We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Deni. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.
Michael, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
For me it mainly happened in high school. I was always the kid who was very blasé about everything. I was doing a ton of different activities sure, but there wasn’t really anything that I was putting effort into. It wasn’t until my sophmore year of high school that things started to change. When the school announced that they were doing Beauty and the Beast that year I made it my mission to get a role in the show. We still had 3/4 months till auditions were happening, but for some reason something about it spoke to me and I started to prep for the auditions. I remember spending hours in my house singing the songs for the show, rewatching the broadway show and copying their movement and mannerisms till I was performing just like the broadway performers. I pretty much knew every scene for each of the characters that if I had a callback for a role I would know exactly what the context was in the scene and how to perform it. This had never happened to me before. I had never worked so hard for something in my life. I would always just play video games and never really care about anything, but for some reason, when it came to acting and theater, I was always happy to spend hours practicing. My hardwork paid off in the end where I got a callback for both Gaston and the Beast and in the end got cast as the Beast. After that I had realized that this must mean something, this is something I care about and I want to see where this drive goes. And it’s been that drive that has pushed me as far as I have gone and to the success that I have seen.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m an actor here in LA! I focus more on film and TV acting nowadays because that’s where my passion has shifted currently. I just love watching tv shows and movies that tell compelling stories and would love to be in those kinds of shows. It’s what I’m drawn to work on and practice and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned about myself, is to follow where I’m motivated to practice the work. Right now it’s acting in TV and I’ve been very lucky to see success in that regard. I’ve been able to do some fun shows like a series regular role on Netflix’s “T-Rex Ranch”, as well as ION Television’s “Beaus of Holly” directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, and “Summer of Violence” directed by Nicki Micheaux.
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?
Hard work, Positive Mindset, and the willingness to practice.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Being an actor is always going to be difficult. It’s never going to be easy and I don’t expect it to be easy. But one thing that has always helped me when it came to rejection and the life of an actor is to not care as much. As crude as it sounds, I have slowly realized that me freaking out about the choices I made in a selftape not being perfect, or being upset that I didn’t get a role is not going to help me become and even more successful actor. It’s just going to make me more self conscious and critical. I have noticed I have booked way more roles when I don’t care as much about booking it. I put in the work for the part of course, but not having the “I have to get this part” mentality has given me a much more positive outlook on things and how to navigate the artist life.
Contact Info:
- Website: michaeldeni.net
- Instagram: @michaeldeni_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourMichael
