Photo by Hayley Andoff
1) What age did you start acting and how did you get into the industry?
Brendan: I start out as a child model. My oldest sister was modeling on the side and got me into it as well, doing runway work and photo shoots mostly for store banners, catalogues, and flyers. My modeling agent eventually started sending me out for TV commercials at age nine. I landed a bunch and I guess that was the start of my acting career, but I really started taking it seriously and considered it a career choice about ten years ago.
2) What is your favourite and least favourite part about acting?
Brendan: I love being able to become different people. If you break it down, I'm really playing pretend for a living, and that's my favourite part. I've been a soldier, a murderer, a rapper, a gangster, a lawyer... I've run on top of subway cars, shot-up a prom celebration, been experimented on by aliens, chased by a werewolf. That has to be one of, if not the fun job ever.
My least favourite part I guess is when I'm done working on a project and don't have another one line up. Acting is very competitive, and it can be challenging to land work.
3) What are the demands and not so difficult things of working on set, with other actors, directors, producers etc. and of being an actor in general?
Brendan: Just like in real life, every individual on set, whether they be an actor, director, or part of the crew, they have their unique personality traits, quirks, needs, likes and dislikes. The thing everyone has in common is they are all there to create the best product, be it a TV show, movie, web series, or whatever. The demands are to quickly learn how to best work well with all those around you with compromising the gifts you bring to the table. That, and of course you need to know your lines, work on character development, but at the same time be adaptable enough to forget everything you've learned and try something new, all while forgetting that a bunch of people are watching and that there's a lot of money at stake.
4) What are the similarites and differences between you and your character Vince Bell from Degrassi?
Brendan: What I love about playing Vince is that there is very little in common with him and I, other than we look alike. Almost every other character I've played, I've brought a little of me to it, but honestly I'm nothing like Vince, put very little of myself into the character.
5) Who was your favourite character you have played so far and why?
Brendan: Vince Bell from Degrassi! I'm known for being a nice guy and often I'm as such. Vince was my first real opportunity to play a villainous character with littler or no redeeming qualities: someone who found joy in other's misery. It was fun to be bad! Then a season and a half later, when Vince was out of jail again, I got to still play that same menacing, manipulative, heartless guy, but the storyline allowed me to show a little bit of heart.
6) Do you have any advice for anyone who is thinking about being an actor but doesn't know how to start or is afraid to go for it?
Brendan: I'd say start out by acting in community theatre and student film to see if there is a true love for it. If there is, nurture that love and follow your dreams.
Brendan: I'd say start out by acting in community theatre and student film to see if there is a true love for it. If there is, nurture that love and follow your dreams.
7) What acting techniques have you studied and which one(s) do you prefer?
Brendan: I've studied a number of techniques like Method, Meisner... I tend to not think in techniques. I use what ever organically works in the situation. Method is a fantastic technique, but sometimes I feel I'm not old enough to draw from my own experience to bring life to the characters I play. That can be limiting. I'd prefer to use my imagination and go beyond my own experiences, which I would say is closest to the technique that Stella Adler taught.
8) Do you have any advice for actors looking to get an agent?
Brendan: Do your research. Ask around. Speak to your fellow actors about the agent they have or know of. Use resources like IMDB Pro to see if you could be a potential fit into a particular agent's roster. For example, if they have another actor or actors that have a similar look to you, it might not be yours or the agent's best interest to form a partnership. A great resource to get started in the GTA is http://www.amisontario.com/eic.php.
Brendan: I've studied a number of techniques like Method, Meisner... I tend to not think in techniques. I use what ever organically works in the situation. Method is a fantastic technique, but sometimes I feel I'm not old enough to draw from my own experience to bring life to the characters I play. That can be limiting. I'd prefer to use my imagination and go beyond my own experiences, which I would say is closest to the technique that Stella Adler taught.
8) Do you have any advice for actors looking to get an agent?
Brendan: Do your research. Ask around. Speak to your fellow actors about the agent they have or know of. Use resources like IMDB Pro to see if you could be a potential fit into a particular agent's roster. For example, if they have another actor or actors that have a similar look to you, it might not be yours or the agent's best interest to form a partnership. A great resource to get started in the GTA is http://www.amisontario.com/eic.php.
9) What is the most challenging role you have played and how did you prepare for it?
Brendan: Jerry in a play called "Self-Help by Dummiez". He was a suicidal guy who lost his job and his wife. Nothing in his is going right for him. These were very heavy issues to convey with the twist being it was a comedy. He also doesn't say a word for 3/4 of the first act, so all the emotion and frustration had to be conveyed realistically and humourously with no words. I don't know how to accurately describe how I prepared. I used lots of breathing exercises. I adjusted my breathing to elevate and alleviate my anxiety, to make me feel nauseous or angry or whatever negative tone Jerry was in. Then I just used my imagination to put myself in his situation. I won an award for the role, so it worked.
10) What's your worst and or best audition story?
Brendan: I don't have any terrible audition stories. Just once, there was a tongue twister of a line in the middle of a scene, and I just could not get it out, and had to do multiple take. I was getting increasingly nervous with each take because I was worried about how much time I was taking up in the audition room and I just wanted to get the damn line right!
I went to a callback audition for a play. Guys and girls were paired-up to audition together for the male and female lead. We went through a couple of scenes, and then improvised a scene in character. The director stopped us and offered us the roles on the spot, and then told us to act like we didn't get the part because there were people still waiting to audition again.
11) What projects are you currently working on?
Brendan: I recently completed a projected called "Gnawed of Approval". It's a comedy I wrote, produced and act in about a rich Donald Trump-like figure that is running for President of the United States. He has no connection to young or diverse voters, so he decides to kidnap a really popular and really ignorant rap duo and tries to coerce them into helping him become President.
12) What is your most memorable and or fun moment(s) on any set that you have been on so far?
Brendan: I mentioned shooting up a prom celebration. That was on "Degrassi" and was preceded by a choreographed fight. That was a lot of fun. So was running on top of subway cars. That was for a pilot called "2 Kings: Summer of '77". I wasn't even supposed to do it. They had a stunt person there to do the running, but I begged them to allow me to do it. It was thrilling!
Brendan: I mentioned shooting up a prom celebration. That was on "Degrassi" and was preceded by a choreographed fight. That was a lot of fun. So was running on top of subway cars. That was for a pilot called "2 Kings: Summer of '77". I wasn't even supposed to do it. They had a stunt person there to do the running, but I begged them to allow me to do it. It was thrilling!
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2060581
