The Late Bloomer Actor

Sliding Doors with Andy McPhee

August 15, 2022 David John Clark Season 1 Episode 8
The Late Bloomer Actor
Sliding Doors with Andy McPhee
The Late Bloomer Actor +
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Show Notes Transcript

Episode 8 is here. And I must say, thank you.......... thank you to all my listeners, this podcast has officially passed the 'death' hurdle........ the point where most podcasts fail to proceed.

In this episode, I am very excited to interview the fantastic actor, Andy McPhee. Andy is an accomplished actor, both in Australia and the United States, with over 140 IMDB credits, including (arguably) his most known role as Keith McGee, in the acclaimed television series Sons Of Anarchy.  Straight out of the US, he has only just returned to Australia to pursue some great opportunities that have just come up.

A funny opening to the episode, we touch on the randomness of Google stats, and how 'funny' facts can be online.

Andy discusses his early years of growing up and how that influenced his life and led him to acting.  We discuss how past 'mistakes' in life effect one's future, and can open doors that you may never have expected.

Method acting acting and/or drawing on your past life experiences can certainly enhance your acting ability, and Andy discusses how you can draw on this to improve your skillset.

Mindset training is a HUGE focus on so many aspects of life today, and Andy discusses his understanding of how this can supplement your acting journey.

And a lot of this episode focuses on Andy's training/coaching approach. It is about getting out of your comfort zone and doing a lot of creative work, so you are not worried about getting it right but just getting it done. 

Check out Andy McPhee on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/andyactingcoaching

Also on IMBD: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0574173/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

Andy discussed the podcast 'Relentless and Unstoppable' which can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTqNwvkLP0aqfjD0KlUD6Mw

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David John Clark 00:00:46
My guest today has just returned from Los Angeles, is a working actor, well known in Australian and international productions with 140 IMDb credits, and also an acting teacher and mentor. In Australia, he is known for great roles in Wolf Creek, Animal Kingdom, the Doctor Blake Mysteries and also Wentworth. Internationally, he is known for some awesome productions such as Saving Mr Banks and Criminal Minds, but especially for the role of Keith McGee in the acclaimed series Sons Of Anarchy. He's the father of two great actors who have surely listened to his advice, Cody and Shinoa, both making great waves in the acting arena, with Cody recently nominated for an Oscar. Surely they both learned from their father, who now also passes on his knowledge through training and mentorship in his programme, the Actors Intensive, which I am fortunate to be currently participating in. Please welcome to show Mr. Andy McPhee.Andy McPhee 00:01:36
Hey there. How are you doing, mate?

David John Clark 00:01:38
Good morning.

Andy McPhee 00:01:39
Everybody else who I can't see.

Andy McPhee 00:01:39
 They can see us. Thank you very much for coming on. I know you've got a busy schedule ahead of you. So, Andy, you just arrived back from LA this week, so welcome home. Welcome back to Australia.

Andy McPhee 00:01:54
Yeah, right. Already got a cold. Haven't had a cold for probably, for years and got the heater on and rugged up. It's like coming from 90 degrees every day to this. I love being back home, but getting used to the cold is a little bit tough.

David John Clark 00:02:14
Yes, definitely. And your family here. I saw you with a video, I think. Is it your granddaughter that was beating you on the top of your head?

Andy McPhee 00:02:22
Yes.

David John Clark 00:02:24
Is that good to be back with family? Makes it tough when you're away. You miss your family sort of stuff?

Andy McPhee 00:02:29
Yeah, it does, because pretty much all my family is here. One of my children is still in the US and the other one is in London for a little while. But, yeah, just time to come home, mate, back to Australia and set all the grassroots down here and just go back to the States when I need to.

David John Clark 00:02:52
That's awesome. Now, I know you were born in good old Adelaide, my hometown, where I was born.

Andy McPhee 00:02:57
No, I got to change that for some reason. I don't know how it got there. I think it's only because I started acting. I was born right here, minutes away from where I am now, in Glenroy and family lived in Kilmore and try to change it, but it didn't work. So, no, Adelaide is a great place, but I wasn't born there.

