I was fourteen the first time I felt compelled to make notes about a movie while I watched it. It was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I was mesmerized by how such a beautiful story was told through such a disjointed, nonlinear narrative.
I am an actor. I have always been an actor, and I have always been drawn to film. Growing up moving around often and being the perpetual "new kid", movies were something that were always constant in my life. However, when asked to produce my artist statement, I drew a blank. Looking at my biggest influences, I realized I am drawn to storytelling. As an actor, I am a storyteller. The filmmakers I admire are all unique storytellers. I admire Darren Aronofsky and the way he grips his audience and pulls them into his characters' downward spirals before you even realize where you are and end up entirely unnerved. He is someone who wholly accomplishes what he sets out to do as he builds from beginning to end. I admire Martin Scorsese and how each of his films takes the audience on a different, fully immersive journey. I admire Todd Solodnz and Harmony Korine, who each have their own way of spinning a beautiful story out of the disturbing realities of everyday life, how they can tell a story when it seems as though nothing is happening.
I also find inspiration in theatre. I admire how Lin-Manuel Miranda created and stars in Broadway's Hamilton, taking the story of America's founding fathers and turning it into something so beautifully relatable to today's audiences. I admire John Cameron Mitchell, who created both the stories and characters of Shortbus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directing and starring in both film, as well as taking Hedwig from the stage to the screen and back to the stage, uniting 15 years' worth of fans with a single story.
I have always been driven by film's ability to reach people and how one filmmaker's story can take on so many different meanings for such a wide variety of audiences. I want to write films and I want to perform in them. I want to create the stories that as an actor I want to tell. I want my future work to explore the scope of stories to be told and the endless styles of narratives with which to tell them.
