Meet Elijah Brown

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

Hi Elijah , great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

I’ve never quite thought about before. It’s common to discuss the why but not often the how. If I’m being completely honest I would say it didn’t happen until recently in my life. I grew up anxious about practically everything outside of myself. I didn’t have many friends, I was overweight, shy, weird, I loved superheroes (before they were everywhere), the list could go on. A lot of things that I let hold me back. I didn’t try to change it, instead opting to simply stick to myself and watch a lot of YouTube. When it comes to risk taking you need confidence. Duh. But I know all too well that it can be hard to get when you’ve spent so long without any. For me, finding something I enjoyed gave me something to be confident about. Joining the drama club was a huge step there. I was still very shy so it wasn’t a walk in the park by any means but drama gave me a place where I wasn’t afraid to look stupid or take a chance. I could be dumb and it didn’t feel like a personal attack anymore. That was all a really nice precursor but I’d say just this last year is when I learned how I could truly take risks. As I mentioned, I spent the entirety of my younger years idolizing these superheroes we see everywhere today. I learned that Spider-Man never gives up, and always finds a way. It doesn’t matter how hard that thing is, he is going to do it, even if it kills him. I think that has stuck with me my whole life, and I still take that to heart. This last year of my life has been full of ups and downs, starting off 2024 was rough but I reminded myself to have fun, and it doesn’t matter what others think, because if I’m living my life and I’m happy with my choices nothing else matters. Sure something didn’t work out the way I was hoping, that’s okay! I tried something else, I worked harder for the next one. The process is fun. Life is gonna end one day, so who cares if I looked stupid for five minutes. I watched an interview with Willem Dafoe this past summer where he said something along the lines of, you can’t be afraid to fail or not reach perfection, because that second part isn’t going to happen. I learned that the fear of failure was holding me back more than anything else and I had to let that go. I had to be free. So that’s what I started doing. Started telling myself to take that risk, make that choice, and most importantly just go for it. Stop caring so much.

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

I am Elijah Tyler Brown, from small town Danville Pennsylvania and now I am an actor/filmmaker in NYC. I mentioned briefly before but I got my start in high school drama club and local theater. Acting was my way of leaving my life behind and expressing my creativity. I could take on a new world and deliver something completely new while also getting myself out of my shell for the first time. I was so nervous to audition for the school musical my freshman year, I just didn’t. And I’d only actually been in it because they needed guys and asked us again. I didn’t know this at the time but what I’ve come to understand is that I’ve always had a love for telling stories. I’d make them up as a kid, in middle school I’d daydream about some world I was creating, and in high school I would take long walks and find myself thinking and pause the music because I was writing an entire story in my head. None of that ever stopped, even after moving here to the city to study at AMDA just a couple years ago.

I am constantly aiming to help people, in whatever way I can. I’ve found that’s where I developed this love of acting. I’m a storyteller. I love deeply human stories about the struggles of what we as people go through in our lives. Acting is also like helping the creative team of a film, if I can fit the piece they needed for the puzzle I get to help bring their vision to life. Not coming from much, but having a big family that cares for each other has connected me with so many stories. I had a teacher once say to me “You have a lot of heart. Use it.” So that’s exactly what I aim to do. I want to be a part of projects that I can bring life to, that will really connect with people and change them. Make them feel just as impacted as I did growing up watching my favorite heroes or creators online. I went to school here in hopes to hone in on my love of acting but ended up discovering so much about myself and what I want to do. I learned I want to not only act in films but make them. Acting and stories are about truth. Finding the truth within someone, their nuances, their life to portray them with authenticity. I don’t believe you can fully do that without also learning about yourself. So happily enough I got into this work in hopes of helping and inspiring others, but I found myself also getting to help myself. I’m discovering who I am and who I want to be everyday and there’s truly nothing better than what I get to do.

In terms of upcoming projects, I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked on a few this past summer and fall. I got the opportunity to work on multiple projects that are soon to be seen. Among others, I got to lead in a short called “Re-Birth” which I’m excited to see and share when it’s finished shortly. Along with that I got to work on a Thesis Film in Miami this past October titled “Silent Echo” on a really fun thriller project about a group of three close friends struggling to grow up and deal with their tricky relationship to each other. Once post production is finished the director is excited to submit it to many festivals in hopes to get it seen. I am beyond proud of the work from myself and co stars, and so glad I got the chance to help. Lastly, I am going to be shooting a short within these next few weeks with a very fun and enthusiastic director. Being back in school hasn’t granted me much free time but I’m excited to work on this one and get it out there. Hopefully you and many others will see them!

