Meet Declan Rhodes

We recently connected with Declan Rhodes and have shared our conversation below.

Declan, 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?

I would say my optimism stems from a few places. First and foremost, it started with my parents. Ever since I can remember, my parents have instilled in me a sense of worth and confidence that I try to share with the world. Growing up, I was very studious in school and liked to be the top of my class with grades and assignments. Although my parents pushed me to be and do the best I could academically, they also let me know it was okay to make mistakes and fumble every once in a while. Being the oldest sibling, I definitely set the tone for the rest of my siblings when it came to academic achievement and pushing yourself to reach your full potential. This all stemmed from my loving parents. Even if we had disagreements on topics or ideas, at the end of the day I knew no matter what that they loved me. I vowed to always spread that love and positivity to others around me. Secondly, I would say I garnered a lot of my optimism from, unfortunately, dealing with hardships in my life. While I definitely felt love from my parents and family no matter what, that did not stop me from dealing with outside words and thoughts from my peers. Growing up in Ozark, MO, I definitely knew I was not like the other kids from an early age. I would find myself in specifically groups of young girls and had a lot more female friends as a child than I did male friends. Chalk it up to feeling more comfortable around women than men or perhaps even feeling a sense of belonging with women rather than men. All this to say, my lack of male friends as a child did not go unnoticed. Often times, from as early as 2nd grade, I was labeled gay or queer before I even knew what that word meant. I tried not to let it bother me and instead continued living my life for me and making the people around me happy. Even though grade school was hard with me constantly being picked on or ridiculed, eventually, I realized I had a gift of charm and gab. I often times could bring smiles to people’s faces and brighten up their entire day. I realized, from a very early age, that no matter how I was feeling I could make other people feel good and better about themselves. So, that’s what I did. All while maintaining my stellar academic record, I made it a point to be somewhat of a class clown. I enjoyed the feeling of making my peers laugh or, better yet, my teacher laugh. I figured if I could keep them laughing and on my side then the bullying and ridiculing would cease. In a way, I was right. It never fully stopped, of course, but it did lessen significantly. It was around middle school that I had somewhat of an epiphany: I loved the feeling and idea of making people not feel how I felt on the inside. Inside I was dealing with my own inner demons and tribulations. Inside I was ashamed of who I was. Inside I felt like I had to hide away from everything. However, on the outside I could see people’s smiles to a remark I would make. Outside I could feel the warmth of their laughter and joy from my quick wit. Outside everything seemed better. So, I focused on the outside. I truly was in middle school where I made the active decision to maintain positive thoughts and actions. I knew that I never wanted anyone around me to feel the way I had been feeling for years. Thus, my optimistic self and persona was born. All with the help of my incredible parents of course.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

From one reader to the next, hello! My name is Declan Parker Rhodes and I am an artist based in Chicago, IL. I grew up in Ozark, MO (yes, like the show with all the drug pushing and none of the Jason Bateman) and would eventually go on to Springfield, MO to earn my BFA in Musical Theatre from Missouri State University. Since then I have had a number of incredible gigs and artistic endeavors. While I was in my undergrad, I rediscovered and garnered my love of entertaining people and bringing them joy. I joined my college’s improv team and the rest is history. I fell in love with improv so much that once I graduated from university some friends and I from my college team created our own improv team known as The Radical Leftovers that survived for 2 years. I did this all while maintaining my Musical Theatre Degree and furthering my skills in the art of acting, singing, and dancing. I participated in some wonderful main stage productions such as “Heathers: The Musical”, “Amélie”, “Cats”, and even the world premiere of “Oklahoma! in Concert”! Outside of the university stage, I also got to be a part of some incredible stage shows such as “Spring Awakening” and “Head Over Heels” through Spectra Theatre Co. along with being cast in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at Branson Regional Arts Council. During my junior and senior years of undergrad, I joined a local live sketch comedy troupe in Springfield called SpringVegas Sketch Show. I wrote sketches and performed in them in a live show once a month. I managed to even do some commercial work by being a hand model for Sugar in the Raw. Once I graduated in May of 2021, I decided to postpone moving to Chicago another year so I could not only wait out the destructive path of Covid, but also save money before moving to the biggest city I’d ever lived in. In 2022, I had the wonderful opportunity to join my first national touring company in Peppa Pig Live. I graciously played Gerlad Giraffe and swung in for George Pig a few times. That tour was one of the first solidifying gigs I booked that made me realize, “Oh yeah, I can definitely do this as a career.” Once Peppa was over and my future roommate and I had solidified an apartment in Chicago, we finally made the big move to the Windy City in August of 2022. Since then, I have managed to act in a handful of short films and digital comedy sketches. While I am still in search of a “survival job” at the moment, I manage to get by with odd-ball gigs here and there. Most excitingly, for the past two years of living here in Chicago, my roommate and two friends of ours that we also met at Missouri State have had a weekly writing workshop where each week one of us brings some kind of written work or artistic endeavor to be peer reviewed. It has not only been an incredibly useful tool to get the ball rolling on writing projects, but it has also been a stellar mode of keeping one another accountable to complete our projects! Some of the projects we have worked on and reviewed with each other include feature length scripts, pilot episodes, stand-up material, comedy sketches, and more. In 2023, my writing group and I set out to each create, write, produce, and star in 4 individual short films that we just completed in May of 2024! We did all this in the span of about 7-8 months and they turned out better than we expected. My short film, “The Walk”, is currently circulating around some film festivals and I hope to publish it online late 2024 or early 2025. My roommate, Annaliese Shcroeder’s film, “Grief Sick” is also making rounds at some festivals and winning awards! Our other two peers in our writing group, Canelle Vanderford and Brandon Bruington, also made their own short films we helped produce. Canelle’s film, “Zombie Breath” and Brandon’s films. “ONE MAN: PART ONE” and “ONE MAN: PART TWO” are all available on YouTube! All this to say, my little writing workshop group made up of Annaliese, Canelle, Brandon, and myself are in the infancy stages of starting a production company known as Garden Level Productions. We are thrilled not only as artists but also as lovers of film and stories to take this group to the next level and start telling our own narratives and make the art we want to see in the world. Last but certainly not least, as I search for more of a survival job, I continue to audition when and where I can while also searching for representation. I am most excited to lock down an agent and continue storytelling in any capacity.

