We were lucky to catch up with Jeremy Guskin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jeremy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Being born and raised in Manhattan comes with lots of stories, but this is one of my favorites:
I was lucky enough to see my father in a broadway play when I was very young. This was before he had to give up acting as a vocation because it was just too difficult to earn enough money to help provide, along with my mother, for a family of four. But while I was young and for a short time after my brother was born, he was still acting. One day my father says that he’s taking me to the theatre to see the show he’s in. My mother stays home with my little brother and off I go with him to watch the show from the booth so someone could keep an eye on me.
After a while into the production my father enters from stage right in a ridiculous coat and hat and proceeds to make an ass of himself with his words, falling over furniture, the works. The audience was laughing. Really laughing. I remember that sound & I could see the faces all lit up with joy. And I looked on stage at my father who was getting this huge reaction from this- to my mind- HUGE crowd! I tried to make it make sense- here was my dad, but not my dad, putting on a voice I’d herd but wasn’t his everyday one, acting so goofy but so funny it was my dad but not my dad, you know?
He was killing it.
And I remember looking at him on that stage and thinking to myself……

“I could do that so much better.”

I think I was 6.

Jeremy, 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 am an actor and a writer and a director and a teacher.
As an actor I have studied in all sorts of places, from the National Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neil center to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London to the Moscow Art Theatre School (MXAT) in Moscow. And a few others. I have been teaching for 20 years as a fully credentialed Theatre Studies instructor with two masters degrees and am currently running the Theatre Department at the Aveson Global Leadership Academy (AGLA) in Altadena. I have also taught at LACHSA the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and Burbank HS.
I have worked professionally as an Actor, Writer, and Director and have over 70 IMDB credits as of right now. You may have seen me recently in an Allstate or Walmart commercial.
One of the things I am most proud of is that I am the co-creator and star of SHAKESPEARIENCE which is the most successful educational theatre program in California, that I was lucky wen ought to get to put together with my friend Justin Eick.
I often perform with the Open Fist Theatre Company and at UCB the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theatre.
Basically, if you ever need a talented, classically trained actor who excels at comedy and is lots of fun to work with, come sit next to me.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Zen In The Art Of Archery.
It’s about archery, seriously. But so helpful in terms of guidance and expectation- especially those who want to create.
Also “How To Stop Acting” by Harold Guskin is pretty good, I think.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Actually support them. It’s so easy to take art, music, videos, anything from the Internet now without thinking about the time and effort that went into it. If you have a cartoonist/musician/comedian you enjoy and follow, kick them a few bucks when they sell something; subscribe to their patreon if only for a while; get the newsletter. Support them. With money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeremyguskin.com
• Instagram: @jeremyguskin
• Facebook: Jeremy Guskin
• Linkedin: Jeremy Guskin
• Twitter: @jeremyguskin
• Youtube: @castofone-crewofoneseries6892
• Other: Threads: jeremyguskin