Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kyle Harris. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kyle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Have you signed with an agent or manager? Why or why not?
I’ve been an actor (professionally) for two years and I signed with my agent Kim of McCray Agency in January of 2021. Every actor has a different story of how they got their agent. It’s rarely the same experience for anyone so I can only speak on how it worked out for me.
When in moved to Nashville in 2019 I began researching talent agencies that represented actors in the Southeast market. I found there were two that were the most sought after and McCray Agency was the one that really caught my attention. I spent the next few months researching McCray and other agencies and realized I knew several people who were represented by Kim (McCray). They had all been in some really awesome films and TV shows and I knew that McCray was the agency I wanted to. represent me.
At the time, I had no professional experience as an actor other than training. I had new headshots and a friend who was signed with the agency who allowed me to use their name as a recommendation.
In January of 2021 I sent an email to McCray Agency as a shot in the dark and a week later I got an email back saying she wanted to meet with me on a group zoom call with several other actors. It was a 2 hour group meet and greet with Kim, the agent/owner where she talked about what her function is as the agent, what kind of talent she represents etc. After the call I waited for about a week and got another email from her saying she’d like to represent me and that was that!
I am not 100% certain why she chose to represent me, but I’m very thankful that she did because she has really helped me in my career. Maybe it’s because she needed a white, bald, male on her roster. I don’t know. It could have been anything, but I took a chance and so did she!
Kyle, 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’m an actor based here in Nashville, but I grew up in small town called Russellville, AR. At the age of 11 I realized I wanted to be an actor after watching Shia Labeouf on TV as Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel show Even Stevens. I would watch that show and tell my parents “THAT. That is what I want to do.” I want to be an actor. I was a super shy kid so to my parents that dream seemed totally unrealistic and also growing up in a small town in the south in a very christian house hold, the idea of moving to Hollywood or navigating our way into the entertainment industry impossible.
As I got into high School I spent a lot of my time researching the industry learning about agents, managers, how Shia Labeouf and my other favorite actors got their agents and who they were represented by. When I should’ve been doing school work or homework I was learning everything I could about the business of acting.
When I was 15 I found an acting school in Little Rock, AR called Excel Models and Talent and begged my parents to let me attend. They encouraged me to join theater in school, but I was dead set on. going to the acting school in Little Rock. They told me I could go if I paid for it so I got a job at an Italian restaurant and mowed yards all summer long to save up for it. That’s how badly I wanted it.
Still researching the industry and learning the ropes, I learned the hard way that you weren’t supposed to pay an agent anything until you book a job. I was paying for classes and paying to have an agent. That was lesson number one. $2400 down the drain. Nothing came of it. No jobs, cheap looking headshots, and classes that didn’t teach me anything about acting.
I graduated high school in 2009 and sort of abandoned my dreams of being an actor to go to school and make my parents happy. I spent the next 10 years in and out of school, working jobs I hated. I moved to Las Vegas got married and found a career in social media where I was working with clients like Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue, Stratosphere Hotel and Casino, Downtown Project, Life is Beautiful. I did that for 6 years and then suddenly my world changed. My ex and I split up after 5 years together and in 2018 and then I moved back home to Arkansas. I’m not sure what it was about that time in my life but it did a complete reset on my dreams and in 2019 I moved to Nashville, TN.
When I moved to Nashville I only knew one person and he helped get me a job a Pinewood Social. I found out that there was a growing community of actors and filmmakers and I got really excited. Corey, the only person I knew, was also an actor and we started shooting around the idea of moving to Los Angeles. After a few month we convinced another friend of ours to move with us and in February of 2020 we made the decision to make the move. The world said not so fast… COVID hits. My acting dreams were shattered again because the world completely shut down. We had already rented a long-term Airbnb in LA and in April we decided to go ahead and make the move even though the world was shut down. We packed up our cars, our dogs and our dreams and headed west.
COVID was a rough time for a lot of people but for me I think it was a chance for me to really decide what I wanted to do with my life. None of us were sure what the world was going to be like after this but I stayed optimistic. I bought every book on acting that I could and found acting classes in Los Angeles that were meeting on zoom. I signed up for a class with Anthony Meidl Actors Workshop and immediately fell in love with acting. I spent all of 2020 attending classes, reading books by Uta Hagen, Stanford Mesiner, Stanislavsky, and I just absorbed as much as I could.
In 2021 I got my first professional headshots done by a photographer in Little Rock, AR and submitted to McCray Agency in Nashville. I heard back from Kim about a week later and then at the end of January I had an agent!
I started getting audition immediately! 2021 was a year for learning. I had never auditioned before so I spent all my time working on my self-tapes. All auditions were done at home because of COVID and I had to do it all myself. I booked my first short film in September of 2021 and it was a student film by Belmont Students. I had finally booked something! It was such an awesome feeling because I had spent hours everyday learning about acting, training, and obsessing over the business and here I was on a set as a lead! That was the only thing I booked that year but I was proud because I was living my dream.
2022 has been game changer for me. Kim kept sending me auditions and I booked another, and another and another and I just couldn’t believe I was actually a working actor! This year I have worked on a web series, a national commercial for ESPN, two music videos, a Netflix series, a short and a feature length film. I’ve been fortunate enough to train with some of the top acting coaches in Nashville at 4th Wall Acting Studio, The Studio for Acting, and my private acting coach Lindsey Shaw, which 90s kids will know as Mose from Ned’s Declassifies School Survival Guide on Nickelodeon or as Paige on Pretty Little Liars.
I’m most proud of my work ethic because this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid and even though it took a long time to get here, I’m finally in a place in my life where I’m able to pursue this full speed ahead.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
The SAG-AFTRA website has a list of SAG franchised agencies in each state. That was a really great resource I used to help me find legitimate talent agencies in the area.
https://www.sagaftra.org/contracts-industry-resources/agents-managers/about-professional-representatives/franchised-agents-list
There are also a bunch of Facebook groups related to filmmakers and actors in the Nashville area. They post a lot of crew jobs, and the members post meet-ups, and plenty of other resources for creatives in Nashville. There are some casting calls, but you have to be very careful with those because some are not legitimate.
Great acting studios in Nashville:
The Studio for Acting
Nashville Acting Studio
Fourth Wall Acting Studio
Some books I highly recommend for actors:
Respect for Acting
The Challenge for the Actor
-both by Uta Hagen
Breaking and Entering – Philip Carlson
How to Stop Acting – Harold Guskin
True and False – David Mamet
Practical Handbook for the Actor
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I think any actor would be lying to you if they said they weren’t hoping for a a little bit of money and notoriety. It’s a very small percentage of actors who achieve that level of notoriety though and very few actors make are able to make a living in TV/Film/Theater. My ultimate goal is to be able to make a living as an actor as well as making film/tv that people love and enjoy for many years to come.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: hikyleharris
- Facebook: Facebook.com/realkyleharris
- Twitter: hikyleharris
Image Credits
My headshot was done by Annelise Loughead All other photos are my own.