We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christopher Badillo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I was always a very creative person, even at a very young age. I absolutely loved watching movies and tv shows, reading books and drawing. It was just something that has always been a part of who I am. But, it wasn’t until joining my first video production and drama classes in high school that I knew I wanted to pursue a path as a creative. It was then that I began to realize that creating and telling stories, like the ones I watched on screen or read in books, was something I could do as a life’s passion. I suddenly became emboldened knowing that the creative side of my personality didn’t have to be restricted to a “hobby,” but instead it could be pursued as lifelong career. I became excited with the notion of the countless adventures I could create and inhabit in a more practical and tactile sense. It was no longer just imaginings in my head, but rather wild fantasies with the potential to be fully realized. I’ll be forever grateful for my high school drama teacher who introduced me the process of storytelling and the college professors who helped me hone my craft thereafter. It may of taken a while to find my passion, but I’m happy I found it when I did, and I never looked back.

Christopher, 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 began my artistic career training as a theatre actor in both classical and modern theatre, and have since transitioned my way into my main focus of storytelling through the medium of film. Recently, I have also been able to join the Southern California Stunt Crew as a stuntman, bringing my over five year experience of dedicated training in Shaolin Kung Fu martial arts to the screen. It is my passion to tell stories and I have participated in many productions in the San Diego Film Community as both an actor and stuntman in films such as “DARK FURY: A Star Wars Fan Film”, “Jo'”, “Last Chance”, “The Twisted Movie” and the upcoming veteran documentary, “Julien.” As an actor, I enjoy bringing as much of myself to my work through the vulnerability of the characters I play. I truly believe that by doing this, I can help to tell the stories the writer or director wishes to tell with sincerity and authenticity. I have also come to believe more and more through my work that understanding this as an actor helps to enhance the power film has to reveal the most intimate parts of ourselves and inspire us to new paths of growth and change. This belief has only be reinforced as I have trained as a stuntman and become much more aware of the importance conflict has to play in any story us filmmakers create on screen. As in our own lives, without conflict or struggle there is no growth in a character. Obstacles need to be overcome, lessons learned, and conflicts resolved. So I work to constantly ask myself things like, what is the point of this scene? How does it move the story forward? What is this fight, argument, or struggle really about? And what is the character fighting for? This is the approach I have to any production I find myself working on, and it has helped me to do the same in life.

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artistic creative is having the chance to express my thoughts and perspectives. In a socially connected media world that is filled with constant engagement and input, creating stories and films helps me to meditate on my own perspectives and ideas and to organize all the conversations that we all so often find ourselves thrusted with on a daily basis. It is my hope that by doing this, not only can I express what I learn in life, but I hope I can inspire others to challenge their own thinking and find the time to delve deeper within themselves and express themselves with a more open mind and kinder heart. It is this joy of loving the process of filmmaking that I learn new things, meet new people, and find new perspectives that help me to improve as a person, and by extension, help me to improve the world as best I can. Films, to me, can often be like mirrors that are held up to the world that allows us see it in a new light and show us a whole plethora of new possibilities or outcomes to whatever challenges we face.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

We are gifted with more connected world than ever before. Social media is neither good nor bad, but ultimately, who we are will determine how we use it. Social media is a tool that is used by so many creatives to express their thoughts and ideas and I don’t know any creative today who isn’t using it in some way. So, I would say, if society wants to support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem, find some creatives you like on social media and don’t just follow them, but interact with them! Like their posts, comment on their work with a kind and open heart, and share, share, share! You can be best artist in the world, but if no ones sees it, then what’s the point? I feel like that’s the wall us creatives always find ourselves hitting against. It is YOU, the audience’s interaction with us, that helps us to grow in our art, and ultimately, allows it and us to flourish and evolve.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrismbadillojr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chrismbadillojr
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/skatelineproductions