Check Out Will Charlton’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Charlton.

Hi Will, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Well in the year since we last spoke, I’ve actually spent most of my time outside of LA. I’ve been working overseas and doing a lot of travelling. We had one month, I think, of rehearsals in the UK and then we were touring round the world for the other eleven and yeah, it was amazing. Did a couple of plays, bit of singing, the odd game of Jackalo – I was very lucky.

But it’s been nice to be back. LA has this way of making me feel centred; weirdly I think it’s the only place I’ve really felt at home. So it’s been a comfort. And back in time to have seen Oasis so that helped. That was unbelievable.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think this past year more than any other has given me more challenges I’ve had to face. And it’s been tough, it’s been really tough.

Last year, in October, I found out that my Mum had been diagnosed with cancer. I can’t remember where I was, I think we were at sea somewhere but I remember taking the call from my Dad who was back in England. And that, y’know, changed everything instantly. I was only a couple of months into this year long job, thousands of miles away from my family and I just didn’t know what I could do. How could I be useful to the people that had given me everything? That sense of helplessness really drove me down into a bit of a spiral.

I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t tell anyone I was working with what was going on, I was just turning up to work everyday, gradually getting more frustrated and disengaged. I’d shave my head every time my Mum started a new cycle of treatment; I don’t know, I just wanted to feel like I was doing something. My way of being like ‘you’re not alone here’. I remember every time I’d come into work after I’d done it and I’d just get a fresh wave of ‘what have you done?’. ‘Will’s had another breakdown’. I thought about leaving (the job) – heading back to England to be with my family – on more than one occasion. But I had a really great support network at the time that, quite honestly, dragged me through it. If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know where I’d be – I certainly wouldn’t have lasted the contract.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Oh man, I can’t talk about work right now. I think I said last time about how I love creating something from my own personal experiences and how that’s a real cathartic process for me. I just don’t think, after this year, that I’m ready to face those feelings just yet. I think I’m still carrying a lot of loss, a lot of grief with me.

I don’t know, for years I let my work define me. I was ‘an actor’, or ‘that thing; that play or that film or whatever it was, that was who I am’ but I can’t do that anymore. I think, what I want to be known for, is someone who tries their best. Who invariably gets it wrong, but puts in the work, shows up, and tries their hardest to make it right.

I think that’s probably what I’m most proud of. I’ve done a lot self-reflection, especially in the past two or three months, and I’ve really worked on myself. I know not everyone does that. Poetry has helped with that, and music too. It’s been nice to return to those roots; the stuff I did before I ever thought about it as a job and write down some verses or pick up a guitar and express myself that way. I don’t know if anything I’ve written recently will ever see the light of day but, some stuff you’ll see soon.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Positivity.

This has categorically been the worst year of my life. But, within that, I’ve also had the best time of my life.

That feels odd to say considering everything I had going on in the UK but honestly, the time I spent on the cruise was…just amazing. It’s a shame I didn’t see it at the time, and I’m romanticising certain parts of it now, I know I am, because the job wasn’t always what made it great but the people were. The experiences I had: swimming with sting rays in Antigua, watching wrestling in Mexico, wandering around Florence – no one gets to do that. And then in the evening, to get on a stage and make people laugh or sing a few songs? I was so lucky, and even luckier to have done that with people I love.

I wish I’d vocalised how I felt a bit more back then, and been a bit more positive. But that’s the lesson; maybe it’s taken me coming back to England, losing relationships, being in the middle of all ‘that’ and not having the distraction of like ‘oh, which part of the Caribbean are we in today?’, to learn that. I wish it hadn’t but like I say, that’s the lesson. I’ve got to live with that now.

That’s what my Mum says to me; ‘go out there and live your life’. It can be really easy to forget that when you’re thinking about paying bills, or not getting callbacks for the job you want or whatever it is that we stress about but you have to squeeze every ounce of positivity possible out of a situation, and hold on to it. That’s what I’ve got to do. Love unapologetically, laugh voraciously and just live every single moment we can.

My Mum’s right. Although, I mean, isn’t that the way.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willjcharlton/
• Twitter: https://x.com/WillJCharlton
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6755274/