We were lucky to catch up with Marc Fajardo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marc, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was a kid my aunties would encourage me to perform for them. I would lip sync to Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers or a song from Fiddler on the Roof when I was 7 years old. In junior high they would tell me to breakdance in front of other filipino parents at our family parties. And then they would encourage me be an ‘artist in the Philippines’. So it was always in my head. What really encouraged me was when I did background on the first Iron Man and I was on set for three weeks. That was when I was bit by the acting bug.

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?

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Marc Fajardo (he/him) is an actor and filmmaker. Awarded as Best Actor at the Connect Film Festival his credits include The Outsider, The Hate U Give, S.W.A.T., It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley, and the Leisure Seeker where he played opposite Helen Mirren.

Marc has trained at Berg Studios, The Clown School, Groundlings, Second City Improv, John Rosenfeld Studios, and now The Norris Studio. He enjoys shooting and directing his own independent projects as well as training in hip hop, house dance, and Muay Thai. He is a proud alum of the University of California Santa Cruz and is conversational in both Italian as well as Filipino.

Marc also co-manages Jive Duck Studios – a Los Angeles-based production house designed with actors & multi-hyphenate artists in mind. We are creatives with technical expertise priding ourselves in our passion for our craft while building a community with down-to-earth artists. JDS focuses on highlighting our clients best talents.
Our services include but are not limited to – audition taping, demo reel construction, career consultation, videography, web design, and video editing.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that I know I’m making a difference in peoples lives but I have no clue to what extent, and it never ceases to surprise me when someone shares their story. I recently attended a screening of a film I was a part of and I played one of the leads. My character was sort of a guardian angel to the other lead character. There’s a scene where I’m lying unconscious on a hospital bed and my co-lead has a dramatic monologue. Well, after the screening, one of the audience members came up to me and shared what she was going through at the time. She was welling up in tears because she knew someone that was fighting for their life and it brought up so much pent up emotions it was cathartic for her. And she thanked me for what I did. Another story I’d like to share is about my buddy Hector Hernandez. This guy is like a little brother to me. Well, he was watching an episode of Pretty Little Liars with his sister and saw me in one of the episodes. He waited to see my name in the credits and had contacted me via Instagram. He asked how he can get started in acting. I sort of waved him off because I was getting a number of those comments from random people and they didn’t seem grateful for me sharing information. So I didn’t communicate with him for about 5 years. Long story short, we finally met in person and he told me that seeing me on the TV screen gave him motivation to dive into acting. Just so you know, I’m a filipino dude that sometimes could pass for hispanic. Hector is straight up hispanic and he identified with my character. I don’t have to reiterate that Representation Matters but my goodness it really does. I’m proud to say Hector has been booking left and right in commercials, theater and soon TV roles.
So yes, the rewards are amazing being an artist.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I love love love The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. The one big lesson I got out of it was to prepare before you prepare. What does that mean, you ask? Well, let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re a writer. What’s the first thing you would do to start writing? Some would be able to go straight to the desk and start writing. What Twyla suggests is you’ve got to do what you NEED to do so that you can write whether it’s drinking a cup of coffee and sitting at the porch for an hour, or meditating for thirty minutes. For me, I always do my yoga stretches eat a light breakfast. It’s my preparation before the preparation. Because when I start prepping myself to act, that becomes a whole other routine from doing vocal trills, to breathing exercises to imagination work. The prep before the prep is like warming up your engine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.marcfajardo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themarcfajardo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMarcFajardo/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/themarcfajardo

Image Credits
David Chan, Sthanlee Mirador, Leslie Alejandro