Meet Charles Constant | Actor/Producer

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

Hi Charles, what role has risk played in your life or career?
T. S. Eliot said “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” and I think that applies to nearly everything in life. For an actor or for any creative person, taking risks is our modus vivendi. Doing the unexpected in performance or the visual arts or music is essential in anything creative. If one only does the predictable thing, it isn’t really creative, it’s repetitive. Think of Jazz musicians, Impressionist painters, Architects like R. Buckminster Fuller, you know, people like that who did or do things in a completely surprising way. Laurence Olivier is great example of an actor who took tremendous risks in his performances.

Then there’s a whole other level of risk that involves just day to day living. Acting is one of the riskiest professions to take on. Only a tiny percentage of union members make what is considered a livable wage so, really, they are risking their present and future on a roll of the dice. It took me many years to get to the point where I could support myself with income from acting, but I have to say that those years of struggle were well worth it!

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Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think the major thing I am… I don’t know if I would say “proud of”… but that I am happiest about is not giving up.

As I have said, it took a very long time before I could support myself soley on money earned from acting. It wasn’t until I was in my 50’s that I got to that point, but I got there! I had to work all sorts of “Day Jobs” (some of them at night!) that I absolutely hated, but I was focused on getting to the point where I would be able to leave those and move on to a role in a play or some on-camera or voiceover work, then the cycle would being again; day job, acting job, look for a new day job, etc.

It was not an easy life. I don’t think I ever paid my rent on time, but thankfully my landlord was a fan of the arts and was very patient. I had some terrible jobs and awful bosses. In the early days back in Chicago, I had a series of restaurant jobs as a waiter, a chef, and a restaurant manager. I scrubbed floors in the mansions of wealthy people on Chicago’s Gold Coast. I drove one of those Trolly Tour buses around the city. In my late 40’s, I was delivering flowers and gift basket here in Los Angeles for $12 an hour and had hardly anything saved for later in life. No, not an easy or a glamorous life, but the world is full of people who struggle and scrimp and work awful jobs just to survive for their entire lives, so I consider myself to be incredibly lucky and I am very grateful for my good fortune.

I got to where I am, which is not the pinnacle by any stretch of the imagination, by taking pretty much every acting job I was offered and doing the best work I could. I studied with many different teachers around the world and learned a number of different acting techniques or methods, which I think made me more versatile, but mostly, I didn’t quit.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Hollywood proper. You can see the Hollywood sign from my front yard and I am about a 15 minute walk from Hollywood and Vine, so I guess we’d start on foot. A trip to The Oaks cafe on Franklin for coffee and a pastry to begin. Of course, if the Bourgeois Pig was still around, we’d have gone there.

We’d take our coffees and continue on down to the Walk of Fame; a must see for visitors. I’ve lived in LA for 26 years and still enjoy looking at the Star’s stars. Being a kid from the Midwest, the fact that this is actually my neighborhood still amazes me.

After completing the first part of the walk, more coffee would be required and a trip to Philz on Sunset would follow. Depending on my friends stamina, we’d make our way to Hollywood and Highland, enjoying some of the old Hollywood architecture and historic buildings along the way. Lunch would have to be at Musso and Frank’s.

I do enjoy a cigar from time to time and I think a post-lunch smoke at the V-Cut on Melrose Ave where we would, no doubt, get involved in conversation with many friends there.

Ideally, the evening would include a trip to the Magic Castle back in Hollywood… if I could wangle passes from somebody. For 26 years, I’ve been telling myself that I will join, but I just haven’t done it yet>

Wrapping it all, we’d take a drive up Ledgewood, etc., and take-in the view of Lake Hollywood and the lights of the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people who helped me along the way that it’s incredibly difficult to single one out. To be fair, I’ll have to name two.

First, my high school teacher and theater director Doug Murphy. He is the one who talked me into auditioning for a play when I was a freshman at Arlington Heights High School in Illinois. Once I did that and was cast in the play, I spent the rest of my high school years on stage. After our first performance, I knew that that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Mr. Murphy gave me or awakened in me the drive and desire to be an actor.

The second person is Ted Liss. Ted was a professional actor and a teacher of acting. He gave me the skills to become a working actor. I studied at his studio in Chicago for several years, usually attend class from around 6PM until past midnight three nights a week.

Ted was an “Old School” actor, having trained at the Goodman School sometime in the first half of the 20th Century, so I learned many things that I don’t think are taught anymore or at least not widely taught. Ted also had great confidence in my abilities and made me believe that I could actually succeed. He was a great teacher and, ultimately, a great friend.

Website: charlesConstant.com

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