We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Pierce. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you’ve thought about whether to sign with an agent or manager?

Having an agent is crucial as an actor if you want to be submitted for larger roles that are sent through the daily casting breakdowns. Without an Agent an actor is really on a hunt and sort of limited in what they can submit themselves to.

I have a “team”, but it is agents and Managers. I am managed by Maxx Maulion at Kreativ Media Partners. He is terrific with advice and knowledge. Agents tend to submit you daily, but Managers try to sell you to a casting director and are generally a bit freer with some time for conversation.

I have a few different agents for specific submittals. I have an agent on the East Coast who specifically will try to find projects to submit me to for the Southeast. I have a local Commercial Agent who I don’t deal with too much but if a local Union Commercial is filming in my area and she feels there is a role for me she will submit me.
My main agent is Courtney Peldon at AQUA Talent Agency. She represents me across Film and Television Globally.

So yes, I do have a “team”. I specifically sought out both KREATIV and AQUA based on their reputation. It took a while. I submitted to them both at different times. I had a different manager, and I knew the focus was on younger clientele and more of content creators and I am a bald character actor, so I knew it was time to move on. I probably submitted to them twice over a year and I finally received an email, and a phone call was set up. I spent two hours over two days speaking with the owner, Brent Paxton and different employees and Reps at the Agency. I left the phone call on day two knowing that I reached out to a good team. So that is how I was able to sign with them.

As far as AQUA goes I emailed and submitted to them mid pandemic. I was represented by a different agency and after about nearly four years, their clientele was becoming more focused on youthful 20’s and 30’s and I am in a specific niche, so I knew I needed to start looking and knew where I wanted my feet to land. I must’ve knocked on Aqua’s email door once every other month for about six months and I finally received a meeting. It has been a blessing ever since. Within a month of signing with them I booked a Pilot.

I am in a great place right now.

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?

Where it started – I have lived my entire life in Southern California. When I was younger, I started studied and worked with Marie Hitchcock who was known as the San Diego Puppet Lady at the time, in which is who the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park is named after. I started studying Magic, because as a kid I actually thought that was a career choice and started performing magic shows in San Diego. When I was a teen, I began taking classes in Jazz Dance, Tap and Disco Dancing and competed in the California State High School Dance Championships produced by David Mirisch Enterprises during my last two years in High School. I am a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and The Television Academy and I studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles in the early 1980’s.

Honestly, I can be seen in dozens of commercials for a myriad of companies including Riverside Metro Volkswagen, Augustine Casino, Kaiser, Letterjoy, and Montclair Radiology. I have been the commercial spokesman/TV husband for Glucose Health/Glucodown Ice Tea Drink Mix since 2016.

I am recognized a lot for Music Videos. I have been an actor in some High Profile Music Videos over the past few years; Baby Keem & Travis Scott’s ‘Durag Activity’, Matoma ‘ Bruised not Broken’, Florian Picasso ‘This is our Time’ and Waterparks ‘Stupid for You’.

I have done many costar roles in Television Series and films. Currently on Amazon Prime I can be seen in the short form content web series ‘Confessions’. In 2022, I have a few films coming out that I filmed last year as well as the pilot I was part of.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

This is probably one of the first times I ever tried to get an acting job and I was just a Teenager right out of High School, and I didn’t have an agent. At the time, I didn’t know you couldn’t just call a TV Studio and try and get an audition. But that is what I did. Now they didn’t laugh at me on the phone but Im sure they did when I hung up, But I was a let teen actor and wanted to get on a soap opera. I at the time used to watch the Soap Opera General Hospital. So, when I was told “No” you cannot have an audition, I was telling an adult actor friend and they looked at me and said why don’t you just sent your headshot and resume to the studio. I had to be schooled in what that was at that specific age. I didn’t have a headshot or resume. So I had someone who could Type, create a resume for me with the limited theater roles I had and I used my High School Senior photo. It wasn’t a headshot, and it was a color phot. At the time only Black and White Photos were submitted. So I put those two items in an envelope and sent them to the casting director of General Hospital at Sunset & Gower Studios where it was being filmed. About two weeks later I called the studio and specifically asked for the casting director, Marvin Paige. He didn’t get on the phone but his assistant casting Director did and I said, “did you get my photo and resume, I would like to audition”. Within a week I was at the studio working as a dancer in the disco during the Luke and Laura Storyline and worked on the show almost weekly for a year in that capacity and received my Union Card through that show and my first Under 5 line. Thanks to my resilience.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have been at this for forty years. I am a working actor. I just haven’t been in a Big Studio Feature yet and every pilot I have done hasn’t sold, so that drives me. I will continue until I actually book that big studio feature film, or that series regular role. Plus I love this business.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://michaeljosephpierce.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelpiercesd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelPierce1/
• Other: IMDb; https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3019537/