Meet Jules Bruff | Actor & Producer & Writer

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

Hi Jules, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
My work-life balance has definitely evolved over time. I went from solely focusing on work to slowly integrating more family time, self-care time, and travel into my life.

The biggest shift came when my constant hustle of the last 20 years screeched to a halt in March 2020. I think like many others, once the pandemic hit, life as I knew it ceased to exist. I hadn’t realized how on-the-go I was until we were given the safer-at-home orders. It became clear to me that I needed to slow down. For me, one of the silver linings of the pandemic was that when I was forced to stay in one place, I realized that I needed to slow down. Like, a lot.

I have decided that this is my, “Year of Yes!” to myself, which often means saying, “No.” This accidental gift that came out of our traumatic times has helped me to be more present and enjoy my life more.

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 am most proud of the two feature films I have produced and starred in. I call myself an, “accidental mental health advocate”. I didn’t set out to make mental health themed movies, but that is what I’ve done. Sometimes there are sliding doors in life and the door you choose isn’t exactly what you’d envisioned, but it is a magnificent and wondrous door, nevertheless.

I’m so excited about our second film Good Side of Bad. We shot it in Idaho, Washington, and Los Angeles during the pandemic. Our cast and crew stayed healthy, thankfully, and we got the film in the can. Shooting during the pandemic on a micro-budget was far from easy. LOL. My partner on the film, Alethea Root, and I are strong willed women. We didn’t take no for an answer and kept pushing to get the film made. When I wanted to give up, she kept going and vice versa. Filmmaking is like a relay race… anchors and passing the baton are essential to get to the finish line.

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?
If one of my besties was coming to town here is our itinerary:

1) Hike Griffith Park up to the Observatory
2) Check out the Observatory
3) Stop at Trails Cafe for some excellent homestyle sandwiches
4) Take a walk on the beach between Santa Monica and Malibu
5) Stop at Swingers in Santa Monica for their Vegan breakfast burrito
6) Walk around Lake Hollywood
7) Go to Don Cuco’s in Burbank for some excellent Mexican food
8) Get dressed up and head downtown to check out Rossoblu. I hear it’s damn good Italian food. My family is from Genoa, Italy, so I’m always up for Italian.

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?
Alethea Root definitly deserves some credit and recognition in my story. Alethea has been my filmmaking partner on two features. Part Time Fabulous (now streaming on Amazon) and Good Side of Bad (in post-production) are micro-budget indie films that focus on raising awareness and reducing the stigma of living with mental illness. She is a very talented, generous, and creative artist. I most certainly could not have made either film without her tireless worth ethic and belief in our projects.

Website: www.julesbruff.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julesbruff/?hl=en

Other: http://imdb.me/julesbruff/

Image Credits
1) James Depietro 2) Gloria Gruber 3) Gabriela Oltean