Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Gunnell.
Sean, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Before I begin, I would like to think Sid Reddy and the entire Voyage LA editorial staff for another grand experience connecting with y’all and your readership! It is always lovely getting to share part of my story with your community. To answer your question, my thespian journey is three decades in the making: I got bit by the performance bug at age 4, dove into theater one year later, spent the following 20+ years traversing the planes of musicals/Shakespearean/classics/contemporaries, etc., and then trained my passionate heart out on stage and screen via the Academy of Art University’s BFA Acting program, all of led me to Hollywood in 2014, where I have been patiently, diligently, and gracefully paving my professional career ever since. In the face of such an incredible challenge that is a consistent career in La La Land, I give massive credit to my parents for teaching me about being the hardest worker in the room, treating everyone with kindness, respect, dignity, and compassion, and that, if I want something, I have to earn my keep by taking the difficult path, the road least traveled, with no shortcuts taken. Well, here in Tinseltown, I am grateful to say that their instilled wisdom has gained me 50 principal roles in professional productions (including several movies on major streaming services), over a dozen Best Actor awards from film festivals, and wonderful talent representation, to name a few attributes. Mom and dad, you did quite well and should be proud of yourselves. Thank you for everything!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think about this question often, and, truthfully speaking, I believe that the road of an actor MUST be paved with constant struggle, throughout every career stage, because struggle can be one of our greatest friend and ally. Besides, what would be the point of feeling grateful for all of the blood, sweat, and tears we pour into achieving our goals without the many obstacles that teach us humility, understanding, and grace? I look back on all my years of poorly done auditions, missteps in my training, etc., and there are STILL plenty of hardships I’ve faced riding along with me on the daily grind. Well, I say color me immensely grateful for those buggers! Whether it was neglecting my craft in 2017 in order to focus on side hustles, moving to Chicago in 2018 for personal reasons, COVID, or the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, all mixed with years of self-doubt, pressure to book, and people pleasing others, I know my hinderances will always be present, agile, and ready to strike, appearing out of the woodwork and cackling like hyenas in my face. So I combat them by accepting each moment for what it is; a moment. I normalize my struggles for spiritual relief, I take my time to move through them with calmness and ease, and I practice the understanding of these pains, frustrations, and exhaustive feelings that inflict my soul with each new day. I say all of this to remind you that our struggles can be a good thing; they have purpose and meaning and can gift us motivation in refocusing our naturally amazing energies towards blissful outcomes, and they can teach us how to be better than we were from all of our moments past. We are imperfect, chaotic, and messy creatures, flawed in the most beautiful ways, and fully capable of taking every form of adversity, disappointment, and failure and turning them into extraordinary and magnificent opportunities. So please, everyone, stay your courses, amplify your voices, be kind and loving to yourselves and others, let your hinderances propel you to the next best phase of your lives, and learn how to let go and move on from who and what no longer serve your peace, for you never know what good fortune is going to grace your lives and dreams today!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What I do is nurture my inner child’s mad spark of creativity on the daily, in big and small ways, because my eternal love of theatrical storytelling demands me to be of service to that wild artistry forever drumming in my heart and soul! I come from a foundation in theatre, and I’ve flowed my way through works of Tennessee Williams, R.C. Sheriff, Oliver Goldsmith, Stephen Sondheim, Brian Friel, Paul Rudnick, and Molière, etc. (to name a few legends). I solidified my training grounds in San Francisco, where I began to earn my stripes for main stages and the silver screen. 30 years since my dive into the thespian pool, I stand before the world as a professionally trained craftsman; in me is a honed, matured, and versatile creative toolkit, a naturally vivid imagination, highly adept visual acuity, an accessible cavern of healthily understood emotions, mental fortitude, efficient memorization, the readiness of wit, and physicality fit in taking on various forms of fight choreography. To name a few of my specialities, I am strengthened in larger-than-life stage performances, villains that are both heroes-gone-bad and monsters relishing in their darknesses, and doing scenes where I am completely satisfied with ugly crying. I am best known for my work in the Lifetime Movie Network’s “Dangerous Medicine,” and SyFy International’s “Drone Wars,” plus various other indie features and shorts seen across streaming platforms and film festivals. I would say that I’m most proud of my craft when I’ve done my research on every facet of my characters, have bridged the gaps between my life and theirs, found what pulls me through each scene in terms of emotional/mental/physical/spiritual resonance, and when I’ve made each of my roles feel like cinematic beasts who can jump off of the screen in grand and powerful fashion. And what sets me apart from others is A. My commitment to never settle in my work for “good enough;” B. My willingness to get knocked down by this industry a billions times because the rejections cannot stop me rising again and again and again; and C. The magic of my artistry is a fire that can never be extinguished, and I’ve learned how to nurture its longevity. This industry can drain us, eat us, weary us, and get the better of our positive energies, and we must make sure to shift and adapt and rest on the daily in order to keep our heads above water. Therefore, I implore everyone: remember to play, tend to your well being both day and night, maintain the power and might of great wonder, check in with your loved ones, immerse yourselves in art often, breathe deeply, engage in your hobbies, practice good health and exercise, love fully, stay true to your magic sparks, take your time in your journeys, and honor thy worth. Great gifts will come your way as a result, and I guarantee you’ll always win the day!
