Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Zach De Nardi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Zach, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I think stubbornness…nothing makes me want to try harder when I’m told “oh you can’t possibly do that” or “there is no way you can learn that”.
My wife jokes that once I have a goal in mind, I will either get it done the first time, or `brute force` my way into figuring out how to do it. I didn’t like working 3-4 jobs trying to make ends meet so instead I sat down and taught myself software engineering. I was done doing student films that I didn’t get fulfillment out of, so I taught myself film making. I become a ‘Zach’ of all trades because when I find something I want to do, I’m gonna figure out and nothing is gonna stop me from doing it.
I also want to state that it’s not always easy. There are many nights where I lie in bed worrying about what I’m doing and if it’s enough…so if you are reading this and thinking to yourself “Wow Zach figured it out” I assure you, I’m flying by the seat of my pants.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I grew up in a tiny town in NE Ohio, got my undergrad at Baldwin Wallace College, kicked around the NE Ohio scene for a bit before going to Chicago to get my MFA in Acting from The Theater School at DePaul University. After graduating from DePaul, I stayed and did the acting and improv thing around windy Chicago. In 2021, I moved out to LA with my wife and doggo and we’ve been trying to navigate the acting scene here. I am an award winning filmmaker, winning ‘Best Adaptation’ with the film “The Mechanicals” at the 5th Literature in Cinema Film Festival. I also do improv with the group “McGillicuddy” and I even started a new improv form called “Improv-Monopoly”.. a deep dive into the often ignored world of Monopoly.
While in Chicago, I was working the 3/4 jobs as most actors do and I was downright miserable. Acting, like everything, became a chore. With rent, student loans and all other life plans…it just got so overwhelming that finding joy in art seemed impossible. Taking that step back and reorganizing my life and teaching myself software engineering seriously saved my artistic life. I don’t think anyone can tell you how soul sucking working 3/4 jobs and barely making ends meets can be.
I could seriously ramble about this topic for pages, so I’m going to force myself to stop…but if you are interested in learning how to self-teach yourself a skill to make your day job not suck, please reach out to me. There are SO many resources out there.
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?
Grit, Heart, and Self Acceptance/ Self care.
So many times we hear the same tiring lines again and again and again…”Don’t compare yourself with anyone else”…”It’s a marathon not a sprint”…”You are the only you” but no one really explains what those mean.
Maybe it’s one of those things that you are supposed to figure out for yourself, but I remember getting so frustrated and thinking I was broken because those phrases never made me feel any better…just made me feel even more guilty for not being “successful”.
“Not only am I a terrible actor, but now I’m a bad person because those idioms didn’t fix everything!”
I had a revelation about the “marathon not a sprint” that I’d like to share in hopes that the next time someone hears that they won’t eye roll too heavily…
“Marathon Runners”, run. It’s in the name. They run all the time, they have worn out shoes, and their favorite pair of running pants and a playlist and all that marthon’y runner’y stuff…but at the end of the day all those runners have one very simple thing in common.
They love to run.
That’s what being an actor is about. You are going to get on the track and you are getting ready to run…..and while you are warming up you are going to see friends/classmates/enemies just BLAST past you and it’s going to feel like you are losing,
And I’m not going to be the person to tell you that those feeling are wrong. It sucks. It will always suck. There is never going to be a moment where that doesn’t suck.
But, you have to remember that you aren’t on the track to RACE those people. You are on the track to RUN.
If you do not like running, you are going to have a miserable, miserable time (Like I do, when I actually TRY to run).
Sure, sometimes maybe you’ll get a medal, or a trophy or whatever marathon runners win for running…but that’s just icing….
Enjoy the run… and be honest with yourself if you hate it.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
My wife. She keeps me grounded when I get too doomy, and cheers me on when I’m doing well. I honestly don’t want to think about the person I would be without her.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: zdenardi
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zdenardi/
Image Credits
Cathryn Farnsworth, Steve Escarcega
