We recently connected with Karl T. Wright and have shared our conversation below.
Karl T. , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I’ve spent much of my career behind the microphone doing VO, radio and now audiobooks and podcasts. My goal is always to be working on a project that I feel good about that makes the world a better place. So I’ve produced podcasts about diversity in private school education, women’s sexual health, mindfulness and meditation, and the “buy nothing“ gift economy a project I worked on with my wife. But this year I meditated on using my voice to make the world a better place and an amazing opportunity came to me, and I was hired to produce and narrate an audiobook called “Random Acts of Kindness.” It is the purest example I have experienced of manifesting what you want.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started my career in my hometown, Chicago studying improv at Players Workshop and Second City and performing at Raven Theater, Live Bait and others. My day job was working as a reporter/producer for WBEZ the NPR station, where I created and hosted several shows including an award-winning entertainment, magazine, called Backstage Pass. I served as “the voice of the station” for five years. After moving to LA, I worked for NPR for a while producing freelance reports for Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Marketplace radio. Eventually I started booking theatrical jobs and I’ve been a professional actor for over 25 years now. People may recognize me as Chuck from the Netflix series Atypical, I’ve appeared on numerous shows, including the Big Bang Theory, Castle, Monk, Chicago Med, Shameless, 9-1-1 Lonestar and Star Trek: Picard. I play a lot of doctors, lawyers, teachers… the guy in a suit, but I always try to do something real or unexpected. I love it when a director trusts us to fill in the empty moments with the real life.
One of my favorite projects was a film called Teacher of the Year, with Keegan Micheal Key. I played a disgruntled science teacher with two scenes, but the director liked what I did so much he put me in more scenes. He paired me up with the hilarious comedian Jamie Kaler to play teachers who performed Indigo Girls covers at clubs after school. I had never heard of the Indigo Girls and didn’t know what he had planned but we just riffed for 15 minutes while the camera rolled, and they ended up being some of the funniest moments in the movie. It was a good lesson to learn, sometimes directors aren’t sure what they want until we as actors bring those real moments to life that they could expect.
This is why I try to bring an improv sensibility to everything I do.
More recently in between acting gigs I worked on several podcasts I produced a pod about Diversity in private school education called eRaced, a funny sexual empowerment pod for women hosted by my wife called Sex Ed The Musical; a mindfulness meditation pod and a “Car Talk” style show for businesses with branding questions. But I am most proud of a show I worked on with my wife and her friend telling amazing stories of people whose lives were changed by giving or getting something through the Buy Nothing project.
I’m also an audiobook narrator, which is really gratifying and fun. Mostly recently I read the teen horror novel called “The Getaway” by Lama Giles which was named one of 2023 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults by YALSA and is being developed for TV by Don Cheadle and Sony.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
One thing I’ve learned as an actor and just as a creative person in general, is that life is all about the pivot. The best moments in a movie or TV show come from the unexpected pivots a character is forced to make. In the movie, Young Frankenstein, when a dejected Gene Wilder suddenly slammed his hands into a plate of mashed potatoes after it’s pointed out that he hasn’t touched his food, his unexpected emotional pivot always gets a huge laugh. It’s like when something goes wrong on a live show or on set, how you pivot can be the difference between a successful project or a lot of lost money and maybe even your job. It’s about being flexible and having multiple skills is never a bad thing. You can’t say you’re just gonna be an actor in Hollywood because most of our time is spent NOT acting, and especially during the strike being able to pivot in order to survive has been crucial. As my mother used to say “you gotta have a fall back” when plans don’t go the way you expected.
But the biggest pivot I’ve had to make in my career wasn’t about a fall back it was about moving forward…to LA. I had found success for 10 years as a host and producer in Public Radio on WBEZ in Chicago. I was the voice you’d hear giving the weather, leading a pledge drive, telling listeners “funding for the traffic service is provided by…” that kinda stuff. I hosted an award-winning show promoting theater and the arts in the city and worked as an on-camera host for the local public television pledge drives. None of this involved acting, which I had always wanted to do, but I figured I was on a steady path to maybe being a local TV show host or something. So when my then girlfriend got a job working for the Game Show Network here in L.A., I had to decide whether I was going to follow her or stay in Chicago. I called our friend Sonia, who is a psychic to ask her what to do.
When I met with her, before I could say anything she asked to hold my watch and a moment later said, “Are you thinking of moving?” “Yes” I said. “California?” “Yes” “You should go. Go now!” Then she asked, “Do you want to be an actor?” Which surprised me because up until that time I had been focused less on acting and more on broadcasting. Slack-jawed I replied “yes” She said “I see you being very successful at that. But go now, there are people there waiting for you.”
I was like, “This is crazy! What the heck just happened here??” She shared a lot of other amazing information but the most important answer was that it was time for me to pivot, and so I did. I left the safe practical job, packed up all my stuff and drove across country to start over, from scratch. I was a PA for a reality cop show, worked the overnight shift for Marketplace Radio and did freelance reports for NPR. It was rough but it eventually led to a job at the TV show Extra. No, not as a reporter but working in affiliate marketing. It wasn’t on camera but it allowed me to live in LA, go out for auditions and make a name for myself in some great shows like ER, Monk, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, Heroes, Boston Legal and many others. I stayed there 13 years, until the demands of the job forced me to miss out on two commercial bookings. So I pivoted AGAIN and became a stay at home dad, volunteering at my daughter’s school. I focused more on being a better actor, thankfully my wife’s career allowed us to make that choice. For me that’s what being a creative is, you gotta be flexible.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
In college I got to meet the famous science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, and he said something that has colored the way I approach my life. He said “Life is too short to spend time doing things you don’t want to be do with people you don’t want to be with.” The 9-5 grind can suck the spirit out of you and for a long time I forgot how to really believe in myself and my talents. I’ve had to learn to dream as big as I did when I was in college before the reality of making a living knocked me down a peg and caused me to shut off my joy for how I spend my time. I want to find my abundance from things that fuel my spirit, that make me happy, and make the world a better place. So lately my goal has really been to say “yes” to the things that come my way instead of saying “no,” waiting for the “right” thing at the “right” time because I “know” how this story’s supposed to unfold. One thing I’ve learned this year is I have no effing idea how this journey I’m on is going to unfold.
Case in point, last year in a meditation I asked for more projects that allow me to work with my friends, I wanted to do a play and I wanted to do a project that someone had written with me in mind, I mean hell I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years, somebody oughta want “the Karl T. Wright vibe” for their next project. I got all of that when my wife’s friend, Steve Silverman asked me to read for this play he wrote. He said there was a part he thought I was right for. Turns out he wrote the part with ME in mind. I ended up doing the play, “Happy Birthday McKenna” earlier this year at the Hudson Theater with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen or worked with in years, even one from back home in Chicago. From that play I connected with the amazingly talented, Heather L. Tyler who asked me to be in a film she was shooting back in Arkansas over the summer. I told her “no” only because I wasn’t going to Arkansas to shoot no movie in the summer! I learned that many years ago after attending a very HOT family reunion there. Thankfully she shot the scenes she needed from me here in LA. Because of the role I played in “…McKenna” I grew a beard which forced me to get new headshots (from my friend Jeff LaPensee, @HeadshotsbyJeff) which everyone LOVED and helped me get a new commercial agent which led to my first BIG national spot, dancing around the pool with Shaquille O’Neal in a Pepsi commercial. All this came from saying “yes” to the opportunities that came up, I couldn’t have planned this if I tried.
I’ve also been focused more on doing what I can to make the world a better place. There’s so much negativity that confronts us on a daily basis and as a creative we often don’t have a choice about getting the jobs we want, but when I have the option, my goal is to use my talents, my, voice, and my skills to share positive ideas, energy and education. I’ve been producing a mindfulness podcast called “Beauty & the Bittersweet” with Miracle Laurie, and I did a podcast with my wife called The Buy Nothing Podcast about the growing “gift economy” that has sprung up since the pandemic.
But I am most proud of the audiobook I produced and narrated recently called Random Acts of Kindness by author and producer Dete Meserve and Rachel Greco. It’s a book filled with stories of real people doing acts of kindness that helped people and changed their lives because of it. It really was kind of magical how I found my way to this project. Dete chose me out of 750 auditions after HEARING my voice which she said reminded her of an NPR story. Ironic because that’s where I started my career back in Chicago, so it was kind of a full circle moment which I hope leads to more good things in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: Karltwright.com
- Instagram: @karltwright, #ktdubyaart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarlTWright1/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-t-wright-6685837
- Yelp: @ktdubyaart
- Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0942550/
Image Credits
Jeff LaPensee Photography