Meet William Basham

Today we’d like to introduce you to William Basham.

William, before we jump into specific questions about your work, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
For starters, I was born in Tacoma, WA (About 40 minutes south of Seattle, WA). This is a city that is not as heavy in the entertainment scene as Los Angeles. So naturally being an entertainer wasn’t something I thought I would grow up to be. I always had a natural ability to entertain in one way, shape or form though. For example, I love to dance, I was a child model, a class clown and had a gift in athletics. Dancing started young because I used to watch my mom dance, who was a dancer, and I watched a lot of Michael Jackson. I had and still have today, a great ability to visually see things and mimic them, so I would watch their dance moves and try to pick them up. This has led me to many dance performances which range from grade school talent shows, freestyle dance battles, college dance performances and step show with my fraternity (Kappa Alpha Psi). In addition to dancing, I was a child model from ages 6 to about 13. I did a lot of print work with companies such as Lamonts, REI, Nintendo and Nordstrom to name a few. I was in a lot of Nordstrom catalogs, which was cool financially and because my friends thought it was cool, but as a young one, I didn’t see the vision of my future in this. I kept getting pulled out of school for auditions/shoots and all I wanted to do at this time was dance around, do sports and play with my friends. Therefore, the young modeling career came to a close and I went back to living the standard kid’s life, which made me happier at the time. In middle school, high school and college I was big on sports. I have played several sports but the sports I focused on were basketball, football, track and field. I was a varsity team captain in all three sports and was a triple jump state champion my senior year of high school. I feel that doing sports growing up has helped me today in what I do because it molded my work ethic. Just like sports practices when I was competing, I refuse to allow people to outwork me no matter the circumstances. Going into college I competed in track and field while studying business accounting. After a couple of years of competing in college, I suffered an injury in addition to transferring schools, so I stopped running track and decided that although business accounting was a focus of study that would have provided security, I switched my major to media and communication studies. Here I enjoyed what I was doing. I was giving interviews around campus, learning how media can influence society and learned video editing, which got me back into wanting to work in the entertainment industry. After graduating from college, I took a year to work and just wasn’t seeing what I wanted so I took a leap of faith, packed my bags and moved to Los Angeles. After arriving in LA I got a job working in IT for a medical company, where I work overnight and was able to uphold finances to continue living in LA while maneuvering my way through the entertainment industry.

One day when I was at the gym I was cracking jokes and being a goofball on the basketball court and a guy asked me if I had worked in radio before and I had mentioned that I studied media and communications and he asked if I would like to sit in a show that he did so I checked out it. One day he asked me to be on the air and long story short I became a regular host on the show, which led me into meeting a lot of talented and cool people in LA. It also assisted me in the start of my acting career. My uncle was an actor in both New York and Los Angeles and watching him I had an inner desire to become an actor but had a fear of the process. So, while on the radio show we were interviewing and actor/acting coach and after we got off the air, I spoke to him about taking acting classes and getting my acting career going and gave me some great information that got me started. Through his class, I got an agent and when I started the audition process, I booked my first audition in Hollywood, which led me into my career as an actor in addition to a radio personality, writer and social media content creator.

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?
Going back to my younger years I was always good at things and showcasing my talents, but I had a few individuals that called me show off on different occasions that gave me a bit of a complex because I liked the idea of being liked by all my peers over trying to be the center of attention. So instead of being the front runner on everything, I would start letting others be the front runner on certain things where I could have shined just to make sure I was still liked by everyone. I bring this up because it created an internal obstacle within me and affected the early stages of my acting career because Los Angeles is full of talent and you need to give your best and shine any time you are performing. Instead, I found myself hearing the voice of my childhood saying you’re a show off, which caused me to take a step back from greatness to allow others to overshadow me in situations where I had the skills to be the main guy for the job for the sake of my peer’s happiness over my own. As I have gotten older and more experienced in this career, I am beginning to get over that complex and beginning to shine the way I was meant to.

Now, as far as just the acting process there have been struggles with inconsistent work, finances, studying hard for a role, doing well in the audition and not getting the role or even studying had for a role and being ultimately prepared and bombing the audition because of nerves or anxiety in the audition room. I am in love with the process and have been humbled on this idea of patience because this career is a definite marathon, not a sprint. Most of my life I have been told yes, so hearing no so more often than a little bit is a struggle but keeps me on my toes and I am always finding better ways to rise to the occasion whenever an opportunity comes.

Tell us more about your work.
I am an actor, writer, on air personality, dancer and social media content creator. Acting is my main focus, but all of the things I listed cater to being an all around entertainer. I have different acting projects that I am known for besides hundreds of thousands of views I have received from comedic content I have put out via social media. What sets me apart from other’s versatility as an actor (both comedy and drama), my wide array of different skills ranging from, athletic skills, dancing, combat, stunts, comedy, improvisation, circus skills (Juggling, unicycle, flipping) to name some but not all. Most importantly I do my best to be professional in all scenarios relating to me as a business, making me an individual who is easy going to work with and will put out a great body of work.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I believe some folks can get lucky in my business based on the right place, right time or simply just knowing a person that can enhance the business. Ultimately, I find it important to bust your tail every day to get better for when business opportunities arise because true luck in this business is when hard work, dedication and perseverance meet opportunity. Anyone can just get lucky at something but if you are a hard working day in and day out for the opportunity you are set out to have it will assist you in the longevity of your career because you are prepared.

Contact Info:

• Email: williambashamtheactor@gmail.com
• Instagram: @itswilliambasham
• Facebook: William Basham
• Twitter: @iwillbasham

Image Credit:
Jermey David and Jonny Marlow on the Photography.

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