We recently connected with Austin Highsmith Garces and have shared our conversation below.

Austin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve known since I was 7 years old that I wanted to be an actor. I watched “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Mystic Pizza” and I was blown away by Sissy Spacek and Julia Roberts and wanted to know how they did what they did and how I could do that too. But it wasn’t until just before my senior year in college that I admitted to myself, and others, that I wanted to be an actor professionally. I was a double major in Fine Art and Political Science, so the artistic side of my life was already being taken very seriously and I had plans on pursuing some artistic path for my life. After I admitted that I wanted to move to LA and pursue a career as an actor, I immediately went to the theatre department at UNC-Chapel Hill, where I graduated from college, and signed up to audition for a play. I went on to act in three plays my senior year, and then moved to LA immediately after graduation.

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 moved to Los Angeles shortly after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill to pursue acting. Immediately after arriving in LA I found a theatre and school, The Ruskin School of Acting and The Ruskin Group Theatre, which became my home. I teach there now. I met my husband backstage. They’re family. My introduction into acting was through theatre and I still try to get onstage in a play as frequently as I can. Theatre is the best training ground for the actor, in my opinion.

The acting industry is constantly one challenge after the other. That’s just how it goes. The main thing I tell people starting out is be sure to make a life while you’re trying to make a living in this business. The hardest work is what you do in between the actual “work,” between times on set. You’ve got to keep your life full and fulfilling and be able to stay creative too. Taking care of your mental health is extremely important in this business. There is the natural draw towards comparison with others, and if you allow that too much oxygen, it can really drive you crazy. I heard someone say “people who don’t give up get other people’s attention” and that goes hand in hand with what I always tell my students. The ONLY thing you can actually control in this business is how hard you work. Keep your nose down, keep working, and the work will speak for itself. You don’t have time to compare when you’re too busy working on yourself.

But the thing I’m most proud of is my marriage. We are both creatives and we have worked extremely hard to build a life together and support each other’s dreams. I’m very proud of the relationship we have built in a world, and industry, that… lets just say isn’t always the best for stability in any regard. Professionally I would have to say I’m most proud of the work I’ve done in the theatre. There’s nothing more magical than being so lost in another person’s experience that the world falls away and you’re living and breathing in an imaginary reality. And to be able to do that with a live audience is an alchemy that’s hard to describe.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I am fortunate in that I began working professionally as an actor very quickly after moving to LA. I was regularly able to pay for all of my bills just on my acting. But for as long as Hollywood has existed, youth and beauty has been a fleeting but powerful currency. So as soon as I began approaching 40, I decided that leaving my career up to others who may only see value in a young face wasn’t something that I was okay with. I had worked too hard and trained too much to allow that to happen. So I began taking classes on Stand Up comedy, on sitcom writing, on feature writing, and on episodic writing. I dove head first into learning to write, and learning to rewrite, in many mediums and genres. I amassed a large amount of screenplays for features and for TV series and began trying to get them made. I was again very fortunate to meet producers who are fantastic and know how to get things done, and I’ve already had two features that I wrote and/or co-wrote, and a third that I have a story by credit on and produced, all of which I acted in as well. I set out to create work for myself, and for my friends, and I’m loving every second of it.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Everyone loves consuming art, but no one wants to pay for it. Think back on some of your favorite memories, or even times when you were going through something difficult and needed to escape, or to feel less alone… There was often art involved; a song that you and your friends loved singing along to, a movie that made you feel seen or that connected you with your community, a book that changed your perspective on life or made you able to escape for a moment. Art is vital to our existence. And as a society, I wish it was valued more. I wish that more people saw how truly brave artists are. In my case, how brave actors are. We risk not having financial stability, not have regularity in almost every part of our lives, give of our personal memories to craft characters that other people can relate to. And we deal with rejection at every turn. Artists are brave and resilient people that risk a lot, and I wish more people would see the value in what we bring. Go see movies, go see live theatre, go listen to live music, read books, go to art museums. Supporting artists is the only way they will be able to keep creating!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.austinhighsmithofficial.com
• Instagram: iamoyster_austinhgarces
• Facebook: @AustinHighsmith
• Linkedin: Austin Highsmith Garces
• Twitter: @austinhighsmith
• Other: Threads: @iamoyster_austinhgarces

Image Credits
White Shirt Image: James DiPietro; Wedding Picture: Maxi Schlereth; Still with Michelle Hurd: Still from Inheritance taken by Sam McJunkin; Still from “Brilliant Traces” taken by Agnes McCarty; Still with Winter the Dolphin: Dolphin Tale set photographer