"I worked and worked and didn't know any other way life for almost ten years until a friend suggested that I give acting a try. I was instantly hooked and found something come alive inside me that would carve a way for me into a much more rewarding way of life"
Hello everyone.
My name is Graeme. My story starts way way back when I was 3 years old. I remember fondly, when my mother would play the radio in the car or kitchen, or when there was any social gathering that involved music, that it caused some form of response in my body. Some sort uncontrollable reaction that would cause me to move and I would get a feeling that would burn deep in my gut for me to move with the beat. The music during the 80's was certainly firing on all cylinders, and one artist in particular stood out for me not just because of the music but for the raw talent he possessed when it came to dancing. This artist was none other than Michael Jackson.
It was long before I learned to moonwalk at the age of about 7 and I had built myself a reputation in school as the kid who could dance. Soon I would be performing solo sets at the annual school play and being brought to my national broadcasting channel to appear on kids shows to show off my dancing skills. But all that promise slowly died as I got older and moved into secondary school.
In an all boys Catholic school in Ireland, having a passion for anything expressive was met with a sort of confusion. Like they didn't know what to do with you or how to guide you. So like every other pupil I was slowly moulded to conform to the norms of the school, quietly quenching any flame that existed for something that might upset the status quo. It's not so easy to put out something so powerful though, and before long cracks started to show. My behaviour and interest in school deteriorated and I gained a reputation for being a trouble maker. Too me school was a joke and the constant pressure to conform causing me to rebel even further. I stopped wearing my uniform and stopped showing up for class. I gave the teachers a hard time got into fight after fight. The funny thing was my principle allowed me to stay in school due to the fact that the only two subjects which I have my full undivided attention too was art and science. Subjects which I excelled greater than any other student in my class and the two subjects that have carried me through to where I am now.
After I finished school I was lost, so I followed in my fathers footsteps and eventually and became a electrician. It was an easy journey and getting paid and paid well was more than any young man in his twenties could ask for. My weekdays consisted of working building sites and houses and my weekends consisted of drink, drugs and women. I worked hard during the week and blew all my money over a weekend. I repeated this cycle for many years, with a mixture of relationships and bad decisions until one day at the age of twenty three I was going to be a father. My world was shaken. I spiralled into a cloud of uncertainty and depression. I was a mess, but this was the first event in my life that would give me some clarity.
I remember the day my son was born with all the minute details intact. It was a summers day in July and it was warm. I was about to be a father and I was about to witness my first and only child being born by a women that I wasn't in a relationship with. It really was a rollercoaster of emotion, and I was about to explode.
My son was born and handed straight to me. He was the most beautiful sight to behold and this feeling of pride that hit me was the catalyst for all the backed up, unexpressed emotion that i had been bottling up for year. There I sat in the maternity ward of a Dublin hospital crying my heart and soul out as I held my boy for the first time. Even the nurses where shocked as to how much emotion poured out of me and it took a long time to console me and see me able to function normally.
I watched my son grow and grow and as the years passed I found myself slipping deeper and deeper down a hole of repetition and pent up emotion looking for a way out. The only thing that kept me sane was my son. I gave up the crazy behaviour and spent my time with my son on the weekend. Finally I had something I wanted to live for but I was still unhappy with my daily life. The getting up, going to work, dealing with people like robots and then home, dinner, sleep, repeat. It was wearing me down, until one night at a family event and relative suggested that I would make a good actor. I had the right look and I was able to do voices and dance and sing so they thought I would easily get cast in something. They made it sound easy.
It was about two weeks later during a really bad day in work that I remembered what she had said . So I gave a local acting school a call and booked some acting lesson. After ten weeks the course finished and I felt as though I could do another ten so I booked a more advanced course. Both teachers from both courses told me privately that I should keep going as I had a talent for it but of course I believed that they only wanted me to come back for more lessons. Which i didn't. I was ready to find some work. What they didn't teach us was that acting work in Dublin is very hard to find unless your well connected or have a lot of money to pay for the best schools with the best networking means. I continued to work as a electrician while I also looked for acting jobs to build up me C.V and showreel, but to no avail. I didn't get it. I was a good actor but just couldn't land a gig. Little did I know that yes, I was a good actor, but the thing I lacked was experience and looking back now. It showed.
I went a whole year before I acted again, and I got the bug harder than ever. So this time I decided I would train fully, in a technique for as long as it took, even if it meant giving up my job. And thats what I eventually did. The feeling of expression was so great that I needed it constantly and from that very desire for expression it flipped my life 180°. I started writing and playing instruments. I gave up alcohol and became a pescatarian and started landing roles in commercials and stage plays. Everything that I never even knew that made me happy all came from taking a chance on something different and making a sacrifice. I gave it my all and never gave up. Now I am an actor, photographer, writer, director and i still do some electrical work for family and friends when It's required. But my main goal is to live a free and expressive life and too help others do that same.
Thank you for reading.