Defying This Thing Called Gravity

Welcome back, my fellow artists. I hope 2025 is off to a wonderful start with new and continuing possibilities. My partner and I have become big fans of the movie musical, “Wicked”. We’ve seen it twice, and he purchased the film for us to watch at any given moment. We had never seen the Broadway musical, so it was a treat to see the movie adaptation. I couldn’t help but be struck by the song “Defying Gravity”. It’s the climatic number that Elphaba sings at the end of the film. This song reminded me so much of how I defied gravity in 2024 (and in the past) and how I would like to continue defying this thing called gravity in 2025 and beyond. Keep moving forward. Do not get stopped.

I think about the times I have defied gravity on both professional and personal levels to carve my career and move it forward. For example, when I moved to LA years ago on a one-way flight, one piece of luggage and my leather CD book (remember those things called CDs?!) I had every reason to stay in NYC, but instead, I took that daring leap of faith and moved to LA. Or when I called every major agency in The Agencies Book that I purchased at Samuel French (remember when this used to be a physical store?!) because I wanted these agents to know who I was. Or when I secured a pitch meeting in Hawaii with the casting director of “LOST” because I created a way to integrate myself into season three. Or the time I tracked down Martin Scorsese’s notoriously hard-to-find production company in NYC and flew down to pitch myself for a movie musical he was producing with Madonna. Or the times I targeted various TV series with characters I created for myself (“Ugly Betty”, “Looking”, etc.) Keep reading below 🙂

I think of the challenging and liberating personal work I did in my scene study classes with teachers and mentors like Richard Lawson, Gary Imhoff, and Milton Katselas. They helped me to discover and embrace everything from my authentic voice to my sexual orientation to my ethnic and cultural heritage. They helped me peel the layers back so that I could come into focus as a person and an artist. One of the biggest liberating lessons came from Richard Lawson when he taught me that my job is to bring a character to life and not get caught up/trapped/limited by the fact that I am a gay man. Focus on the qualities of the character instead and bring those to life. Keep reading below 🙂

I think about all the short films, feature films, and half-hour pilots I’ve written (and the ones I’m currently working on.) I think about this weekly blog that started in 2015. I didn’t believe I would have enough material or stamina to share my artistic journey beyond a few blog entries (and here I am 10 years and countless blog entries later!) I think about pitch meetings I’ve had with networks for my half-hour TV series. I think about all the times I have taught classes and how I didn’t believe I could do it at first. I think about all the times I have been a leader and when I realized it was just as important to lean in, listen, learn, and be a student. I think about all the auditions I’ve been on and the jobs I’ve booked. Keep reading below 🙂

I think about the heartbreaks I’ve experienced and how I put them into my work to grow and heal. I think about all the times I have disarmed people with my charm, humor, irony, talent, professionalism, heart, and intelligence and dismantled potential stereotypes they may have had about me (thus expanding my relationship map.) I think about my L4 and L5 disc herniations (L4 and L5 are the two lowest vertebrae of the lumbar spine) that pinched my sciatic nerve. It was painful and debilitating. I still attended acting class (albeit lying on the floor on my back, LOL), but I knew I had to be there to maintain my sanity. Through months of physical therapy, I finally managed those herniated discs and got my life back. I look back at my glaucoma diagnosis in 2010 and how I have successfully managed it through compliance with eye drops and regular visits with my ophthalmologist. I think about all the times I overcame financial challenges to stay put. Keep reading below 🙂

Part of my raison d’être states that I am a brown, queer Superman. And guess what? I just realized that Superman defies gravity, too! I suppose that quality has always been a part of me. Keep reading below 🙂

Defying gravity in the past, present, and future to continue shaping my career. Thank you for joining me again for another exciting artistic journey this year.