Peter Mastne shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Peter, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I think a lot of people outside the industry think acting or storytelling is a zero-sum game. They think either you’re a famous multi-millionaire headlining TV shows and blockbuster movies or you’re a waiter or bartender or Uber driver.
The truth is, there’s a ton of in-between. There are plenty of actors who work regularly in TV, Commercial, Film and Theater. Does the world know their name? No. Do they make millions of dollars? No. But they get paid to act across multiple platforms and they have a life doing what they love. And in a town this competitive, with this little agency in your own career, that’s huge. That’s success.
I think family members or friends of actors, if they understood that, wouldn’t say things like “When are you gonna get a real job?” Because acting is a real job. Being a celebrity, now that’s something different.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Peter Mastne. I’m an Actor, a Filmmaker and a YouTuber. I’m a multi-hyphenate I guess. When I’m not auditioning or on set, I’m talking about another one of my passions, soccer, on YouTube. But I always find it odd when people talk about their career as being who they are. We think of identity as how do I make a living? And I get it in some ways.
But career-as-identity isn’t a great paradigm. It’s reductionist to identify ourselves by our career paths.
It locks you into something fleeting, something superficial. Something over which you often have little control. We have so many identities. We’re family members, we’re friends, we’re partners. We’re travelers and adventurers. We’re learners. We’re wandering souls on a rock hurtling through space feeling sad that we didn’t get that part in that movie.
I mean, the statistical improbability that you or I are alive on a planet that contains just the right conditions between the stratosphere & the crust to breathe just enough oxygen to sustain life, is incredible. There’s no atmosphere like it, for millions of light-years. And yet, we gotta figure out who we are, why are we here & how do we enjoy this incredible outlier that is our own fleeting existence on this special planet. Our identity should be that, maybe. Somewhere between being in awe of our own ability to even ponder the questions of meaning/identity while at the same time trying to enjoy it.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I remember doing a sketch in my living room for my parents and some of their friends. I might have been 7 or 8. And something amazing happened, or at least it was amazing to my 8 year-old brain. I said a line, it was a spoof of a line from a recent movie I knew everyone had seen. And they laughed. That feeling was amazing. I could influence someone’s emotions, make them happier, by doing something on stage? I could obtain a visceral emotion from someone else through my own creativity? I loved that. It made me feel like I mattered, that I wasn’t just being impacted by the world, but that I was also having an impact. I’ll never forget that. It might have been the first signpost for me on the road to eventually becoming an actor.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
I know it’s a cliche, but empathy. I think once you’ve been through the wringer, you develop a deep empathy that you can’t get any other way. Life is suffering but suffering is also temporary. And suffering is so weird because what makes it so terrifying is that it seems permanent. Like when you feel lonely or you’re in some kind of emotional pain, it’s easy to think this is how you’re going to feel forever. But you never feel that way you’re happy, oddly. At least I don’t. Why do we intrinsically acknowledge that joy is temporary but suffering isn’t? Both are temporary, both come and go. And I think remembering that in the middle of suffering really helps. That it’s temporary. Because then you can suffer well. Then you can experience that sadness, which is just one emotion across the broad spectrum of human emotions & sit with it, welcome it even. It’s temporary. It’s part of being human. And this too shall pass.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
That acting and storytelling will always be a big part of my life. And that belief is completely independent of my career. Because even if I have to get a different job one day or have a different career, I’ll still be acting on the side. Whether it’s doing theater or making my own films or finding time on weekends to help friends with their projects. Acting is seen as a career and a few people are lucky to have it as such. But it’s also a lifestyle, an answer to the call of creativity inside me. Stories are what make us human. Why do we tell stories around campfires? Why did our ancestors tell stories by drawing on caves? Why do we find storytelling being so crucial to every culture across multiple millennia? Narrative seems so fundamental to the human experience. Why is that? I think it’s because we want to be inspired by the external when we can’t find that inspiration in ourselves. We aspire to be different things/different people, to have different experiences. What is it like to be you? Or them? Or that? It’s a quest for something outside ourselves. An acknowledgment that we are incomplete beings, always meant to be growing and learning. And the inspiration we derive from stories is such a crucial part of that process.
So yeah, being a storyteller is just being a piece of the puzzle, a nod to human beings wrestling with our own existence and I’ll always engage in it.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
I don’t know if other people understand this deeply or not, I’m sure many people do. But for me, I’ve tried to boil down happiness into 3 key elements. Like, what are the 3 things you need to be truly happy. And I’ve mulled over this question for much of my life. And I think, for me, it’s these three:
1. Purpose
2. Community
3. Adventure
Purpose is work, what do you do that brings you purpose? Maybe it’s not your full time job but it’s something you work on that feels meaningful to you. Or that matters to you beyond a paycheck. Maybe you work in finance but you paint on the weekends. Maybe you volunteer at a dog shelter. That’s meaning beyond your means of providing. And even a job that maybe you don’t love but allows you to provide for your family, to feed your kids and give them a good life, that’s meaning too. It all depends on what is meaningful to you.
Community is friends, family and partners. It’s so important to have strong community if you’re gonna be happy. We’re tribal people at the end of the day. We all want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We need that. So find your tribe. Your happiness will grow exponentially.
Adventure is what keeps us alive. And I don’t mean breathing. I mean alive. Experiences might be another way to put it. How do you define adventure? For me it’s something that becomes a story later. It doesn’t have to be a crazy story. Just a story that made you feel something, that resonates with someone. That entertains them. Maybe even terrifies them. That quest for adventure, to discover or experience the unknown, is what drives human progress.
One thing I know for sure. It’s not stuff. In America especially, we’re inundated everyday with this idea that if we get more stuff it makes us happy. And it works, because it’s true in the short term. When you get a new gadget or car or thing you wanted, you get that dopamine hit. But it never lasts. You’re always chasing the high. You’re always dissatisfied.
I think if you can allocate 90% of your time/energy to those 3 things, you can be truly happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7941414/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1
- Instagram: @petermastne
