We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jess Paul. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jess below.
Jess, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
I didn’t grow up wealthy, but I also never found myself wanting. They always filled in the holes: my dad took the night shifts to be my daytime caregiver and my mom being a dynamic source of creativity by crafting, reading to us and exposing us to eccentric flea markets and local entertainment that always sparked my sense of wonder.
Then, as I got older and got my hands filthy in play acting, writing and drawing, my parents were the kind of people who figuratively put my accomplishments on the fridge, which is something I do to this day: hanging my awards and best memories around where I can be reminded of the ladder rungs I’ve already climbed. Finally, when I came home after graduating art school and announced that I wanted to try my hand at movie acting in the small entertainment market of Pittsburgh, PA, they were like, “Cool!” Then they proceeded to drive me all around town for my auditions and indie film shoots because I always thought getting a driver’s license was so passé.
To sum up my parents most important action: it was to make me feel comfortable being undeniably me. I understand how a parent could get scared at such an unsure career path as the Arts, but it was actually my parents believing in me (or at the very least convincingly pretending they did) that allowed me to have faith in myself enough to have scored multiple feature film roles and a Sundance nominated short early in my career with a DIY education in acting.
I’ll be thanking my parents for the rest of my life that they let me lose, fail, learn and win. No matter what my legacy looks like at the end of my life, I’m eternally grateful for two parents who embraced the offbeat personality that was baked into my soul from birth.
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.
I used to feel unique being a multi-hyphenate, but I think most Millennials and post-pandemic Weekend Warriors have multiple passions, jobs or businesses stuffed into one week. My dayjob: I’m happily a photo editor for a major clothing company. My dream job: I’m an actor and filmmaker who takes on a range of characters and produces my own future. My side-hustle: I make realistic, fake food costume pieces that people usually wear on their heads.
I have a degree in Intermediate Arts, a program that covered a range of mediums and industries, but I really only learned what professional photo editing really took once I got the job at a company I truly love and respect. The other two gigs, I DIY-ed on my own. I had some experience early on of playing in community theater (and I read half of “The Audition”), but I didn’t find myself as a performer until I started writing, producing and hosting a YouTube show at 19 years old. It was called Wrecked Radio, a love letter to my new passion for pop punk and Emo music. I stood in front of a terribly-lit green screen and delivered the current music news with a smattering of jokes à la Joel McHale’s “The Soup”. The success that it ended up accomplishing gave me the courage to actually pursue that childhood dream that originally got struck down when an industry screenwriter told me I’d have to suck a lot of dick to get where I wanted, because now I realized I could produce my own dream like I did my YouTube show. And I haven’t sucked any dicks yet!
As for the fake foods. They make me so happy that I pull out pictures at parties like they’re my own children. I originally was just painting and drawing and trying to sell the prints which can really be a racket when nobody NEEDS your wall art, stickers or printable greeting cards. So to advertise one of my paintings of a cat reaching for a donut, my sister joked and said “why don’t you make a donut crown?” and proceeded to pose a carnival-prize donut pillow from my bed on her head. I took the joke to heart and started digging through my mom’s old craft materials until I designed six 8-mini-donut garland crowns out of felt, plastic beads and fabric paint that sold out immediately. After I moved to Los Angeles for my acting career, I realized I was in the mecca of prop-makers and costume designers. I had to Google keywords that I learned from Syfy channel’s “Face Off” to even figure out what materials to use to up my game, but $500 worth of professional prop supplies later and I became a staple on the very narrow market of realistic fake food costume pieces. Please Google “Jess Paul Art”… they are so cute!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I’m lucky to be an artist with an interest in marketing. I don’t think asking society for charitable handouts so artists can survive will ever work, but let me try to convince some people how helping a real artist might benefit them.
DUDES: if you want your girlfriend to cry with happiness and suck your dick instead of giving you a polite smile and an ’aw, thanks’ for your Walmart present, go to Etsy and get an original and customized gift (that the artist might even wrap for you) that I assure you your GF will recognize as high-effort and something that makes her feel especially special. You don’t even have to come up with the idea, just browse the website for a second with maybe some keyword of the most obvious topic that she likes and find some of the most original products that you could never imagine. I promise you, she will be able to tell that you put more thought into it than that plastic bag you brought home from Target and didn’t even wrap when you handed it to her on Valentine’s Day. Just try to think a little bit ahead because artists take more time to get you something so unique, but I promise you and your dick that it will be worth it.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The journey is in the making, the doing, the stories in the learning and traveling. But, I have to say one of the most rewarding aspects of both my acting and art careers is the feedback. Every time I get a well-thought out Etsy review for my fake donuts, one of the little angels on my shoulder has got its wings. Or maybe a piece of pizza. It’s similar when I’ve spent months working on an independent film and I finally get to present it at a film festival or a red carpet premiere. This is where I try to corner people at the bar after they’ve had a couple to ask, “thanks so much for the compliments, but what did you REALLY think of my performance?” I never like to go into the next project blind. I love both the critiques and the kindness that push me to the next project that should always be better than the last. I can thank YouTube for all that brutal honesty in the comment section that molded me into the hyper-aware performer.
Contact Info:
- Website: JessPaul.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisisjesspaul/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsJessPaul
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisisjesspaul
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisIsJessPaul
- ETSY: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jesspaulart/
Image Credits
@barryshoots