We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dick Colligan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dick below.
Alright, Dick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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 was working on Wall Street for nearly a decade but always had the urge to be an actor from the age of five. When Covid happened I moved to Florida (temporarily) because New York City had gone insane with mandates. After about a year I saw that things weren’t really changing in New York so I decided to move to Florida full-time. My job wouldn’t allow me to work remotely so I was forced to leave and go on my own. I’ve been fortunate enough to land a number of jobs fairly early in my career which I believe came from making the commitment and not looking back. It was a risk but I never would have known if I hadn’t taken the chance.
Dick, 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?
I’m an actor and comedian, originally from New York and now living in the Tampa area for the last two years. I have done everything from theater, film and TV commercials to standup comedy and have performed all over New York and Florida. I do many corporate and non-profit events from hosting to standup comedy shows and love making people experience all the emotions that come from a great performance, film or show.
As a host I love to help organizations foster better relationships with their employees, sponsors, donors and members of the community. I have found that getting people to laugh brings them closer together and melts away a lot of the anxieties and fears which keep people apart. My comedy is upbeat and clean, focusing on the craziness of life in this modern age and I have many videos which showcase this unique perspective on my YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@DickColligan
As an actor I love to bring characters to life on the screen in both funny and dramatic ways. I recently won Best Actor at the Rome International Movie Festival for my role in Tales From The Old West which is now available on Amazon and have many more projects on the horizon.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I came from a very analytical background as a Wall Street professional and had been focused on perfection and never making mistakes. In that world it was very important to get things right as transactions involved millions or billions of dollars and even a small mistake could have enormous financial consequences. In performing however you have to take risks and commit even when you don’t have all the information. It’s also true of being an entrepreneur (which an artist is too). It took me a long time to be willing to live with mistakes but it was well worth it because some of my best performances have been when I wasn’t fully “prepared”.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Art and entertainment has gotten very dark in the last 6 or 7 years, a trend which accelerated dramatically with Covid. People are feeling more isolated than ever and movies, TV and comedy have gotten fearful and angry in a lot of ways. I look for opportunities to change that either by finding humor in the craziness we have all been dealing with or finding acting roles which highlight people bringing good into the world, making others laugh or even teaching a lesson through their own mistakes. 
Contact Info:
- Website: dickcolligan.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/dickcolligan
- Facebook: facebook.com/dickcolligan
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dickcolligan/
- Twitter: twitter.com/dickjokescomedy
- Youtube: youtube.com/@dickcolligan
Image Credits
Reinaldo Vandres, August Ryan