Daily Inspiration: Meet Zach Sale

Hi Zach, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I love talking to Voyage LA!! So, let’s see, “What’s happened since the last time we spoke?” The writers and actors strike of 2023 came and went. That was a tumultuous time for all of us in the industry. The last time actors and writers were on strike together was in the ’60s. I walked the picket lines with so many amazingly talented people. All of us just marched to make sure we were seen as artists and taken seriously as professionals in the industry. The strikes started because the studios thought AI was an easy fix to producing projects without having to pay or deal with the personalities of the individual. But you can’t take the human element out of the creating process and expect to get results people want to tune into. I’m proud of the strike; we stood up for ourselves and what was important to us, and I believe the industry is now stronger and more unified because of it.

Whilst the strike were raging and the picket lines were full, I took advantage of my time off of work on set to keep sharp with training. Scene study on RD Sudio on Cohuenga with Robert D’Vanzo and Self Tape audition technique with Scott Sedita. Both these men are masters in the industry, and I owe much of my honed talent to both of them. Completely different training styles, which I love, and I recommend them to anyone in the Hollywood area. They’ll change your life as an actor.

I’m excited now that the strike has been over a couple of months and production has started back up again at full steam that you’ll be seeing a lot more of Zach Sale on the big and small screen. My manager is absolutely devoted to pushing her talent and that’s something super meaningful for an actor. I feel there’s a lot of friends of mine who have representation who don’t even know anything about them as people, let alone as talent. To me, a good team is one where the reps know their talent personally, and the talent knows their reps the same. I believe that the better you know someone, the more you want the best for them.

I also had the joy of working on a film that takes place in the world of MMA. I played an MMA fighter with a mysterious history. It was a blast training for the film, and the shooting was intense. My body was definitely sore after filming wrapped, but I absolutely loved the results of everyone’s hard work. The film is by See Ya Hayde Productions and is titled “In The Ring of Brotherhood.” The film is set to be submitted to Sundance 2025, Cannes Film Festival, SXSW, and a number of other amazing festivals as well. We’re hoping for big things with the final product.

Another film I worked on the last I spoke with Voyage LA is called “unDEFILED.” It’s set to have it’s world premiere   February 2024.

My new favorite escape from everything is hiking. I’ve got a great group of guys I go hiking regularly with. We have an annual hiking trip we do every year. We recently went on an 11 day hiking trip with over 100 miles hiked at five national parks up and down the Pacific Northwest. I love hiking…getting away from the business of the day-to-day, and reconnecting with myself surrounded by nature and the beauty that is our planet…there are no words that can give a description of just how awesome it is to me. I’ve now hiked to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, the mountains of Zion, the vibrantly blue/green waters of North Cascades National Park, the 10-mile hike through rivers of glacier water and snowy terrain to get to base camp on Mount Rainier; walked amongst thousand-year-old giants at Redwood national park; walked along the seal speckled beaches and mountainous coastline of Olympic National Park and cliff jumped into the Mysterious waters of Crater Lake. I love it.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
May of this year will be my 14th year acting professionally. It’s definitely been a road of ups and downs. I sometimes wish I knew what I know now back when I first started this journey. But, I think without the downs the ups might not have reached so high. The tallest mountains create the deepest valleys. And all the hard times in life make the recipe of Zach Sale. They’re just as important as the good times.

I tell people that everything you go through in life are the ingredients of what makes you, YOU.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m an actor. I…AM…an ACTOR!! I love saying that. I didn’t get into it until I was in my mid-twenties…and it’s a tough business to break into. Most people don’t have the connections to help get the attention they need to really catapult their success early. I sure didn’t. I consider myself fortunate to have had to fight for all my accomplishments as an actor. Surrounding myself with like-minded individuals has been key to my progress in Hollywood. Working with a costar on a set of an independent film could be the same person who’s producing the next project you’re working on.