David John Clark 00:03:21
Well, there you go, because I'll go on with the rest of the question in a second. But I had a side note here to mention to you that a Google search says that you're six foot six, you're either 89, 94 or 121 years old and you're worth $9 million.

Andy McPhee 00:03:38
Yeah, I saw that once. I would like the last part to be right.

David John Clark 00:03:46
And I won't ask you your age, of course.

Andy McPhee 00:03:48
I'm 70, mate. I turned 70 in October.

David John Clark 00:03:52
Awesome. I love it. And six foot six, is that close to your height, because I haven't met you in person yet?

Andy McPhee 00:03:55
No, as they say, as you get older, you shrink. I think it's probably around about six, five and a bit now.

David John Clark 00:04:06
Wow. There you go, you're taller than me!

Andy McPhee 00:04:09
I don't know where the shrinking came from! 

David John Clark 00:04:09
Can you give us a quick background on your life growing up, where you started, grew up at school, et cetera, and how you got into acting, how that journey took you from Victoria, from Australia to Los Angeles.

Andy McPhee 00:04:25
Yeah, I was born in Glenroy. The family lived in Kilmore for a long time. I think at that time they may have been living in Kilmore. And then we went to Melbourne. I was born in St George's in Kew, or St Andrews, I think, and then back to Kilmore, and then eventually the family moved to Glenroy, so that's where I spent probably up to about maybe four years old. And then we went to Perth because my Dad was a manager at Dunlop Tyres, so he travelled a lot. We ended up in Perth for a few years. From Perth we came back to Blackburn, went to Blackburn Primary, and from Blackburn we went to Balwyn, and from Balwyn, once I left school, I went to Adelaide and Adelaide and relationships and children coming into the world and all that sort of stuff. How the acting started was I was a professional wrestler. I took that up after I finished doing judo. I did judo in Adelaide for a long time. Was the a First Dan. Not particularly good at, but good in my own way. Won a few tournaments and then lost a lot. Did a bit of boxing, not good at that either. Didn't like getting hit, but still, we got to give everything a go. Had a variety of jobs, many different jobs. School was quite a liability. I didn't really like school. I did pretty miserable at school. I didn't pass, got kept down in year one. Got kept down again in fourth form past one year because my Dad said, you better pass this year. So I did. And even I made of over nearly 55 years. I think we've been friends. Got to catch up with him, yet he always remember that third year in high school because I passed everything with plus 90% because I put my mind to it, was always in trouble, caused a lot of trouble right through my life, even into adulthood. Not dealing with things from childhood, which a lot of us go through that. Broken relationships. Probably, I was the cause of pretty much all of them. And then went to I did Landmark anyway, I don't care what anyone thinks about it. I did Landmark. It's a great programme. A lot of people think it's a cult, which is a lot of bullshit, it's not. I did that for six and a half years, became an introduction leader there and that just helped me. Landmark is great because it just helps you, like a lot of Tony Robbins stuff and it helps you see where your past is and what the issues are. So it's very similar. Not the same, but sort of similar idea. So I did that for a long time and I had about 30 of my friends ended up doing it.

David John Clark 00:07:29
Wow.

Andy McPhee 00:07:30
Some enjoyed it, some didn't, but it helped me out a lot. And then it ended up started getting back into my coaching again and creating a lot of YouTube channels with one of my autism clients, Doug Kenney. He's not doing too well at the moment.

David John Clark 00:07:45
Oh, no.

Andy McPhee 00:07:46
Yeah, he's not doing too well. He's still in hospital at the moment because he deals with bipolar two and high functioning autism and medication and becomes quite overwhelmed and manic. So the seven years I've known him for six and a half, he's never had issues. The last three months he's been in and out of hospital.

David John Clark 00:08:08
That's not good.

Andy McPhee 00:08:09
But he's coming out today, I think he's in Arizona. So we hope that everything's okay and he's adjusting to the medication, but if anyone wants to check it out, it's Relentless and Unstoppable on YouTube. It's a great channel, but we started with Doug. I interviewed him because of his amazing weight loss and his drive to be better and try not to be feeling he's different from other people. And anyway, that led into interviewing, like, we got 1000 videos, I think, in a million views over the last two years.

