Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Vlamis.
Michael, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up as a chubby little kid in Chicago, IL where all I wanted to do was make people laugh. I found the perfect platform to do that in 2nd grade when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to make a movie one weekend. He had an old school camera and we shot some ridiculous short film titled LAND OF THE TURTLES, where I played about eight different characters, including a bear.
From that point on, I was hooked. My parents bought me my own camera the following year and I spent every free second I had writing, directing, editing, and acting in short films. If a class project required a presentation, I attempted to convince the teacher to let me make a movie. Most of the time they would, especially since nobody else was doing this. The majority of kids in the Midwest are like me and start out having absolutely zero connections in the entertainment industry, so when a kid wants to make a movie, it’s unique, and if the teacher has a soul, they’ll allow you to fulfill your creative passion. I kid. Some of the teachers who said no have souls. I guess.
As I got older, society and my surroundings pointed me towards focusing on more conventional things. By the time I got to high school, I wasn’t making movies anymore. Instead, I was focused on graduating top in my class and getting a college baseball scholarship. In fact, every free second I had went to baseball.
Eventually, the focus paid off. I finished 10th in my graduating class and I went on to Chapman University in Orange County, CA to play baseball and study business entrepreneurship. Luckily for me, I kept breaking and tearing things in my body and after seven surgeries on everything from my knees to my hands, I quit sports. I say luckily because for the first time since middle school, I had freedom. Freedom to whatever I wanted. Of course, that year, my senior year, I returned to film.
Chapman has a great film school. I was not in it. But, I was on campus, which meant I could keep my ear to the grindstone for any and all auditions being held. That year, I auditioned for everything and ended up booking some of the biggest student productions of the year. For the first time in my life, I felt secure in what I was doing. I decided right then and there that I would pursue acting and film and never look back. I didn’t even hesitate. It’s what I was going to do.
I went on a tear. I snuck into the film school editing lab every night and taught myself how to cut an acting real with the short film footage I had. I picked up an unpaid internship for a producer in LA and drove to and from Orange County two days a week to learn as much as I could. I did everything I possibly could prior to graduating because I was on a mission.
But then I graduated, moved to LA, and nothing happened. Not one agent or manager would answer my emails for a meeting and the only connection I had built in the industry when I was interning ended up falling ill and couldn’t help me. Finally, I made up a fake name and started calling people on my own behalf. I pretended to be the assistant of an actual big time producer and would say, “my boss is a big fan of this young actor, Michael Vlamis, you gotta check out his stuff!” IT WORKED!
I signed with big reps and started auditioning. I booked my first audition, which was a co-star on NEW GIRL opposite Zooey Deschanel and then didn’t book anything else for years. It was brutal. I ended up finding a job selling watches on the street for a company out of San Francisco and eventually worked my way up to head of marketing. While I was making good money working remotely in LA, I wasn’t able to fully focus on my career. So, in 2017, after 4.5 years at the company, I quit my job to drive Uber in the mornings and spend my days focused on writing and shooting my own projects. If nobody was going to give me a chance, I was going to create one for myself.
I had been out of college for five years already and didn’t have much to show for it. My parents were worried and I can still hear my mom telling me, “you still have your business degree!” But there was no fallback. Never. Ever. But my lack of money started getting to me. I ruined the relationship I was in and tortured myself every day to write until I literally couldn’t write anymore. Looking back, I was pretty depressed. But I didn’t even know depression was real back then, so I just kept rocking and rolling.
FINALLY, in February of 2018, an acting teacher told me about a new TV show that I might be good for. I told my reps about it and they reached out to casting to get me an audition. Casting said no. They said I was more of a comedy guy and this was a dramatic role. After a week passed, my reps leveled with me. They told me they couldn’t get me in the room, but if I tape myself doing the audition scenes at home, they’d send it in and call and call until casting either write them off forever or actually watches the tape.
Well, casting watched the tape and three in-person auditions later, I booked my first lead role on the CW series, ROSWELL, NM. In that moment, my life changed. We’re currently filming season 3 and I get paid to act. Life is too funny.
