Meet DAN SHAKED

We recently connected with DAN SHAKED and have shared our conversation below.

Hi DAN , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

My personal resilience dates back to my grandparents. All of my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I was very close to my mother’s parents. Although my grandmother did not speak much about her experiences, my grandfather shared many stories about his horrific memories. Hearing his unfathomable recollections from an early age, and his strength while he dodged trauma after trauma has undoubtedly shaped my ability to overcome difficult situations. Despite my grandparent’s situations, they managed to escape the Nazis and made their way to Cyprus. There, they got married, and then eventually made their way to Israel. I still am in awe that they were able to create and establish a relatively “normal” life in the second half of their life.

My parent’s story also gives me the strength to persevere. With no money and two small children (my older siblings), they moved to the US to study. They did not speak a word of English, lived in a dorm room with two small children, both attended school and raised a family. Transitions and huge cultural changes is clearly a theme in my family history. Transitions and changes are some of the hardest for me, so when I feel that discomfort in those moments of adjustments, I dig deep into myself and remember that I have it in my blood to overcome these obstacles.

I was not an actor that had it easy from getco. Although I attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts, work did not come easy for me. I was deemed awkward, not a Hollywood-look at all, with no connections to the business. One industry rep once said “a casting director can’t eat lunch and cast you at the same time. You are the type that really has to grab their attention with your talent, so that they will stop doing what they are doing and go “huh..interesting.” I used the idea of the butterfly effect along with what I learned from my father about marketing and business and my mothers ambitious creative drive, and started sending the few clips I had of myself, and started attending every film festival, student film showcase, small and large theatre productions, it didn’t matter and began to acquire my own groups of friends. Agents and Managers were not responding to me, and if they did, I did not have enough heat behind me for them to know what to do with me. So, I started researching hundreds and thousands of directors, writers, producers, anybody that I saw their work and found compelling and began sending out the little material I had to them. What did I have to lose? The worst is that they don’t answer, or if they do, and they are not that kind, I would remember that that is probably not someone that would be a great person to work with. I mastered the art of rejection so much, that my email account would get shut down every so often because the company didn’t believe that I was able to contact so many people. I realized that this business has no bounds, so I began connecting with artists all over the world. I was open to working like a sponge- absorb everything- from small table readings behind closed doors to 3 week runs of plays in small black boxes where there were three audience members a night. I spent a week sleeping in a director’s shoe closet on a mattress in Toronto. I would spend a few nights in a hostel in order to work with a director in Florida in order to gain some footage. I said YES to almost everything. I couldn’t afford to say no. This will be an investment in my future, I told myself. Don’t get me wrong, it was exhausting and I woke up on that mattress in that director’s shoe closet in the middle of the night asking myself, what am I doing? And I remembered that the final product was more important to me at the time and making beautiful art, than the hard floor I was sleeping on for a few nights. When I travel, I never know who I will meet and why. Airports, bank lines, the DMV, uber drivers. Some of the best people I’ve worked with I met by chance, unrelated to my acting. My resilience comes from finding something larger and more rewarding than my acting. Now, I am so used to rejection, when I get a part, there is a part of me that goes: really? This is weird. Are you sure?

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 am a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where I studied under the amazing acting teacher Lola Cohen, and studied at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

I’m currently filming a substantial role on a new Lionsgate TV series that is based on a Holocaust surviving family, and their hunt for the evil “Angel of Death” Dr. Yosef Mengele. Life imitates art, as my grandmother actually did encounter Dr. Yosef Mengele in the flesh. He, luckily, survived his experience with him as he was chosen to live. This project couldn’t be closer to home for me. It is an emotional and powerful experience to, in some ways, give back to my grandparents, by sharing their story and hopefully educating the new generation about the atrocious treatment of Jews, especially in a time like now where the world is so divided and uninformed. I am working opposite some amazing talent like Oliver Masucci, Ania Bukstein, Naya Bienstock and Ido Tako. The show is the first Israeli drama bought by Lionsgate and will be airing on YES TV first in Israel. I love working on international projects, as someone who is multicultural myself

I recently filmed a role on two projects by the talented director Jaclyn Bethany. In GOOD GRIEF, a dark comedy, I am acting opposite film/tv veterans Brynn Thayer, Steven Cup, Ray Wise, Jorge Garcia and Johnny Whitworh. We filmed the movie in LA and should be coming out very soon. I also filmed a role in the film THE INVISIBLE GIR, A queer spin inspired by Mary Shelley’s The Invisible Girl. We shot the film in upstate NY at an artists residence. This was a unique experience because the cast spent the week getting to know each other and filming the movie in the house itself. Jaclyn gave us lots of creative freedom and input on our characters, which was truly a collaborate experience. The film has been bought, has received sales/distribution in Europe, and is making its rounds at festivals in the US.

This past year, I also filmed a role in Martin Del Carpio’s film Double Room opposite actor Matt Pascua. The film has been making its rounds at festivals as well, most notable at the New Jersey Film Festival last month.

