A-list Actor Benjamin Schnau: His mentality and way to success

We were lucky to catch up with Benjamin Schnau recently and have shared our conversation below.

Benjamin, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
One key aspect is the way of how you reflect on yourself and your environment. Have you ever asked yourself who you are as a person, as a human being? If not, then it’s time. It is not just a valuable exercise to learn about yourself in general but discover your strengths and also weaknesses we all have as human beings. In the world of acting, as you know, it’s fundamental to understand characters in how they think, feel and say certain things. But before you can do all that you need to learn about yourself first. What makes you feel happy, confident, strong, what sad or even mean but then, how do you feel about it, say or think and how does it reflect your facial expression and body language. I don’t want to sound like an acting teacher here, but these discoveries are tremendously important as they showed me the emotions and behaviors I know well and am good at expressing. As soon as you have a better idea of what that is, you can look more to the outside world, the film industry. What characters are being cast? What does the industry look for and how do you fit into that with the strengths you have? After you have done that and think you have a good feeling about it, it is equally important that you talk to people you know but also to strangers and ask them how they perceive you when they look at you. It might sound weird, but it’s even more powerful to determine how you should go about your career. There were things I didn’t like or couldn’t see myself in and some of it was the complete opposite of what I discovered. These impressions I received by myself and also by other people helped me over time to nail down what my strengths are, where the parallels are, and what I should be focusing on especially at the beginning. Some of it might not be what I wanted to do as an actor or how I have seen myself for such a long time, but trust me if you fight that especially at the beginning you might find yourself in a catch22 as what you want doesn’t equal to what the industry wants or sees you in. Believe me, when I say that I even thought I could do everything, I’m diverse and I trained for all of that for so long, but I learned how to put myself into their shoes and look at me from the outside. It’s a mind-blowing experience. Once you have done that, you will recognize certain things about yourself, you couldn’t even think of. Another aspect, not just in acting but life is to not listen to people that doubt you especially those that are not even part of your life. Too many people have way too many of things believing they should dictate how someone should live their life. Art is subjective, once you understand that, it becomes much easier to believe in yourself and talent. Believing in yourself is the most important asset you have as it takes you beyond the imaginable, you just have to accept it and follow your instinct and feelings. BUT in order to get to the point believing in myself I had to fail first, took the path of the unknown and did the uncomfortable as much as possible to proof myself what I’m capable of. How do we know what we are able to accomplish if we never tried it before? That’s it, my motto for life. You have to make yourself feel uncomfortable to grow and become confident in a way you were always supposed to be. That’s what I did.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Benjamin Schnau and I’m an internationally acclaimed actor and author of the book ‘The reality of Hollywood’. I speak native American English, German and French and I’m a professionally trained boxer experienced in stage and weapon combat. I’m widely known for my role ‘Minion’ in the Academy-Award Winning movie ‘Mank’ alongside Academy-Award Winner Gary Oldman directed by David Fincher released on Netflix, ‘The Current War’ opposite the protagonist George Westinghouse portrayed by actor Michael Shannon and for my lead role ‘Jupp Klein’ ‘Megastructures’ produced by National Geographic available on Netflix. In addition to acting in movies and television roles, I have been acclaimed for my “live” acting expertise, as manifested by my serving as the on-air “host” for prestigious Hollywood events like the red-carpet events at the American Heart Association. I’m honored to have won the award for ‘Best actor’ for my role of Leon in the movie ‘Against All Odds’ at the Oniros Film Awards and New York International Film Awards and also ‘Best Supporting Actor of the Year’ at the Top Shorts Film Festival for my role of Gunther Wolfgang in the movie ‘The little picture”. Due to my multilingual ability, I’m an established voice over actor as well who has given his voice for movies like “American Animals” and “Nothing to lose” which have been released in 2018. My book ‘The Reality of Hollywood’ with its worldwide release in 2021 educates and guides upcoming actors to establish themselves in the film industry in Hollywood long-term. Feature Film “Silent Night in Algona” shows me besides Hollywood Actor Taylor Nichols known for his roles in “Metropolitan” and “Jurassic Park III “which was released theatrically in the beginning of 2023. My latest feature film Righteous Thieves playing the critical role ‘Mauren’ was recently released by Lionsgate in movie theatres throughout the U.S. and will be released on Apple TV and Amazon Prime in Fall 2023.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Be prepared for the hard times. Let me tell you it doesn’t need to be hard though. Of course, you always have downs, questioning everything but it shouldn’t get to that point where your existence is in danger financially, physically, and mentally. Working in film can be quite unpredictable, don’t forget a lot of people get into this industry having the same desire as everyone of us. Therefore, you must create a foundation for yourself that is completely separate from the entertainment industry. What I mean by that is that your private social life shouldn’t be just connected to the industry. You need to understand that this is your dream, and you give everything you have in life to establish yourself, but at the end of the day there is another side of life you shouldn’t and cannot miss out on which is family, friends especially people that you can trust, who have your back and be there for you. I personally also made the mistake at the very beginning of focusing my whole life 24/7 towards acting and the industry. I put myself under a lot of pressure almost to a point that I was suffering that I wouldn’t be enough as a person if I don’t get certain parts I auditioned for. That almost really put me in a place of isolation, where I beat myself up over things I haven’t accomplished. My mind got so closed off that I didn’t even see a life outside the industry anymore. It took me a while to realize how unhealthy it was for my mental state even physically to live like that. The industry took control over my life and not the other way round. It took me more than 2 years almost to realize what happened. I felt miserable about myself, and it wasn’t even about a certain part anymore I didn’t get, my whole mindset shifted to a negative, pessimistic, and skeptical outlook on my whole life. The dissatisfaction of one part of my life was now controlling my whole life, letting me forget who I am as a person and what I’m worth. When I realized that by reflecting on myself, I knew I have to do something. I just stopped, stopped running around like crazy hunted by this inner pressure that told me for so long that I have to do even more. I paused, looked around me for the first time, and acknowledged that it was all me doing this without having any control over it. I lost myself sacrificing so many other things in life. And then I understood. In Hollywood there is just so much you can do to get where you want to be. I always describe it as the 90/10 rule. You can just do 90% of what is in your power and control, the other 10% is something which is totally up to Hollywood and the industry which has so many factors you as the individual actor cannot influence like who gets cast for what and why. If you understand that, then it puts everything more into perspective. Until today I still do everything I can to further my career, but I learned that the 10% is out of my hand, the only thing you want to make sure is that you gave the best you can within your 90%. And then you do something, that is hard for many people at the beginning especially for me, you LET GO. Let go of the audition, the workshop, networking event, whatever it is you had expectations of and move on with your life. And with life I mean having fun, go out with friends, make new friends, and surround yourself with people you love and who love you. If you then hit a point in your career where you get stuck, then trust me it will feel differently as you already know by then that the industry and your success will not define who and what kind of person you are. Never forget that.

