Life & Work with Tom Sys

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Sys.

Hi Tom, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As a kid, I was always involved in local community theater shows in Belgium, where I was born and raised. I always treated the theater as a hobby to decompress from my school work. But when I graduated from high school and started to choose what I wanted to continue to study there was only one answer that kept returning: Acting. I understood the uncertainties that a future in the showbiz would come with and accepted that with no doubt. If I could make even the smallest living by doing what I love, I’d be a happy man. At the age of 17, I moved away from Belgium to chase my dreams in the theater in New York. I got into the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) to start my acting studies. It wasn’t easy at first. English is not my first language and all of a sudden I was surrounded by it 24/7. However, I picked it up pretty fast and was getting the absolute maximum out of my studies. I adored every minute of it for two years straight and graduated at with a Conservatory Certificate in Acting.

COVID was very tough on the performing arts, but luckily I was able to perform with the Off-Off-Broadway theater company AlphaNYC. I was planning to transfer to the LA campus of AMDA to finish my Bachelor’s degree in the Fine Arts, but before I did that, I was accepted to spend the Summer studying amongst a bunch of highly experienced actors and legendary teachers at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York. After that great experience, I moved to LA to continue with AMDA. Los Angeles has been an awesome environment to create my own work aside from the school productions. I have been able to write, produce, and act in multiple successful short films that have been considered in film festivals all over the world. My love for theatre hasn’t fully been traded for film because recently, I’ve been working on getting the brand new Two Oceans Theater company on its feet. We’ve produced our first play with great success and there are many more to come.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The United States are very different than where I grew up. A “culture-shock” is a real thing, especially in New York. There is a fast-paced energy that dominates your day-to-day life and makes you live at 200mph. I had to change my way of communicating because of the language barrier, my eating habits, and transport methods, … It was different. However, the key was to embrace it all and use it to my advantage. For example, the fast-paced energy became my endless engine that made me work 10 times harder and use my time more efficiently. COVID was definitely a tough pill and still isn’t fully swallowed yet. Not being able to perform is the biggest fear an artist can have. My drive and passion are to touch audiences emotionally and give them a true experience, so when you aren’t able to do that, it itches heavily. However, that too was a matter of finding a way to use it to my advantage, which opened my interest in more digital content creation.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
First and foremost, I’m an actor. I have a proud and extensive history in theater plays and musicals, which is my original source of passion for the arts. Till this day, I am always involved in rehearsals for some kind of stage play. My most recent credits include The Continuum Tales, Henderson in Trifles, and Paris in Romeo and Juliet. On the film side, I have acted in quite a lot of shorts, one more successful than the other. I might be known mostly from Steel: Road to Survival, directed by Alexandra Samton, and Table of Truth, directed by Kj Manuel. Thereby, I have been able to extend my skills and got into writing and producing. It’s arguably something I’m the most proud of since I didn’t go to school for any of those disciplines and learned by trial and error. So far, I have written and produced a short film that was a semi-finalist in the Robinson Film Awards in Italy and the Paradise Film Festival in Hungary. I believe that my Belgian background and my language skills set me apart from many other actors and creators. I try to use my roots as much in my advantage as possible, especially in a business that is so highly competitive. I will always look and sound a little bit different and for many that “mystery” tends to be a trump card.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in a little town in Belgium called Puurs. It’s the type of town where everyone knows everyone and I was a part of that for my pre-high school years. I was always heavy into sports and grew up playing soccer, tennis, and bouldering. Many knew me as that overly competitive, sports-obsessive little kid. Around the age of 13, I went to a larger school in Antwerp, one of the biggest cities in the country. Puurs was always easy and accessible, but Antwerp got me out of my comfort zone and made me more independent, which is something that payed off later when I moved to New York. The school in Antwerp was tough and I graduated in Maths & Science, which was a big interest of mine. So much that engineering or architecture was my plan-B if I didn’t decide on studying acting. Antwerp was a big city, but surprisingly it was not where my passion for the theater started. Breendonk, a town next to Puurs, had a community theater company where I had my start in a musical and I absolutely loved it. Now, the US are great and my goal is to make a career here because of its incredible performing arts industry. However, I’ve always been proud of my Belgian roots and will continue to cherish the small town I grew up in. We have fun cultural habits that I miss when I’m away from home for years on end.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @tom_sys
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/A1tp3wtjuWM

Image Credits
Mike Petrie Brianne Dudra Alexia Szkolnik