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

I would say three qualities, skills, and/or areas of knowledge that were most impactful to me on my journey would be learning how to be adaptable, being a positive force people can count on, and living my life as authentically as possible. Starting with learning how to be adaptable, I would definitely attest this to my time in Boy Scouts. I started Boy Scouts in the second grade and continued all the way to the end of my senior year of high school. By age 16 I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. To this day, it is still one of my proudest accomplishments. All this to say, learning life-saving skills and working with people from all walks of life definitely helped instill a sense of adaptability I still carry to this day. Being able to make split second decisions and way out the pros and cons of a specific choice is something I am very grateful for. Also, being an actor and involved in improv I am constantly placing myself in situations where being adaptable and thinking on the fly is the difference between bombing and nailing a really tough scene. In an artistic career such as this one, being flexible and being easy to work with are paramount to a successful longevity in this field. Secondly, I would say I pride myself on being a positive force that people not only count on, but continue to want to work with. I try to bring my A-Game to everything I do. I typically always try to do it with a smile on my face and leave a long lasting positive atmosphere even once I leave. From personal experience, I know what it is like to work with people who are unbearable, caddy, unprofessional, etc. It is not fun for anyone and it makes working with that person an absolute nightmare. On the flipside, working with people who not only inspire you and push you to be your best makes you want to do work that makes a difference. The amount of gigs and jobs I have secured just based on word of mouth and people being able to speak on my character are astounding. The fact of the matter is, people want to work with people they like working with. Plain and simple as that. Sure, talent can get you a long way but what will people say about you once you’ve left the room? Third and final thing I would say has helped me along in my journey is living my most authentic self. As stated before, I knew growing up in Ozark, MO I was not like a lot of the other kids. It wasn’t until high school that I found a really strong group of friends and colleagues that I loved to the end of the Earth and was never afraid to be myself around them. It was through my friends and falling in love with theater that I found the thing I felt most insecure about growing up, being perceived as a feminine or gay, was truly my greatest strength in the work and art that I produce. Now, I am able to recognize that while my sexuality doesn’t define me it also doesn’t make me weak. It is who I am and how I interact with society. It has provided me a unique perspective and outlook on the world. I don’t shy away from it now as I did when I was a child. Often times, I like to say that I am a 1% gay mixed male and 99% other. My racial makeup and orientation are a part of me, yes, but they are only a sliver of who I am and what I bring to the table. Living my most authentic self means finding all the parts of me that people don’t know/can’t see. It means knowing that I would much rather pick up a physical book rather than an e-book. It means appreciating the fact I can play Dungeons & Dragons with close friends of mine. It especially means jamming out to Remi Wolf in my room when no one is around! Living authentically not only extends your life; it saves your life.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

I would say the most impactful thing my parents ever did for me is love me and support me in my endeavors. They showed me through acts of service, words of affirmation, and quality time that they ultimately cared about me and what I was into. From an early age, I had told my parents I wanted to go into the field of medicine. I originally wanted to be a doctor. Then, after the opening night of “A Christmas Carol”, my first musical I was ever cast in my sophomore year of high school, I decided I wanted to be a performer. In today’s climate and culture, the idea of escapism is something very sacred and such a privilege that a lot can take for granted. From fictional worlds to real life anecdotes, I believe art and stories have the power to not only change people’s perspectives, but also change their souls and minds. I wanted to make a living making art and making people forget about their own personal strifes. Even if that meant rehearsing for months on end for a project that would only last for an hour. Any set of parents could have immediately dismissed their child’s wishes and dreams and yet my parents did not. They fully supported me with guns blazing and were willing to make my dream a reality. That is what my parents did for me. Even if they didn’t fully understand it, they saw how performing and doing theatre made me feel and they knew I was better off with it in my life. So, they were ready when I went off to school to pursue a degree in Musical Theatre. They were prepared when I went off on a 3 1/2 month national tour up and down the East Coast. And they were happy for me when I made the move to Chicago. My parents loving me and supporting me has meant the world and I do not take it for granted. Some people never have a good relationship with their parents and I am beyond thankful they have unconditionally loved me and supported me in all I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.declanparkerrhodes.com/
• Instagram: @deccyboi_
• Facebook: Declan Rhodes
• Linkedin: Declan Rhodes
• Twitter: @DeclanPRhodes
• Other: TikTok: @tech_dec

Image Credits

Photo of me in white tank top sitting down on couch and looking up was shot by Canelle Vanderford. Her photography instagram is: @photosbuycanelle