We recently connected with Nir Guzinski and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nir thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

About 10 years ago, I was working full-time in Marketing and pursuing acting by taking workshops in the evenings and weekends, reading acting/technique books, watching movies, doing theatre and immersing myself in anything related to acting, in the hopes of imrproving my skills, gaining visibility locally, in the hopes of being seen by industry professionals and getting opportunities to showcase my skills (i.e auditions). Montreal is a small community and with a small amount of casting agencies and getting your foot in the door can be frustrating. In addition to that obstacle, Back then, the technology wasn’t as accessible and so making short films or creating videos was a challenge. I just wanted to be seen, so that I could show my skills and get opportunities. But I felt very frustrated, because I was getting one 1-line auditions every 4-6 months. At that very time, the app VINE came out and all of a sudden, I was seeing every day people creating 6 second videos, and I was blown away by how simple it was to create content on the app AND the amount of visibility these people were getting. So I thought to myself: “there aren’t many professional actors on this app yet, and if someone with no training can create something and gain visibility, why not me, why not an actor?”. But at the time, social media wasn’t viewed as an actors tool and was taboo, especially for actors. “Social Media Acting” wasn’t acting. Similar to how Theatre actors, looked down at movie actors, and then movie actors looked down at tv actors, and then streaming… Social media actors were definitely frowned upon. So I was concerned that if I jumped into it and the industry players would see me on there, they would not consider me professional. So I decided to ease into it. I started by doing short 6 second videos of voicing a Mickey Mouse doll I had and creating comical scenes. A few weeks after that, I took a little more of a risk and added myself into a sketch…and the response online was favorable. With more and more videos posted, i gained some visibility and great feedback, and the rewards seemed to outweigh the risks. Fast forward 10 years later, with social media a huge part of an artists world and our industry today, I have built a beautiful and strong community of supporters and fans on the platforms and the visibility I’ve gained and content I’ve created, have definitely helped my career in many ways. From brand deals, to fundraising opportunities and even meeting some incredible people and artists like the amazing creator and cast of Trickle and Flow. So taking that risk 10 years ago, and jumping headfirst into murky waters, has definitely been a blessing and a wild journey!

Nir, 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?

My name is Nir, I am an actor and content creator from Montreal. As a kid, I was always the party entertainer, making voices and characters. At some point, my parents got “annoyed” and decided to try and get me into acting, so they signed me to an agency. I was a shy kid outside the home, and never really felt comfortable in front of people. I was awkward looking and nervous but I knew I wanted to entertain somehow. I was also playing competitive soccer for over 10 years (6-16) and once I was in high school, my agency closed down, I became extremely self-conscious and pursued more my educational side than acting. Once I turned 18, I really wanted to get back into the industry, after watching 10 things I hate about you and Edgement. I had a huge crush on both Julia Stiles and Kristin Kreuk. Reading about their humble beginnings and journey, I got inspired and started taking more acting classes, auditioning for short indie films, and school productions, and worked on my craft as much as I could. After a few years of hard work, I signed with an agent, booked a lead role in an indie web series, filmed a number of short films and did 4 theatrical plays in a span of 3 years.

Almost 10 years ago, I jumped into the social media content creation world by creating over 1200 sketch comedy videos, and have discovered an incredible community, a great way to stay creative during down-turns in the industry, as well as an extra revenue stream for artists.

I’ve also had the great fortune to get some meaningful acting work on tv and film, with small roles on Transplant, To Catch a Killer, 19-2, This Life, Snow Day.

What sets me apart, I would say is my resilience, my sense of humor and my resourcefulness. I have a huge case of “Imposter synndrome” but I keep fighting through and doing what I can to get seen and keep working on my craft. I’ve been told that I wasn’t good enough, or that I wasn’t good looking enough, or that I am not lead actor material, or that I won’t make it in acting. But I kept pushing myself and with the wonders of technology and social media, I’ve created a world online and community that allows me to create and be seen, which in turn has given me skills and confidence to keep working on my craft to book roles and gain visibility to open doors in our industry.

I am honestly most proud of my resilience but tangibly, I’d say the money I’ve helped raise through my online presence for the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Over teh span of 3 years, we’ve helped raise (along with my friend and sketch comedy partner Michelle Furtado) over 10K dollars for the foundation.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I was creating tons of different “relatable” comedy sketches with a twist, and had tons of local actors be a part of it, and one specific character I was playing, kept getting more reaction from the audience. It was a French Canadian Therapist who’s this loveable, high energy, a bit naive character. I kept holding off from creating more and more content with this character, because I did not want to be “typecast”, as my goal for social media content was always to get visibility for my acting ability, and entertaining an audience at the same time. Things were going slow for the first few years, and then Tiktok became huge, and I was, at that time, creating long form sketches of 2-3 minutes, and felt that I was going backwards if I were to create “Vine” style 15 second tiktoks. But I decided to swallow my ego and pride, and posted an old video of my french canadian character driving through the Quebec/US border, highlighting how terrible Quebec roads are. And That video drew over 500K views, and from there, I decided to keep posting videos with that character, and I build a nice audience on Tiktok, which transfered a little bit through to Instagram. Then with the pandemic, I could not invite other actors over to film, so I created my “roommates” sketches to highlight the pandemic life of living at home. That transitioned to language barrier videos and confusing local road construction videos, and things just took off from there.

If I had to give advice on how to build a social media presence, I would say 2 things:
1- Don’t be afraid to post and be online. Create, create, create. No matter how awkward you feel, the more you post, the easier it gets. And the more you post, the more you discover your voice, your comfort level, your audience, your stye.

2- As an artist, I think it’s important to focus on either showing your process. Everyone loves to see the journey and not just the success. So showcase your acting process, your trials and errors, your audition prep, etc. Or you can help educate other artists, by answering their question, talking about pain points they are all going through. Making relatable, valuable content that helps them find their way and solve their own issues, is key to success in today’s social media world. If you create entertainment videos, like sketch comedy, or monoloques, etc. I’d say just keep at it, keep being creative, keep it short and find topics that are relatable and add your twist and creative flair to it. controversy or controversial opinion work best. If you make a video about a relevant topic and have a point of view that is unique and somewhat controversial, without being rude, or nasty, that will definitely grow an audience.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think being an artist and a creative is such a gift. It is inherently personal, because you get to express yourself and share what’s inside of you, which is cathartic and beautiful, but it’s also rewarding in it’s ability to move others and to make others feel and even change their lives, by sharing your art with them. I’ve been extremely blessed to be able to share my passion, my stories and my comedy with total strangers from all over the world. And getting such incredible feedback and messages from people, telling me that my comedy or videos helped them get through their day, or made them laugh during tough times, is one of the most rewarding outcomes.

The world is a tough and dark place sometimes, and being able to create and tell stories to bring light to others and to myself, is such a gift and so powerful, and I am incredibly lucky to be able to be an actor and a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nirguzinski.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nir_guzinski/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nirguzinskicomedy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NirGuzinskiComedy
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nirguzinski. (TIKTOK)