We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Riccadonna a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Mark 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?
I continually get told that I am super positive and giving as an artist. I have to be honest; I never get tired of hearing that. I should be shy about it or humble, but honestly, I love hearing it; it is part of my goals as an artist and a human. Working hard, staying positive, and following your gut made me love everything I do. I was never afraid to change, but I also never did things half-assed.
This question has much to unpack, but it comes from my family. I know it is fantastic story for starving artists to come from broken homes and tortured lives, but that is not my story. That story usually involves wanting to prove someone wrong. Me, I want to prove everyone right in my life. I come from a family who loved that my brother and I were artists, jocks and pursued everything we could. It wasn’t just a supportive mom and dad; it went to my coaches, teachers, and extended family. I had a positive attitude; they shot it right back at me.
When I was in High School, I planned to go to college and play four more years of sports, get a degree with something to do with the fine arts, and become a coach. I got injured wrestling, and that all went downhill from there. Just when I thought I had lost everything important at that time, my parents and coach talked to me, and I made an in-the-moment decision: I wanted to try acting in New York. I didn’t pick NY because of theatre (Although I fell in love with it) over film. I chose NY because of the old cop shows I watched as a kid.
Oh yeah, I didn’t have any experience except that I was in the school play because someone quit, and they were desprite. My brother and I were painting the set, and I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll do it. Don’t cancel anything,”. And I just jumped in. trying my best and having a blast doing it. What I couldn’t learn, I improvised and had the time of my life. Was I good? There was no chance, but I learned something doing it: people like watching people enjoy themselves. Think about how you can watch a kid play all day long when they are really into it. That’s precisely what I did.
Through football and my incredible coaches, I learned not to be satisfied with the result, to enjoy the process, and to work hard with goals always in mind, and the results will come. I still use these things to avoid getting jealous and not disappointing myself for not crossing the finish line (I made up in the first place). Just make the next step forward.
So, going to NYC, I had no idea of how or what to do, so I started auditioning for schools. Funny enough, I auditioned for eight schools, rejected by 7. The one that let me in was the hardest to get in. I thought this was a mistake. Nope, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts asked me to start in the fall of 1999. I later learned that I got in not because of talent; I had no bad habits and took directions well. They saw me as a giant blob of fresh clay( and now that’s my body type)!
I was so far behind everyone and needed to work extra hard just to catch up, so I woke up every morning 3 hours before I had to work, went to school, rehearsed, then wouldn’t go out but went straight back to my apartment to study on the things I needed to just not to sound like an idiot in school with these people ten years older than me. The school was whittled down like this (to spare all the craziness). I auditioned with 2000 people worldwide. They Admitted 200. the second year invited 50 back, and only 20 were asked back in the third year. I was so Lazer-focused on the day-by-day progress I never sweated being asked back; it was out of my universe. I just needed to improve every day to not look like a fool.
Everything I did was an accident, and a decision was made at the moment. I focus and am not afraid to make decisions in a new direction if it is what I really want.
This whole process just got me to 19 years old. I learned right then and there: follow your heart, don’t hesitate to make choices, love what you do, and work hard. My hard work will outdo raw talent.
This lesson set me up for my twenties.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
A series of decisions were made as I started working full-time as an artist. Being a little all over the board, from directing film, theatre, acting, and stand-up comedy, I consider my business the art of creating. Every day I get to create and be innovative, I feel like I am winning at life. All I wanted was to be a creative artist for a living. I took small steps to make it happen but took many of them. I am very realistic about knowing what is real and what is wishy-washy. Money never motivated me (and I don’t come from money; some rich people say this because they never worried about money, but that is not me. I worry about it, but it doesn’t motivate me; creating does), but I know I need it to survive, and I also don’t think my kids will grow up poor because their father is a failed misunderstood artist. My choices are motivated not by personal gain but by what is best for art. I strive to be the person I want to support or hang around with.
Another thing was that you could have it all. I wanted a family and to “Live Like a Human, Work Like a God!”. People told me it was not a good idea to pick one. The opposite is true; they both feed each other. My normalcy helps feed the creativity as my creativity makes the normalcy fun. I love meeting my kids’ teachers, who tell me how much fun they are, creative, and respectful. Full of kindness to others. That’s more important than perfect grades.
I also see the positive in people. I want people’s lives to improve by knowing me or my work. Empathy, emotion, and morals are things to think about when it’s convenient, but we need more people to live with these at the forefront of their lives.
I also want approval and respect from my peers. Their opinions of my work will not change my work or opinion of the project, but I try to work hard and be open. I want the reaction of someone in my field to be, “Oh, Mark is on the project or lineup. I’m not worried; we are in good hands.”
I am constantly writing and directing little projects, but recently, My one-man, stand-up style show was released on Dry Bar Comedy. It’s called Domestic Nomad. It’s the story of me becoming an adult through marriage and children.
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?
The Stage and notebook don’t lie! There are shortcuts to people seeing your work but no shortcuts to doing good work. You have to put the work in to be a good artist, but also the most important thing to remember. ENJOY THE WORK TRUST THE PROCESS.
Hard Work, Dedication, and being a good person are the three most important things to ingrain in yourself before you even start pursuing any career, let alone art.
Now in my 40’s I live by these 9 essential Mark Riccadonna rules (I didn’t make them up but integrated them to my life) for working in the arts.
- Do the Right Thing
- Be Proud of the decisions you make and/or live with them.
- Listen
- Have Fun doing whatever you are doing (even if you didn’t like it)
- What is a different way to look at things (to not get stale)
- Remember Attention over talent.
- Others over self.
- Spirit over ego.
- Listen there is more to what is being said.
- Work like a God but Live like a human
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Man, the best way to not get overwhelmed is to realize you are just overwhelmed. It sounds so simple, but at the moment, you don’t recognize, oh, this is just an overload. My way of dealing with the overloaded system (Brain) is to remember and visualize finding things, like digging in a creek. The harder you work and the faster and deeper you dig, the muddier the water gets. At some point, you have to stop and sit back to let the water clear up so you can see what and where you are clearly.
Just sitting and imagining this sometimes does the trick. We forget the low is just as important as the high.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.markriccadonna.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markriccadonna/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drinksjokesandstorytelling
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrinksJokesStorytelling
Image Credits
Album by Realize Records Domestic Nomad by Dry Bar Comedy Headshots Kimberlee Peterson lotta photo