David John Clark 00:08:40
Beautiful.

Andy McPhee 00:08:41
I thought. Yeah. So that's a bit of a snapshot. Definitely not. No one is, but definitely not a perfect human being. There's still times where you just slip back into that old past habits and things go haywire and then you just got to look at what happened and come out of it. But yeah, back in Australia. Glad to be here. A lot of teaching. A lot of teaching. I do a bit of conflict resolution training, which is where I'm heading today after this. Got quite a few film projects coming up and already knocked a couple on the head since I've been here. So, yeah, just good to be back in the cold.

David John Clark 00:09:26
You're very very busy, which is one of the things you're trying to push on us in the training. And I won't give too much away on the training because we will encourage other people to do it. But that's what you're focused on, is getting, ...  overcoming the obstacles, isn't it? When you say, I can't do it, I can't do it. I think we had one of our actors last night saying, she couldn't find it, she couldn't do it, she couldn't get something on the tech. We kept pushing and in the end she did it. Obviously, that comes from your background that you just talked about. So you bring that to your training and your coaching and your acting. That's what's great about life sometimes. In my podcast, here it's about Late Bloomers. So the actors, like myself, have started in their forties. Do you see that a lot? The same sort of thing. The actors are bringing their life experiences, whether they're young or older, and bringing it to what they put on screen.

Andy McPhee 00:10:21
Yeah, definitely I do. And I know I think most actors relate to their life because sometimes you can draw from it. Sometimes there's things you don't want to draw from because they cause a little too much emotional pain. But you can do it safely and acting. Yes. I mean, like last night, the lady you were talking about, she was elated when she simply worked out where she could find the script on her app. I mean, she was so excited because she's a late bloomer again, and for her to be able to do that and it was nothing to do with the actual acting skills. And simply she just kept going, can't find it. Can't do it. I just stopped doing that to stop it. I said, you will find it. It's need to calm down. And she found it and she was jumping up and down like she just won a million bucks. But that's the good part. We're all busy. You're on the course. You know how busy it gets. And it really does push you to do a lot more in your day. And it's not about getting anything right, it's just about doing the work. And then eventually, when that mindset comes in, you'll start to really see improvements in the work you're doing without worrying about are you getting it right in that particular moment.

Andy McPhee 00:10:21
 And just sort of going back to the start of your acting career? What made you take up acting? And can you remember what your first role was?

Andy McPhee 00:11:50
Nothing. I didn't have any intentions of being an actor. I started at 39 through the wrestling because being a pro wrestler in Adelaide, they were wanting pro wrestlers for a Hungry Jack's commercial. So I got that and that's when I went, "oh, this is pretty cool, fun."  So that's how it started. But all the things that have happened in my life have not been through staying in the one place, one job, one place. It's always been moving. Like when I left school at an early age, I went and got a job at Myers through my Dad's help, and sadly I got sacked and made him look a bit silly because he knew the CEO of Myers. But I was just doing stupid stuff, mate. I let stink bombs off in the cafeteria, the main cafeteria, Myers, so that didn't go down too well. I thought it was hilarious. We used to stage fake fights in the alleyway during our lunch hour. We go to Bernard's magic shop and get blood capsules and pretend we're having a fight. And people walking past looking so I guess never wanting to be an actor, it was always there. There was something in me that was in that performance. I was good at getting out of trouble because I can make stories up really quickly. I remember one of my friends at school said, Geez, dude. He goes, how on earth did you just think of that? Then when the teacher asked us, oh, no, just don't get into trouble, you know, my Dad used to take me to a lot of theatre plays. Pantomime's, probably because he was trying to calm me down. I think a lot of that was it. So when I look back, it was already being installed in me, unknown to me or my Dad actually. And then when I took up acting, I loved it was just really quite natural.

David John Clark 00:13:42
That's awesome. And you did a role on Bad Boy Bubby, which was filmed here in Adelaide, didn't you?

