The Walking Dead star Josh McDermitt was previously a standup comic and radio producer before the Everett appeared on television or starting a movie. As a result it makes him one of those rare actors to find success later on in life. In a recent interview, McDermitt talked about how unlikely career path leading to his acting goals and offer some encouraging words of those who think about giving up.
Mech Dermitt points out something that nearly every actor has experienced. Unlike most careers, becoming an active rarely ever has a set plan.
“I moved to LA right before the writers’ strike ten years ago… I’m in a completely different place in my career than I was ten years ago, which is great, but you know it’s a struggle. You have wins, you have losses. You have to remain positive, that’s probably the biggest challenge; to not get yourself down. I think humans, actors especially, tend to get down on ourselves if things aren’t necessarily going according to plan because there’s a lot of uncertainty and lot of the unknown. That has always been a challenge.”
One of the reasons why McDermitt stay committed to becoming an actor in pursuing his career at a later time in life is that it allowed him to pursue his dreams longer than if you would’ve moved to Los Angeles as a teenager.
“I moved to LA a little later in my life than when most people move and I feel like I’m better for it. If I moved out at 18, I probably would have given up by now, but I guess it’s working out. It could all come crashing down at any moment and that’s something that I’m very aware of because that just happens. People stop working for whatever reason, and if I stop working I may continue plugging away or I’ll go do something else. I don’t care. (Laughs)… As long as you keep doing what you love, you’ll be happy. Right now, I still love acting, so I hope I don’t quit.”
Why is McDermitt having the time of his life? Part of it has to deal with the fact he’s on the most watched show on television. The other part is that his character has experienced a lot of growth, which allows him to stay engaged as an actor.
“Anytime your character changes it’s a good thing. There are shows that you can be on where your character just doesn’t change much, that’s an easy gig and everything, but something to keep you actively engaged in the script, in the performance, and in the character is when your character does go through changes. So I’m really happy with the changes that Eugene has gone through. It’s fun, it’s exciting, I like that. It’s cool and it allows me to be seen for other things as well. It’s not just, ‘Oh we get it, this is the one performance he does,’ but it’s a full on arch and that’s really cool.”
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