We recently connected with Jordan Rhodes and have shared our conversation below.

Jordan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

Creating and Writing an award winning play about the life of Ernest Hemingway, an American Icon, and writing the Book about my life & career in the theatrical profession – “The Life of a Blue Collar Actor”.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I became an actor in Baltimore Md. when I ventured into a school called The Hilltop School of Theatre & Dance. Later it became The Baltimore College of Dramatic Art. Upon applying I was surprisingly offered a scholarship to study acting, voice, dancing, and movement. This theatre/school also operated a summer theatre called The Hilltop Theatre which was located in Harpers Ferry, W. Va. I was cast in one of their plays, I was able to learn the lines and not bump into the furniture, so I got suggested to other theatre groups that operated in Baltimore at the time, I was cast as the young leading man in these productions and began doing a variety of plays on the local scene. At the urging of one of the directors of theatre, I made the move to NYC, The Big Apple. I had one friend in NYC that I had met in Baltimore and he invited me to become one of his four roommates in a two room apartment on the West Side of Manhattan. I arrived in NYC with one suitcase and fifty-eight dollars in my pocket. As all young unknown actors, we made the “rounds” daily. Attending auditions, working all types of part-time “pay the rent” jobs at restaurants & hotels, any place that would hire a part-time worker. I finally managed to land a professional summer stock acting job and signed my first AEA contract, so now I could call myself a “Professional Actor”, quite a step-up for the local theatre jobs I had performed in Baltimore. After that season of Stock in Ohio, I returned to NYC, went back to the daily grind – helped form a small acting group in the Cafe Chino which later opened the door to a legitimate off-Broadway venture now known as “LaMama Theatre” in NYC. I continued working in off-Broadway little theatres, managed to get some small roles in the early days of Television in New York, did some Repertory theatre, and won another scholarship to The New Theatre School in NYC. After a few years in NYC, I moved to Hollywood and was quickly hired on a series, Peyton Place. I continued to study after joining The Melrose Theatre Association, began to get larger roles in television and occasionally did theatre. I continued to work in television and was fortunate to land some good roles in some big films, “1776”, “Marooned”, and some big Movies-of-the-Week, plus some Mini-Series specials and did recurring roles on two big hit series, “The Streets of San Francisco” and “Matlock”. And the rest as they say, “is history”. I continued to work in numerous films, television series, even returned to NYC to work in recurring roles in Daytime TV, “Soap Operas”, like Guiding Light, Ryan’s Hope and All My Children. I created and co-wrote the play, PAPA “the man, the myth, the legend”, which won an award, was eventually filmed during a live performance after I had toured with the play for over five years. Now after six decades in the acting profession, I continue to develop and pitch new shows and ideas. I’m asked to attend the Nostalgia Celebrity Conventions which I do when available. I’m currently working on developing a new reality show about “Working Actors”, I continue to “pitch” my Hemingway play for a Broadway and West End production. Recently I wrote a Book about my life in the theatrical profession, entitled, “The Life of a Blue Collar Actor”, currently available in a number of bookshops and on Book Baby Bookshop, BookBaby.com – certainly a “plug” if you’ve ever read one. I’m currently seeking Speaking Engagements at colleges and universities that have drama programs, so my experiences as a poor young man that worked on his uncles sharecropper tobacco farm in NC, managed to do well enough as an actor to be invited as an American celebrity to attend a ceremony, and be a guest of Prince Phillip at Buckingham Palace. Not bad for a poor kid without a single connection in the world of the professional arts – and I’m still here!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to offer help, and advice to any of the young people that are trying to make the decision about seeking a career in the professional theatrical world.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When acting roles were not available, or when I didn’t have an agent or manger at the time, I sought out directing jobs for small non-national business commercials. I had managed to learn the field of directing, which I always wanted to do. So I found work directing these small projects between my acting jobs. By applying this talent, it led to me directing and producing my first documentary, “The American Cowboy” which starred Chuck Connors. Chuck and I became good friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jordanrhodes.com www.bluecollaractorbook.com
• Facebook: Actor Jordan Rhodes
• Youtube: search – Actor Jordan Rhodes Skydives
• Other: If you search Actor Jordan Rhodes, I can be found on most social media sites- My web sites and IMdb-Pro.