Meet Emanuel Millar

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

Emanuel , thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

At an early age I learned to turn to God. I had a situation happen one night when I was 16, where a dark shadow with piercing red eyes entered my bedroom and stood at the foot of my bed. I knew I wasn’t dreaming as it began to slowly lift the foot of my bed. Until that moment in my life, I had never been so scared. Frozen in fear, I finally yelled out “God I only want to believe in you and nothing else.”. With that, the shadow quickly dropped my bed and suddenly vanished. It was then, thinking about it days later and until this day, I realized I was given a choice to choose Light over darkness. I vowed then to God as I still do now to choose Light. Being grateful for that night for so many reasons since. One being that night played a large part in the reason as a teenager and ever since I felt drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or pot or doing drugs of any kind was going to be a part of my life. Or trying to fit into whatever the in crowd was doing. I can’t help but feel those choices helped me focus on being my own person. Help become and unique individual who taught himself how to stay diligent to my goals of living a full and successful life. A promise I have tried my best to keep by listening and acting on my intuition no matter the situation or circumstances. Or how powerful the people around me think or believe they are.

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

Around the age of nine I started cutting hair. My own a few times until I moved on to my brothers, family, friends and neighbors. With each snip I got better. After high school it was my mother who suggested I go to beauty college to get my license. Something I hadn’t really thought of. All through beauty school I’d tell anyone who’d listen “I was going to open my own salon when I graduated.” Nine months to the day of graduation, at the age of 19, I opened Manny’s Hairstyling on Painter Ave in Whittier California.
By the age of 24, I set my sights on trying to get into the film business. My thinking being, if my costumers at Manny’s loved the way I cut hair as much as they seemed to, surely actors would feel the same. I closed shop and moved to Hollywood where I knew no one. Asking every one I met “I’m trying to get into the film business, can they or do they know of anyone who could help me.” Finally a woman named Melanie told me she was producing a film in Seattle her husband was directing. They could fly me there, house me and feed me but couldn’t afford to pay me. All I heard was “someone wanted to give me my first big break.” From that moment on I bit the apple. Knowing the film industry was where I wanted and needed to be.

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?

Persistence, positivity and faith. I was molested by uncles for many years. Bullied in school. Because of it I was shy and mostly stayed to myself. But I had a dream and I knew the only way I was going to achieve it was overcome those obstacles and never give up or give into anything negative that might have happened in my life.
I was told no a lot. But it was the yeses that mattered. Perseverance is key.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

After nearly 40 years of having an amazing film career as a hairstylist. Working with incredibly talented actors, writers and directors, I decided in 2021 to retire from doing hair and focus on getting the scripts I’ve written, made. And possibly direct. As well as seeing the three actors I mentor Kyle Colton, Derek Casper and Juliana Millar, my granddaughter have and enjoy the successful careers I feel they deserve.
My goal now is to work with people who are positive and have a passion for movie making and want to be in this amazing business for the right reasons. Also I’d like to see the books I wrote The Kindest Cut: Intuitive Life Lessons Learned by a Hollywood Hairstylist, volume I and II do well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: emanuel_millar6
• Other: My book The Kindest Cut: Intuitive Life Lessons Learned by a Hollywood Hairstylist

Image Credits

Emanuel Millar