We were lucky to catch up with Elijah Knight recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elijah, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
The timing of that question couldn’t be any better! Just the other day, my sister and I were having a phone call with my best friend.
On the phone, he said he wanted to compliment us (my sister and I) on the beautiful and strong relationship we have. Funnily enough my dad called my sister a couple of minutes later and the four of us sort of had a conference call with 2 phones.*
*(Which BTW is literally a real life exercise of the “Arab phone” game (French “Téléphone arabe”). It’s a lot of fun because of what gets lost in translation due to poor sound quality and I can definitely recommend it!).
Dad’s answer to my best friend’s statement about the strong relationship between my sister and I was “ces deux enfants ont été bercé dans l’amour”, which in the French language of Love means “these two kids were rocked in love” (the way you rock an infant when you LOVE it).
So the answer to the above question, although it might sound cheesz, is the same the Beatles came up with in 1967 during the summer of Love: LOVE.
My family gave me so much affection as a child so whenever I connect to who I truly was back then – or who I truly am right now when I am being my best self – then, I too, have nothing but love to give.
Very often, generosity is associated with financials and although that is one strong form of manifestation of generosity, it is not its true root. Why else would one find so many generous people in third world countries?
Generosity is much more than financials, it has to do with freedom: the freedom to give and the freedom to receive, the freedom to imagine, to dream, to be a good person. Last but not least, the freedom to let others have their happiness no matter how one is feeling at the moment because we know we already have everything in here, in us.
My acting coach taught me a lot about the word “PERMISSION”.
Freedom and permission go hand in hand and generosity, for me, is about the permission to give and to receive.
In an ironic sense, generosity is LETTING GO.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m an actor, a profession (more like vocation), which is most exciting and special in itself!
Don’t worry though…, I will elaborate! What kind of storyteller would I be if I didn’t 😉
I suppose, the most unique fact about my position in the Bizz is that I am the only perfectly trilingual (French, German, English, Swiss German) actor in Switzerland (who also does his own stunts and impersonations).
What is exciting about show business is that it is SHOW and BUSINESS and I love the coincidences (or some might call them synchronicities) that arise when combining the two.
To give you an example: at the beginning of the year, I was spamming hundreds of Casting Directors without tangible answers. A couple of days later, I randomly match a Phillipino Producer on BUMBLE, the dating app and I book a recurring role as a Swiss chocolate factory owner in a Phillipino TV show!
(I promise I didn’t have to sleep my way up to the role! 😉
I never got a date on Bumble but I got a gig on an international TV show and I’ll take that over drinks any time!
R.E. new events: I’m shooting my first Feature Film as a Lead in the Swiss Alps in the coming year and around March 24′, the first ever Italian Paramount + Show “Miss Fallaci” in which I play an US WWII Soldier, will be on air!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Genuine Love for the work. Acting is the only profession in which I get to experience the universe in all its dimensions. I suppose I have a very metaphysical approach to it, which keeps me motivated when the going gets tough as I realise that I’m just part of something bigger than myself. We’re very fortunate to be part of this movie we call life.
2. Perseverance
I’m not a fan of the sentence “Don’t quit” because that beholds a negation (“Don’t” grammar wise) and implies one has already embraced the word “Quitting” as part of one’s vocabulary.
I prefer “Hang in there”. To quote one of my all-time favourites “Tom Cruise”, you just have to keep moving forward, that’s the only option.
3. Guidance
At the start of this year, in the midst of a depression, I met an acting coach who turned my career around. I’m not even talking in terms of production success but rather in terms of finding joy in the work and the reason I’d started in the first place.
I don’t believe it’s possible to make it alone in this business and right when you’re rock bottom and you hang in there, god just might throw you an angel when you least expect it.
All one has to do is be open to receive/give oneself PERMISSION to receive.
Which brings us back to the first question about generosity. 🙂
So I guess my advice would be to do everything oneself can to enjoy and become better at the craft and at the same time be modest enough to seek guidance from people who love the art and the business.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
I’m not sure it’s the number one obstacle at the moment because I’ve learned to deal with it, but I guess GUILT had been crushing me until not too long ago. I was doing everything I could, or at least everything I thought made sense, to further my acting career.
But as the aspired results weren’t coming in, I started feeling guilty that it was partially my fault because I was focusing on being an actor (which is what I want to be) instead of writing and producing my own projects to showcase myself like e.g. SLY has done his entire life.
I’ve been dealing with this obstacle by meditating and also asking myself the question: why would I want to write and produce my own content in the first place?
Only to find out the answer is that I would only do the above to showcase my acting (of course I would have fun with those crafts too as I love movies alltogether).
That helped me realise that whenever I’m doing something I’m having fun with in the moment, there’s no reason to feel guilty.
And guilt has never helped anyone (unless it’s about repenting grave sins committed to someone else, I suppose).
In the end, I will eventually produce my own and I have started writing (will take filmmaking class in LA this summer). But I now know why I’m doing it, which is to act within the same project.
So that way, I know that a day acting and working on the SHOW part of Showbusiness is never wasted. There will always be time for the BUSINESS part of showbusiness.
And as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that it’s called SHOWBUSINESS, not BUSINESSSHOW.
SHOW is first in the word and BUSINESS comes second.
The money and production follows the talent, not the other way around.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.filmmakers.eu/en/actors/elijah-knight
- Instagram: @actorelijahknight
- Facebook: Elijah Knight – Actor
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYqW5x5xHQ3vEXTt2iz3b9A
Image Credits
Behind The Scenes Photos Credits: Paramount + Italy Army Photo Credits: Swiss Special Forces Command
