Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Church-Gonzalez.
Hi Sean, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Jurassic Park 3 had just come out on DVD, and I remember watching the scene where one of the velociraptors gets trapped in the cage and starts calling for help, cawing in a higher pitch; it cuts to Sam Neill’s face, and I remember thinking, they haven’t eaten in a while, nor have they slept… it’s been a few weeks, wait no it’s only been an hour and a half for me, this is a movie??? What’s a movie? Then I became obsessed with movies, actors, directors, writers, and singers.
I had done a bit of Off-Off-Broadway as a kid, devised theatre-type works, in elementary school I was in as many school plays as I could, everything from Grease Lightning to The Wizard of Oz. In middle school there was a teacher who enjoyed making little home movies each year, using teachers of the school as actors. My first year I was an extra in one of his films, my second year I was the best friend to the lead teacher in that year’s film. My 3rd and last year I was the lead of that year’s film, and to this day apparently am still the only student who’s ever lead one of those films in that school.
My high school was a film school, The Academy for Careers in TV and film, there was no acting “cohort” but there was a directing cohort, so that’s what I studied, but was always an actor. So, learning to act on camera very much helped me along in my acting, but of course brought on some difficulties. I studied Theatre and Performance at College, SUNY Purchase. I got lucky enough to get signed by a talent manager a few months before graduating, but of course, only 6 months later COVID arrived, and everything shut down. For the previous 7 years I had worked at a funeral home as my survival gig. So, in the midst of a pandemic, I was extremely busy, worked 7 days a week. I got a small break, 2021 I booked a co-star on CBS’s FBI, but regardless, I felt I needed to study more and be a better actor. I decided to go back to school for acting, The Neighborhood Playhouse.
The Neighborhood Playhouse very much changed my view on acting and upped my game to a competitive level as well as my confidence. They taught me how to sing and dance when I thought I could never really get a job doing so; they gave me the confidence to feel I could. At the end of the 2-year conservatory, we had digital showcases, monologues, and a small interview.
My showcase garnered very little attention, some, but not much. I went on an emailing spree, emailing 200 agents, managers, and casting directors. 98% didn’t answer, 1% said go away, and the other 1%, which is 2 different managements, answered, saying they were interested, but due to the strike, they weren’t signing anyone new. There is an option on actors’ access, where you can click to be put into a pool of actors where agents and managers look to sign new talent, it’s only valid for 2 weeks, I did that, and got calls from 3 reps all in LA.
My conflict was one of the original managements who replied to me, with my research was my favorite; although they didn’t offer me a contract, they said there was interest, and they kept in contact with me. I said no to everyone else and stuck with the risky bet of just staying in contact with this management company, they offered to out their email on my resume when going into Casting Director workshops, which to me was a good sign.
One day I saw there was an in-person audition for 2 Latino characters in an off-Broadway show, one Latino lead, and one Latino in the ensemble, so I emailed this management to see if they were okay with me bringing in my resume to the audition with their emails on it, and they never answered, but I did it anyways. I went in-person to this audition, with these management company’s emails on my resume without confirmation of permission, nervous; the audition went okay, the next day, I hear other people are getting callbacks, and I didn’t get anything. I tried to move past it, no answer from this management or from this show, I thought to myself, “it’s okay, just move on” then 5 long days later, this management emails me back “Hey man, you got a callback for the ensemble Latino” bam, some hope.
I attended the callbacks, started at 9 am until 12 pm, next to the most handsome Latinos in the world, they were signed to Gersh and A3, here I am barely signed to a management, and slowly but surely each one of them was sent home, and I was the last Latino actor there, then they tell me “at first we liked you for the ensemble guy, but now we’re looking at you for the lead Latino character.” Long story short, the next day, they offered me the part, this management decided to take me on as a client. As the show approached previews and opening night, we did press, I was on ABC 7, PIX 11, Russian tv RTVI, interviews in Spanish, Nuestra Tele Internacional, just a whirlwind. The show ran for a month and a half, and after we closed, I went back to my survival gig, and here I am, typing to you now.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
That really depends on how you look at it. I booked this show 4 months out acting school, but I started acting at 6 years old, and at 26 is when I booked it so, that can be both rough and smooth lol
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an actor.
I definitely gravitate to drama, or complex characters that come off nice but are deeper and meaner, so usually the birth of a villain, or the other way around, born a hero then turned villain.
I’m known for being able to cry on command then immediately make the audience laugh.
I am proud of this past show I did; we connected with a youth group from Mexico that works directly with the theatre, and seeing the passion in their eyes was a beautiful feeling I’ll never forget.
Being both bilingual, biracial, and extremely athletic, I do CrossFit 5 days a week and rock climb right afterwards about twice a week, I guess I’m just trying to get in great shape, so Marvel finds me and scoops me up as the next Latino superhero.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
To remember that beautiful line from the film 10 Things I Hate About You, “Don’t ever let anyone make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want.”
Contact Info:
- Website: seanchurchgonzalez.com
- Instagram: @Sean_Church_Gonzalez
