We were lucky to catch up with Conor Perkins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Conor, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I think choosing yourself is one of the biggest risks that you can take. As a creative it’s probably the most important step to take in your artistic journey and one that only you can know how to do.

I was an auditioning actor in New York City fresh out of school in 2015 and was very lucky to have an agent, manager, and a job lined up almost right away. It was followed by another small TV gig a year later and then…nothing. Audition after audition for six years with nothing to show for it. As time went on, it became very easy for me to make my survival job the center of my life. After all, that’s where I was seeing “success” or value (or at the very least money). But working for a nonprofit off-Broadway theater company…there’s not a lot of money there and I was giving every spare minute I had to make ends meet. I worked in box office and reception to facilities and operations to teaching and student production — pretty much every job but being onstage.

I’ll never forget a day where I auditioned in the morning ahead of going to work and sat in the room with a fellow actor who was going in for the same role. We chatted for a bit and then went our separate ways. A few hours later while I’m elbow deep in changing garbage bags at the theater, the same actor walks into the lobby to perform in a staged reading. The “hey” between us in that moment had a Chekhovian amount of subtext to it. But that was a moment that I realized I wasn’t betting on myself as much as I needed to be. I was trying to make my life as a creative fit a formula that works for most other jobs. And as much as I tried to tell myself that it was working and fulfilling, it wasn’t. I was so close to the thing that I wanted to be doing and yet I still was not doing it.

A few years later the pandemic hit and as things were beginning to recover I found myself in a particularly low place. Not just as a creative and professional but personally as well. Trading money jobs from one thing I didn’t like to the next, pursuing a career in an industry that felt more and more that it didn’t want me, being away from the people and relationships that meant the most to me, it had all taken a toll. In that moment I decided to take the biggest risk of my life: I left. I left New York City and moved home to Maryland to be with my family. I quit my job and started taking care of my nephew three days a week. I separated from a talent agency that had all but given up on me. I was retracing my steps and actively chasing the things that felt the most right, the things that felt the most me.

I did a lot of soul-searching as I was cutting away the excess from my life and in the process was even thinking of leaving the acting business altogether. Maybe I would pivot to another passion like directing or maybe I’d find something outside the creative sphere that could fulfill me? And that’s when my mother reminded me that all of this work that I was doing and the risks I was taking were for me to do one thing: to bet on myself. She told me to just wait a couple more months — allow myself to be this less-distracted and more centered version of myself for a bit and then see what happens. Within a month of her telling me this, I booked a recurring role on NBC’s “Chicago Med.” What was supposed to be two episodes became seventeen, over three seasons. It has been the biggest job for me as a creative and would not have happened if I didn’t leave behind what wasn’t working and chase the parts of me that felt right. It wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t take the biggest risk of all and bet on myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Conor Perkins and I am an actor, podcaster, singer, director, and writer from Bel Air, Maryland based out of New York City. I got my start as an actor in my early public school days, doing plays and musical theater with the high school and some community theater groups. I kicked things into high gear when I went to study Drama at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. I studied with the Atlantic Acting School which specializes in an acting technique developed by David Mamet and William H. Macy called Practical Aesthetics. After graduating from NYU with my BFA I began auditioning and working as an actor in New York City while also employed with the Atlantic Theater Company, a nonprofit, off-Broadway theater company in the city. I’ve worked in nearly every department of nonprofit theater from box office to operations to teaching and producing with the Atlantic Acting School.

My most notable credits include Dr. Zach Hudgins on NBC’s “Chicago Med” as well as roles on “The Jim Gaffigan Show” and DirecTV’s “Almost There” starring Broadway’s Steven Pasquale.

In 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic I launched my podcast alongside my best friend and fellow actor, Caroline Aimetti, called Poor Unfortunate Podcast — a comedic Disney podcast for grown ups. The idea for this podcast began in 2016 and was born out of our mutual love of all things Disney, while also being actors struggling to find work. We were looking to produce something for ourselves that would bring us joy and a feeling of being artistically fulfilled. There’s the dreaded question that is constantly asked when you are in a creative industry: “what are you working on?” As creatives it often feels like so much of our worth is attached to having an answer to that question (which it shouldn’t). So instead of waiting to be hired by someone else, Caroline and I chose ourselves and made Poor Unfortunate Podcast to be our response. The podcast rotates through four unique formats to keep topics fresh with constantly changing perspectives. They include the rant and rave, showdown, tips and tricks, and wild card alongside bonus content like our bi-weekly news update segment and holiday episodes. We’ve covered a huge variety of topics from defunct or never realized attractions in the Disney Parks to in-depth analyses of Disney couples to diversity and inclusion in the TV musicals from “The Wonderful World of Disney.” Currently the podcast is in its fourth season and has won four awards from the Chesapeake Podcast Network for Favorite Podcast, Favorite Host, Favorite Female Host, and Favorite Male Host.

