Meet David Sheftell

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Sheftell.

Thanks for sharing your story with us David. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am one of those rare people who ACTUALLY grew up in L.A. I also grew up to a very normal and loving family; my childhood was pretty idyllic. Growing up, I was on a very different track, focusing mainly on basketball and volleyball. It was during the volleyball season of my junior year where I got the winning point in a game and I did a victory dance that probably lasted a little too long. The next day I got called in by the head of the theater department, Mrs. Doris Warren, I thought I was in trouble. When I got to her office she told me to sit down. I said to her, “Whatever you think I did, I didn’t do it.” She told me to relax and said, “You’re not in trouble. You see, I saw your game yesterday, and you can move pretty well. Look, I know you can be quite the ham and you are hilarious when you host the talents shows (which I’d been doing for several years as different characters, most notably Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, “riiiiiiight”) so I have an offer for you.

I’m planning on doing “Bye, Bye, Birdie!” as the musical this year, but I’ll only do that show if you are in it and if you play the titular role of Birdie, if not I’ll do another play.” I was flabbergasted, me? In the musical? I asked her how we would do this because I was still on the Volleyball team. She told me not to worry, Volleyball practice and Play rehearsal had a half-hour difference. She told me I could go to every practice and every game, just come to the last half hour of rehearsal and we will work it out from there. I told her she had a deal. I went to my Volleyball coach to let him know, out of respect, the deal I had just made with the drama teacher. He told me as long as it didn’t interfere with practice or games, he didn’t care. Thus, my double life began. I would be running, jumping, and hitting with the guys on the court, to immediately sprinting out the door to singing, dancing, and laughing in rehearsal, sometimes with kneepads still on, it was exhausting. But I loved it.

Then all of a sudden, my volleyball life started to change drastically. Out of nowhere, my coach stopped playing me in the games. My parents who came to every game asked me what was going on since I usually started for the team? I told them I didn’t know, so they said, “Well, go ask the coach.” I went to ask him what had changed and he told me because I’d chosen to be in the musical, I’d no longer play in the games. I slunk back to my parents and asked them what I should do. They said, “What do you want to do?” I told them, to be honest; I wanted to be in the musical. In volleyball, all they do is make you run and yell at you. In the musical everyone is kind, fun, encouraging, and I just got a girlfriend, it’s not even a fair contest. My parents said, “Great, you’ve made a wise decision, now go tell that coach to go screw himself!” When your parents tell you it’s ok to go tell off someone who’s been unfair to you, especially someone in a position of authority, you don’t ask twice. I went and told the coach and never looked back.

From that moment on the acting bug bit and bit hard. I starred in two more plays in high school and then started auditioning for theatre schools. I was accepted on a Theatre scholarship to Pepperdine University after that. There I starred in nine out of the eleven shows I was in, in my four-year tenure there. I was the first freshman accepted onto the Pepperdine Improv Troupe and became it’s first and only two term President. And I even performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

After I graduated, I hit the ground running, getting my first television roles on “The Young and the Restless” and “Days of Our Lives.” As well as lent my voice to such cartoons as “Family Guy,” “American Dad,” and “The Cleveland Show,” which I am fortunate enough to still do. One of my biggest breaks came when I starred in the A&E miniseries “Stephen King’s Bag of Bones” with Pierce Brosnan and Anika Noni Rose. And most recently, right before quarantine, I shot a movie in Atlanta at the beginning of the year called “Willy’s Wonderland,” with Nicholas Cage, Emily Tosta, and Beth Grant, which I cannot wait for people to see.

Has it been a smooth road?
I would not say it’s been a smooth road to get where I am, and I still have a long way to go. As I’m sure a lot of other actors have said, this whole industry is 90% rejection, if not more. It’s hard sometimes not to take it personally but you’ve got to treat all of that like water off a duck’s back. Most of what I’ve been able to book has been mostly right place and right time for me. I’ve also been extremely lucky, compared to others, since this is where I was born and raised and I still have my wonderful support system of my Mom, Dad, and Sister, which I know others are not as fortunate to have. I’m also incredibly lucky because my family supports my dream 100% and they even help me with auditions and self-tapes anytime I need them; I’m truly blessed in that way.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Coming out soon you can see me opposite Nicholas Cage, Emily Tosta, & Beth Grant in the horror thriller called “Willy’s Wonderland.” I play Deputy Sherriff Evan Olson and honestly can’t tell you much more than that but it is a wild ride and I can’t wait for you to see it!

But I would say I’m most notably known for playing Max Devore in “Stephen King’s Bag of Bones” on A&E with Pierce Brosnan. I played a pretty bad guy so for people who’ve seen it, and who see what I do in it (I won’t give it away, go give it a watch!) they are always surprised when they meet me and say, “You’re nothing like your character, you’re so nice.” I take that as the biggest compliment to my acting. I’m also well known for my voice-over work, not just “Family Guy” and other cartoons, but I’m also the voice of Erie Insurance, and I play Lucas in the hit Video Game series “Days Gone.”

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
With this Pandemic, I definitely see our industry as having changed forever. Even when all of this craziness has ended, and we get back to whatever the new normal is, I think we will continue to see changes; it’s already begun. I think the days of the in-person audition have gone the way of the dodo. We’ve all seen how efficient sending in self-tapes can be, not just for the Casting Directors but also for the Actor. Auditioning can be an incredibly nerve-racking task. Sometimes the best audition you do is in the car on the way. But with self-taping, if you don’t do a good job on the first take, no worries, don’t send it. Send take two, or take two hundred even, whatever gets the job done. I think it allows you to really put your best foot forward and make a good first impression. I will, however, miss a lot of the in person interactions and getting redirected on an audition.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.DavidSheftell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsheftell/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DSheftell/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidSheftell
• Other: https://www.imdb.me/DavidSheftell

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