We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Augusto Dos Santos Claro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas Augusto below.
Hi Thomas Augusto, 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?
The most important treasure I have in my life is my family, where I find safety, support, comfort, inspiration, motivation, and much more. My resilience also comes from them, as well as my strength to keep moving forward and to overcome all the challenges and obstacles that are part of my journey. I remember how I family was always my priority, ever since I was a child. I would rather spend time with my relatives than go out with friends. We would sometimes stay home, order some food, rent a DVD, make some popcorn, and have a great movie night together. Or go out to the mall to walk, go check some stores, buy something to eat, go to the mall’s movie theatre. Sometimes we would go out to a restaurant for dinner. The possibilities were many, and they were all good and really enjoyable. I also spent a lot of time with my brother, cousins, and grandparents during my childhood and my teenage years. All those moments created amazing memories and brought me really close to my family. I had some of the best and happiest times of my life with those people who I loved and love so much. And everything we lived together made our connection be constantly stronger. We had many great experiences, but we also have been through some dark times together, and I constantly decide to think about the good things and how much life we all had in so many years. I only am the person who I am today, the Thomas Augusto of this interview, because of my family. They are my strength, and when I think I can’t find my own motivations and do something for myself, I think of them, and find my motivation. And I do it for them, because I want my family to be proud of me and to see how far I got, and to see me achieve my objectives and making my dreams come true. Sometimes, when my energy is down because of the many challenges and doubts that get on my way, I find on my relatives the support I need, the advices, ideas, perspectives, and my resilience. The resilience is what gets me going and proceeding towards my personal and professional goals, and even though I might change the pace sometimes and slow down, I work my best to keep the flow, keep the movement going on and forwards, no matter how fast or slow, and no matter what. I keep going, and my family is really important in this process, because they are always there for me, as I am always there for them. Even though we don’t all live in the same country, we are only a video call away, thanks to technology. And we can travel to see each other, like we have been doing in the last few years. We help one another and make life better and lighter. I know how important family will always be to me, and I know I want to start my own family someday, so my resilience can come from them as well, in the future.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am an actor who focuses on Film & TV and Commercial work, but who has done Theatre, Instructional Videos, Voiceovers, and even an Audio Series that has a Podcast format. As an actor, I am constantly auditioning for productions all over the country. I get my auditions from my agents, and soon from my manager, who I am signing with. I also self-submit a lot, usually twice a day, when I see nice productions that I would like to be involved in. There are many great filmmakers and projects being made in the area I live in, which is the Central Atlantic and New York. The community of creators in this region is amazing, and there is so much going on. Some of the places I have found work or audition for work include Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore, Ellicott City, Allentown, Harrisburg, New Jersey, and, of course, New York. I utilize local casting websites for these regions, and the main casting platforms for all over the country. I am constantly looking for work and to spend time on set, because that’s when I feel the happiest in my job, and because I am at a stage of my career that I want to work as much as possible, being on set whenever I can. I entered this field to seriously have an amazing career, full of jobs, and to fulfill my need to express my art through acting. I always meet incredible people when I work in productions, and that’s how I create relationships and make connections for future employment opportunities. I have met incredible actors that were my castmates and who I became friends with, and kept in touch. We help each other with tips and advices about the industry, recommendations of roles when we think our friend actors fit the roles, classes recommendations, and much more. It’s important to have a group of colleagues and friends in our profession that can help and give support to one another. The same happened to crew members. Many job opportunities I have found from my connections with crew members I have met in networking events or on the sets I have worked on. This is my professional life, this is what I do mostly in my career. I audition a lot, work on amazing productions, go to acting classes, and create relationships with professionals in the industry.