I would say that Poor Unfortunate Podcast is among the work that I am most proud of because it feels the most authentically me. Having an incredible creative partner and being in control of it from beginning to end is so challenging and also so rewarding. I’ve learned the valuable lesson of not waiting for people to make something for me and the discipline it takes to keep a project like this going for years. In continuing down this self-produced path, I’ve embarked on a fairly new writing journey for myself, writing plays, films, and television both solo and collaboratively. The intention is to grow my own body of self-produced work and not wait for permission to be creative (as it too often feels like those of us in this industry are wont to do). I firmly believe in chasing the things that feel the most right and everything that I have taken away from making my own work has felt incredible.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think one of the biggest things that non-creatives may struggle to understand about my creative journey is simply how non-linear it is. No two artists’ definition of success is the same and no two artists’ journey is the same. So much of what we see in non-creative career paths are based in promotion. You start as an intern, you get some additional training, experience, etc. and make moves upward or laterally within an organization or a field. That is wholly not the case as a creative. You are your own product, employee, CEO, and company. And there is no right path. For example, me working really hard for an off-Broadway theater company has no bearing on whether or not I get hired there as an artist. And just because I booked a recurring role on an NBC show doesn’t mean that when I go looking for my next job I’m getting a ton of auditions let alone auditioning for something of the same caliber.

It is so hard as a creative to break down for yourself the notion of success. What we have learned of that word is based in non-creative spheres and is a culmination of achievement and time — the more you have achieved and the faster you have achieved it, the more successful you are. For a creative, that’s not the case. Success is personal, oftentimes not able to be seen by others, and rooted in a sense of fulfillment. I would say that, yes, my role on “Chicago Med” has been one of my greatest successes but I would say creating my podcast with my best friend is just as much of a success if not more for me. It sits firmly at an intersection of so many of my passions that I can’t help but feel fulfilled every time I hit publish on a new episode. And it doesn’t put any money (a form of achievement) in my pocket but that is still success.

And to folks on the outside it may not make sense: someone books a small TV job and then nothing and then a big TV job and then a podcast and then nothing for a few years and then they produce a small play that transfers to Broadway and so on. None of it is linear, you can’t chart a course that can be repeated for someone else, and it feels like two steps forward and then five steps back and to the side. But for that artist, all of it is part of a successful journey, because they’re not using the same metrics as anyone else. And that’s exactly how it should be.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I wouldn’t say that I have goal driving my creative journey as like something I must achieve. Are there some things that I would love to do in my career? Absolutely. I’d love to lead a feature film, I’d love to go back to the stage and do a show on Broadway, I’d love to form a production company with my friends that specializes in fantasy and book adaptations, I’d love to play Linus Baker in a film adaptation of TJ Klune’s novel, The House in the Cerulean Sea. But none of these are necessarily driving me forward in my career. That being said, there is a philosophical mission in everything that I try to do creatively and that is “heart.” I want everything that I create to have heart — to have a sense of courage in its vulnerability, to be generous in its empathy, and to be personal in some way.

For example, my character Zach Hudgins on “Chicago Med,” not very much was known to me about that character when I started out. And to be honest, there’s still a lot about him that was never explicitly put in a script in the three seasons I’ve played the character. So as an actor, I filled all those gaps with me, Conor. I plugged in my own insecurities around body image into the character, my endeavors to please and make sure that people feel included, my journey with mental illness and a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and so much more that is me and not necessarily “Zach.” That’s the type of work that I love and want to continue doing. I want to play characters and produce work that opens me and an audience up to the things that are deeply personal to us. Because there is magic in that vulnerability and willingness to share. It’s why I don’t think I could ever not be an artist in some form or fashion — the rewards of creativity are too great. So if there is anything driving me forward in my journey it’s heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/conorperkins | poorunfortunatepodcast.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/conorperkins | instagram.com/poorunfortunatepodcast
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/poorunfortunatepodcast
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/conor-perkins/
• Twitter: https://x.com/conorperkins
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@poorunfortunatepodcast
• Other: IMDB: imdb.me/conorperkins
  Threads: threads.net/conorperkins | threads.net/poorunfortunatepodcast

Image Credits

Deborah Lopez
George Burns Jr./NBC