Meet Joey Gholam | Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joey Gholam and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joey, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk taking has played a major role in my life and career, I believe taking risks is important in life. It plays a major part in success. Growing up I’ve always loved acting and entertaining people. Watching movies I’d imagine doing the same thing too. One day, I went to my first audition and I immediately wanted to pursue acting professionally after the audition. It seemed like something hit me when I did the audition, that I want to do this. Growing up I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, I could have just went to business school or had some kind of job like that. But none of that appealed to me as much as acting did. So picking my career I’d say was a risk, especially when some people who are close to you do not believe in you. When I told people that I wanna act, they laughed at me and told me it’s risky. It is risky, but I’d rather be taking risks and being happy doing what I love to do rather than being unhappy at some job that I do not like for the rest of my life. It makes me feel great when I’m doing what I love to do. It’s where I belong and thrive. I’ve definitely made a lot of sacrifices and risks for my career and I feel like I’ve come too far to give up now.

The bigger risk that I took was leaving my family to pursue acting as a career, it was truly a tough day having to say goodbye to everyone I love. I am a very family oriented man and I am so proud of my roots and where I come from. When I was back in Lebanon, my mother took care of my brothers and I. Risk taking has taught me to take care of myself since I’m alone without my family. It taught me how to work, cook, clean amongst many other things. Leaving my family was the hardest thing, but I am truly grateful that I got to come back to California by myself to pursue acting. Since I came back here it’s been ups and downs, working at two different jobs and going to school while I pursue acting. It’s tough, but I know that it’ll all pay off. I feel like I’ve come a long way and I have too much on my shoulders to just give up now. Sometimes I even take a three hour bus/train to get to my shoots or I just take an expensive uber all the way. For me just being there and doing what I love has so much value for me. I have to show up no matter what the situation is. I always say, I have to show up and do the work now and the money will come later. I like to be dependable. As I always say, the risk is worth the reward. I also want to inspire others to take risks and follow their dreams because in the end it’ll all be worth it. Taking that one chance when all the odds are against you is something risky, but if you truly believe it and work towards it, it will pay off.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m an actor based in California. What sets me apart from others is my drive and willingness to keep going no matter what the situation is. I’m also very patient, I feel like patience is key as an actor. My manager also tells me that all the time, you have to have patience as an actor. There’s days where you’re not gonna be working or you’re not gonna be booking anything at all. Yes it’s tough, but you gotta stay patient throughout and keep auditioning, keep submitting and the right job will come. It’s all part of the journey.

Pursuing my goals was never easy, there was a challenges along the way that I went through. When I first moved back to California, I had to put everything on hold because we went on lockdown due to covid 19. It was tough to not be able to pursue my dreams. It made me feel like I was stuck. Thankfully, a year or two later things opened back up and I was able to go right back to work.

There’s a lot of parts of my journey that I’m proud of. First and foremost, I got to work on some exciting projects and I got to work with some great people. I got to be a part of a few feature films which I have lines in, some are not out yet but I am extremely excited to see myself on the big screen for the first time. I like to see myself act to see what I can improve on and what I can do better. I am very critical of myself, but I take that as a positive so that I can be the best that I can be. Being on every set that I’ve been on has taught me a lot as an actor, I feel like I’ve learned most by being on set seeing the big name actors do it and by also doing it in my own movies too. With every single role, I’m always learning. I’ve had some amazing moments on my journey that I will never forget too. I’ve seen so many of my favorite actors in person on set and by also going to a lot of events. I even got to be on set with Margot Robbie back in 2021 for a few days and I got to meet her. She was really nice. She’s my favorite actress, meeting her made me realize that anything in life is possible. I also got to meet Jennifer Garner last year at the screening of Maestro, I’m also a fan of hers as well. She was amazing and it was also a pleasure to meet her.

There’s a few lessons that I’ve learned along the way, one of them is that I learned how to take care of myself when I’m alone. Going away from the family has helped me to learn a lot about my life, my career and also about myself. It taught me how to take care of myself when things get tough, it taught me how to work and do things I did not know how to do before. I feel like it made me who I am today and after 4 years of being back here, I continue to learn everyday. Being back here also made me appreciate the little things in life and it made me appreciate my home country and my family more.

Another lesson that I’ve learned is to never give up no matter what the circumstances are, if you have a dream and something you really care about you just have to keep going because in the end everything will be worth it. I feel like I’ve been through a lot of challenges, but through them all I stayed strong and kept going.

What I want the world to know about me is that I hope my story inspires others to do what they want to do and to pursue their goals too. I love to inspire others to pursue their dreams, that’s one of my goals in life. I hope I can be an inspiration for others.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There’s a lot of spots in LA & Orange County that I really love, if someone was visiting Cali, first I would take them to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s one of my favorite areas in Los Angeles and I feel like there’s so much to do over there from dining, watching movies, to just exploring the different names on the walk of fame. I believe it’ll be a day well spent going there, there’s so much history there and a lot to do. Going to the Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of my favorite things to do, I also imagine my name on one of the stars someday. Would be a dream come true.

Another place I’d take my best friend would be to the Huntington Beach pier around Main Street. I’ve lived in Orange County for a few years now and it’s truly amazing here too. The reason why I’d take my best friend to main street is because it’s also one of my favorite places too. There’s so much to do, we can go dine in at one of the restaurants and then walk around main street looking at the different stores and then after that we can go to the pier and to the beach as well. If it was during the nighttime, we can also check out the night life over there or have a bonfire on the beach which is also nice! We could also go there during fourth of July at night and watch the amazing fireworks show. I try to go there every year, it’s amazing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I really wanna give a shoutout to my family especially to my mom because of her I got to come back to California to pursue my dreams. She knew that I always wanted to pursue acting and she gave me that opportunity to come back here by buying me a ticket to do that. Even though I’ve been through ups and downs, she’s always been supportive and believed in me. That’s something that I’m really grateful for and I can’t wait to see her again soon after 4 years. I owe it all to her and I am thankful for her.

Website: www.joeygholam.com

Instagram: instagram.com/joeygholam

Linkedin: twitter.com/joeygholam

Twitter: twitter.com/joeygholam

Facebook: facebook.com/kingjg98

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6QqYWmMwnF0DganGkiZXgQ

Other: https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/profile/248966081

Image Credits
Joy Parris & Carla Lopez