We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chase Mullins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chase below.
Chase, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
The first part is somewhat tough to answer. I would say that when I am doing the work of being an actor—the prepping, the shooting—that’s when I am my happiest. That feeling of being on set and working is like no other. Sadly, as you will learn almost immediately after becoming an actor, that part makes up only about 10% of the job. The other 90 percent—the business end of things, the getting the agent, the headshots, the reel, and worst of all… the waiting between jobs—that part, I really struggle with. It’s a very unusual job, being an actor. It’s the only job in the world where you are constantly having to wait for permission to do it. I think it’s very easy to get depressed or frustrated as a creative, and that’s why I try to make sure that between jobs, I use that time to invest my energy into other passions or hobbies or simply take the time to finally catch up with the people I haven’t seen for ages because I’ve been working.
As for having a regular job, I think most of us have had a regular job at some point, and even more still have a regular job to support the creative job. While I don’t wish to ever return to a 9-5 office job or sales or food service, haha… there are times I do wish that I loved something else as much as acting. Life would be sooo much easier if I just really loved accounting. There is a direct career path for it, and I could have gone to school to get a degree that actually meant something, haha. But the truth is, I can’t. I love acting. It’s the only thing I can put my blood, sweat, and tears into and, in the end, still feel like I got more out of it than what I put in.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I grew up in the Bay Area and started acting professionally right after I graduated college. I got my first Agent in San Francisco and started doing commercials and shortly after I moved down to LA and eventually booked some parts in independent films and a few verrrrry tiny parts in big studio films. I didn’t become a full time actor until 2016, my wife and I were still dating at the time ( she is also and actor) and it was really her that gave me the courage I needed to take the next step. I had just come off of doing a film that was quite big and I thought, ok, its now or never…So I took the plunge and quit my job. Since then I have been extremely fortunate to have had a steady stream of work that has allowed me to keep this dream going. I have never had a desire for fame, in fact the idea terrifies me, which is something my ego reminds me that most likely I’ll never have to worry about that haha. But I always wanted to be an actor, I always thought that if I could feed myself and my loved ones, pay my bills, and not end up on the street, and do it all through acting….thats the jackpot. So far I have been very lucky these past few years to make that a reality and I hope I can keep it going. At this point my goal is to work with as many talented and creative people as I possibly can. I am always looking for new stories to tell and for ways to help tell them better. I feel like my job as an actor is to never stop trying to improve, to keep learning, keep growing, and keep saying yes to challenging projects. I’ve been so fortunate to work with some incredibly talented writers, directors, and fellow actors. I just found out that the film I was in last year just won a best picture award at the LA Film Festival, that marks two years in a row that I’ve been in a film that won that award in their category. So 2023 has been quite good so far, and I hope I keep the momentum going.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
It’s quite corny but, for me, the most rewarding aspect of being an actor is reaching people. When I was growing up, films were my bed time stories, actors were my heroes. I felt like movies gave me the outlet I desperately needed growing up, and I feel like they taught me how to feel, how to feel for others. I think the movies that had the biggest impact on me were the ones that took me to some uncomfortable places emotionally, and taught me something about myself. So, when I think of what movies did for me growing up and the idea that I could give that to someone else? Thats the greatest gift. Recently, For the first time in my life, I was recognized by a stranger in public who came to talk to me about this silly horror movie that I was in and the way he lit up when talking about his experience in the theater and started even quoting my own lines to me I just thought, this is both surreal and one of the coolest gifts of doing this job. When people from other parts of the country reach out to me on social media to say they saw X movie or show and that some part of my performance made them laugh, or cry, or it just resonated with them in some way, I am so beyond flattered and happy to know that I can give that an audience.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
This question is very relavent right now and I’ll just say that it’s crucial for us all to recognize the evolving landscape and potential impact of AI while also continuing to embrace the inherent value of human creativity. I think we are in a very unqiue time and while I don’t want to sound like the old man who doesn’t want change, as the guy in his early 30’s who is actively seeing his colleagues lose their jobs because of AI, I just hope that everyone remembers that when things are bad, when the world falls apart…Where do you look for comfort? I’ll bet its not your accountant (zero offense to accountants) It’s your favorite movie, its that song that makes you think of home, its the poem your mom used to read you. Its art. Art made by people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4965558/
- Instagram: @Chasemm18
- Twitter: Chasemmullins
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV7hQzKR1ec&t=7s