Meet Navaris Darson of The Groundlings Theatre in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Navaris Darson.

Navaris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a kid, I loved television, but I never dreamt that I would be an actor living in Los Angeles. Even though I loved doing performances and skits in elementary school, I eventually shied away from acting in middle school, because I was chubby and I stuttered, and as far as I knew, Porky Pig had cornered the market on that particular niche. It wasn’t until I joined the chorus in high school that I started to do musicals in my sophomore year, because my chorus teacher was desperate for male farmers and waiters in Hello Dolly. After that show, I kept performing in plays and musicals, and once I got to Berry College, I was a Voice major for a year and a half before switching to Theatre Arts.

It was also at Berry College that I started doing improv with a troupe called Easy Baked Improv. It was such a random decision. I saw a flyer one day, and I had seen a few episodes of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and I thought, “That’d be fun.” I auditioned without any prior improv experience–I can still remember the scene I did where I had to confess to my mom that I’d gotten a bad grade on my report card–and to my utter delight, they accepted me into the fold. That one random decision set my life on its current course. Eighteen years later, I teach and perform improv at one of the most reputable improv schools in the country, and it all started at a small rural Christian college in North Georgia.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Overall, my biggest obstacle was finding the courage to come out as gay. When I moved to LA, I was terrified of casting directors finding out that I was gay, because I thought it meant I would never work in the industry. I was out to most of the people in my life, but I wasn’t out on social media (there was only Myspace and Facebook at the time), and I was always in my head and judging myself during acting class and auditions. So much of my energy went into trying to pass as straight instead of connecting and listening to the other actor, and it was really hard to be authentic and truthful when I always felt like I had to hide a part of myself.

In 2013, I decided to be openly gay as an actor, and a year later, I booked my first national television appearance as a gay hairstylist on 2 Broke Girls. In the past year alone, I’ve played 3 different Instagays (on The Other Two, Michael & Michael are Gay, and EastSiders) and I auditioned and booked a role on American Horror Story that was literally listed as “gay man” when I got the audition notice from my agent. The character later got named, but it felt really special to be recognized for something that I’d been ashamed of for so many years.

Besides that, my other big obstacle was that I needed to grow up. I remember my first acting teacher in LA, pointing to me in class one day, and saying, “You’re not going to work until you’re in your 30s.” I was 22 at the time, and I desperately wanted to prove him wrong, but he was right. I grew up in a fairly sheltered suburb, and I didn’t have enough life experience when I moved to LA. I wanted to be an actor, but I was impatient. I wanted it right away, and I was always looking for short-cuts. And then the rest of my 20s happened. And they were hard and painful. I struggled with low finances, low self-esteem, rejection, failure, and so on, and more importantly, I survived it all. It was because of all those challenges that I gained the life experience that I desperately needed.

Even though I’m in my 30s, I feel like I’m just starting my acting career in LA, and it’s because of all the personal and professional challenges I dealt with in my 20s. I’m not hiding who I am anymore, and I’m not looking for short-cuts. I’m showing up in my own life, and I’m here to do the work.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Groundlings Theatre story. Tell us more about the business.
I’m a senior-level improv instructor at The Groundlings School, a frequent guest performer at The Groundlings Theatre, and I specialize in teaching actors how to create fun, yet believable characters for improv and sketch.

I was a Groundlings student for five years, and then in 2012, I was cut from Sunday Company a year before I turned 30. My dream was to be a Groundlings Main Company member, and in an instant, that dream was gone forever. But unlike a lot of people, I was sad, but not bitter about it. The next morning, I went into the school, and I asked to be a teacher, and I have had the privilege to teach there for five years now. Not only that, but I’m proud to say that I’m a teacher that students revere. I have a reputation for being tough while creating a fun and supportive learning environment, and that means a lot to me.

The thing that made me really sad when I got cut was that I would never get to be a part of The Groundlings legacy–that I wouldn’t have my picture on the wall with all the great performers I admired. But after five years of teaching, I’m really proud of the legacy that I have created with my students.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
You know, I think we create our own luck. I think events happen, and it’s how we handle them that determines the outcome.

True story. The Friday before I auditioned for American Horror Story, I went on a date with another actor. During the date, he admitted that he had just started seeing someone, and instead of getting upset about it, I told him that I still wanted to be friends, and he was on the same page. We then discovered that we were both auditioning for the same role on AHS, and since his car was in the shop, I offered to pick him up and give him a ride to audition. On Monday, I picked him up, and it was so much fun going to audition together, and then the next day, I got a call from my agent that I’d booked it.

While some people might have been upset about what happened on my date, I didn’t see it as bad luck, and because of that, I went into the audition with a very different energy than if I’d gotten sad and sulked all weekend. Also, I’ve become really good friends with that actor, and I often joke that he was my good luck charm.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.navarisdarson.com
• Instagram: @navarisdarson
• Facebook: @navarisdarson
• Twitter: @navarisdarson

Image Credit:
Brent Bailey, Rob Parks

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