We recently connected with Nolan Lunsford and have shared our conversation below.

Nolan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

From a very young age I showed a propensity towards acting and entertainment. The first real example I can think of was singing my ABCs (way out of order) at a talent show, performing along side my parents and grandfather, I think it was at that point, while I was soaking up the attention on stage that they might have known this is what I’d be doing but they never pushed me into anything, rather if I started showing interest in something my mother would do her best to get my signed up. This unconditional support lead in so many funny directions, from bagpipe lessons to taekwondo I was able to try on so many different ways of being in the world before deciding what made me feel the most like me.

After about 4 sport and 3 instruments I finally landed on acting, and when I learned I might be able to go to college for acting it seemed like a no brainer. Now where I grew up no one I knew had really done that before, I remember looking up the best schools I could find and nervously telling my parents that I did in fact want to go to school for acting.

Not only did they take it in stride but they didn’t even seem a little surprised, I guess it makes sense, they’d seen me gravitate to the stage from such a young age, they must’ve have SOME idea.

So that’s how they nailed it, kept it simple, loved me the whole way, never tried to turn me into a child bagpipe prodigy and when I knew which direction I wanted to go they were full speed ahead no questions asked.

Nolan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an Actor / Musician based in Jersey City. My acting work is made up of mostly commercial work including Cheez Doods, Microsoft and Monday.com. As a musician I work in and around NYC getting to play my music in a lot of historic venues including The Bitter End, Rockwood and The Bowery Electric. I’ve been really blessed to be able to pursue two creative careers simultaneously. I suppose the root of my success can be traced back to getting my BFA in acting at Pace University, During my time at Pace I was able to not only invest myself into the study of acting but rub shoulders with so many talented people I still get to work with and consider friends today.

It’s hard to say what sets me apart but I HOPE that it has something to do with my approach to the work, When I decided I wanted to be an artist for the rest of my life I meant it, for me this means treating any sort of art with a lot of care and respect, even if it’s a one line commercial, it’s a story and my job is to tell it without an opinion from the outside. Buy all the way in.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

First of all, I LOVE this question. As with so many things in our modern world art and entertainment are DOMINATED by big business interest. This means fewer people making more decisions driven purely by business incentives rather than inspired story telling.

The one thing we can do and we must do is support one another. As cliche and tired as it sounds, there really isn’t anything else to be done, Now support can look very different these days, sharing something on Instagram that a friend made, promoting live dates for a show that someone is performing in, even putting people in touch could lead to jobs which means security which is paramount for a creative.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The sense of victory and community. In this profession you can go months without a win, in fact it’s fairly normal for that to be the case. So it is extra important to celebrate all the small wins, and not only your own but the wins of the community around you. I can remember in the depths of COVID living, my partner and I had moved out to Oregon and had basically brought our careers to a screeching halt. In the midst of all of this, she was able to get seen for the Hocus Pocus sequel and land a callback! You would’ve thought she booked a 4 movie deal the way I talked about her to our friends, It was and is a WIN. These things are so important to focus on as an actor, they’re the little islands we get to rest on during our time out at sea.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @nolanlevilunsford
• Facebook: Nolan Lunsford