Andy McPhee 00:13:51
I think that was my very first film, I'm pretty sure, because I know when I joined up with Spotlight Casting, Angela Heesom, who's still doing it and  in Lyn Pike, from Adelaide, I think Bad Boy Bubby might have been my very first feature with, I just forgot his name. I was just about to say it. Heck. Anyway, it was fun. We were just sticking out the roof of this panel van and yelling at the main actor and that was it. And then it went to, I think, the next feature I did, my first big feature with dialogue, which was not long after I started acting, was with Ben Mendelsohn, Frankie J Holden in Return Home. 

David John Clark 00:13:51
Geez, they would have been young too.

Andy McPhee 00:13:51
Good man. That was ages ago. I still had hair. It was black, it was long. And I think it was actually when I was talking to Ben on Animal Kingdom, when I had a bit of a role in that. I think that Return Home was his first feature. I'm not quoting that, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure he said that was his first feature. So we sort of followed path to Animal Kingdom. And then Cody got to work with Ben in Slow West in New Zealand. So I said to Ben, It's really cool that we all got to work together.

David John Clark 00:15:07
Yeah, over all those years. It's great that it sort of keeps coming back around. With your acting, you've sort of juggled between both US roles and Australia. How do you manage that? As you said, you were going from job to job, so you're just ready to move when you need to move, and you just go where the work is.

Andy McPhee 00:15:28
Yeah. Just to be honest, I haven't had work for two years because of covid. Just before I left the US recently, I started getting away. Like, I was probably knocked over about twelve auditions, got booked on one job in Kansas. I got a couple more later in the year, but I couldn't do the one in Kansas because it conflicted with me coming back here. But America worked for me in the early years when I was there. The first five years, it was great. And then I was coming back to Australia for a lot of work, so it took me out of the loop. And that's a dangerous thing in any acting circles. You've got to get yourself back in, especially in America. But it was okay, it's just had its path to go. And now I'm back here and literally only been here, what's today?  Been here seven days and I'm already in rehearsals. I've already knocked over an independent film, which is going to be a lead up to a feature, and just waiting for auditioning tomorrow for a big commercial in Sydney, and just waiting for all the details for this other film in Sydney and teaching. So everything's just like as soon as I come back home, it's just all picked up again, which is great.

David John Clark 00:16:49
I love it. It's keeping you very busy and with your training, that your programme you call, aptly called the Actor's Intensive, your big focus is taking actors outside of the comfort zone, as we were talking about before, and pushing through tasks that initially, I felt it, and the other actors have felt it. We think that we've got no hope of completing when we look at our day ahead of us and say geez!. Andy, he's up all night.

Andy McPhee 00:17:16
Have you seen today's work? 

David John Clark 00:17:16
I have seen today's work. I'm ready to go. I'm on days off now. My stress levels are a bit lower because the last couple of days we've had a bunch of self tapes to do for you and I've been on 5am starts, 10hr days, and I think I had a big chat with you on WhatsApp and said what I was going through. I almost looking for excuses not to do it, but I just said I didn't want to let you down. It was more about saying, I'm going to get it done, but I might not meet your schedule and I just didn't want to let you down. You understood that. How do you bring your training to actors over the four weeks? How do you see your teaching improving the ability of actors? What's your goal set to pass on to people?

Andy McPhee 00:18:07
So, first of all. The thing that I make really clear to the actors is that I'm not dismissing or wanting them to forget what they previously learned, whatever methods they've had more the method seems probably a little bit more bigger in the States while it is here in Australia, it's slowly starting to creep in, which is great. I say to actors, don't think that this course is about removing whatever you've learned in whatever method you've done. It's not about that. This is about you. Just the old analogy quotes of getting off the couch, being uncomfortable or being comfortable, being uncomfortable, getting out of the stands, getting on the court, they're all great quotes, but at the end of the day, it's just getting you to do a lot more creative work over four weeks as we build up over the weeks. And to really push it so that your cup is overflowing and you've somehow got to get that overflowing cup and have another cup there so that pours into that cup, you've got another cup so that's not being wasted. So you're just making it work. You're not letting it go to waste. Like the overflowing cups running all over the bench. You're putting something there to take that out and put it in here. So you've made, oh, okay, I've still got that cup. Now this one's filling up silly analogies, but that's the only thing I can think of. And it's just loads and loads of creative work, like everything I can throw at the actors. And the first rule is I don't want you trying to get it right or perfect. And that doesn't take people a while to get around it because they think they have to get it right. Because if they're doing auditions and I just say that you're not doing auditions, you're pushing yourself to stop thinking, and I'm pretty sure by now that you get it, that if whatever I send you, you just do it. And all of a sudden you go, that wasn't actually too bad because you're not got all this stuff stopping you.

