Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Phillip Andrew Monnett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Phillip Andrew , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I always was drawn to the art of storytelling even when it came down to paying with Barbie’s and Polly Pockets. But I remember when I was 6 my parents took me to see The Firebird at The Houston Ballet with the icon herself, Lauren Anderson, as the title role. From the moment I saw her step on stage I knew that I wanted to do that. 10 years later I fell out of love with ballet, but knew I wanted to continue to do something creative with my time so I went into costumes for my high school’s theatre department. About a year later I decided I wanted to try out the acting thing so I auditioned for my high school’s production of The Cherry Orchard and ended up getting cast as one of the leads. Later that year after doing more shows my dad told me to audition for a summer camp called Interlochen; I figured after that summer I’d have found a deeper appreciation for a fun hobby, but actually left back to Houston knowing that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

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?

Well, I’m an actor and podcast host. I used to be based in Austin, TX after graduating from University of Illinois’s BFA Acting program, and moved up to Chicago after deciding that I wanted to pursue theatre more. Long and short of it, the lesson I learned is that the path of an artist is never linear. It took me about a year and a half to finally find my footing as an artist and to truly start to advocate for myself. I think the hardest lesson that I’m most proud of myself for learning is that being an artist, and an actor specifically, is all about learning how to play the game of the hunt. I was told my a teacher once that you are your own boss, manager, publicist, and agent. Even if you have representation, the fate of your career really does lie with you at the end of the day.

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

Support smaller artists and continue to go see live theatre! Chicago theatre is literally made up of a bunch of brilliant and delicious small storefront theatre’s that are really pushing forward some of the most underrepresented and untold stories to the front of the narrative field. As practitioners we should also be apart of the clergy of attendees. Its all like a water cycle, and is always bettered by the earnest help from outside forces.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m truly not the best one to ask about this, but I’ve truly tried to adopt the Kim Kardashian mindset of using social media to promote my own work. Albeit, it’s something I’m still learning, but I think that we truly are our own best advocates.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: phillipmonnett