Meet John Alan H. | Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Alan H. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John Alan, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
“You should dance with the skeletons in your closet.
Learn their names,
So you can ask them to leave.
Have coffee with your demons.
Ask them important questions like, ‘what keeps you here?’
Learn what doors they keep finding open,
And kick them out.” – Unknown

I’ve always been of the mindset that the best way to face your fears is to lean into fear.
The more curious we become about our innermost monsters and what scares us, the less scary those monsters tend to be.
Fear has pushed me through every aspect of my life, and I’ll always be grateful for the feeling as the fear in the moment is what teaches you the most important lessons once your tense and racing heart begins to soften again.

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.
When I first moved to LA, I found that the roles I was pretty consistently getting called back for was creatures, zombies, demons, creepy men in the woods, complete and utter monsters.
I’ve had folks in my life ask if it bothers me that this is what the industry has seen me as for their stories, but truth be told, I would rather be playing monsters than most other roles I’ve been cast in before. I have nothing against playing a normal character, I’ll still do it from time to time if it resonates with me, but I would rather play the oddball character or outcast creature as that has always been what hits home.

I love monsters and tend to gravitate towards those kinds of roles because growing up, I was always watching things like Barney, which turned into watching things like Godzilla, Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, etc. Anything with a monster or a creature, I was hooked and usually rooting for them in the end.

I’ve been fortunate to play them all, from monsters that need to be beaten, to friendly creatures that want to be loved.
It’s challenging work to do, but to me, it’s worth it when I get to see the final product and how my work in the story we all worked so hard to tell impacts the audience.

I took a bit of a break last year from auditioning to focus on creating my own projects. I made my own movies and started to create my own roles for myself. The projects I enjoyed making the most, of course, always involved monsters. One of my favorite monster projects I got to make was a haunt character I created named Mr. Stixon Bones, a haunted Halloween animatronic sprung to life that’s hellbent on entertaining the world through fear despite having to rot in a closet with the other holiday decorations until the next spooky season. I wanted to create a project that utilized all the mediums of storytelling I love; masks, suit performance, movement, theatre, film, and something new I’ve started dabbling with, livestream performance.

“Panophobium!” is something I started last year and have been making slow but steady progress and growth with while I’ve been working in between gigs. It’s nice to have something to work on in between one job and the next because you don’t always know when you’ll book the next gig, You’ve got to keep yourself entertained somehow, so I’ve learned to always have my own creative projects ready and raring to go. I’ve been fortunate to develop a little audience, performing livestream shows and putting out videos and movies for folks to enjoy online from the comfort of their own homes and phones. I’m looking forward to continuing to craft “Panophobium!” through other shows and characters in the coming year.

I live in Portland, Oregon now, but am fortunate to have booked work in LA throughout parts of the year. I’m excited to be commuting between Portland and LA for work that I love. I’m at a point in my life and career that feels at home. I’m looking forward to the future monsters I get to play, along with a handful of normal people for anybody willing to peek behind the mask.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some might find it strange to talk about Halloween at this time of year, but one thing I love about LA is their celebration and explorations of horror and hauntings year round. One of my favorite events that I’ve been fortunate to be both a guest in attendance and actor at work is The Spooky Swap Meet at the Heritage Square Museum. It’s a great community for folks to express their art and oddities through horror and hauntingly fun activities. There’s plenty more like it throughout the year, what with Midsummer Scream, Monsterpalooza, and much more frights and delights!

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’ve been working in Film, Television, and Immersive Theatre for the past 5 years, and the place I found the most belonging and support was at LA Haunted Hayride. They’ve been the foundation of my career as an actor, creature actor, suit performer. I have LAHH, an Ice Cream Clown, and many other monsters and creepy crawlies to thank for the career I have and continue to craft and hold.

Website: https://www.johnalanhulbert.com

Instagram: @hellojohnalan & @panophobium1

Youtube: @johnalanh.mp4 & @panophobium1

Other: TikTok:
@panophobium1

Image Credits
LA Haunted Hayride, Lu Mendoza, Josh Nile, and John Alan H.