Today we’d like to introduce you to Chasen Parker.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Chasen. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and grew up outside of LA and started as an actor on NBC, ABC and CBS at the age of four. I’d go to school for half a day then go to work on whichever show I was on for years. Then right before junior high, my family was forced to move to Houston, Texas for what we thought was temporarily but turned out to be for the rest of my teenage years.
I spent the majority of my developmental years away from the industry and having what most would call a very run of the mill teenage experience playing basketball and spending time with friends. Come my senior year, I broke multiple bones in my right foot and was unable to play any sports for the rest of that year.
Incredibly downhearted, I saw a poster for an audition for the upcoming play “You Can’t Take It With You” on a poster. Something about it just felt like trying something completely different would be good for me. So I went to go join the theatre club and auditioned. The teacher directing it, who was the most kind-hearted individual you’d ever meet, ended up casting me in the lead in the play as “Tony Kirby” most notably played by Jimmy Stewart.
The entire experience changed my life as its central message that I took away was “do what you love not for the money, but because you love doing it, and that will be a life profoundly worth living.” At the time, I was thinking about pursuing a career in the medical field but the show had such a profound impact on me that I pivoted toward pursuing theatre and film.
I was accepted into Emerson College’s film program in Boston, MA and while working with fellow students on film projects, I found my way into acting in theatre productions which only enhanced my profound love for theatre and particularly Shakespeare. In the years I was in film school, I wrote, directed, acted in and produced many of my own short films and was fortunate to have several of them go to the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Showcase as well as many other festivals around the US and Canada. Due to my upbringing in the industry, I had a good idea of what a set was suppose to feel like, and despite the university’s focus on the skeleton crew experience, I amassed crews of roughly 70+ students for each film I would do outside of class in order to give myself the experience necessary to thrive in a large scale production. I was fortunate to be able to earn the opportunity to intern and work for major studios to learn about the inner workings of the industry.
With each film, project to project, whether I was just acting, or spearheading the project, through collaborating with some brilliant individuals, I was allowed to grow in my craft immensely. I was focused on building a reel for acting, as well as, writing/directing to be ready to work on a larger scale, but more importantly through that goal, found my voice as an artist and without realizing it started evolving toward the kind of film I want to make: To enjoy and have fun in the magic of film but lead to an intellectual conversation for the ride home, in turn reinstalling the true purpose of art, to make us all question everything.
I always had plans of moving to Los Angeles and after Cannes 2018, I had such a positive experience that I knew the next step in my career was to head back to California and call it home again. I flew home with a frenetic eagerness and immediately packed my bags, hugged my parent’s goodbye and started my journey out west.
Once I was officially in LA, I moved into a friend’s house with their family, began emailing agents and couldn’t wait to get started. And so, I waited and waited and waited only to be returned with silence. Although I was grateful for them attempting to help, none of my contacts panned out and I felt like I made the worst decision in my life. I felt like I left everything for nothing and was incredibly tempted to turn around and go home.
After a couple of weeks of being in LA with no future prospects, I found inspiration from my mother who built her own company from the ground up. I spent years watching her work her tail off building homes and grow it to what it is today. When she was hit with any sort of strife, she would shut up and put in the work. So I made an elective choice to do the same. I set out to find the best place to put myself to work at my craft. After going through many cheesy and phony overpriced acting class audits, I stumbled upon Playhouse West, a Meisner acting technique studio that were training grounds for actors such as Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum and many other strong artists. I instantly fell in love with their space and processes. It works as a gym for actors to study and get the right work in to grow as an artist. The work we put in completely affected my view of the world and in turn, my filmmaking and what I’d come to value in myself and others.
Since taking classes there, I’ve screen-tested for a major show, as well as a few directors who I grew up admiring. Although I got incredibly close to working with them, I could still feel that l hadn’t found my place yet and knew if I kept working, something would catch. In true Hollywood form, toward the beginning of my journey, I got involved with a charity through a friend of mine and was unknowingly spending a lot of time with an Executive Vice President from one of the big five major film studios. When he said he was looking for a film project to produce, I took my chances and pitched him an idea for a feature film I had been writing and to my surprise, he partnered with me to start producing it together.
No matter what challenges present themselves, I’ll always give myself a chance and am incredibly grateful for those that take the sentiment of giving anyone new a chance seriously.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not, there’s been ups and downs. When the bumps hit there’s usually some sort of positive to take away from it, whether it be a new person or a life lesson. I’ve been told every reason why I’ll fail and why I’ll succeed, but I’ve found that the only person who dictates what you do in the end is yourself, and the outcome is all based on your work ethic and where to apply your time to decide that narrative for yourself. Regardless, I’m incredibly grateful for the challenges I’ve faced in my career as I wouldn’t have had an appreciation for what I do, nor would I have developed a strong work ethic if everything in my career was a smooth road.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love Los Angeles for so many reasons, but the one that I love the most is the culture around basketball. I love the Lakers having grown up watching every game with my dad particularly with Kobe & Shaq dominating the league and am still a diehard fan to this day. No matter who you meet, if they’re a Lakers fan there’s always a positive conversation to have. Because of the impact the Lakers culture had on my life, I was able to understand leadership qualities because of someone like LeBron James, not only because of his basketball prowess but because of how he conducts himself as a professional.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @chasenparker
Image Credit:
Emma Prica, Debbi Dodge, Stephanie Kewish
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