Check out Ramsay Philips’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ramsay Philips.

Ramsay, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My story starts in Lexington Kentucky where I grew up. I fell in love with film and T.V. at an early age but never knew as a kid how to be in them. I didn’t even know being in films and T.V. shows was a possibility. I played sports my whole life and didn’t get into acting until I was 21. There is one movie that really triggered my love for film that surprises a lot of people when I tell them. That movie is Titanic. I know right. Not expecting that one. It sealed the deal for me. The love story is incredible, and I was hooked. In college, my mom kept asking me “What do you want to do?” “What do you want to do?” I knew I wanted to be an actor but saying it out loud would sound weird. Can this kid from Kentucky actually be an actor? No way, right. It’s impossible. That answer I’m proud to say is YES. This kid from Kentucky can be an actor. I am an actor. I told my mom, and she couldn’t have been more supportive of me. So we made it happen. I went to a college near me to take classes and an agency Images Model and Talent to see if I even liked acting and I did. Then I moved to Los Angeles where I’ve been for eight years, and it has been amazing. Now I’m proud to call myself an actor.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Love comes from feeling and expressing all of our emotions. My goal with the movies and T.V. shows I do is to create cool stuff. Stuff that inspires and empowers people to do whatever they are passionate about in life. We all drift through life at some point not really going after anything. We get stuck in this rut and do the same awful routine day after day after day. I’ve been there. It sucks. It’s tiresome, boring and depressing. I want to show people that anything they want to do is possible. I want people to feel. To feel their emotions, we all have amazing emotional ranges, and we live in a society where those emotions are suppressed, and people are silenced, and they can’t express their emotions. Most of us don’t know how to express our emotions when we feel them. So when we feel sadness we don’t know what to do, we are taught to push sadness down and keep sadness down to never let ourselves feel that way. Sadness is one emotion on our amazing spectrum of emotions and because we feel sadness doesn’t mean we will feel sadness forever. It is an emotion it comes and goes. If we don’t deal with our sadness when we feel it, and we continue to push it down, then it will rise up from us in the form of anger and hatred. Emotions we all know how to express far too well. It is ok to feel sadness or heartbreak or any of the emotions that don’t lift you up. They are a part of who we are, what we are feeling, and they come and go. Love comes from feeling and expressing all of our emotions.

Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
Wow, good question. This one makes me think. Conditions for artists have definitely changed over the last couple of years. It’s not even the same game as it was when I moved out here. The conditions change as the technology changes. Social media has changed the game and the definition of what it means to be an artist today. It used to be you would move to Los Angeles for a crack in the entertainment business but now with Instagram, Youtube and other platforms that’s not quite the case. People can stay in the middle of the country get a huge social media following then make the move to Los Angeles with a built-in fan base. Those kids are a lot more appealing to potential filmmakers. But there is a whole lot more to being an artist. As artists we have to adapt or get left behind, we have to find creative ways to market ourselves. Not all of us are social media savvy; however, this is a new time, and we have to adapt. Social media can be a very fun and unique way to reach people you never thought possible. We can reach fans from all over the world, or we can reach potential employers right here in our very own city. If we have fun with social media and let our 1000 true fans into our world and let them know who we are then our web of fans and our outreach will only grow, and the potential for us to inspire people is limitless.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
In The film The Reunion, I play twins which was an amazing experience. Everyone was so wonderful to work with. You can watch it on Amazon. If you like it, please give it a rating and leave a comment.

The film Black Lightning: Tobias’s Revenge is on Youtube. Some really cool people put this film together. The film White River Tales is playing at the Catalina Film Festival. Which is an amazing under the radar festival. The film The Tragic Fall of Valley Rob is on Vimeo. This was so much fun to shoot. Like being in college again (except the ending)
The film Billy Boy is in limited release as of now.

I have a podcast on Apple Itunes called Nosmokinpod, check it out. We talk about random wacky news stories.
The film The Stick Up is on Youtube. Yes, I’m the one being robbed.