We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Thomas Augusto Dos Santos Claro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Thomas Augusto, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I have always known that I wanted to be an artist.
Ever since I was a kid I enjoyed performing to friends and family, act, pretend I was a character to entertain and make people laugh. I also really enjoyed drawing. I had piles and piles of drawings that I would spend hours working on. Then when I was a little older I decided to start painting on canvas, which I did a few times, and it was a great experience. Art class was definitely my favorite. I was always the last student to leave the classroom because I really wanted to finish all the work, doing the very best I could. It was always a moment where I could appreciate my own process of creating something to express myself.
In 2008, I had my first ideas for a book and I started writing it. I spent days writing ideas, and scenes, and pages, and character arcs that I wanted to tell. I worked on that book for a while, and I want to rewrite it to publish it. Nowadays I have multiple ideas for books that I want to work on, and I have a good number of poems that I am collecting to publish. In 2009 I started learning how to play guitar. Playing is one of my favorite therapies, as well as listening to music all day long. I enjoy bringing my guitar with me whenever I can to play for my friends, family, or even people who I barely know. Playing music is a great way to meet new people and connect with others, and since I started learning guitar many years ago, I improved a lot my skills, and I also started studying piano and teaching myself how to play ukulele.
With all this artistic background that I have, my favorite type of art and the one that I want to work professionally the most and for the longest time possible, is acting. I knew since before High School that I wanted to be an actor and that this is my passion. The idea of living in different worlds, in other characters’ skins, telling stories that probably would never happen in my real life inspires me to live many lives, through the art of acting. To feel every human emotion possible, experience unique moments, thoughts, things, actions that I could never have in real life, is something that drives me to the world of performance. And it is a dream to be able to work with what I like the most: films and TV series. I spend a great amount of my free time watching films or TV shows on streaming platforms, and going to the movie theatre is also something I really enjoy doing, so being able to be a part of this passion I have is all I have ever wanted.
Knowing all of this for so many years made me go to college as a Theatre major to get my bachelor’s degree. Since the beginning of my college career I started getting involved in productions, and I had the chance to star in three plays there. Then I started looking for other acting opportunities, and four and a half years after I started my undergrad, I have worked in many films and series. And this process and the achievements I conquered, every film I work on, every chance I have to be on a scene, every job I book, brings me a huge feeling satisfaction, and it confirms what I have known for years: my love for acting.
Revisiting all those years of my life and remembering my trajectory in the arts field, I got to the conclusion that all of my passion for it comes from my desire to express myself, entertain, and tell great stories.
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?
My name is Thomas Augusto dos Santos Claro, Thomas Augusto is my stage name.
I am 25 years old, and I was born in Brazil, in the city of São José dos Campos, São Paulo state.
I moved here to the US four and a half years ago, in 2019, to go to college and to pursue my dream career.
I got into my industry by starting to study theatre in college, and doing as much research as possible to figure out the ways to make acting a career. I found many useful resources, such as casting websites, articles from professionals of the industry, nation and world-wide Facebook groups with experts in the area, including coaches, agents, managers, casting directors, I also joined local and regional Facebook groups and pages focused in casting calls and auditions where I started networking and connecting with people. I use my professional Instagram and Facebook accounts a lot to follow other actors, directors, producers, and to collaborate with them in productions.
On set I am mainly an actor, but I like to help any time possible as a crew member, or giving ideas when they are welcome, trying to solve problems in the productions, but mostly, I am on set to act, be professional, follow the director’s “directions”, guidance, or ideas, to fulfill his or her vision for the film / series. I also like to get to know my castmates and crewmates, to interact with them, get to know them a little bit, especially those who I will share scenes with, so the acting feels more natural and the work environment feels more comfortable.
At the moment I also want to take the next step and write, direct, and produce my own short film. I already have some ideas that I want to start working with to tell a story about, and some people in mind that could help me with the whole process of bringing a script to life.
I think that what sets me apart from others is, first, that there is only one of me, as there is only one of each person in the world, and we are all different. We are all unique in our own ways, and for the acting field, it causes that every person is a unique actor, because we all have our own individual ways of seeing the world and interpreting a character, or the words of a script. Also, I think that my passion for arts through my whole life and that inner conviction I always had that I would work with this in my life, and that I knew I wanted to be an actor and multi-artist, it sets me apart from others I believe. This is my true passion, it is what makes me happy, it is what motivates me and to me, it is a very enjoyable career that brings a whole meaning to my life. Acting, performing, creating, making art, expressing emotions, interpreting characters, entertaining, making people cry, laugh, or happy are all things that I really enjoy doing, and that I plan on doing for my entire life. I feel this was not a choice, it was the career I had to pursue, naturally, based on my true self.
What I am the most proud of is how much I learned during my journey, from a city on the countryside of Brazil, where I had only this dream of working as an actor, to actually being able to do it, to understand better how things work in this business, to go after what I need to do to become better always, to take multiple classes with great coaches and professionals, to submit for jobs, get auditions, and book roles that I did not expect to get, this whole process makes me very proud, but especially the fact that I know there is still a lot to do, and I know I will do what I have to do to keep learning, keep improving, keep developing my craft, and to become a better professional in the entertainment industry.
The main things I want people to know about me is that I love what I do, and I decided that if I am here, I might as well risk doing what I really want to do in life. I also am a person who will always do my best to be the most professional possible, and to deliver the very best work I can do. And, finally, I will always keep going, no matter the challenges that come along the way. I will keep fighting to always be better and to achieve my goals.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I honestly feel like my main mission in life is to be an artist, ever since I was a kid. I thought for years about other paths to go after. “Easier” or safer, more stable types of jobs I could pursue. And through my whole life I tried to consider more conservative careers and objectives, but I feel like I have to follow my guts on such an important matter as my career. I use art as a way to put thoughts and feelings out, as a therapy really, to translate ideas that come to my mind into something more concrete. Having said that, I believe my urge to create and produce art is for myself first, as a personal need and as a way to be surrounded but something that really makes me feel good. But at the same time, my main goals and journey are to be good at what I do, and to be recognized by it, having some value as an artist. After all, I always heard that the art does not belong to the artist, which I agree in parts and understand it. So, I want to create art to the world, to help others, to inspire others to be artists as well, take the risks to go after their dreams, and really live their true selves and the life they have always wanted to live. I want to be able to connect with people who understand me and my art, but also, I want to somehow connect with people that are very different than me, but that have the art as a way to find similarities between us. And, of course, another mission is for me to be happy for accomplishing my personal and collective goals as an artist.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is to be able to share stories and impact a public somehow, through emotions. Make people think about topics they have never thought before, make them connect to a character, make an audience feel all sorts of emotions, from happiness to anger, or from fear to encouragement. I want to be able to tell all different types of stories, from every kind of genre, and make people really feel it, and, maybe, change at least one person’s life positively. If I can achieve a position in my life and career that lets me influence someone for good, and create a nice moment of entertainment, and good memory, and even possibly a life-changing experience, that would be the most rewarding aspect of my artistic career, without a doubt!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomas_augusto_tom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.augusto.actor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-augusto-actor/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_tom_augusto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasAugustoActor
- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thomasaugusto IMDb: http://www.imdb.me/ThomasAugusto Actors Access: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/ThomasAugusto
Image Credits
1 – The first photo, the Personal Photo 2 – The one I am smiling with the same outfit and background as the Personal Photo 3 – And the headshot I am wearing flannel, with a gray background, and with my hair tied These three photos were taken by photographer Roy Cox