Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Burnett.
Hi Jeremy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I actually started in college… well technically I was an extra in the Nas video Nastradamus; but in college before I was going to graduate after failing to make the football team at Penn state. My friend suggested that I take an intro to theatre class with him because he heard it was an easy A and four credits (which I was like hell yeah that would significantly boost my GPA. I took the class and I loved it. It scared me, took me out of my comfort zone, got my creative juices going, allowed me to play, allowed me to dig deep, opened my soul, it was an amazing experience, I said to myself I wanted to do this forever even bought acting for dummies a book to get me started… and then I got caught up in college life, haha being at a great school but also somewhat of a party school. Fast forward, graduated couldn’t get a job for like two years and struggled with interviews, was lost and didn’t know what was next…I was lost… didn’t know what to do with my life and what I loved, what my purpose was or what I wanted to do. So I said lemme give football another try, attempted to go to the tryouts for the arena league and didn’t make it… now was totally lost…just graduated, no direction, no anchor, no ideas, no hope in a sense… then my cousin Emile told me he could get me an interview with his job… so after two years of searching, I got an interview and the hired me. I also started making music at that time, making beats, started a production group, would come home and make beats, studied music, studied artists but the group wasn’t really working… and after less than a year in the job, I wasn’t happy… I would come home tired, depressed, stresses, I was losing my spark. I always believed that you should keep that little star in your soul shining and I was losing that..one day after a night of partying, I went into the office closed my door and went to sleep.
Nobody came into my office for the whole 9-5… and I was like is that what I want to do with my life for the next 30/40/50 years can I see myself still here and completely letting that fire extinguish and the rest of my life not feeling like I went after something that I really wanted… something or anything that I felt I was destined for… some bigger purpose that was calling out to me… I always felt like I was meant to something great in life… so I went home one day had a conversation with my bonus mom Wendy Mckenzie and she told me that she always found ways to make money doing what she loved… that she never “worked” a day in her life, everything she did in life was in alignment with what and how she envisioned her future .. at that time she was teaching acting classes.. so I had a decision to make… I talked to my mother Allison and she was supportive and she just wanted the best for me… so I decided to put in my two weeks at my job… Told Wendy and she said she could take me under wing but I had to pay her for the first session to see if I had what it takes… did that and then she let me intern for her, gave me free classes and was guidance in the beginning…then I started to classes with her, classes in the city, internships in the city, being a reader in the city, putting work, learning about the craft, studying the business, watching old movies, reading biographies, watching inside the actors studio… and after years and years of bookings, disappointments, accomplishments, studying, auditions, etc. here I standddd…I want create in dent in the universe.. I want to watch all my dreams come to life. I want to fully follow the fire in m spirt and light up the world…
Slowly but surely, I booked my first local commercial and went on a string of commercial bookings… I’ve been on commercials for Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, Dawn, Hologic, GE, News 12, Good morning America, At&T, BP, Nissan. After booking my first tv show which was Blue Bloods I went on to recur there three times, I’ve been on CBS, NBC, ABC, Netflix, Amazon and shows such as Elementary, FBI: most wanted, The family, Jessica Jones, Limitless, Crisis in six scenes, Odd mom out, the Leftovers, I’ve worked with Meagan Good, Donnie Walhberg, Woody Allen, Miley Cyrus, Justin Theroux, Mary J Blige. Ive very blessed to consistently book tv shows. And I plan on going to the moon, I plan on making that dent in the universe. I got big dreams and that with God’s blessing I have to make them happen.. I came from nothing.. Not having any direction, to fighting for and following a dream that not too many people believed in when I started… to accomplishing so much and man i feel like I’m just getting started.
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?
Absolutely not!!.. I think the journey of being an actor is incredibly hard… there is so much rejection that people outside of the business don’t understand. You can do 100’s of auditions and get one yes… book 1 or 2 jobs… can you imagine how tiring and taxing that is.. and having a mix of auditions that you really want and others that you are like ehhh but you still audition and prepare for ..getting auditions last minute 10pm on a Friday and that’s due the next morning.. or losing out on jobs but you’re too tall, too dark, too light, someone’s friend booked the job, all that can be incredibly frustrating …especially after putting your into an audition, studying with a coach, learning your lines, practicing with a friend, yes its part of the job but still sometimes it can be very frustrating and taxing for the mental health… I don’t think that’s talked about enough… auditioning can be very draining and a lot of the times there is no feedback or anything… also dealing with family lol, they can have the best intentions. But sometimes, they can be insensitive towards your dreams and career.
I’ve gotten how’s the acting “thing” going, you don’t ask a doctor how’s the doctor “thing”. Or being asked what’s your next gig, when’s your next job coming… what have I seen you in? It can make you feel less than or people try to belittle you because you’re not Michael b Jordan or that haven’t seen you on anything. or anything that they aren’t familiar with… if you’re in class working on your craft that doesnt make you less of an actor than some as a series regular on tv… what makes someone an actor? Is there a certificate? Booking a tv show makes you an actor? Those can be some challenges outside of the business… quick story I auditioned for this show from June to January consistently and didn’t understand why I wasn’t booking nor did I understand why they kept calling me I thought that I sucked lol… I started to get too insecure about my talents… until I talked to the casting director and she told me that the producers like me they were just trying to find the right place for me on the show… sometimes we can be our own worst enemy or obstacle… imagine if I had quit or given up on myself …sometimes you don’t know what other people are thinking, you just have to trust yourself and your talent.
But with everything that I’ve went through… perspectively I’ve learned so much about myself, what I want, who I am, the things I want to fight for, the things I want to do, my passions, my childhood, my soul, my most inner thoughts, my behaviors, how my childhood and people around me have shaped me… acting has forced me to take a look at myself, take a look at my most inner desires and thoughts, take a look at my behaviors and it’s such a magnificent journey… without the highs and lows I wouldn’t be who I am, its a journey that I am proud that I’m on a journey that I’m proud I took that first step…
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in human behavior. I study why people are they the way they are and apply it to my craft. I study why the drug addict can give up their child for drugs, I study why someone fights for their dreams, I study why people do what they do…I’m also an actor and I apply what I study into my craft… I’m known for being a student of the game… I specialize in obsessing over the art of acting… my career, I’ve studied and studied movies, books, artists, life, interviews, etc… I’m probably most proud that I set out to be an artist and actor and that ice achieved that. I followed my inner child, followed and pursued the things iv enjoyed as a child… telling stories, creating characters, being creative… I think what sets me apart from others is that my grandmother told me I was special, haha… but nah just have a huge appetite of figuring out what and why someone does what they do… I love to figure out the puzzle of a character, figuring how I can bring this person off of the page… how can I give life and memories to this creation… I’m known to find and see things different…
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I think the Covid-19 crisis has taught me a lot… life is precious, I know so many people who have lost someone to covid and I’m sure it wasn’t expected… life is so precious you never know when or if you’ll see someone again… I think sometimes we take that for granted. Like how many times do we say to people, I’ll see you next week or tomorrow, covid and life told us that it isn’t guaranteed…I think we should tell people all the good things about them at birthdays and not wait til funerals… I love that whole idea of giving people their flowers when they are still alive… Also, I never thought I would live through a pandemic, it was crazy, lets you know that anything can happen in life…
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.jeremyburnettactor.com
- Instagram: jeremyburnett1
- Facebook: Jeremy burnett
Image Credits
Jabbar Walker