David John Clark 00:20:04
Yeah, it gives you a bit of freedom. Some of the recordings we self tape because I do self taping every month through my drama school StageMilk.com and I'm very meticulous with that, trying to make it audition perfect and meeting all the guidelines if you're actually submitting a self tape. So having that freedom of just jumping on camera and just delivering something was awesome. And we did that with you. Some scenes where you gave us direction to do something that was just had my eyes rolling at first. How the hell are we going to do that? We had three people talking over each other without giving away any secrets, but it was almost liberating. And you said what you saw at the end of the three actors that were so free and easy in their delivery and they were still delivering the lines, so still meeting the requirements of the scene.

Andy McPhee 00:20:54
And what you said is very true. When you get an audition, you got to follow what they tell you. Don't start making it. They've written in red, in certain areas, in red for a reason, so that you don't go off in your own tangent. That's how we want it. That's the only thing in an audition, you really got to make sure whatever they've told you to do, you do it. Then the rest is up to you. Like, you don't change the words, you don't change the scene. But you see that in class, it whatever words you've given. So we're sort of branching out a bit more in the class. But in the audition, you could get how many people, say ten people reading that scene, and they're all going to do it different, even though they're the same words. And that's what the casting process is. They're looking well, I imagine. I'm not a casting director, but I'm assuming after my years of experience, they're just looking for someone who's either a little different, but they're still sticking to the storyline, but they've added something slightly different which can go, wow, that was actually didn't think of that or didn't see that. And I've heard that a lot. So it's being free to make what they've given you your own. That's how I say it. Whether it's correct or not, I'm not sure, but it works.

David John Clark 00:22:19
Now, I'm mindful of the time because I know you've got another engagement to go to. So just a couple of quick questions and then we'll let you go. It's 30 years or more of acting. Now, you've obviously met worked with a huge range of actors from all walks of life, experience and ages. Do you have experience with actors who have become successful later in their lives, who have started in their 40s, like myself? And what do you think contributes to their success outside of the younger actors have gone through the process of drama school and climbed the ranks, so to speak.

Andy McPhee 00:22:54
Yeah, wish I could answer that, but I can't because I don't know, I just think it's luck. Timing is everything. Just I couldn't see myself started acting in my 20s because I just wasn't willing to do that. And it never was in my mind. But I don't know, I just think timing timing is right time, right place, right circumstance that can drive people in. Or you have people that just want to act, so they leave school and they go into acting schools and a lot of them don't make it. And that's a fact. It's a lot don't make it. Do they not make it because of their skill level? I don't know. Do they not make it because they're sick and tired of waiting and quit? I don't know. Everyone's got a different story, but it's a fact that there's a lot more actors out of work than there is working. But having said that, I don't think that's any reason to give up. If you've got a great job, a part-time job, because you need that. You need a part-time job, you're going to take up acting when you start working, because you can't possibly have a nine to five job, it's not going to work. So if you've got your financial side set up, and I really push this for actors that you don't have to worry about money. I was here in Craigeburn. I was a duty manager. Brought in Craigeburn Leisure Centre for ten years. I started off as a lifeguard. There are only four hour shifts. I was heading off to doing work here and there. I always have my own business, scrap metal business in Adelaide. I had a lawn mowing round. I was bouncing, I was doing security. So I had a tonne of part ...  of Uber driving, I'm not ashamed to say, like anyone who makes that is someone who's got issecurity themselves. And when I was doing Uber and lived in America and in Australia here, I scored three jobs, like three films. One of won six awards at the Hollywood Shorts Film Festival. I met the dude from picked him up in Uber one day at Fox Studios. And I did the same here in Australia a few years ago. Things were quiet, so I started driving again. Met a guy. Bang. I got three of one of my best mates on. He's now doing stunt coordinating for this director who does mainly commercials, but he also does films. He wants a feature film coming up. I just did his little short on the weekend over three days, which is going to be a lead up to a feature. My friend Tony Nichols, who is doing the stunt coordinating, he only met him because I drove this guy home one night. It was a 40 minute drive from the city. We're talking about acting and he said, oh, man. He said he'd be great fun of my commercials. I've got a short film coming up and for some reason I mentioned Tony. I think I was talking about coaching and teaching, how Tony has done amazing. And I said, he sort of lives out this way, out north and 40 minute drive. You're not going to believe it. When I dropped this guy off, he lived three houses away from Tony.