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I see the entertainment industry finding its equilibrium again in the next 5-10 years, hopefully. I feel that there will be many more messes, tons of struggle, and plenty of battles yet unseen raging between execs and artists on the horizon. The truth is, streaming has changed the game forever, not necessarily for the better, and it pains me to see movie theaters suffering. We live in a time of mass quantity and demand for more movies and shows, where it feels like we get a new Marvel project being dropped every single day, and I feel like cinematic storytelling has lost its edge, its zest of life, and its unique charm that reigned supreme and impactful for decades. Not to say that we don’t have that magnificence now, but with companies constantly trying to capitalize on what’s trending, hiring wave after wave of fresh filmmakers and artists and influences to tap into those trends in order for the higher ups to profit off of them, color me exhausted, It just seems to me that we live in a time now where the status quo to sell, sell, sell has truly become the worst kind of cheap grabs at brownie points with communities and groups who demand change and representation and vocalization of important topics, all the while not actually taking the time to produce productions that actually do make vital impacts as both cinematic marvels and powerful commentary on humanity. And, respectfully speaking, I feel like we need to return to quality when it comes to hiring the most qualified people for each position, especially actors. This is nothing new; those who are popular, who are good for business, are well connected, or who can be hired for cheap, will get a lot of shots over talented powerhouses who may not have any of the above working for them. It can just simply be the way of the world. Frankly, I’m just not interested anymore when I see influencers and social media savvy individuals getting thrown front and center into major A-list productions, and it doesn’t help either when they get hired to sell the trash that major studios are churning out like clockwork. Their lack of experience clearly shows when not knowing how to bring a script to life, or create captivating characters, and who seem like they just want to be on-screen because it boosts their brand. Now, to anyone reading this who may take offense, please know that I’m not here to knock on anyone. I wish for everyone to hit consistent bullseyes while climbing their dream ladders, to practice/get knocked down/get better/rise stronger than ever before, and, even more so, I truly hope for a return to hiring and respecting all kinds of quality craftsmen again. In my humble opinion, I believe that maturing ourselves through adversity and hustle, facing mass rejections, diligently honing our skills, conquering challenges, not rushing anything, and trusting the process will eventually bring forth terrific opportunities that we, seasoned talents, can blow audiences away with. And perhaps that is what we are all doing, I can’t speak to everyone’s journeys, but I can speak to the fact that we live in a strange time for entertainment with what’s considered quality. Whether a studio or company does or doesn’t take care of their artists, and given our current landscape, I still put great stock in Hollywood investing itself in cinematic gems, talent, and integrity again, hiring the most qualified people for the jobs, and getting business booming again. And if the demand for quantity remains, I pray that the people in charge will devote whatever is necessary in making sure their projects are stellar, and will protect and care for their employees across every department, not just those at the tippy top. I don’t know if this will happen, it may take many more years, but if these changes can usher in a Renaissance era of brilliant movies and shows, handled by the greatest working artists the world has ever seen, count me in for whatever it takes. Our industry is worth fighting for, worth saving, and it’s worth even more when we clean out their rot infecting the core beliefs, values, and principles of our most beloved unions. We will persevere, we will remain united, and we will bring the eternal power of great cinema back, I can promise you that. Stay tuned, stay classy, stay humble, and stay you. Cheers!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seanalexandergunnell.com
- Instagram: @seanalexandergunnell
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/seangunnell.actor/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@SeanGunnell
- Other: www.imdb.me/seangunnell
Image Credits
Image Credits @Matt Schulte, @Alex Valente, @Nicole Dambro