What I feel is most exciting and special about my career and professional choice is the opportunity I have to express myself, different human emotions and feelings, and maybe the most important of all: to tell stories. I believe I have always been a storyteller through my arts. As a kid I would play a lot and pretend I was different people, characters, and “act” in front of family, friends, because I wanted to tell the stories I created in my mind. At the age of ten, I started writing my first book. A science fiction that I was constantly creating in my mind and that I had real fun putting into words. I wrote dozens of pages and had great times, but I have not completed the book. As an adult, I want to rewrite it with a more mature language and vocabulary, but I still want to tell this story. I also have other ideas for single books and series of books that I also plan to write in the future, but at the moment acting is my focus and my main art medium. I also had a phase in my life where my stories came to the world in the shape of poems and poetry. Sometimes, my need for expressing feelings and thoughts came through metaphors and less obvious ways. I wanted to put out something that was stuck with me, tell the stories of the place my mind was at, and what I was going through on specific moments of my life, but I also wanted to give people the chance to interpret and find their own stories in my words. That’s one of the beauties of art. Art is never solely the vision of the artist about the world, but also the points of view and interpretations of the public that consumes that art. I also started telling my stories through music. I play guitar, piano, and ukulele, and I started to write my own songs, mostly on guitar. But I consider music lyrics as poetry, which I already had some experience with. The big difference is how the combination with a melody can impact and evoke feelings and sensations from the listeners. And finally I began to tell stories through acting. And I really love it. I love how acting can be so raw and make actors so vulnerable to truly feel the emotions and bring a reality to the screen, or stage, or videogames, or any other type of acting. My favorite type of acting is for Film & TV. It’s where I personally see more reality and where I feel more immersed when I watch something. I am a big binge watcher because there are so many great TV shows out there, and many of them have impacted me, made me think, have some reflections about multiple matters, and that’s what I like so much about the Film & TV art. And I also enjoy being a part of this world. I like better to be the person in front of a camera, telling those stories and touching people, than to be the person watching from the couch. I want to be involved in this art I am so passionate about. I want to inspire people and tell remarkable stories that will change audiences’ lives. This is why I am doing this, and it’s what excites me the most about my career choice.
What I’d like folks to know about my brand and art are, first about the brand, that you will find my Linktree and all my social media at the end of this interview, so you will be able to follow me and the steps of my career. On my Linktree you will be able to see my casting profiles, headshots, resume, press, and you will even be able to email me to, who knows, collaborate and work together! There, you can find my IMDb profile, which is the Internet Movie Database, where Films, TV shows, videogames, podcasts are listed, as well as all types of professionals in the industry: actors, directors, casting directors, producers, writers, crew members, and more. On my IMDb page, you will be able to see some of the work that I have done so far. I also plan on creating my own website in the near future to talk a little bit about me and my career, for those who want to know more. In addition, I will include all my materials, headshots, reels, personal contact information, and info to reach out to my reps if you are interested in booking me for any of your productions!
About my art, I want people to know that I am the most honest possible with my work and that I always give the most of myself to do my best. I work on myself to become more and more vulnerable, to constantly improve, learn, and evolve, to be more believable and to act more naturally every time I’m on set. I am growing after every production I am a part of, and after learning from everyone I work with. I am always doing my best to be my true self, and to bring some of myself and my personality to each and every character I portray. I keep adding tools to my actor “tool box” and the techniques and methods I can use to do my interpretation of each role I book. My art is genuine and while I tell other people’s stories at the moment, I will start writing my own scripts and creating my worlds to share with people. The peak of my career, in my opinion, is when I combine writing my own scripts for my films and acting in them. I want people to know that they will see and learn much more about me, my interior, my vision of the world, and my personal perspective I want to share through this extraordinary art that is storytelling.
There is an event coming up that I am really excited about, which is the Gala Premiere of the film Sleepers, by writer and director Mike Fox, Crystal Fox Films, and Unlimited Eminent Productions. It will happen on June 14th, a Friday, in Delaware, and I am really looking forward to it because Sleepers is one of the most recent productions I worked in, and definitely one of my favorites of all time that I had the pleasure and the honor of being a part of. This film was originally a short film, but thanks to an amazing group of actors, crew, the amazing director and writer, and the support of producers and sponsors, the film is becoming a full length feature film. We are also working on the distribution of this amazing cinematic piece, and it will be featured in streaming platforms and services. The event will be an exclusive private showing.
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?
Looking back, what I think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my journey are, first of all, the quality of keep going. It’s interesting that we talked about resilience at the beginning of this interview, and that’s exactly one of my biggest strengths. Being able to continue the walk, moving on, no matter the pace, and doing something that is going to help me and my career on a daily basis is what I do. I had many struggles in my journey, and days that were not good, when I felt either lost, or disappointed, or had a lack of motivation. However, even with moments when I felt I was on the wrong track, or I had made a mistake, or a bad decision, I decided to keep going and doing my best each and every day. Some days we don’t have the same energy and immediacy to do our work and to step out of our comfort zone. But even when those days arrive, we can do our best for that day. And it’s not going to be the same progress as in our happiest and most active days, but progress is progress. This strength that I have, this drive that pushes me forward even if it’s just one step a day, is a quality that I really appreciate in myself. There were moments that if I was not who I am, I could have given up. I could have chosen a more “normal” and ordinary career, with more stability and a clearer future. But I would not be myself if I gave up and if I had changed my career. I would not be myself and happy as I am today if I had not become an artist. This quality is what brought me so far, because I could have decided to go an easier way, but the resilience and thirst to make my artistic career work didn’t allow me. It’s almost like a stubbornness. And I am eternally grateful for it.
