Daily Inspiration: Meet Nelson Tynes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nelson Tynes.

Hi Nelson, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m from the east coast of Canada born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We moved far west to Calgary when I was 9yrs. Then like a boomerang ended up back east in Toronto as a young adult. Then slingshot back out west to living half my life now in Los Angeles as a dual citizen.

Okay, there were about 10 stops in between so yes, I’ve lived in a lot of places across Canada to California. Working for a couple major airlines fresh out of college with extreme traveling. Airline gig finishes in Toronto while simultaneously starting with the film and television industry.. The music began much later in Los Angeles.

I was 8 years old when I acted in my first play as the cowardly lion in the Wizard Of Oz then played an elf in a Christmas play months later. I’m 9 now and we got an organ in the living room. My mother could play it while wearing a brace around her neck to play her harmonica at the same time. Fascinating to watch her play! I asked her to teach me but she was too busy and told me to learn on my own using her old piano books. So I enthusiastically did just that. Taught myself how to read music and play nursery rhymes like Mary Had A Little Lamb.

By high school I would buy sheet music for several different famous pop songs. I can sometimes be very persuasive and convinced one of my classmates, a guitarist who owned a keyboard, to jam with another bassist and drummer we when to school with. We ironically got together, in his garage of course, a couple times. It was brief yet amazing for me! Although I was the most passionate to form a band, I was the worst player.. Horrible. The weakest link so lots of room for needed improvement.

I Move to Toronto, mid-nineties and not playing any form of a piano. I quickly got into the film industry by signing with a background agency. I get talking to another background actor on set who refers me to her commercial agent. I go downtown, meet with her agent and they sign me. Got sent out to national commercial auditions and quickly booked a few in the first couple months. I was on a role, pardon the pun. My agent called me her lucky charm! I shot commercials for Sears, Tim Hortons, Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA), Nerf, Republic Bank, beer, and many more. My first line of dialogue on national tv was in a UPS commercial.

After about 2yrs I leave this agency and get representation from one of the top talent agencies in Toronto. I’ve also been taking acting classes for these last two years. I start auditioning and booking small but prominent film and tv roles. I never did get cast as a generic cop #1 or guard #2.

I was cast in The Glow (Fox) with Dean Cain (Superman) and Hal Linden (Barney Miller, ABC), worked with Lucy Liu in Cypher (Miramax), shot with director Robert Townsend cast in The Natalie Cole Story (NBC) acted opposite Theresa Randle (Beverly Hills Cop III).

I get cast in a fairly big theatrical release Hollywood film called Paid In Full. This was my introduction into working in the U.S. on an entertainment work visa.
Some interior studio shots in Toronto and location shooting in Harlem, New York. Based on a true Harlem story. All my scenes are with the lead actor Wood Harris (Remember The Titans, The Wire). The other two leads are Mekhi Phifer and famous rapper Cam’ ron.

Two decades later I still get recognized from it every now and then and a few have said they’ve watched it ten times! The rapper 50 Cent bought the rights to it last year so it’s again currently in the news.. I gotta also admit that this is the first film I ever had someone ask me for an autograph, at the hotel I stayed at in Manhattan. Trippy, awkward, but happy to sign. It was a New Yorker too!

I took a long break from acting. Then about 2020 I started playing my keyboard again I bought a few years before. I quickly upgraded to a Yamaha digital piano with weighted keys. As I got better, by spring of 2023 I bought a professional grade digital piano (latest DGX model) to start recording my own compositions.

That summer my next door neighbor was shooting a thriller indie film. They needed score music for it so I ended up scoring it, called Icarus Falls. We won Best Cinematography here in a local LA film festival in 2024. Then we shoot another film, a horror, called The Evangelist. Which I scored with Anthony Zeal. We’ve won around 10 awards with this one so far. We also just released The Evangelist miniseries a few weeks ago back in July.

Also in the summer of 2023 I get a call from my close friend Jennifer Ball who just finished re-writing a feature length script called Tails California. My kind of film! They start shooting a month away and she wants me to read it and play the supporting male lead character.. She already saw my demo reel. I read it, loved it, and we shot it! It got shown in 3 local film festivals and won several awards at the Lady Filmmakers Film Festival in Beverly Hills.. Jenn won Best Actress in a Feature and I won Best Actor in a Feature. I’m now an award winning actor!. We also won Best Feature Film. So now be on the lookout for a future distribution deal.

This past June I finished scoring a indie short film called Dancing Home by filmmaker Pam Heffler. Starring herself and Max Gail (Barney Miller, ABC). I also have another indie feature film that I scored called Gumshoe Gals. It’s scheduled to premiere in the Simi Film Festival September 18th.. This is Rebecca Tarabocchia’s directorial debut and is also starring in it. Producer is Ryan Willer of Tails California, who is a work horse that keeps pumping out film’s nonstop.

Most of my acting work, both indie and major productions, and my music scoring gigs have mostly been by “word of mouth” and experience in the craft. You gotta be good to everybody you work with. It’s a small world and your reputation goes a long way!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
A lot of my songs come to me while I’m dreaming.. I gotta wake up in the middle of the night and record it on my piano or it’s gone forever.. Dragging myself out of bed at that time is a real challenge. The next day roles around, I listen to the recording and it’s hit or miss. The judging from the mind begins.. Sometimes dreams can amplify the raw beauty of a melody. Pure spirit!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have my own music production company called LA Coast Music. I think using the name “LA” is more effective to optimize branding than using my own name.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I might be the only musician to release a soundtrack album with 17 versions of 1 song. All versions recorded and ready to go!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: nelsontynes_
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nelson-tynes-b65a59384
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@LACoastmusic-California