Meet Anthony Dain

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anthony Dain. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Anthony with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Not to sound too cliché, but I got my work ethic from my mother. I’m a child of divorce and grew up living with my mother and brother, hundreds of miles away from the rest of my family. My mother worked in the retail industry, then later the service industry. I’ve seen her struggle more than anyone else I know, having to hop from one retail company to the next – usually due to the company closing down. I also understood that she had to raise both me and my brother, in a completely new state with a very little support system. She didn’t have a choice BUT to stay strong and resilient.

I’ve been in a similar spot, working in the service industry for 12+ years, knowing that you have to hustle to make ends meet, especially as a working actor. You never know when or how the next project will come along. I know I’ve said it a hundred times, but my biggest super power is that I will out work anyone. I can thank my mother for that. The reason I stay hungry and motivated is because I know it’s the only way to achieve your goals. Plus I’ve seen my mother succeed and if she could do it, so can I

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’ve been acting professionally for close to 7 years now, being represented by five agencies in the midwest region. The majority of my day to day is seeking, collaborating, and developing relationships with likeminded creators and directors for new projects. Even if that means sharing my own projects that I’ve been writing with friends so we can create our own films.

I’ve discovered that in order to survive this industry, you can’t focus on just one division, like acting. You have to branch out and create your own work. That’s what I try to accomplish under my LLC, NewHire Entertainment. Mostly very small productions like short films, nothing crazy, but one day I’m hoping to do more with it.

When I’m not seeking opportunities you can find me working in the Columbus office for Heyman Talent agency, doing whatever I can to help other talented individuals achieve their goals and aspirations.

Right now I don’t have any major self projects in the works, but I am in development on a number of upcoming projects, like Roger Conners, Meat feature, which is an LGBTQ+ slasher. That’s going to be a huge film you should definitely watch out for. There’s a few more but I’m not of liberty to discuss them right now, but if you follow me on social media (Instagram mostly), I try to keep everyone up to date on my ridiculous adventures

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?
First of all I’d like to make a note that no two people are ever on the same path of a similar journey. There is definitely advise I wish I knew earlier in my acting career, but I believe I learned what I needed to learn at the correct pace of my own personal journey. If that makes sense? So no matter where YOU happen to be in your journey, and even if you feel like you already “know” what I’m about to say, it couldn’t hurt to revisit and ensure that you are currently practicing these 3 bullet points

1. Knowing the material & being prepared:
Sure it goes without saying, you should know what you’re suppose to be doing. But when I say ‘know the material’ I mean, study it so deeply that you don’t even have to think about the words your saying when the time comes. Don’t just memorize lines; memorize the scene. Memorize the actions that are happening in that scene. Memorize what the characters are trying to achieve. If you can do that, learning the lines will just come naturally.

2. Perception of auditioning:
They say, if you’re auditioning, you’re a working actor. That’s true, because our ‘job’ is to perform. Every audition is an opportunity to stand in front of someone else and perform. That’s the core of what we do. After that, everything is out of your hands and put solely into the hands of the project runners. If you happen to book the job, congrats, you get to have your cake and eat it too. But there are so many variables that go into casting – do all actors have chemistry with each other? Do certain actors like alike (for family options)? Do actors have matching schedules? Blah Blah Blah. Your head will explode if you focus your energy on waiting to hear if you’ve been cast. Just go in, perform at 110% and move on to your next performance

3. Never give up – constantly work on your craft:
What I mean is that a constant positive outlook and visualization of your goals is necessary in your path to success. Immersing yourself into a healthy environment that focuses on your particular dream will undoubtably force your naturally growth. Think about this, there’s a Chinese bamboo tree that takes roughly five years before it can grow out of the ground, but it has to consistently be watered and fertilized. After those five years, it’ll break through the ground and grow as much as 90 feet in a matter of weeks. If at any point during those five years it fails to receive water or fertilization, it would die and no one would have the opportunity to see what that tree could evolve into.

Never give up.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I feel like so many of us suffer from a version of being overwhelmed or anxiety. We’ve all developed our own way of navigating these stressful moments. For me, I only find myself being overwhelmed if I start to slip on my organization.

My problem is, I try to juggle too many projects at once – between my own personal projects, gigs I’ve been booked through from clients, trying to manage a social life, staying healthy with a regular gym routine, cooking my own food, or just finding time for hobbies. I’ve found that the only way to sustain an overwhelming life style is to prioritize a time for meditation and a heavy focus on maintaining a calendar of notes.

It might feel like a lot, but these tips have really helped me get control of my brain:

-Meditation:
This might be a hard one for most people because some might not understand how to meditate – don’t over complicate it. This is what I do, I find a moment in my day, put my phone on vibrate, turn on some LoFi music or classical (something without lyrics) and just focus on my breathing – in and out. I just try to live in the present. If a thought enters my mind, I’ll acknowledge it, but I won’t spend time on it. I’ll let it pass and return to the present. Mind you this doesn’t take much time out of my day, but I feel like it’s necessary to carve out a moment of your day and just exist.

-Calendar:
Please please please write everything down. Appointments, reminders, ideas, whatever. Give yourself alarms too! Your smart phone is great at this. If your tech savvy enough you can even sync your calendar to other devices for a constant update on what you need to plan out. I even keep a dry erase calendar on my refrigerator so it’s the first thing I see when I’m making breakfast in the morning.

-Journal:
Most importantly I HIGHLY suggest keeping a journal. I know most people avoid a journal because they never know what to write. So let me help you by telling you what I write about:
Every night I’m able, I use the ‘3 – 2 – 1’ method. *It doesn’t have to be a lot you write either, a couple sentences will do just fine.
– 3 accomplishments from my day (even something as small as making it to the gym)
– 2 things I learned from my day (a lesson or a skill or whatever)
– 1 thing I want to do tomorrow

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Shannon Ahlstrand

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