We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bryan Ha. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bryan below.
Bryan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
When I started pursuing acting, I was taking any roles including ensembles and extras and minor roles. While I was gaining experience I was growing more and more frustrated and resentful of acting in the sense of I didn’t find the projects meaningful to me. I wasn’t growing. I was fulfilling someone else’s dream and experience at the expense of my own. A lot of the same advice I was given was that being ensemble will help me gain experience while watching my cast mates perform as leads onstage. However that’s hardly ever the case for me as I was just going through the motions. What’s important about pursuing projects is recognizing you have a voice that belongs in the project. It doesn’t matter how inexperience you are or what you lack. You still have a voice and you can always develop the skills needed during the project as long as you recognize your value. I recognize that as a performer, I value community based work and being able to explore my character and communicate within the moments throughout my performance. Being able to create to the point that it all becomes timeless. Therefore, after training my desired skillsets, like singing, I began to be extremely selective on projects I accept because that’s the only way I can find the project meaningful with the hours and effort I’m committing.
Bryan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started pursuing acting when I was 13 and I stuck to it ever since while gaining other complimentary skills like singing, dancing, writing, and content creation along the way. I graduated at Cal State LA with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Dance and I have been a professional performer since, having done not just theatre and film, but also character/scare work, voice work, and content creation through TikTok and YouTube. What inspires me the most as a performer is how much power performance can be given to the community. To be honest, I found myself drawn towards theatre than mainstream film and TV series simply because of the duality of accessibility and inaccessibility theatre provides and how cultivating it is to me personally to feel like I can create to change and to create a commune. I’m most proud of setting up improvisation meetups to my own city community that doesn’t have live theatre, and created a livestream series that allows my viewers to interact in a Dungeons and Dragons game together.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish I recognized my drive and determination to the point where I relentlessly go out my ways to pursue my creative journey. I was within the pendulum of wanting to perform and lack of self confidence in myself due to my lack of experience and training, that I put myself down. I think if I listened to my voice a lot more, I would be seeking vast amounts of resources throughout the internet, especially when there are numerous theatres and studios providing classes, audition opportunities that will allow me to continually practice and hone my craft as a performer. No matter your background, if you have enough determination and willpower, you will get there.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Society can support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem by making art less of a commodity and more of a necessity. True art doesn’t solely exist in a multibillion dollar industry like Hollywood that only benefits that 1%, most of which are rich, white performers and elitists. Society needs to value art as much as they do with STEM careers in sense of both separate fields to be important in their own ways as they can also overlap and supplement each other. The government needs to prioritize fund for performing arts and to not always place it on the chopping block, especially in performance education. We need to make art more accessible especially to performers and creatives of marginalized communities.
Contact Info:
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