Hey everyone! So, I’ve decided to join Substack!
As an actor, visibility is really important. Since I wasn’t eligible to join Spotlight and didn’t have representation at the time, I made sure to build an online presence through Facebook, Instagram, IMDbPro and of course, my website. I also did a lot of interviews with media outlets and podcasts about my martial arts, film and other projects I was involved in, all to help get my name out there.
I’d had a website since the early 2000s, as I was always interested in web design as a kid. I used it to share the various projects I was working on, from training and music to science fiction and even articles about flexibility. In many ways, it was social media before social media existed! So when I decided to pursue acting, using a website to promote my work felt like a natural extension of what I was already doing.
My website and social media helped me land a lot of work in the early days of my career, so I must have been doing something right! IMDbPro was essential, too, as it gave me a professional profile with a photo (which was key to how I was found for The Brothers Sun).
Over time, my website became more of a passive archive, with the occasional update here and there. Eventually and ultimately, I took it down for ethical reasons. Reasons I’ll get into another time.
…But for now, I’m really excited to be here on Substack, where I can write about the things I like and care about. I’ve also reposted some of my old articles, dating them retrospectively. There are a few things I’d change about the writing and content, but I’ll leave them as they are for now. At their core, the values behind them are still ones I hold and practice today.