David John Clark 00:26:01
Wow.

Andy McPhee 00:26:02
And that's how they became friends. And they've been collaborating ever since. I said it before, I never stand still. I don't care what I got to do. People go, I see you drive Uber. So you've got a part time job. Yes, mate. I've never not had a job since I left school.

David John Clark 00:26:20
Love it.

Andy McPhee 00:26:21
And sadly, some people try to make something out of, oh, but you've done amazing jobs. No, listen, hold it. I'm just a dude who made a mess of a lot of shit in my life and thank God for acting and my faith and trying to work through and be a better person and recreate relationships with family again, which I've done. And you have a roller coaster life. I'm pretty stupid. I couldn't build a house, mate. I can't even measure. I failed everything. I couldn't even make a picture frame at school. But the point I'm getting at is most actors have to have a job. So I find the jobs that suited me. I loved working at the Craigeburn Leisure Centre, and I still worked. I was already been acting for 15 years or something, 20 years, and I found now through America and here, that I've got a really wonderful friend who's a producer from 405 Productions in the States, another guy producer from Warner Brothers. I met them all driving.

David John Clark 00:27:22
Wow.

Andy McPhee 00:27:22
And I've made amazing friends. I've got probably eight really good friends over there. So all I can say is, don't judge people for what they do. And especially, like, I remember there's one actor, I'm not going to mention his name, but I've worked with him and he's a great actor, and there's one time he's going through some tough times. We all go through that, especially  after covid and he was cleaning, they spotted him cleaning and they took photos of him and said, oh, look, his acting careers finished. Fuck you, mate! That's what people do. It just sucks. They're normal people. I tell you, I remember when I was with my dad in Box Hill, going past a chemist. I was only about eleven or something, and I went past the chemist and I went, Dad, I said, the pharmacist down there probably didn't say that word. He was behind the counter in his white coat. He was a huge actor. He was on everything, mate, from Division, Homicide, all those great Australian shows. And I said, Dad, why on earth is he working in the chemist? And he went, because he probably needs another job. He's not always working. And that's when I went, oh, okay. And then when I became an actor, I get it, mate. Always had a job, second job.

David John Clark 00:28:43
The bills don't just come in when you've got an acting job, do they? You still get to eat from week to week.

Andy McPhee 00:28:49
Yeah. There's no loss of pride in that, mate. There's no loss of pride in that.

David John Clark 00:28:54
No, definitely not. That sort of says to all actors, it doesn't matter about their age. Well, it doesn't come down to just your talent or your look. It can be just purely a sliding door moment. If you're in the right place at the right time, the right door opens up.

Andy McPhee 00:29:09
Timing.

David John Clark 00:29:10
That's awesome. Well, Andy, thank you very much. It's very quick, but very insightful and that's what I love. So thank you for coming on the podcast. I was really excited to be able to do this right in the middle of the training with you? I thought that made so perfect sense. Thankyou. Before we do go, where can people find you on social media or find information about the course so they can do it in the future?

Andy McPhee 00:29:32
I guess they can just find me on Facebook. It's the photo of Cody and myself. It's just Andy McPhee. There is a couple of Facebooks with Andy McPhee on there. They're ones I don't use anymore, I actually got to get rid of them. But the one that people can find me on is the one with myself and Cody together. The picture of me and him, that's the one I use all the time.