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?

For me three qualities that help the most are persistence, listening and attitude. Just go for it. One of the things that has benefited me the most along my journey is learning to take that risk and stick to it. Have fun taking risks. If it doesn’t work, they’ll tell you. But there is so much to discover when you throw out that feeling of having to “be right.” Just do. And put in the hard work. If you truly want to get better you have to be willing to put in as much work as you can. It will pay off. There will be times when you’re tired and it feels like the world is against you but that’s when you’re challenged. Can you persist, will you do it even though you feel like nothing is working? You have to prove to yourself that you can. Find those parts of it that you love and hold on tight to them because they get you through every up and down you’re bound to face. You’ve gotta keep getting back on the horse, you have to believe in yourself.

Secondly, Listen. Listening is a big thing in acting. The skill of active listening is hugely important not just for the work but also in life. When in doubt just listen to your scene partner, how do their words and actions make you feel? What do you wanna do or say back? Really open yourself up to that. It’s vulnerable and scary but it is, to me, one of the best parts of the work. To be fully present with someone, having the freedom of bouncing back and forth. Have trust your scene partner is doing the same thing back to you, you’ll find your chemistry. Everything is about your partner. It’s not just about scenes though, listening and learning is something you must do. Take in all of the information you can on set. Listen to other actors, their notes, your notes, techniques, books, people. Everything. Just gather as much information as you can and take what works for you. You’re never too good to keep learning. Live and grow. Don’t waste a single second.

Most importantly to me, be kind. Be loving and respectful. Of everybody. Show up on time, prepared, ready to do your thing and work with others. A lot of people underestimate how much kindness is appreciated and it’s something I fear people don’t think about. It’s important to me that I try to be as kind and caring towards everyone because you never know who needs it. That energy can brighten the mood of everyone on set and is infectious. It’s also just pleasant to work like that. When everyone on set is being nice and working together the days go much faster. If you haven’t before, I implore you to try rephrasing your words from “I have to…” to “I get to…” It may sound dumb but it helps reframe that thing you have from sounding like an obligation to something you’re genuinely looking forward to. Be there for yourself and others. Be a good human being.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I have mixed opinions. I love learning. I love being a part of everything and obtaining all the knowledge I can. I believe it’s important to become well rounded in your preferred area, as it can only be a help. The more I know about how everything works the better I can be at what I have to do. As an actor who also loves just being on set I love learning how lighting works, how to use sound equipment, the camera, acting techniques, specific language, monologues, etc. For actors, we all know film and theater are different beasts to conquer and some are better suited toward one or the other. It’s all about learning what I have to work on and then actually doing it. I think I can only improve myself if I’m making an active choice to get better at my weak areas. You can have your strengths which you should absolutely still work on, but if you want to get better overall you have to face your challenges. However, that being said, if you can do something well, go all in on that for a while. Don’t make the work harder for yourself just because, when you can do one specific thing really well that’s amazing. I had a teacher who would tell us, everyone wants to be versatile, but look at how many big actors there are who always play the same role; and that’s okay because they found what they were good at and became successful doing it. And I agree with that sentiment, don’t make things harder for yourself but also never grow content.

Personally, my biggest improvement came in being happy with the unknown. I’ve spent the last year doing nothing but being a sponge. Absorbing everything I can, taking every chance I could, and just showing up. It helped in every aspect. I got better at acting, writing, and shooting. It’s all connected. I learned to love the process. I love auditioning, I love script work, I love building character, and I love being on set with everyone. Over the last twelve months I have learned to be in the moment. I found life to be pretty cool when I slowed down enough to notice it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elijahbrown519/profilecard/?igsh=Z3VyNm43am8yemtl
• Other: Backstage – https://www.backstage.com/tal/elijah-brown-7

Image Credits

Melanie Anderson, Mike Petrie , Riley Shroyer , and Jeremy Thompson