Meet Myrat Bayram

Today we’d like to introduce you to Myrat Bayram.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I came to the US in 2014. I was in New York for about seven months, learning English and trying to understand people. Acting is what I was after, so I decided to be near Hollywood – City of Stars. Working as a busboy in Brooklyn, New York I made enough money to travel and pay my ESL tuition here in Los Angeles.

I knew very little about the industry. Let me regale you with a funny story that happened in Manhattan, New York. The 1st Ant Man movie was in pre-production and they were casting background actors which I happened to come across on Craigslist. I didn’t know what a headshot was, and my English was so bad it took time for me to understand. So instead of a headshot, I had a very low quality selfie of me that I’d taken the night before and had it printed out (it was 4×6). I’m standing in line and finally, my turn came and I went in with my little crappy photo and broken English. I handed them my headshot and the casting directors are cracking up silently trying to contain their laughter. At that time I was running out of money and I had a choice – to pay for a professional headshot for which I had just enough or to start working at a restaurant I just found that day. I chose the restaurant because I wasn’t sure wether those casting directors were going to hire or trying to have another laugh at me.

I did background acting for free to learn how it all worked. And then I started auditioning for student films and short films, this time with professional headshots and started booking roles, already fluent in English by then. I got to meet my childhood comedy idol Jim Carrey whom I had the pleasure “sharing a scene”, however small or brief it had been and had an amazing opportunity to be in Marriage Story by Noah Baumbach and I have much further to go with the help of my friends and family, with perseverance and will, and most importantly faith that it is going to be an awesome adventure.

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?
Financial insufficiency was my major struggle. Not being able to take acting classes as much as I wanted or learn some skills so I can add it to my resume was a drawback.

Being a minority was also something a little unpleasant. Hollywood seems to be transitioning slowly toward diversity but it’s going to take some time, but until then it’s going to be a challenge.

And English of course. You’ve got speak the language most of the time!

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
There’s not one person from my country (Turkmenistan) who is well known in Show Business let alone Acting. I thought why not be first. And with that I’ll be bringing something new to the table, my culture being the most unique thing that I could offer. A lot of people told me that I sort of look a mixture of every race. Even my accent is something they have never heard of, it’s subtle but it’s still there. That uniqueness is sort of good but at the same time it’s like a curse. They don’t quite know where to place me. I’m like an Alien they are wary about. Fortunately, younger generation understands me and a few filmmakers I worked with were my age or younger and they knew what roles I could do.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was nine, it was new year’s eve. We were celebrating New Year (2000). I distinctly remember a moment. A moment of bliss, my mom with her cheeks red smiling and laughing at my dad’s jokes, we are sitting around the table, TV blasting with music, my brother was eating something and I was just looking at them all, imprinting that moment in mind. It must be the happiest I’ve seen my family, there was something inexplicable about that moment but I was happy, really happy. Before that, I don’t remember much of good stuff.

Contact Info:

• Address: 418 S Normandie Ave,
  Apt 120
• Phone: 3473191299
• Email: myratbayramactor@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myratbayram/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/imyratbayram/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/myratbayram
• Other: https://youtu.be/KYOHSIw6yms

Image Credit:
Pavel Tsygankov, Anthony Mongiello

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