David John Clark 00:29:58
And you share a picture on a lot, most of the acting groups when you're running the next course, which is how I found you on the Adelaide Actors & Extras group.

Andy McPhee 00:30:06
Yeah, I put it on those groups.

David John Clark 00:30:09
Awesome.

Andy McPhee 00:30:10
Or they can contact me at what is it? The actors theactorsintensive1@gmail.com. So that's theactorsintensive1@gmail.com. One of my half dozen emails.

David John Clark 00:30:26
Yeah, we go back to what we said at the start of podcast, talking about technology and that. And we were starting to look like those non tech wizards trying to get online, weren't we? But we made it.

Andy McPhee 00:30:36
Yeah, I know, right?

David John Clark 00:30:38
All right, Andy. Thank you very much. I reckon I've got a few tasks to complete on my schedule today, so I better onto it.

Andy McPhee 00:30:44
Mate. You better get on to it.

David John Clark 00:30:47
That Andy McPhee. He can be a tough taskmaster can't he? I love your work. Thank you very much for coming on board. And I'll see you online next.

Andy McPhee 00:30:58
Awesome, buddy.

David John Clark 00:31:00
Love your work.

David John Clark 00:31:02
Well, that was certainly very insightful. It was great for Andy to open up about his journey in the younger years of his life and how that made him the actor is today. I didn't mention it in the interview, but I think we could almost say Andy is a late bloomer actor himself. Having started in his late 30s or early 40s, he's shown that that journey can still be a successful one, even starting later. I do love how he touched on the almost randomness of the acting journey and how it can simply be just sharing a ride with the right person that might open an acting door. And also, no matter how many doors fail to open for you, it's no reason to quit. Just keep enjoying the journey, regardless, and a door will open when it's ready to open. As I mentioned, I'm halfway through Andy's course at the moment. The Actors Intensive at the time of this recording, and it's certainly an eye opening experience. It's very different to many other courses I've done in the past. Initially, I couldn't see how our tasks related to improving my acting abilities at all. But quickly, pretty much after the first week, they all started to make sense and roll in and just came together. And I feel I'm certainly seeing improvements now when I deliver another self tape for Andy, of which he keeps asking for them. So definitely intensive. I've reached out to some fellow course participants and just as a testimonial to Andy's course, here are a few comments made. They're certainly worth hearing if you're considering the course in the future. 

David John Clark 00:31:02
I came into Andy's course looking for something a little different to all the other courses I've done in the past. And Andy has a way of pushing you outside of your comfort zone at first doing tasks that you didn't know how they will improve you as an actor. And then BAM! All of a sudden it just takes hold and makes sense and suddenly you deliver a scene in such a fresh way. Another one here is a great experience and I am identifying my weaker acting areas and upgrading my skill and pushing my boundaries. Also, I found that this course is helping me to focus on getting out of my head and into action and focus on getting things done rather than dreaming about doing the work but being afraid of failure. Andy's course has allowed me to get out of my head. It's allowed me to do lots and lots of work and not be afraid or judge what comes out of my creative mind. I like that one. So these are just a couple of comments on the positives of working with Andy and it shows a great insight into how actors can learn new ways of thinking to move through barriers and gain new traction. I'll put some links to Andy's Facebook in the Show Notes so you can follow him and find out when the next course is being run. I certainly recommend it, as you can no doubt tell through this episode. 

David John Clark 00:31:02
Hey, thank you to all my regular listeners. As I've mentioned in the past episode, I now have a dedicated email address, so if you'd like to drop me a message to show your support or if you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear them. Let me know at The latebloomer Actor All One Word@gmail.com that's thelatebloomeractor@gmail.com and don't forget to throw rating for the podcast on your podcast player of choice. Leave a review if you can, or register with www.podchaser.com and rate and review the podcast there. And if you can share the podcast on your social media. Let your friends know that you're listening and hopefully they'll jump on board. Once again, thank you for listening guys and hey, I'll see you on set. 


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