Meet Michael Coppola

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Coppola. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I’ll tell you the truth – I never thought I was special to be honest. My own mom didn’t even want me. How can I be special if the one person who (is supposed), to love me doesn’t?

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am an artist at my core. Give me a paperclip and I’ll make something creative out of it. For the last 15+ years I have been acting on stage and screen, and now in the past year I have taken my first foray into the filmmaking world. In the past 10 months, my wife (Rachel) and I, started our own production company, Beach Bum Collective FIlms, and we produced our very first feature length film, “That Creep from the Bar Last Night,” which I wrote, directed, and acted in. It was a whirlwind of an experience, and I learned a TON, but it has truly exceeded all of my expectations and I can’t wait to show the world the film next year. Acting will always be my primary form of expression, there is nothing like thrusting yourself into the skin of another character and living life through their eyes. However, I truly enjoyed directing way more than I thought I would, and I think that is something I will also continue to pursue for many years to come.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First, I would say number one above all else would be empathy. If you cannot find an empathetic connection to the role you are trying to portray, or if you hold jugement against that character, you will not be able to fully bring that character to life. Empathy is one thing I believe the world could use a whole lot more of in all walks of life. Number 2, I’d say a tireless work ethic. Growing up, my Dad always told me no matter how good you are, there will always be someone out there thats better, someone more talented, faster, stronger, etc. And that always got me down as a kid, until it clicked to me that those skills and natural talents are just one piece of the puzzle. The other piece is the cultivation of those talents and skills. That is achieved through rigorous daily work. So now when I think of what my Dad said, I rephrase it with, “There might be people out there more talented than me, but no one out there is going to outwork me.” Without that mantra, this most recent film we made would never have gotten done. I worked a full time job five days a week till 5 pm, and then each night, no matter how tired I was, from 8pm to 2am I forced myself to work on the script – crafting moments as an actor, figuring out how to direct scenes, running through shot lists, solidifying the vision of the story I wanted to tell…every…single…night. If you don’t naturally have that work ethic in you, learn it. It will take you beyond your wildest dreams. Last but not least, and I can’t emphasize this enough, is training. A hunger to learn. This is a craft and it takes a lifetime to cultivate. People that think they can just show up and “be and actor” because they have a good personality, or they are physically attractive, really do a disservice to our craft and disrespect the people who have worked their whole lives to be able to do what they do. The actors I respect are the ones that are constantly taking new classes, that have a defined and repeatable process to approaching their work, the ones who are hungry to experiement and learn new ideas, take risks, and try new methods. Those are the actors I like to work with, and the ones that I looked to cast in our film. Empathy, hard work, and a thirst for knowledge.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

Back in the day when we were all on MySpace, you could write a little description of yourself and mine read, “Renaissance Man.” Back then, as a pre-teen, I didn’t really even understand fully what I meant by that, but I do know that I liked the idea that I could do more than just one thing. That I could do everything. That is actually what drew me to acting as a kid. When people would ask what I wanted to be when I grow up, I thought of the classic little boy answers – firefighter, policeman, soldier – but then I thought, how do I choose just one? Which is when I realized if I become an actor, I get to be all of those things! I can be a police officer this month, and a soldier the next month, and a pro athlete the next. I think that mindset of wanting to do it all leads me to want to improve parts of myself where I am not as strong. I love music for example, my Dad is a professional guitar player, my wife Rachel sings beaufifully, I used to manage Reggae bands – there’s even heavy music influences in our film, “That Creep from the Bar Last Night.” However I stopped creating music myself years ago whenever I put down my middle school stand-up bass for the last time. So knowing that I was missing that part of my life – when Covid hit, and the film industry shut down, I had all this time on my hands, so I ordered a Ukulele just to have something to create with on my own (that’s the problem with acting, you usually need another actor and an audience). But Ukulele, I could do just for me. My wife and I started making music together, and taking requests via Instagram from all over the world where people would write in a song request to dedicate to a friend or loved one that they couldn’t see because of the pandemic, and we would learn it and then send them a video to share as a way to keep people connected. During a dark time, we brought joy to people in a very small way, but none of that would have been possible had I just stayed with my strengths as an artist. I think diversifying your skill set, and bringing up your weak points creates a multi-layered human being with so many more possibilities, than a one dimensional being that only cultivates their one strength and ignores the other parts of their psyche.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.MCActor.com
• Instagram: @mcactor16
• Other: IG for the film: @thatcreepfromthebarlastnight