Meet Sam Morgan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Morgan.

Sam, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. I started making films when I was about 14 or 15 years old. I feel really fortunate that my parents would send me away from home for a bit during the summers. Somehow my mom came across this program that New York Film Academy does here in Los Angeles. So the summer after my sophomore year in high school, I came to LA for a couple of weeks. I’d been to LA before on vacation with my family, but this was the first time I did it alone. I remember feeling so alive. Just a bunch of kids from all over the world running around the Oakwood Apartments wreaking havoc and making films. I still have friends from that summer. I definitely consider that to be a turning point in my life.

Making films gives me a sense of purpose. And I use my projects to help me better understand my own life. The process of filmmaking always gets a bit chaotic because there are so many moving pieces, but the community and collaboration of it all is really exciting to me.

Anyway, that led me to get my MFA at NYU in 2018 and I’m currently in post-production on a pilot I directed in August. Prior to coming to Los Angeles, I was living between New York and Singapore, then moved to Berlin briefly before settling on the West Coast.

Another defining moment in my life was getting cast as an actor on a TV show. I was out here in Los Angeles pulling together my thesis film for NYU so I could get my degree. I’d just been hired at a restaurant and the orientation process was really intense. But the day after I started, I got sent my second audition ever from my manager, Brad. To be completely honest, at that point, I was just excited that I got to visit Warner Brothers and walk on the backlot.

After being called back four or five times to meet with producers/writers/directors and Alicia Silverstone (who was the lead of the show) I lost my restaurant job and gained one of the most formative experiences of my life so far. Most of my scenes were with Alicia and I learned so much from working with her. Her work ethic is incredible and really inspired me. And from that summer, I gained a bunch of amazing friends who I brought on to work with me on “Tick Tock” (the project I recently wrote/directed).

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My “road” has been so many different things. Some points have been startlingly smooth and breezy, while others cold, bumpy, and isolating. The more people I get to know and the more life I live, the more I realize the road we all walk is unique to us BUT similar to everyone else’s in the sense that it is winding and has its own relative highs and lows.

Whenever things get dark or seemingly impossible or another “NO” presents itself (it usually takes about 50 “no’s” to get that one, sweet, crucial “yes”), I come back to this quote from Dr. Maya Angelou: “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

Working as an actor has required a lot of mental gymnastics and forced me to foster within myself a focus and discipline I might not have otherwise. I was fortunate in that I booked a pretty big acting job really early on, but there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that people don’t see.

Things like:
– Working a job that pays your bills and also allows you time to continue taking classes and going on auditions.
– Almost booking a big pilot or film but the director or producers decided to go a different direction.
– Taking on a play that requires everything from you mentally and emotionally, but doesn’t pay enough.

When you enter into a field that’s highly competitive, whether it’s tech or fashion or entertainment, it’s inevitable that you will experience some form of rejection. But the best advice I’d give to myself is this: Find a few good friends who support and believe in you and DON’T, STOP. CREATING. Work always begets work. And, as J.B. Bernstein says, N.O. just means Next Opportunity. Some of the best auditions I’ve ever had are jobs I didn’t necessarily book. But every step takes me closer to that next “yes”.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As I mentioned earlier, I studied writing and directing. But most of my professional work has been as an actor so far.

I’m just fascinated by the human heart and why it makes us do all the things we do. My goal with the work is to always tell the emotional truth within a narrative story. Whatever we view as the “facts” of how something happened can often times water down the potency of a story’s emotional reality and is usually somewhat malleable depending on who is recounting it.

I try to bring my own soul to every project I’m involved with. Whether it’s making a song or acting in a film or writing a script. If I feel the well start bubbling in my chest or that tingling sensation as I’m reading a script or whatever, that’s always a really good sign.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My definition of success is constantly evolving. When I entered film school, I never thought about working in TV and now that arena has become so exciting that I can’t wait to direct and act in another series.

The current definition I have for success is mostly about building relationships with artists who are equally passionate about creating work and having an honest communication with the human heart. That’s all I’m really interested in at the moment.

Obviously, the house, car, TV series, and family are milestones I personally plan to achieve, but I’m doing my best not to fall into the trap of comparing my timeline to others’. Comparison creeps up on all of us at one point or another and social media certainly doesn’t help, but I’ve been making more of an effort to curb that behavior so that I’m not making decisions in my life from a place of fear or deficit.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thesammorgan
• Other: https://vimeo.com/105514592

Image Credit:
Tarina Doolittle

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.