Meet Tim Hildebrand

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Hildebrand.

Tim, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been acting in one capacity or another since I was a child, but I got my start in the US almost seven years ago. I had been a professional actor up in Canada for 17 years when I took a trip down to Florida for some auditions in early 2013. In Canada, I had gotten to work with some truly wonderful stage directors, and the education I got from these men and women was invaluable, but I had little experience with film or TV. Now I was trying to stretch myself into that world, and on this trip to Florida I arrived at the Motel 6 just outside of Disney World at 1 am.

To my great discouragement I realized, after trying a series of dysfunctional key cards, that the room smelled like wet dog, the beds had crumpled, used linens on them, and there was a discarded towel on one bed with blood all over it and used razor blades in the sink. I went to the desk (the window actually, like a drive-thru fast food joint) to complain but they refused to help and said the janitorial supplies were locked up for the night. No other hotels had rooms available, and I finally had to clean the room myself in the wee hours of the morning with a borrowed bottle of bathroom cleaner. I slept that night on a bare mattress, wrapped in a table cloth.

So my beginnings in this country were inauspicious to say the least. But I came out of that trip with a $30,000 scholarship to a California MFA program, which gave me an easy F1 visa and a solid entrance strategy to the US. In 2014 I packed my bags and moved to NoHo to do the degree. I met some incredible teachers, including the Actors Studio’s Cathy Giannone, who changed my practice (and my life) with Strasberg’s relaxation and sensory techniques. I graduated in 2016 and began what has become an oddly divergent career of gratifying and awarded work on stage, and mostly commercial work in tv and film.

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 definitely not been easy. When I moved to the United States everything was hard. Navigating the visa process was hard (applying for the O1 felt like doing a second degree), finding work within the narrow restrictions of my visa was hard, finding representation was hard, finding friends and developing a support network was hard.

My second visa in the U.S. was an 01-B, which means that I’m basically not allowed to do any job except acting and that made things really tricky those first couple years. I was acting in anything…music videos, student films, low budget commercials and industrial videos…anything that would pay a few bucks. I remember having to steal toilet paper from public bathrooms in the Fall of 2017 when things were really bad, and driving past a row of tents below the Gower Street underpass near Franklin Village, wondering “should I spend what I have left on a tent?” I had friends in Canada who had offered to help if things ever got extremely bad, but I found it extremely hard to ask.

LA is a crucible. It can be a trash compactor that destroys you or an autoclave that purifies you. I definitely learned a lot about faith and prayer in those dark months, and continue to. A saving job, or paycheck, or offer of assistance from a friend seemed to always come at the right time, and eventually, things started to pick up. Acting paychecks started getting incrementally better and more frequent. I found an online job with a Canadian company that allowed me to work with a flexible schedule, in a way that didn’t violate my visa regulations. I changed managers four times in four years, before striking gold with a marvelous woman named Didi Mullins at Midwest Talent Management. After moving a few times, and enjoying the requisite Los Angeles awkwardly-crowded living conditions, I finally settled into an affordable private apartment in friendly south Burbank that I love, with a great location for getting to just about any audition.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
As an actor, I seem to bounce back and forth between comedy and drama pretty easily. I did stand up comedy for years and years in Canada and that’s given me a comfort in front of people that I think is translating to camera. I had the privilege of acting in an Ovation and Drama Critics Circle Award-winning comedy at the Victory Theatre called, The Engine of Our Ruin, and am finding the comedy background especially helpful at landing commercial jobs. I’ve done 16 regional, national and international commercials in the past three and a half years.

I was honored to receive the Best Actor award at Brazil’s Curta Pinhais Film Festival for Raphael Bittencourt’s film BID, about mafia corruption in Brazil’s government and construction industry. Just three weeks ago I was nominated for a 2019 Best Featured Actor Ovation award for Beauty Queen of Leenane, at LA’s Studio Stage. That play was orchestrated marvellously by producer/star Angela Nicholas, and director Mark Kemble created a sublime atmosphere of artistic freedom. It’s actually been nominated across a range of categories including “Best Play” and “Best Ensemble”, and was a career highlight on many levels. We were proud of the work onstage, but the chemistry offstage was so wonderful, and the friendships developed in that ensemble have been uniquely enduring.

The best part of this business by far is the people you get to meet and work with. Every now and then you meet someone on a shoot or in a play that you really click with, and a permanent friend is discovered. That happened on both the stage plays I’ve mentioned, and those moments are precious.

And then there’s those surreal moments where you meet a hero. A couple years ago I was called up last minute to fill in for a missing actor on a small indie film called Lady Labyrinth. I discovered the tiny cast included a hero of mine, Ms. Irma P. Hall. Her performance in A Family Thing has long been one of my favorite character portrayals in film history. I never would have expected to even audition to be in a film with her, but it was one of those weird Hollywood circumstances, and the shoot went well. Ms. Hall ended up submitting a beautiful letter in support of my subsequent visa application, that I will always treasure. These are the gem moments that make this life so much fun. You audition for a commercial, and show up on set to find yourself working with an Oscar-winning director. That happened to me on a Benjamin Moore ad. You just try to focus on the work but you’re kind of shaking your head all day going “is this really happening?” It makes for a great story, though.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Well, one characteristic would definitely be endurance. That’s not a very artsy answer, but it’s super true. In my Master’s program we were told “50,000 aspiring actors move to Los Angeles every year. Within three years, 90% of them are gone.” Of the 13 members of the MFA class who heard that statistic, and were intending to carve out a career in LA, only two of us are still here. It’s a long haul, and a big gamble. It’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done by far. But I’ve learned lessons about the love of God and the craft of acting that I wouldn’t trade for anything, and when it’s all said and done I honestly love it here. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.

I would say a second characteristic is truthfulness. Truthfulness in acting, obviously, but also truthfulness in business dealings. Being honest and willing to listen is enthralling to watch on camera and on stage. Being honest and dependable offstage is what wins you favor with producers and your own agent, and gets you those phone calls asking if you can take a part on short notice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.me/timhildebrand
• Phone: Manager (Didi Mullins): 520-678-5533
• Email: Manager (Didi Mullins): [email protected]
• Instagram: @tdhildy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tdhildy/

Image Credit:
The two headshots are by: Deidhra Fahey

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