Think big but in small steps!
We already talked a little bit about dreams. Dreams are pretty much the reason which got us on the journey of becoming a successful actor in the industry. You should use exactly that to your advantage. Always stick to that dream, even remind yourself of it but you must see the small steps in front of you to get there. I always say Hollywood and the industry are far from being linear. Sometimes you might do certain things by turning left or right for a certain amount of time to find your way back on the main path. If you expect to reach your ultimate dream right at the beginning of your career you might experience a lot of disappointment as that is usually not how it goes. Don’t let yourself dazzle from these so heard ‘overnight’ success stories. They might exist but are very rare and usually don’t happen as often anymore like back in the golden age of Hollywood. Bottom line is, take steps that you feel comfortable about but have a sense of what could further your career. In today’s market, it’s all about exposure and collaboration with other people in the industry. If that wasn’t part of your ideal plan, then think twice. Every step in this industry can count sooner or later, it’s about the people you meet and projects you work on that can determine and lead to later projects and roles you want to do. Hollywood is a big net of people you wouldn’t even expect are connected. Therefore, be grateful for every opportunity that comes your way as it might be the first connection to the bigger puzzle in this industry.

Wear your business head!
Acting is a business. It’s a business like any other with the exception that it’s the art you live and breathe. I met many actors who are truly artists which is great, but I also realized that many of them are truly JUST artists. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with being just an artist, but to survive and establish yourself there are certain steps necessary for you to take that get you there. You need to see yourself as the CEO of your business that you are running. Think about it like your own start-up you just founded. You are the main person wearing different hats at the same time working towards making it a success. And what is important for a start-up to get where it wants to be? Exactly, sales and marketing. If you can’t generate sales by putting out the right marketing and sales strategies no one will be interested in buying from you, more so investing in you. As an artist, it’s therefore key to combine both within you. I was lucky in a way as I had a sales and marketing background before I started acting which I used and still do to my advantage. So, what do I do? Well, I kind of divide my workflow as an actor into exactly these two parts. I’m the artist as soon as I’m in the
audition room, preparing or being on set. But the whole pre-production part, as I call it, is me being the sales & marketing person for my own business. Try to see every situation with these two different perspectives to decide when you should do what. To give you an example. I have a certain routine of going about my sales and marketing strategy. Besides being on all the platforms obviously, you also need to be proactive. Never think that people will just find you and give you a role. The market is exaggerated these days, so the chance to be discovered are very rare. You need to step in and make them want to discover you. Therefore, the right reflection of yourself as discussed earlier combined with the right research gets you closer to the target group that might be interested in you and your type. Create an
email template with all your information which means have your showreel clips, headshot, and resume ready and try to send it to exactly the people you put down where you feel they might look at your material. We are talking more about different strategies in later topics. I therefore can’t stress enough to transform into that chameleon of being both as it will help you towards your dream. It is like a catch22 as well, if you don’t want to put in the work as you are being the CEO it is very unlikely that you will be able to get into a position to live what you are passionate about which is being an established actor working in the industry. If you as an artist might feel you are not made for being that person, then I can just tell you if acting is truly what you want to do then there is no other way to get the exposure you need by being out there and creating that buzz yourself. Trust me it might doesn’t feel comfortable the first time, but you get used to it the more you do it and see the results that come with it.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest area of growth or improvement is that I landed the lead role as the president of the United States in the upcoming feature film ‘UnPresidented’ which is set for shooting in the UK beginning of 2024. I also played the critical role ‘Dom’ in the international acclaimed Feature film ‘Ragdoll’ which was released by ITN Distribution globally. The sequel is already in the making and I’m looking forward to it. Constant growth and improvement in acting comes not just with every new role, but every crew and cast you are working with and every person in the production company and studio you create long lasting relationships with. Based on my roles and establishments I was recently approached by major powerhouse and agency ‘Media Artists Group’ who is now representing me in the UK, US and globally.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Leadership Development
Empathy Unlocked: Understanding how to Develop Emotional Intelligence

“Empathy is the starting point for creating a community and taking action. It’s the impetus

Productivity
Where do you get your work ethic from?

We’ve all heard the phrase “work hard, play hard,” but where does our work ethic

Productivity
Boosting Productivity Through Self-Care

When you have a never-ending to-do list it can feel irresponsible to engage in self-care,