Meet Hraban Luyat

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

Hi Hraban, how do you think about risk?
career / life?

Calculating risk, I would consider that to be one of the most underappreciated life skills. The platitudes are legion, but, as with seemingly all high stakes situations: the boring method wins the game. Risk is just probability theory. There is no fundamental difference between “betting” and “investment”—it’s all about math.

In a human life, the most common wager you’ll be putting up when taking any risk is: your time. You “invest” (or “bet”, same thing) your time, and hope for a higher return on your investment, usually in the form of career advancement, which can later help you prevent having to spend more of your time on things you don’t like. Having a salaried job is also just a form of betting your time, albeit a very safe bet.

Other times, the wager is your social “creditˮ: when you cancel a gig to follow another one, you’re betting the other one will pay off better than the cost of disappointing your prior colleagues.

One way or another, my philosophy is: in the end it’s all investment. Calculate what you can, make the best choice with the information you have, and no matter what happens don’t attach any value to the outcome. Trust the process.

It’s a long game.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

Acting isn’t hard because of the actual job. The actual acting part is relatively easy. Working on an oil rig is hard. Deep sea mining is hard. Being a doctor in a warzone is hard. Acting is just horsing around while others watch. What’s hard about acting is personal: it’s the uncertainty, the passing of time, jumping around from job to job, from country to country.

It sounds boring, but perseverance really is key. It took years before I even got seen for anything, and only looking back now can I see how far I’ve come, all the way from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There have been certain shows I’ve done that I’m incredibly proud of, for example playing Charles VI in Henry V at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater “in the raw”, or working opposite movie star Elizabeth Shepherd in Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow; these experiences have been defining for my career as an actor, but they come off the back of relentless hard work and endless humiliation. The diet of an actor is 90% humble pie. Keep eating, every day, until you’re blue in the face. And then some.

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.
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. In your view what are some of the most fun, interesting, exciting people, places or things to check out?

This will be, forever and always, Soju Haus in Korea Town. Absolutely the best restaurant in Manhattan today. Their spicy beef intestines are consistently packed with intense flavor, their kimchi pancakes are a refreshing delight and their varied selection of sojus is the perfect accompaniment for any of their dishes.

I tend to spend most of my afternoons going to parks with jungle gyms in Manhattan and Williamsburg, so the rest of my recommendations will probably be quite boring. I strongly recommend taking a citibike and exploring! As long as you stick to the bike lanes, cycling can make New York wonderfully accessible.

And of course visit a comedy bar. I’m partial to Old Man Hustle, but there are so many these days.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Elena Lozonschi has been a great partner off whom to bounce all my crazy ideas and strategies this past season, and vice versa. We’ve been each others’ soundboard all season and I wouldn’t have made half the crazy things I did this year had it not been for her keen eye and support.

Website: https://luyat.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/hrabanluyat

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hrabanluyat 

Image Credits
Sarah Jack, Jonathan Slaff, Nikita Matiychyn