Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate McFadden.
Nate, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
The first movie I remember watching and knowing that acting/comedy was what I wanted to do was a vhs copy of ‘Ernest Scared Stupid’ starring the great Jim Varney when I was 8 or 9 years old. I burned out the vhs player watching that movie. Ever since then, movies, television, and theater have always helped navigate through changes in my life. In high school, I started making my own videos in an editing class where a teacher Mr. Gardner really taught me a lot about film and that led to me catching the entertainment bug.
From there, I went to Arizona State University where I got a BIS degree in Business and Sociology. After ASU, I returned to the beaches of Southern California became and still am a patient advocate for hemophiliacs. Still stuck in the back of my head was the urge to entertain and I took a summer intensive at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts that led to one of the teachers, Ms. Jamie Nichols, suggesting I audition for the actual Conservatory. Thinking no chance they’d let me in, I auditioned reluctantly.
To my surprise, I got into the program and spent the next two years learning the ins and outs of acting. This intensive experience led to a variety of projects from theater productions to my first indie movie ‘Hollywood’ directed by Peter Cameron. Up until the Covid-19 locked everything down, I had just begun acting for a new amazon prime show ‘Last Daze of Summer’ by New Zealand Son Films. But with quarantine in effect, I have been spending my time excited about given the opportunity to learn more about my trade. I study at Second City once a week over zoom, along with another acting classes another night and the rest of the time is filled with spending time with my patients or surfing.
Has it been a smooth road?
You’re always going to run into some obstacles/challenges along the way and being an actor is no different. During the pandemic shut down, I realized that everything can stop at any given moment. I am lucky to have such a great job to fall back on that has allowed me to continue studying improv and acting. It is definitely not the same as in person but I have made good friends and learned a ton. There is obviously a disconnect and struggle with trying to do any scene. Let alone, a scene from a Pulitzer prize winner like ‘True West’ by Sam Shepard over zoom but somehow there is a way to still find a connection with your partner and produce a scene that I believe Sam Shepard would be proud of or at least would chuckle at the thought of two people trying to bring the characters Austin and Lee to life over a computer screen.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I take pride in my work as a patient advocate for Hemophiliacs. Hemophilia is a medical condition where your blood doesn’t clot normally allowing you to heal properly. So, what I do as an Advocate is manage everything that my patients need so that they don’t have to worry about anything Hemophilia related. I have made life long friends with my patients as to where they are more like family than just a client.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think we are already seeing it, with things slowly opening up, auditioning has gone all online. Whether it be self-tape or zoom, I think that will be here to stay for at least the opening rounds of auditions. With everyone being more Socially Conscious and working from home. There’s no reason to have actors drive all over town from audition to audition just to spend 10 mins in a room. I also think that going that route will have a great impact on the environment and la traffic, which we all know we could use less of. We’re seeing it in almost every industry, everyone is at least trying to make a change to the way they do things in order to help the environment.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nathanielmcfadden.com
- Phone: 9492907491
- Email: mcfadden.nate@outlook.com
- Instagram: natemcfaden
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8821397/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
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