration, between collaborators in such context that can synthesize an ethereal and unexplained magic in the work.
As an actor, the most essential skill for me to have developed, and to continue honing, is versatility in approach and methodology. Having studied numerous acting techniques and philosophies, both western and eastern approaches, I find a vast and far-reaching toolbox at my disposal that offers me, as well as my fellow collaborators, a multitude of options for narrative and artistic expression.

Al, 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?

I’m a screen actor, born and raised in New York City, that has been working in the Los Angeles market now for the past 4 years; more specifically, I’m a character actor specializing in a wide range of genres and styles, although most notably in dramatic and darker character-study films. I received my B.A in Acting from Sarah Lawrence College, and have appeared in 23 independent films at the time of this publication. Over the years, I’m proud of the reputation I have earned amongst fellow artists and collaborators as a consummate professional, known for my intense preparation and full immersion into the nuanced, complex and multi-faceted roles I’ve inhabited, making for a unique and fiercely gripping screen presence.
Additionally, I am a highly regarded Cigar Sommelier and help manage a couple different lounges in Orange County, CA (about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles) as my day-job, while I pursue a full-time career in acting. Moreover, I am a devoted and passionate Blues guitarist in my free time, and yes, many have described me as an “old soul” in the past.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The ultimate goal is to be a full-time working actor; unfortunately, there is an image or reputation of folks starting out in this business, as simply chasing fame or wealth….of wanting to be movie stars. In my case, the dream is to do what I love for a living, and nothing more. As the old wisdom prescribes, “if you love what you do, you won’t ever work a day in your life”. In this case that may be a double-edged sword as there is essentially no job security in this profession, but jokes aside, the point still stands. If one genuinely loves the work, and I can attest to this from personal experience, it feels like one is simply playing. The art of acting accesses the innermost depths of our imaginations, and creates a sense of exhilaration that I am unable to express in words. The novelty and excitement of experiencing completely new and different lives than that of one’s own, allows the actor to live a multitude of lives in the finite time he or she is given. The research, to the script analysis, leading into the character development and rehearsals, team meetings and being on set are all parts and chapters in each story that give me excitement and fulfillment; frankly, the most “alive” I have felt in my life are the times I am on set. I’m truly enamored with the process, and the greatest high that I keep chasing is being in character, in wardrobe, disappearing from myself and metamorphosing into a new entity.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Life is a constant string of evolutions; moreover, the dynamic nature of life dictates that all things change overtime, be it one’s career, relationships, finances, health and etc. In my case most notably, and most recently, was moving from New York City to Southern California. Although I work in the Los Angeles market, I am currently based out of Orange County which is about a 45 minute drive outside of LA; logistically, not the most conducive or ideal situation, but the work still gets done. Even after a couple years, I will share in the spirit of forthrightness and candor, there still remains a learning curve for me in this new market. Other than being culturally and logistically different to New York City, the industry itself is also quite different here in Los Angeles. That is not to say that any one of the two is better than the other, but to acknowledge and recognize they are inherently unique to one another, despite a certain level of overlap and similarities here and there. I feel I have made great progress in achieving a fluency and grasp of the industry here, in its different market demands and patterns, but there is still more to learn for this eager shark traversing new waters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alnouriactor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/al__nouri_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlNouriactor/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alnouri_film816
• Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9759097/

  Backstage: https://www.backstage.com/u/AlNouri/

Image Credits

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