In addition to acting, all of the writing and filmmaking I did out of desperation also panned out. In 2019, one of my scripts, BLUE SLIDE PARK, made the Blacklist, which is a list of the best-unproduced films in Hollywood voted on by studio executives. And in 2020, my first feature film, 5 YEARS APART, which I produced and starred in, received distribution and is now available on all major platforms. I have several other projects floating around, I’m gearing up to direct my first feature in 2021, and even have a clothing line, which was always another dream of mine.
Looking back, it’s wild to see how everything worked out, and I’m so grateful for all the adversity I faced and opportunities that came along the way. I feel like I’m just getting started. And best of all, I’m doing all of this with my friends.
Wow, that’s truly a story that illustrates why persistence pays off. Congrats on all the recent success, especially Blue Slide Park. Clearly, there were challenges, but looking back, would you say things have been relatively easy for you in retrospect? If not, can you talk to us a bit more about the challenges.
The biggest challenge was accepting that every human being is unique. Comparing yourself to others will cause you to be sleep deprived. Trust me. I know. When I finally let go of comparing myself to others, I flourished. I’m not sure exactly how I did that. I think it just organically happened with time.
Another challenge was the ticking clock in my head. I always heard the ticking. It felt like I was running out of time. Around the end of 2017, when I was down and out, the ticking disappeared. I think it disappeared because I no longer put my career on a pedestal. Instead, I focused on my life, friends, adventures, etc. When the focus moved to me and I was no longer a slave to the industry, I felt free. This allowed me to do better work and eventually book the job that changed my life. I’m now 30 and I feel younger than ever.
I’ve never had a work-life balance. I still don’t. I’m much better, but when I’m working, I’m working. When I’m chilling, I’m chilling. I’m currently laughing to myself because the extremes are comical. I think I’ve grown to accept the lack of balance and as long as I understand how I operate, there seems to be balanced in that.
Of course, when you’re trying to pursue a life in the arts, the biggest obstacle is money. Financial freedom is key to being able to focus on your craft. This was very tough for me to find, but I did through hustling, picking up odd jobs, building extra rooms in my living room to squeeze more people in my apartments, and never turning down an opportunity to work. Get your life in order and the rest will follow. But with that being said, don’t lose sight of the goal.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. If you readers were to only walk away with a few bullet points, what would they be?
I play Michael Guerin on the CW show, ROSWELL, NM, which is going into its third season.
My script, BLUE SLIDE PARK, a biopic about the late rapper Mac Miller, made the 2019 Blacklist.
My first produced feature film, 5 YEARS APART, which I also starred in, is now available to rent on all major platforms.
I have a successful clothing line at michaelvlamis.com, which has been so much work but is also incredibly rewarding.
What sets me apart from others? This is a funny question because I think anyone could be doing what I’m doing. I guess I just wanted it more than most and I was never going to take no for an answer. I’m no longer the underdog, but I’ve got a chip on my shoulder that I’ve been carrying my whole life. And you know what, I like it. It’s my competitive advantage. But not everyone needs an advantage! Many people are content doing what they’re doing. Part of me wonders what that’s like. In the end, I have a deep belief in myself and I like having the ball in my hands, but I had that belief before I even deserved to have that belief. That, my friends, is called delusion, and I think anyone who achieves something extraordinary in their life needs a little bit of it.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I used to never believe in luck because I thought if someone was lucky, that meant they had an unfair advantage over you. I believed in putting the work in, not luck. But, as time went on, I started believing in it because I had to. Thinking you can control everything is insane and you’ll drive yourself crazy. Learning to only focus on the things I can control and letting everything else fall to chance has made my life infinitely better.
Pricing:
- You can direct them to rent my movie, 5 YEARS APART, which is available for $4.99 through Amazon.
Contact Info:
- Website: michaelvlamis.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelvlamis/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelVlamis
Image Credit:
Davy Kesey, Tori Time
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