My impactful skill for my journey is my ability to speak more than one language. This has definitely opened a lot of doors for me. As a Brazilian, I speak Portuguese as my first language, but I have always studied English ever since I was a kid, because my parents knew the importance of knowing how to speak English in the modern world. I studied with a particular American teacher for years, than I moved on to two different English schools in Brazil, to practice more conversational English with classmates. When I was sixteen years old I decided to do an exchange program here in the United States. I lived in New Jersey for eleven months, for my sophomore year of high school. That’s when my English really improved and I perfected it a lot, being able to even have a smoother accent. Then I went back to Brazil and never stepped on an English school again, because I learned from my lived experience in America. Years later I moved here, to the United States, for college, and that made my English get even better. I believe I am in my best phase as a foreign language speaker. I also can speak some Spanish, not as good as English, because I never had Spanish lessons for long enough to become completely fluent. I had, as I can remember, only a couple years of Spanish in middle school, and that was it. When I was in New Jersey, I also had a semester of Spanish in my schedule, but it was mostly to remember what I had learned and refresh my memory, since I haven’t spoken Spanish for a long time back then. After that, when I moved to the United States, I met many Latinos, and that’s when I started learning and using Spanish again, which helped me a lot. Being able to speak more than one language has been a positive aspect in my career because it allows me to apply for roles that not everyone could apply for. Some roles require a mix of English and Spanish speaking. Some roles that I have found even require knowing how to speak Portuguese, so it has definitely been a great skill that brings me closer to some productions and makes me stand out as a good candidate to be part of the cast.
And, finally, my impactful area of knowledge for my journey is understanding how the entertainment industry works, and how important it is to know about the business side of it, not only the art part of it. The business portion of “show business” is not only for the casting directors, producers, sponsors, distributors, but for the actors as well. Actors need to know how to market themselves and understand that they are the product that they sell. With social media and so many platforms nowadays, performers have more tools and possibilities than ever to be seen and found. Creating profiles in as many socials as possible is a great way to share headshots, clips, reels, press, booking announcements, signing with reps announcements, stills from productions, BTS pictures, premiere events, awards, and much more. The technology and connectivity that people have on the internet became a powerful way for actors and artists in general to sell their craft. Another great way for us actors to market ourselves is by having video platforms where we can post our reels, self-tape clips, scenes, monologues, personality slate, commercial copies, skills clips, and more. The options and opportunities are out there, and there are much more than in the past, before all technology and globalization happened the way it is in the modern days. Social media also allowed professionals to connect in a more efficient and easier way than ever before. Today we can have actors connect directly with directors, writers, casting directors, and anyone in the industry that is open to connecting through social media. It is a great way to create relationships and to find professionals to collaborate with. And not only that, but having your profiles all set and professionally organized will allow other members of the industry to find you and make the first contact, and sometimes even offer you a role because they already saw your resume and clips that were all linked to your social media. Being ready and well marketed is a great idea because you never know who will reach out and contact you offering you a job in a production that could change your life. Or which agent or manager of your dreams could offer to sign you. You also never know when any of that could happen, so you have to be ready to take the opportunities that cross your way, or even better: to create the opportunities that can change your career and life.
The advice I have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve are, first of all, if you are an actor, take classes. Keep training and learning techniques to improve your skills. There are many types of classes that an actor should take, including Cold Reading, Improv, Scene Study, On Camera, and Commercial techniques. You should also start having classes to learn one of the main known and most taught techniques, like Stanislavski, Meisner, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, The Chubbuck Technique, and others. Acting classes are something an actor should always take, no matter the stage they are in their careers. An actor is never “ready” or fully trained. There is always more to learn from different coaches, new methods, techniques and skills to study for the first time or to improve. As any type of art, the acting craft can always be more and more polished and become better, more complete, natural, and organic. So the main advice is to take classes and to become a great actor, because this is the main thing about being an actor: having a strong acting. Another advice I can give is for actors to start creating their brands. Knowing their most castable types and taking headshots that match those types is essential for an actor. Many coaches can help find out an actor’s types, as well as fellow acting colleagues, so this should be a priority in an actor’s early steps of their careers. After finding out the types and headshots, the actors should set up their casting profiles and professional social media, and use their headshots there. A good way to be remembered easily and to stand out is to choose the same headshot for all the profile pictures in social media and even casting profiles. This way, when meeting people in the business, your picture and face will be seen in more places, and with your professional name being used in every profile and handle possible, people will make the connection and remember much more than if you pick a different headshot for every social media and casting profile. After working on your branding and having all the profiles set, you should have a Linktree to add all your pages on it, and then put the link to your Linktree on all your social media profiles. Then, you start self-submitting to productions you find on all the casting profiles you have, or social media groups of filmmakers you are in. Do a lot of student films, short films, indie films, to start building your resume and getting some footage of yourself acting. After having some credits in your resume, good professional headshots, some clips of you acting, that could also be made from self-tapes, you can start submitting yourself to agents and managers. When you sign with someone and get representation, you start getting auditions for bigger productions, and your career reaches another level. Then, all you have to do is keep studying, training, improving, auditioning as much as possible, and doing your best to keep auditioning and being called by casting directors. And remember, an actor’s booking rate is pretty small, so the actor’s job is to audition and make an impact with that audition, so casting directors like you and constantly call you in to future auditions. The casting process is beyond an actor’s control, so we have to get used to rejection, and learn to accept it, because it’s normal. What we can do is our best. Work as hard as possible, study as much as possible, and be ourselves and as natural as possible when acting, that we will eventually book. It’s a long journey, but it is really worth it. So to the new actors, keep working and doing what you can to be the best version of you and be the best actor you possibly can! Focus on yourselves to improve as human beings, and as artists, and let go what you cannot control. Do your job, audition a lot, and the rest is consequence!
