Today we’d like to introduce you to Troy Slaten.
Troy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I began working at the age of five. My grandmother met a talent agent while playing cards at a casino in Los Angeles. She convinced the agent to see me. The agent signed me up and sent me on an audition for a commercial. I booked it. My very first audition, no experience, no showbiz connections in my family, and I booked it! I couldn’t read, but I could memorize and mimic amazingly well. It was for a model car and it also featured another actor, David Faustino, who would become Bud Bundy in Married with Children.
Within six months I landed the role of Michael Lacey, the son of Tyne Daly (Mary Beth Lacey) on Cagney & Lacey. That show ran for the next seven seasons until I was 13 years old. Whenever the show was on hiatus and when it finished, I appeared as a guest on many hit shows of the 80s and 90s such as Greatest American Hero, Diff’rent Strokes, Simon & Simon, Who’s the Boss, Murphy Brown, Roseanne, Wonder Years, Step by Step, to name a few.
A big TV break came at 15 when I was cast in a starring role as Jerry Steiner on the hit Fox TV comedy Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. I continued working as an actor through my undergraduate career at UCLA where I graduated with honors with a BA in English Literature. Being a huge fan of Law and Order, the decision to go to law school was pretty easy. My last acting gig was in a Budweiser commercial in my first year of law school.
During law school at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, CA, I clerked for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. As a volunteer law clerk certified by the California State Bar, I was allowed to prosecute all types of criminal cases and was even entrusted with handling two misdemeanor jury trials from start to finish.
Upon graduating law school with a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine, I realized that prosecuting was not in my heart. So, after passing the Bar exam, I went to work for a private defense firm. For the last 15 years I have practiced primarily criminal law, but have also gained experience in civil, litigation, administrative law, family law and several other disciplines.
I joined my firm, Floyd Skeren, ten years ago and was made the youngest partner in the firm’s history. For the better part of the last decade I have provided legal commentary and analysis on major legal and political issues for major media outlets such as CNN, Fox News, HLN, CNN International and E! Entertainment and have been regular guest on Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew.
My most rewarding experience as an attorney has been to serve the people of Los Angeles County as a Judge Pro-Tem (temporary Judge) in the Los Angeles Superior Court, primarily in traffic and small claims courts. It was this experience that solidified my desire to run for election.
I am currently a candidate for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge in seat 145. The election is March 3, 2020, but early voting (for the first time in LA history) begins February 22, 2020.
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?
Although I feel blessed, it was not always a smooth road. My parents instilled in me the idea that “to whom much is given, much is expected.” I was provided many opportunities to engage in public service.
As a child, I forfeited many experiences that most kids take for granted. I could never participate in any team sports. I could never be a part of the boy scouts or any similar clubs. I was constantly pulled in and out of regular public school. I was forced to be the “new” kid again and again with all the anxiety and stress that that brings.
However, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I was given the opportunity to engage in public service more than most people. I visited kids in hospitals, became active in Famous Fone Friends (celebrities who call bed-ridden/terminal kids), served on the boards of environmental non-profits, and was named a youth ambassador to the United Nations Environmental Programme.
As an adult, I was able to serve on the board of directors for Pacific Lodge Youth Services. PLYS, among other things, operates a boy’s home for about 80 residents who are on probation and unable to return home. This was one of the most rewarding and heart-breaking public service opportunities of my life.
As a former actor, it was sometimes difficult to have professionals in the law take me seriously as an attorney. However, once they got to know me and my professional ability, they quickly learned that I could be dead serious when needed.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am a partner at Floyd Skeren Manukian Langevin. We are a full-service law firm in California that concentrates on defense matters. We have 12 offices throughout California with approximately 60 lawyers. My concentration has been criminal law, but I also practice in civil litigation, business law, and administrative law. I also have experience prosecuting and defending restraining order cases, family law, business consulting, internal investigations and risk management.
I currently represent over 170 of the victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting massacre that occurred at the Route 91 Music Festival. An $800 Million settlement fund has been achieved that appears to be the third-largest in US history (behind 9/11 and the BP oil spill).
I am currently a candidate for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge in Seat 145. This is a county-wide race, and if successful, I could be placed in any county courthouse in Los Angeles. The election is March 3, 2020, but early voting starts February 22, 2020.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I have been extremely fortunate in my life. I have been given tremendous opportunities and have enjoyed the strong support of family and friends. Most child actors, whom are given so much (attention, money, publicity) are not guided properly and end up on the wrong path. There are far more stories of young actors ending up addicted to drugs and alcohol, turning to a life of crime, or even worse, ending up dead.
Even with state law protections, parents of minor children working in the entertainment business can take 75% of the child’s earnings. After agents, managers, lawyers, taxes, and greedy parents, many child actors are left with very little to show for their work.
I was very fortunate to have parents who didn’t need the money I was earning and they placed everything in conservative investments that allowed me to pay my way through college and law school and start a life free of debt. They also kept me away from the negative and dangerous influences so prevalent in Hollywood. I remember being upset that they wouldn’t let me attend industry parties and other events, but looking back now, I am so grateful. Many of my peers weren’t so lucky.
Contact Info:
- Website: TroySlatenforJudge.com
- Phone: 310-892-4218
- Email: troy@troyslatenforjudge.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/troy.slaten
- Facebook: facebook.com/TroySlatenForJudge
- Twitter: @troyslaten
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