We recently connected with Henry Thompson and have shared our conversation below.

Henry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning this craft is such a steady, gradual process – I think that’s what makes this such an interesting question. We’ve all learned some of a craft, and none of us have learned all of the craft. And there’s no one-size-fits-all route through the learning, so we just do what we can when we can, never stop and then suddenly you’re somewhere different.

I started at a very young age at Stagecoach in the UK, and learned a love of being the centre of attention, honestly! I learned the theatre was a place for having fun, and that I could be free there. I’m also fairly certain I learned how to sing “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina”. School taught me that I definitely wanted to pursue acting as a career, and failing my first round of drama school auditions made me earn that I wasn’t all that. Then I went and studied History and International Relations for my BA and, honestly, I couldn’t tell you what I learned there. Certainly nothing to do with acting, for the whole three years. I learned that if a drink was £1.80, and you had 20 of them, then one of them was free…sort of.

My first drama school, East15, opened my mind to real technique – to really what it means to exist within the process for a long time. It was an incredible privilege – to be able to act every single day, in a totally loving and caring environment. I learned about theatre from other cultures, I learned about techniques from multiple different practitioners, I learned about the works of different playwrights, that allowed me to find that I had a ‘taste’ in theatre and, most importantly – I learned that there was really very little substitute for just booking a random ticket to a pub theatre and seeing what was on. My second drama school, the incredible Lee Strasberg Institute taught me to let go of ego, to become specific, to experiment, and to let go of myself on stage.

The biggest obstacle in the way of my learning (and I would hazard that the biggest obstacle for lots of actors in their learning) has been my ego. I learned that on a film set. I really wouldn’t recommend that – I’d recommend wrestling your ego in a classroom, but me and mine had our Waterloo on set, and it wasn’t pretty. But, it did really show me the what the next step needed to be – to shed myself of anything like that again. This was/is my biggest obstacle, and I often wish that I had got through that and figure that out earlier.

The essential skills are the ones we don’t want to develop. We all love finding out about our characters and diving into some trance induced character discussion – this is the fun. But I’ve learned that the most essential thing that will keep you being able to do that is the admin. The hustling casting directors and agents. The booking classes. The keeping every ridiculous acting profile up to date at every moment. All of that – that’s what keeps us in work.

Henry, 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’m an award winning actor and writer, trained in London (East15 drama school) and LA (The Lee Strasberg Institute). I started a small but earnest career on the stage before COVID started shutting down theatres in London, and I felt the opportunities dry up. I was very lucky to be cast a feature lead for “The Anarchist’s Dream” that shot in Spain at the end of COVID, and opened my eyes to a whole new world of acting. Both in technique, and in medium – I hadn’t really done a lot of film before then. From there, I went back to drama school in LA, and started really focusing on the world of screen.

One of my screen heroes is Mark Duplass, and he and plenty of other people in the industry often stress the importance of creating your own work, and I started down that road too. Honestly – at the beginning it was just a reason to get credits when I wasn’t landing any auditions – I was getting so bored of ‘no’ that I just started writing myself parts. But, I caught the bug of creating, and I’ve spent the last couple of years making my own films. I’ve had some small successes with them too – my first, student film, “Blind Optimism” was selected for a few festivals, and even got “Best Parody” at Monza Film Festival. My next film, “Tomorrow”, earned me a Best Actor award, a Best Original Screenplay Award, and the film has earned multiple other best in categories. It’s special to feel like you’re moving in the right direction.

The road map is to create a few shorts, and then merge some future projects with my writing partners, and then create an anthology feature in the next couple of years. And yes, I will be appearing in a bunch of them…!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The tiny, unique moments that you get to have with other actors in a scene, or in a rehearsal. The bits that no one needs to ever see. We’ve all had them, but there are moments when something just otherworldly and electric lights up everything that you’re doing, and you have no idea what’s happening, and you just climb on and sail. It’s wild, it’s intimate, and it’s something that I just don’t imagine any other career in the world has.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I feel like this is such a basic answer, but IMDBPro – it’s incredible. I only joined three or four years ago and I wish someone had told me to join sooner. There is literally every single thing you could want as an actor on that platform. In the first question, I said about the admin stuff being the stuff that is the hardest to learn because it’s the lame side of the industry. I don’t think I said lame, but I stand by it. But IMDBPro makes that pretty easy. Want to contact a new agent? Talent agents -> filter for starmeter/location and, boom – every single talent agent, with a link to their website, clients, contact details, it’s mad how useful this is. Sometimes it even has a specific agent’s phone number. That’s crazy! Don’t call them though. And definitely don’t tell them I said you should. Want to find a movie you think you’d be good for? Go to Titles -> In Development -> couple more filters and it’ll tell you about the movie, who’s casting it, what their deal is/contact/associates etc… Even for stuff like Gladiator 2, and Avatar 100! Also the feature where it shows you how you’re connected to people is really useful.

So…yeah – use IMDBPro.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://henrythompson.actor
• Instagram: ht_actor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ht_actor

Image Credits

Yellowbelly Headshots
PaulPerkinsCreative