Meet James Pratt

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

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have James 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?

My work ethic was something instilled by my mother from an early age. The importance of hard work and doing things with diligence is something to always strive for, regardless of what you’re doing. Over time, I have come to really love working and that feeling of ending a day after maximizing it at work.

This has always helped me because my personality is ambitious, and for ambitious people, this life often comes with less micromanaging. You need to get good at being a self-starter and working hard for yourself

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, mainly interested in surfing competitions and sports during my early years until after high school when I found myself in a remote country town with nothing much around except wheat fields. While there, I made a $200 short film called ‘New York Model Agent,’ which was selected for the NBC Universal Shorts Film Festival in California.

This propelled my journey as NBC expressed interest in acquiring a feature version of the short. From that point on, my acting and auctioneering career started to take off. I refined my acting skills by studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) and have since been incredibly fortunate to work alongside several Academy Award winners and have been fortunate enough to receive some prestigious awards along the way, such as Best Actor at the Beyond Hollywood Int’l Film Festival and Australia’s Top 5 under 35.

Outside of filmmaking, real estate auctions have been another passion for me. I have been very fortunate to be a former 4-time REB Australian Auctioneer of the Year winner and auctioned over 12,000 homes around the world. In April 2019, I was the auctioneer for the world’s first cryptocurrency auctioneer auction.

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?
There are several things that really impacted my journey, in particular,

BEING AMBITIOUS – being ambitious and being prepared to take risks is so important. I know in the stock market they refer to some stocks as high risk, high return, or low risk, low return. It’s the same thing; if you want to be a professional singer, actor, dancer, etc., then you have to be ambitious enough to really apply yourself, even if that means moving overseas or saying goodbye to relationships or a stable job. But the alternative is low risk and no return.

REAL LIFE vs SOCIAL MEDIA
Another thing I found in the entertainment industry is never compare yourself to other people, Your life is your own journey, enjoy your own ride. I’ve seen so many people in Hollywood whose real life is nothing at all like their persona on social media.

CELEBRATE THE LITTLE WINS
In the entertainment industry, it’s very emotional and up and down, so don’t forget to celebrate the little wins. There are so many great things going on as you rise to the top, don’t forget to celebrate them on your journey and that includes appreciating people around you, encouraging them and giving them support.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
This is a great question. The past 12 months were a unique year with the actors’ strike lasting most of the year in Hollywood; however, it turned out to be a great time for personal growth and upskilling.

I was fortunate to work on some films in Canada and Hong Kong in 2023, which provided valuable experiences in learning and understanding the different business models used in overseas films, but also the significant rise of film distribution in other countries.

Another key takeaway from my experiences in the last 12 months was being thankful for the opportunity to be in the entertainment industry.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photo 1 credit – Photography by Elly T Photo 5 Malibu Crush movie Photo 2, 6,7,8 Getty

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