I grew up in South Florida, where I was fortunate enough to discover the art of improvisation at a young age. Comedy was something that I fell into easily. Improv was my first taste of what it felt like to be in front of an audience - to be creative and play. Improv was the seed that planted creativity in the garden of my life. I

t wasn’t until my senior year of High School that I even auditioned for plays. I wasn’t a fan of scripts. The first show I ever did was a parody of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and since that first experience, like so many others, I was hooked. There was no conversation: the decision was made: I wanted to be an actor.

I love escapism, I’m a guy that loves to flee, even from my own stuff sometimes. Movies have always been a place for me to go when I need to be taken out of my life, some other time and place, even if just for a brief time.

That same year in high school, whilst discovering my life’s passion, I lost my father. We weren’t very close. During that time, I became really inspired by an actor who I began to look up to - Shia LaBeouf. I was stunned to discover that he wasn't close to his father as well.

My affinity, may have come, in part from that common thread. The connection I felt was so strong, powerful, and deep that years late I would end up using that father-son thread as the inspiration for a one-man show that I wrote and starred in (playing both the roles of Shia and his father.).

I created the show for my senior thesis project as an undergraduate, and was invited to present it a year later at the United Solo Festival in New York. I dedicated it to my dad. It was the first time I created something so personal.

It’s one of the things in my life I’m most proud of. The actors I look up to the most don’t inspire me to be good or even great. It's their openness and vulnerability that make me want to be honest. That’s the work that speaks to me the most. The creed they, and now I live by: Strive not to be good; strive to be honest.