We were lucky to catch up with Sean Miguel Perez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sean Miguel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Learning the craft is a life long lesson in being Human. The more classes I take, the more training I do, the more I observe actors, the more I coach – the more I realise it’s all about being as human as possible – the good, the bad and the ugly. Especially the ugly.

The craft has it’s technical sides: learning styles, acting techniques/ methods, scene study, accents, camera technique, comedy technique, improv technique, etc which allow actors to practise, feel a sense of control and a way exploring their world while interpreting the stories they’re telling. These tools are important for actors to have because every story is different and you may require different tools to tell different stories. So being able to train with a wide variety of coaches globally has been a fun and exciting experience. Noticing so many coaches teaching the same thing with their own twists, vocabulary or point of view makes me realise what works and what doesn’t on a global scale.

The one thing I keep coming back to is being human. So many methods are about “telling the truth” and there are so many different versions of the truth in every story. So how do you tell the truth? Tell the truth as a human, not just a story teller. Story tellers are perfect, in control, puppeteering where the audience should pay attention to. Whereas humans are messy and glorious all at the same time.

As I go through my acting journey, the more I realise I just have to be more human. But what does that mean? It means allowing yourself to be seen in ALL of the states that humans can be in. Happy, sad, triumphant, defeated. Allowing yourself to be seen requires strength and vulnerability. And this is the skill that needs to be consistently practised. Being vulnerable. Because as Humans, we want to hide away and not be seen when we are vulnerable. However as actors, we have to have the courage to be seen in our most vulnerable states so other humans can observe themselves in us while we tell stories.

Being human is messy and gross – just think about the things you do behind closed doors when you know no one is watching or listening. And that’s ok. But when we know there’s someone that’s watching, there’s a cover we put up – it can be thick or it can be thin but that vile that exists is what makes the difference between a good actor and a great one. By thinning out that veil as much as possible to the point where it doesn’t exist and you can be as human as possible while you tell the story, that I believe is what allows actors to be great.

In order to do this, one must be able to be honest with themselves. What are the good, the bad and the ugly about them. How do I feel about it? How do I feel about it being seen by others? Why do I have shame about this? Why don’t I have shame about that? Why am I comfortable being seen in this light but not in this way? Self reflection, meditation, self analysis combined with imagination is magic. When you have self awareness and imagination combined, this magic is truly wonderful because now you have a human who gets to play and story telling is all about creating a world that you can immerse your audience into without shame, guilt or fear. So if the actor is free to feel, so is the audience.

Sean Miguel, 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 Sean Miguel Perez, a multi hyphenate with fingers in all of the pies cause they’re all so delicious.

Started in this industry as a dancer, Starting in Salsa, I then trained to become a competitive Latin American & Ballroom dancer. I studied a music theatre degree where I was able to become a triple threat and got introduced to screen acting in my final year. Then I learnt about the business by interning at an agency which really allowed me to understand how this business works.

Now, ten years later, I am a working actor, owner of a Talent Agency, Acting Coach, Mindset Coach as well as a Business Coach for actors.

As an Acting Coach, I find that I’m coaching my actors to be human in front of the camera. Actors are human and they know how to human but when they get in front of the camera, they lose their ability to human. Why? That’s what we discover and work through during our acting sessions. We use a wide variety of technical acting tools as well as psychology and mindset – all with the goal of getting back to the human self living life in front of the camera (or on stage).

As a qualified Mindset Coach, it’s so interesting to discover how so many situations, circumstances and lessons from our childhood still affect us today. Whether it’s negative or positive, that’s different for everyone but when we notice the patterns that appear in our lives, we realise that they stem back to our childhood and these are patterns and behaviours that needed to be addressed back then, but we may not have had the capacity to do so until now. And when we start to work on these patterns, it frees us – allows us to be more human, not just in our acting but in our everyday lives. It’s about getting as much out of life as possible.

As a Talent Agent and Agency owner, it’s the business side of show business and actors don’t get to see this side but it’s a lot more to it than they could imagine. If they can intern and spend a day at an agency, they will see why agents and managers request certain materials and what conversations happen and how much of a business this industry really is,

As a Business Coach, it’s my goal to educate actors on how much of a business this industry really is. To get them prepared for the business of show business so they’re prepared to submit to agents and managers, they know how to talk to producers and directors at industry events and really show the industry just how professional they really are.

But my love really is in acting. Acting allows you to jump in, take the risk and be scared but excited all at the same time. It challenges you and frees you and you can sit back and enjoy the ride because pushing doesn’t make it go any faster. Being able to affect people and allow them to feel, allow them to escape their own reality by creating another is such a gift – there really isn’t anything else like it.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society needs to understand how important the arts is to the world. In every global major event, the arts has always been there to support the world. Through war and famine, artists are putting on fundraiser concerts, during the pandemic – the world turned to tv and films for escapism, during the world wars – theatre and plays were put on to entertain the masses as well as through radio. It’s also through the arts that we remember what happened, what the everyday person went through and we’re able to revisit these events from history.

It’s with this understanding that society needs to continue to fund the arts, pay the actors, pay the dancers, pay the writers and directors – because without the arts, not only would this world be lonely but it would also be boring.

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

Part of my mission in being an actor is diversifying the industry.

Showing the world that there are multiple shades of brown. That there is a spectrum of sexuality. That there is neurodiversity and multiple forms of ability. That there are so many unrepresentative people in this world that deserve air time or stage time that we still aren’t seeing today.

As a boy, I never saw myself on screen and it wasn’t a great feeling cause I couldn’t connect to any particular super hero or personality on screen. As a young actor, I didn’t have a prototype that I could look up to. So I want to change that. I want to be someone’s inspiration. I want to be that someone that they look up to so they too can believe they can make it. Be the change you want to see in the world and that’s what I’m doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.seanmiguelperez.com
• Instagram: @seanmiguelperez
• Other: https://linktr.ee/seanmiguelperez IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5806999/

Image Credits
Headshot – Cameron Radice Photography (@cameronradicephotography) BTS (selfie taking) – Zac Shaw (@therealzacshaw)