Today we’d like to introduce you to Leonard A. Thomas.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Leonard. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started acting back home in Detroit. I grew up doing plays and skits in the church. I also grew up with siblings who are close in age so we’d play around all the time doing silly voices and characters. I joined a youth acting company called the Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and that’s when I felt like it was something that I could pursue as a career.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a creative entrepreneur is definitely not a smooth road. There are ups and downs but you have to learn to love the journey. Some days you are working and booking a lot. Other times, you are going through a period of getting no work and no auditions but this career path is all about resilience and not giving up. There is also the balance of maintaining many side hustles and sources of income until you reach the point where acting can pay more of the bills. It’s more like an expensive and professional hobby that has the potential to evolve into a career rather than being that from the beginning. I definitely feel like an entrepreneur that is bootstrapping a company.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m an actor. I received my MFA in acting from the American Conservatory Theater. I love to act in witty content, black content, and content that gives voice to marginalized groups. I love playing characters of all sorts.
What were you like growing up?
I was the shy and quiet type outside of school. I really just kept to myself and did the best that I could at things. In school, I was one of the top students academically. I graduated as one of my high school valedictorians. I knew school material came easily to me and was not shy about that. I was pretty helpful to my peers who needed academic support. I’d always want to help walk someone through how I came to understand things. I think this practice of helping others and sharing information stays with me now as I try to build a community of peers where we all help each other with our artistic pursuits.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonard.a.thomas/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/leonard_athomas
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9481455/?ref_=hm_prof_name
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