You can also find me in a handful of quirky and fun commercials that I have shot in between film/tv gigs that friends apparently tell me they see. It’s nice to receive a text from friends I haven’t spoken to in a while whom mention they see my face pop up on their tablet or phone while they are riding the subway or on their lunch break. I’ve really been able to indulge in comedy with these commercials, as the spots are usually fun little skits that remind me of lots of US comedy shows. These opportunities sharpen my wit and let me be spontaneous and use my improv skills to create clever moments and dialogue.

The film TO BE LIKE YOU, in which I play the lead role, is wrapping up it’s festival run as well. It is a touching drama about a down-and-out filmmaker who tries to film a movie in a DIY fashion in order to honor his late father who was a famous filmmaker. We shot the film in DC/Maryland and it has been very well received throughout the world. I was honored and humbled to find out that I won Best Actor in an English Speaking Film at 2023 FFI Edinburgh Film Festival.

Lastly, I have a lead in a film by the amazing director Shmuel Elmaleh which I filmed at the beginning of this month. The film is about an American family that comes to Israel to celebrate Independent Day by camping in the forest, but encounter a group of rowdy and aggressive teenagers who try to ruin their night out. We filmed it outside of Jerusalem. The film is both in Hebrew and English, and should be making its debut later this year as well.

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?

Being eager to experience situations that I would not, unless I seek them, is something that has invigorated my life so much. Last year, I researched random events in my area, and I found a belly-dancing competition in a church basement . I bought a ticket and spent the day with the most amazing people. I met performers from all the world. I observed the event, asked questions from the competitors, learned about equipment, songs and historical anecdotes about the belly-dancing culture that I never imagined I would know. Sometimes I visit nursing homes and talk to the residence, just so that I can absorb wisdom. The best conversations I have had are with the elderly who have taught me so much. In LA, I’ll go to bingo halls. I am not there to gamble, but the event energies me. It both gives me something to focus on (the board, and listening skills) while I also have met the most interesting people that come from diverse backgrounds. While most people hate jury duty, I crave the idea of attending court. Even if I don’t get picked, I always meet really cool people while we wait to see if we get picked. If I need a boost of dopamine, I’ll go sit in the lobby of a bank or carwash and observe people. Soaking up (no pun intended) every day life has infused my acting skills and given me the juice I need to portray the world in an authentic way.

Going with the flow has also been something that has gotten me far. I really believe that the world has all these figurative trap doors, unopened doors, windows, slides, escalators and elevators and tunnels, that if you lean into things, you never know where things will take you. I call it “monkey barring” through life. It’s the the literal event or thing that I’m doing in the moment that is the point, it’s the feeling or larger reward that comes from doing something. One event or situation or experience really has many points and layers or purpose to it. Continous connection and movement keeps me both grounded and moving at the same time. I feel the most alive when these two things happen simultaneous.

Folding laundry and doing dishes is another skill that I find undervalued. I am someone that used to put all of my energy into the big picture. I want to conquer the world all in one bite. My energy is made for that. However, in the last few years, I noticed how much focusing on the more mundane or practical parts of life are important for me if I want to sustain my kinetic energy. When I balance my life with the small things (like folding shirts and putting them away nicely (thank you mom for making me aware how important this is for self-care), it is calming and relaxing. I began to realize that the balance of my natural talent needs to be nurtured by my domestic life. I’ve learned to enjoy the feeling of water in the sink, the beauty of dishes being stacked in an organized way, and how fun it can be to play what I call “the sock dating game” where you try to find a socks other half in a pile of hundred different colored ones. This seems to silly to some, but this grounds me in the midst of all the artistic explosions that occur in my head on a day to day. The practical skills in life has become just as nuanced and fun as the creative side. It has also deepened my understanding of myself, challenged who I thought I am and what I can be (both organized and a chaotic ball of energy simultaneously).

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

While most kids on their February and April vacation in middle and high school would tell me about their trips to the carribeans or Cape Code, my parents told me to put on a backpack, put on my big boy pants because we are going to backpack through Central and South america, one country at a time. I appreciate that they taught me that you can travel on a little budget and see the world the way it really is. Weoften stayed in modest casitas or rented rooms wherever we could find them. I even remember a hammock hotel where we stayed in hammocks. We would go camping alot as well. This traveling on no budget taught me that I can survive wherever I am, clean my clothes in the sea (for example, when we were in Cuba), or sleep on a comfy chair if needed in an emergency (red ants were everywhere, I opted for the chair). Traveling in this sense also forced melearn Spanish in real time. Most of the places we traveled to, locals did not speak English, and I jumped tothe opportunity to share my life stories and to hear their life stories and so the only way to do this was to buy a small Berlitz pocket book and learn things word by word. I can’t thank my parents enough for giving me this opportunity, as I appreciate any chance I get to travel now, and have no problem still traveling in any situation as possible. Backpacking, camping and lo-no budget travel has also taught me to vey emotionally agile, as I learned to encounter such a vast array of personalities, cultures and communication skills, depending on where we are. I think it is really important to be aware and conscious to cultural competence and the varying degrees that different cultures express themselves and the values that they hold.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danshaked.com
• Instagram: @DanShaked
• Facebook: Dan Shaked
• Linkedin: Dan Shaked
• Twitter: @DanShaked

Image Credits

Tanya Shin (2024)