Today we’d like to introduce you to JT Neal.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in a very small town in Texas, where the most important thing is football. High school, middle school, or pee-wee, it didn’t matter. Everything was football. But for whatever reason, football never really excited me very much. I played out of necessity, and expectation but I definitely never loved it. When I got to 7th grade, I already had a reputation as the kid who’d disrupt class. I liked to talk. I liked to make jokes and distract my friends which is not conducive to a learning environment. One day, my English teacher gave me two options; I could either go to the principal’s office again or I could audition for the school’s one act play that afternoon. I chose the latter. However, it required me missing most of football practice which was blasphemy. I went anyway. Being one of very few boys that auditioned, I got a part in the play. I had always loved movies and comedy so I was excited but also super nervous. We opened the show, and I could not have loved it more. I knew from then on that I wanted to be an actor. My mother found Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, and after middle school I started going to school there. It was the best training I could have ever asked for. I graduated and moved to LA full time to pursue acting.
Great, 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?
It’s been up and down, which is typically the case with anything involving the arts. There have been really fruitful times, and really dry times. I guess it’s been smooth in the sense that I’ve gotten work somewhat consistently enough to justify moving my entire life to LA to pursue this dream. But there have definitely been times when I’ve contemplated quitting the whole thing and going back to school for something else. I’ve been on shows before for almost an entire year, then one day the show gets canceled and suddenly I don’t have a job. And I might not get another one for a year. That’s happened and it’s really rough. But I know if I keep going and working hard it’ll come back around.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Acting is my business. My goal is to be able to fully support myself on acting alone. Of course I have my hobbies, but acting is the only thing I really feel like I know how to do. Working on Bless this Mess now has been such a dream come true because I’m able to focus entirely on acting. I have a regular job doing what I love with people I look up to and admire, and that really is all I’ve ever wanted.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Everything in this business is luck. But I was told once that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. So I try to create my own luck by staying in class, reading new plays, studying great actors and things like that so that when the opportunity arises, I’m prepared. That’s when good luck happens. When I’m in the right place at the right time and I have made myself ready for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: jtnealofficial.com
- Instagram: @jt_neal
- Twitter: @JT_Neal_IV
Image Credit:
F. Scott Schafer, Bless This Mess- ABC/20th Century Fox Television
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