Meet John Anthony Torres

We were lucky to catch up with John Anthony Torres recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi John Anthony , so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?

I think it’s important to focus on your own journey. Always. That being said, there are always going to be people who have negative things to say, people who are jealous or people who are “haters” haha That’s fine! Let them hate.
As creatives we have to hone in on what makes us unique and use that uniqueness to propel us forward. That entails hard work, emotional exhaust and constant mental health check ins. There’s no time to waist on negative energy or negative people. The world/life can be tough as it is, why add more to that? Breathe the haters and the negative comments in, and breathe them right back out. I’ve learned to apply to this to my life as I got older, I used to let the comments and haters get to me. Now? It’s just not worth it- it’s a reflection of them. Not you 🙂
Actually, if you have haters you’re doing something right!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

The beautiful thing about what I do is I get to breathe life into text. I get to make things come alive. At least, that’s how I view it. I’m an Actor and Producer; I guess you can also call me a professional story teller.
I currently have one short film circulating the film festival circuit, called “Papi” written & directed by Ashley L. Canfield. The story is about a young man named Hector Jr., who navigates the complexities of reconciliation and self-identity amidst his father’s COVID-19 crisis. It’s a Drama, 23 minutes long. I’m one of the executive producers, the Lead Actor, Music Director, Composer & Musician for the film. “Papi” has been invited to 12 film festivals worldwide since it began its submission journey in February 2024. Our first short film had a North American Premiere at Lincoln Center, in NYC. Courtesy of The New York African Film Festival, 05/2024. Our short screened after a Spike Lee produced short film which was a pretty amazing start! We also screened at Academy Award Qualifying Film Festival – Out on Film- in Atlanta, 10/2024. “Papi” has received 4 nominations, including: Best Actor, Best Actor, Best Drama & Best LGBTQ Film. We won “Best Actor” at the Peoples Film Festival in NYC, 06/2024; as well as “Best LGBTQ Film” at the New York International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival in NYC, 11/2024. I’m so proud of the reception our first short film has been receiving- I can’t wait to see what the rest of its run is like- it hasn’t even been a year yet.
We just began submitting another short film that was recently wrapped. “Closure” written by my partner, Ashley L. Canfield, is a Sci-Fi Thriller, 8 minutes long. The story was inspired by the short play “Mimo” written by Luis Roberto Herrera. I am also one of the executive producers, lead actor, music director and casting director for this short. I’m excited for the world to see it! It’s short but packs a lasting-punch. “Closure” is about a man named Kevin who meets with his sister to go over their mother’s death- revealing hidden truths. Keep your eyes peeled for this one!
Aside from my personal projects, I was just in an Amazon Astro commercial. It came out on social media and online over thanksgiving weekend. The Amazon Astro is a pretty cool robot! I’ll be in the cast of an upcoming Marvel Studios Project. You can also find me as Diego Pilco, in the TV show “The Perfect Murder” on the ID Network.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, and looking currently- 3 skills/qualities that were most impactful on my journey are: the skill of adapting, the quality of being resilient and the quality of being a hard worker (which can also double up as a skill). These 3 things propel me forward every day. The skill of adapting will allow you to mold, and remold again to your surroundings. Like a chameleon almost, it’s a survival tactic- a communication tactic. The quality of being resilient is extremely important in this entertainment industry. There is rejection all the time, you have to build skin for all of the “No”’s. It makes room for all of the “Yes”s. Finally, the quality of being a hard worker. This is imperative as well because you need to plow through many obstacles to obtain a grounding/foundation in this industry. You have to audition and juggle jobs, career, family, loved ones- you have to do a lot. It’s not for the faint of heart and this industry is definitely not for the lazy. If you are Rich, then that will only get you so far… hard work goes a long way.
My advice to the younger generations to improve on these skills and qualities is to actively try to be them, actively try to work towards the skill. Keep auditioning, keep working hard, keep juggling those jobs. This all builds character. This all builds a skin for you to succeed. The more times you get rejected and the more times you fail, the more you will succeed. You learn, you shake off what’s not needed and you grow.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

We are always looking for folks and companies to collaborate with. For our most recent film “Closure”- we signed on Executive Producer, Eddie Martinez of VOE Coqui Productions LLC. Our original Score was produced by Kenneth Valentin. Luis Roberto Herrera allowed us to further expand from his original short play “Mimo”. For our short film “Papi” music producer and recording artist, SONI withanEYE helped us out with music and scoring. Magazzino Musuem & Stella’s Cucina gave us funding for our film. There are so many different ways we take on people for collaboration: whether that’s through financial help, producing help, time, knowledge or talent. We are always looking to continue to make amazing stories and bring others into the mix.
We are currently developing a feature film and are looking for collaboration with that. Anyone can help, especially actors, music producers, producers or companies that want to get involved let us know 🙂

You can reach out to me through Instagram or email. Email: jayteetorres@icloud.com ; Insta: @_johnanthonytorres_

Let’s collaborate !

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Alec Hartnett

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