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

Hi Phillip, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risks I’ve taken was deciding to leave an instable career and pursue a passion project full-time. It was a leap into the unknown, filled with doubt and uncertainty, but one that ultimately shaped who I am today.

For years, I had worked in uncomfortable, well-paying miscellaneous jobs. I was successful by traditional standards, but something always felt missing. My passion for filmmaking had been simmering beneath the surface for as long as I could remember. I spent evenings and weekends working on small projects, attending film mixers, and connecting with other filmmakers. But the fear of taking a leadership approach kept me from fully committing.

It wasn’t until a particularly draining workweek on set in Staten Island that the moment of clarity hit me: I had been spending more time daydreaming about my next film project than focusing on the career I’d built. I realized that while my current path offered little stability, it didn’t fulfill my deeper creative drive. I knew that to grow as a filmmaker—and to grow as a person—I had to make a bold move..

Shortly after that, I threw myself into projects, collaborating with local filmmakers and eventually established the Astoria Filmmakers Club. The uncertainty was immense—there were days when I questioned if I had made the right decision, especially when financial pressures began to mount.

But as the club grew, so did the opportunities. I was able to connect filmmakers with resources, help them share their stories, and see the impact that we were making on the local creative scene. This led to the Triborough Film Festival and even earning state recognition with NYS citations for my work in the film community.

The risk was immense, but the reward of pursuing what truly made me come alive outweighed every doubt. In the end, taking that leap into the unknown not only shaped my career but brought me closer to the community and passion I had always been meant to serve.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Surely. I graduated high school from Goshen Central in Orange County, New York in 2005. I learned construction work at the early age of 14 and got my first job two weeks after graduation as a plumbers apprentice. I work for eight dollars an hour about a year and I was also, working part time as a network marketing recruiter . It was in the summer of 2006 where I had an opportunity to become an ironworker and one of my first jobs in Manhattan was the new York Times building on eighth Avenue. Tying in rebar by the thousands of pounds, every day was my first taste of arts and crafts, I loved that job. Whether it was foundation work or putting in the steel in high-rise buildings, I got to have the best view on every job site everywhere in Manhattan. After several critical injuries and a shoulder operation, I had to take a break, and that led me to go to college, So in January 2008, I enrolled at Sony Orange in Middletown, New York. I was unable to go to the gym so I took an intro to theater class as an elective. At the time I figured if I was going to be a business major, maybe standing on stage or getting used to it would benefit me in the long run if I became a better public speaker, so over the next six months, I did three musicals and got recruited into the drama department. I did my first play called the cherry Orchard and did well enough to get recruited from a few student filmmakers working on their senior thesis. I got the lead role in a short film called Village music and that became an official selection to the Black Bear Film Festival in 2009. The executive Director Bill Schill approached me and told me to go study my craft in New York City, So the fall of 2010 I got accepted into the New York Conservatory for the dramatic arts in lower Manhattan. I trained at the conservatory for about a year and one of my acting friends. Andy Perez recommended we should check out the Neighborhood Playhouse, I was accepted into the Neighborhood Playhouse in 2011 through 2012 and completed all of my acting training with them.

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

In the summer of 2012 I was at a stalemate. I just spent the last five years on a magic carpet ride and I had no sense of direction. I went from having an outstanding career, making great money as an ironworker to having a brain of mush because of four intense years of the best acting training you could ever get. I had no idea what I was supposed to do next. I was going through such an emotional withdrawal of memories that were buried for so long from my childhood that I couldn’t get a grip on reality. I was experiencing my very first burnout. For the last two years of training, I worked as a Pizza Delivery Guy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and bartended at nights. I earned on the weekends would carry me over during the week. I’ll transportation of Subway fair, bus fair, food, it was 100% on my shoulders. I didn’t have any help financially from my family and now I had over $50,000 in student loan debt that I had to figure out how to pay off. You would think the first thing I should do is get a agent so I didn’t hesitate to start mailing in my rookie headshot and student film résumé to every single known, casting Director, manager, and agency in New York City. For the next 365 days of emails and post stamps Letters i didn’t receive a single reply. I spoke to some classmates and they recommended. I should try a workshop approach, so if ever there was a casting Director or agent showcase in Manhattan, I would perform a monologue in front of them and still get rejected. This went on for the next two years. From July 2013-April 2015, I had no stable income, I had couched surfed across seven different households and landed in Astoria Queens, broke, suicidal and skinny.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I’m sure by now they would say I should’ve gone back into construction immediately after college to pay off my student loans in a career that clearly doesn’t want me. And believe me, I tried to quit acting so many times and remove myself. As far from the east is to the west and go back into construction and have a decent life, but as God is my witness, it just wouldn’t happen. Something would always pull me back in. So in 2015 when I accepted my plate, I knew I needed a break, and I left the city to do a traveling play of the story of Anne Frank. I got to see America and perform and do something really cool, meet people around the country, eat some decent food for 50 bucks a day For two months.

I didn’t get to mention it, but I would volunteer at my local church in Astoria on Sundays from early 2015 until the pandemic.

As I mentioned before, when I landed in Astoria Queens, I was definitely broke. I was definitely skinny and suicidal. I came very close in April 2015 where I was in a pit and after two years of wear and tear on my mind and soul I didn’t see it out and I definitely didn’t see any hope. So around the second week of April, I just went for a walk and I just kept walking, I probably walked 5 miles around Astoria, that walk ended in the middle of the Triborough bridge. It was a very murky night and I just looked down at the water. It was too dark to see exactly where the surface was, but that was the least of my concern at the time , so I spat off the bridge to get a better idea of how high I was from the water. I don’t know if it was my ego that saved my life that night, but I was somehow convinced that the bridge was not high enough and I asked myself how badly do I want to go for a swim? I took a good look at the Hellgate bridge, took a picture, and I went back to my roommates couch.

I can’t remember exactly if I started volunteering at church right before this happened or immediately after but I knew I had to talk to somebody so I got involved more at Citylight Church and became an usher.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.astoriafilmmakers.org
• Instagram: PhilCappadora
• Facebook: PhilCappadora
• Linkedin: PhilCappadora
• Twitter: PhilCappadora
• Youtube: PhilCappadora
• Soundcloud: PhilCappadora
• Other: TikTok: PhilCappadora

Image Credits

Thanks David. If you had any follow ups to tie up any loose ends I can get that done promptly. Thank you 🙏