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

Blake, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I was an athlete growing up. So, up until the age of 20 my focus was sports and working hard towards becoming a professional athlete.

But I always had an interest in movies. I could watch the same movie over and over and never get bored of it. Always finding something new that I didn’t see before or watching the actors mannerisms and facial expressions and trying to replicate them.

In high school I started to get this feeling of wanting to take on there characters. I watched a film called, WEDDING CRASHERS, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. It’s probably my favorite movie. When I watched that film for the first time, all I could think about was how fun it must have been to film that movie and that is what I wanted to do, but I never acted upon it because I was involved with sports.

In college, after I got hurt and my sports career was over, I took a class on film. While I was in that class. Justin Long was filming his directorial debut film called, LADY OF THE MANOR. One of the producers of the film came into the class and said they were looking for a college student to fill in for a role and we had to send in a headshot and an acting reel. At the time I did not have either of those. My friend told me I should submit something because, what did I have to lose? So, we went back to my apartment, we took a headshot on my iPhone and I reenacted, Sylvester Stallone’s monologue from ROCKY BALBOA and sent it in. The next day I got an email saying I got the job.

That weekend I was on set with all these great actors. I was in shock for most of it but did my best to keep it together. After filming all day, I walked off that set not wanting to leave. It was one of the greatest days of my life and I called my mom right after I got into my car and I told her the minute after I graduate I was moving to LA to pursue acting.

Blake, 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?

After college I moved out to LA to pursue acting professionally. I’ve been in LA for almost two years now and I have loved every minute of it. It has been interesting for me so far. When I moved to LA the industry and the world was just starting to open up again from the pandemic which I didn’t see as a bad thing. I used it as an opportunity to wiggle my way into whichever door was open. i didn’t sit around and wait for things to happen. I went out when I could to make connections and build my network. It wasn’t like I walked into this monster industry and didn’t know where to go. There was kind of a path I was able to follow of what was filming at the time, I just had to figure out how to get involved.

Then just as I’m getting myself a little bit ahead, the writers and actors went on strike. I saw it as another opportunity to keep moving forward. I started writing and ended up writing two short films, since SAG gave the all clear to be a part of short films. We finished filming the first film called, THE STAIRWELL, 6 weeks ago which starred myself, Jax Buresh, Sade Katarina, Michael Paré, and Larry Hankin. We have been submitting the film into festivals and we’re excited to see how it does on the circuit. Now, we are in pre-production on the second short film called, SEUL.

I always strive to make sure the next project I’m doing is bigger, better, and more impactful than the last. Film impacts people in many different ways which is one of the many reasons why I love it. If I can be apart of something that allows someone to escape reality for a little bit there’s no better feeling.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being and artist or creative is inspiring others to chase their dreams, tell an amazing story, and simply allowing the audience to escape reality for a bit.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

From my view, the best thing society can do to support artists and creatives is to go see our work in the theaters. We create these films for the big screen, to immerse you in this world we created. Plus for me, being in a theater, eating a big bucket of popcorn, drinking a coke, there’s nothing better.

Contact Info:

• Website: Belproductions.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/blakeleonn

Image Credits
Image 1 Blake Leon on set of THE STAIRWELL Image 4 Blake Leon in THE STAIRWELL IMAGE 2 Blake Leon at For The Stars Fashion House Red Carpet Event