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Meet Gordon James Asti

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Gordon James Asti.

Gordon James, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am an actor, writer/director and painter. Boy oh boy, sometimes I think I should’ve just stuck with one… I moved to Los Angeles back in 2010 to pursue an acting career and in the midst of that pursuit, began creating films. In 2011 I wrote, directed and starred in my first feature film titled ‘Sunday’. It had the usual flaws you could expect from an over-zealous 22 years old.

Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience with an amazing group of very talented folks who spilled over into my next film: ‘Life of the Party’. I was done wearing both acting and directing hats for this project, so I really hunkered down and focused on what the hell I was trying to say as a filmmaker. In 2013 it premiered at the Bend film festival in Bend OR. Serendipitously, the same place from which I had driven to Los Angeles from.

I then took a break to focus on my acting career, as well as to promote my artwork (between restaurant gigs) at various exhibitions throughout LA. As an actor, I worked on a lot of indie projects, one of which I met my wife Denise (a film major at the ‘New York Film Academy’) before landing a role as a serial killer on the hit TV series ‘Criminal Minds’. The following year, Denise and I decided it was time to make another film and I felt confident in wearing both hats yet again; only this time, I shared the reins with my co-director, co-actor and then fiancee and in 2017 we released ‘Beulah’. It garnered its fair share of success in the festival circuit landing seven different screenings including here in Los Angeles, Chicago, Italy and even Korea. ‘Beulah’ is now streaming on Amazon.

Just before the lockdown, I landed three roles in one, playing a very off-putting gentleman with dissociative identity disorder on the Snap Chat series ‘Solve’. My latest painting titled ‘Dear Los Angeles, I Love You’ was exhibited at the StartUp Art Fare in Venice, CA as well as being featured at Art-Share LA’s gallery in downtown. I’ve just finished my latest feature-length script and my wife and I are looking to get that into production in 2021.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There’s been a lot of the usual suspects when it comes to chasing a career in the arts. There have been plenty of embarrassing, falling flat-on-my-face audition disasters. But I think some of the bigger, scary-hairy challenges are things like trying to have a unique, artistic voice in a sea of people screaming at the top of their lungs. How to hold onto the antenna that picks up all of the beauty of the world and find meaning in what’s troubled about it. How to remain true to yourself and the ones you love. How to just be a good dude. To really have belief in the work you’re doing; especially when it’s not giving you an immediate return. To really trust that the work will have meaning to others in the same way it had for me when I needed comfort from the arts. To trust in the investment and not… quit.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I acted in titled ‘Shellshock’. I played an Iraqi war veteran haunted by crimes he committed while overseas. When I first got the job, I was elated by the chance to tackle such an amazing character immediately followed by a crushing sense of what the hell are you doing? You have no clue what it means to be a soldier. You’ll just shame those that have fought for your rights to claim yourself as an artist and I almost backed out of it. But I just made a huge promise to myself that I was going to do everything I could to tell this character’s story from as true of a place as possible. I took a deep dive in research and possibly took it a little too far physically and mentally. But it was incredibly important to me and when the film premiered a year later, I had a gentleman approach me afterwards and thank me for my performance. He was a ten years veteran. Easily the most important moment for me as an actor.

I try to not compare myself with others, so I’m not sure what others do to navigate through the industry. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always just had an obsession with the arts. That obsession leads me and I just try to make sense of it along the way.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I’m still trying to figure that out to be honest. There’s so much “gut” talk lately, but one should definitely trust it. It’s pretty much always right. When I look back on every big decision, good or bad, my gut was screaming at me and you guessed it… it’s pretty smart. I think being kind is an incredibly successful way to be. Getting through a day with kindness and grace is a huge success in my book and I’ve always got my feelers out for creatives with that kind of rhythm. Being good to the ones that are closest to you is so important. I think genuine time spent with your “community of trustees”, whomever that is to you, is most important. Something one can put on the back burner far too often when in hot pursuit of a career.

Only recently have I started to look back and say “wow, ya know that was pretty awesome”. I think you have to really find true love in your passions and pursuits. What I mean by that is when you can stand back and without judgment, just the subjective sum of your experience and say: I’m really proud of that as a something manifested into existence. There was real effort put in and it fills you with something, even if that something is just enough to get you through a rough day and onto the next one… then I think you’re in pretty good shape. Because tomorrow’s always a better day and it always seems to be filled with a bunch of opportunities that only came from the passion of yesterday. Getting in the habit of completion. There have been a few projects that didn’t go further than the script. But just the completion of the script was such an important step. Had that script remained half-written, or that painting remained only a sketched concept or you didn’t research a character as much as you could have… you may find yourself in a perpetual state of “almost”. Finishing what you start is paramount. It gives you the confidence you need for the next time you say: “Geese, that’s a pretty huge hurdle dude… can I jump that?” Well, you’ve done it before and this one’s only a little bit higher…

Always celebrate your successes no matter how small they may seem. Acknowledge the accomplishment and don’t wait for an award. Also, never wait for anyone’s permission to be the person you know yourself to be. Life does not wait and remember, whomever you may be waiting on, whether in business or relationships, those said persons are trying to sort this crazy life out for themselves as well. All this being said, I don’t think there’s an answer. I think everything you hear or read should be taken with a huge shaker-full of salt and you have to experiment, experiment, experiment until you hit a groove that feels good in that gut area.

To remember that the pursuit of positivity and comfort comes with a lot of negativity and discomfort but that is equally valid and important. I think someone, somewhere, time ago, decided that pain, fear and discomfort should not be a part of the human experience and so when it arises, it can be crippling to our journey. But as long as you put that negativity into a meaningful spin, even if it’s just acknowledging it, saying: “Hey, thanks for the lesson, I gotta move on now”. That can really mean the difference to your goals and a better tomorrow. I’d bet our ancestors would experience a terrifying battle with a saber-toothed tiger and (if they survived) they’d feel a hell of a lot stronger and much more prepared for anything life could throw at them. You know the party in the cave that night was a thousand times more pleasurable than the fear of the day was.

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Image Credit:
Personal photo by Peter Konerko

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