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am always looking for folks to partner or collaborate with! In this industry, like in many others, knowing people is essential, and who you know can make a big difference in your career. Creating relationships is one of the many actions actors should constantly have during the whole course of their professional journeys. I have met great people so far in my career who helped me to connect with other professionals that I might not have met if not for the first connection. It works almost like a butterfly effect, or a domino line. You can’t skip stages sometimes, so the more people you meet, work with, and have great relationships with, the more likely it will be for you to find life-changing opportunities. That’s why I like meeting every type of member of the show business. I know more actors, because I am more in contact with them from classes and scene works, but I love meeting writers, for example, because I also want to write my own scripts, and having good relationships with writers will allow me to learn a lot from them. I will learn about the writing process, how to get the copyright for my scripts, how to find producers or investors interested in my stories, but also improve my ability to pick up the clues from other writers’ texts and to apply it as an actor to make a better interpretation of the characters I portray. I also want to meet directors, because I want to direct some of my own films in the future, using my own scripts. Knowing directors and receiving their advice, and learning from their experience will allow me to have a vision from the other side of a production. The director’s perspective about a text and its characters will influence how I want to tell a story. It would also make me a better actor, learning to understand even more the directorial side of filmmaking and applying it to my performances. Casting directors are also a group of professionals that I want to connect with and collaborate. In show business it is common to see the same director working with the same actors in multiple films, or the same director having the same casting directors to find the perfect groups of actors for multiple productions over the years. I want to cultivate an amazing group of directors, writers, casting directors, actors, and more, that I will want to work with multiple times in my career, and that I will have fun and enjoy spending time with, while creating great art; and I want the feeling to be mutual, that they love working with me, and that they have fun working with me, while we create remarkable productions that will make our careers grow together. When a collaboration works really well, it is likely that it will happen again and be successful again. This is a great reason to go out there and start meeting people and networking, and when possible, going beyond the professional realm and really making friends with other filmmakers and creatives. Good relationships help one another and open multiple doors that allow careers and lives to be elevated. Like I always say, actors and all the other types of professionals in this field have to be able to find the right opportunities and be ready for them, or to create those opportunities. And collaborating is the best way possible to make that happen.
The sorts of folks I am looking to collaborate with are creatives who are enthusiastic, hard workers, and who are craving to produce impactful art and tell meaningful stories. People who work well in teams, and who are easygoing, understanding, and empathetic, and who have fun working in the entertainment industry, but always giving their best for themselves and for the group. I want to work with people that before we even finish a production, I think “I want to work with this person again!”. And the people who I am looking for to collaborate in filmmaking are from each and every area of this field possible. Actors, Directors, Writers, Producers, Casting Directors, Coaches, Crew members, Editors, Musicians, and every other type of professional in the industry are welcome! And if you are not in the industry yet and want to start, it’s never too late! Feel free to reach out as well! Let’s collaborate and do something spectacular!
If you are reading this and want to collaborate, you can connect with me through any of my social media. All of my links will be shared in this interview, so you could reach out directly using your preferred media platform option, or, you could go to my Linktree, which is always listed here, and click on the tab that says “Let’s work together!”. You will be sent directly to my email, and there you can write to me about anything you want, any ideas you have, any booking opportunities, or to just chat about the industry! I hope to get a message from you, and I am looking forward to working together soon!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/ThomasAugusto
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomas_augusto_tom/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomas.augusto.actor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-augusto-actor/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/_tom_augusto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasAugustoActor
- Other: IMDb: imdb.me/ThomasAugusto Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thomasaugusto
Image Credits
– My headshots (the ones I am wearing a flannel with a gray background, the ones I am wearing a rust-colored outfit with a brown background, and the one I am wearing all black on a dark background) were taken by photographer Roy Cox.
