No matter how many conversations I have with artists, no matter how many episodes this podcast releases, I’m amazed at the variety of insights and lessons that each person brings to these discussions. In this episode, I think we hit upon one of the biggest obstacles, if not THE biggest, that holds us back as actors and creatives-- fear. The fear of the vulnerability it takes to give an honest performance, the fear of not making enough money or simply not being good enough to be cast.
This fear is the cause of our self-doubt and uncertainty and it can hold us back or even paralyze us from moving forward. David Dean Bottrell knows all too well what fear can do to us. Though he's been in TV shows like Boston Legal and After Forever (created by former guest Kevin Spirtas), David has also battled fear as an artist and has even written a book to help us navigate the ins and outs about this business in order to become a WORKING ACTOR.
David joins the podcast to talk about three specific examples of fear...
- Story #1- His upbringing and the strange reaction his family had to success.
- Story #2- The book he wrote and how completely inadequate he felt while writing it.
- Story #3- His desire to imitate and be someone else, rather than understand or even accept his own unique talents.
The Final Five Questions
Learn more of David's journey from Louisa, Kentucky to Los Angeles and New York, as he chronicles various roles and milestones. It highlights his struggle and successes as well as covers topics we didn't get to in this interview. Find it on the WINMI Blog.
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Why I’ll Never Make It is an award-winning, Top Theater Podcast hosted by actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones and is a production of WINMI Media. Background music is by John Bartmann and Blue Dot Sessions is used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.