Meet Julian Bataclan | Actor & Engineer

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

Hi Julian, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I feel like my continuous desire to receive advice and learn lessons on a regular basis, no matter how experienced I get, has helped me succeed. Even in my first year of taking acting classes with John Kirby, I certainly did not think “this is it” when it came to learning from him and then putting myself out there responding to casting calls. I realized right away that this career is going to be an ongoing learning process with lots of challenges on the way.

As I have gained experience from working background roles in feature films to leading roles in short films, I have met so many people while on this 5+ year journey who have had valuable “fingerprints” on my current acting career. Thus, I am forever grateful for their impact on this journey and my life. Some recent lessons specifically have been along the lines of talking to other actors while they have helped me on my self-tape auditions or taking some business of acting classes conducted by prestigious managers online. While doing these auditions and taking these classes, I have had plenty of “I did NOT know that” moments that I have taken to heart since then.

So of course I am ready to have even more “I did not know that” moments in the near future.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I got to where I am today by being reliable and always showing up to everything acting-wise ever since the first acting class I took with John Kirby in November 2018.

Well… Before that, I HAD TO see that reflection of a strong Asian male lead in Henry Golding in Crazy Rich Asians. There were barely any strong Asian male leads in any mainstream movies before that summer of 2018. After seeing that movie, I clearly wanted to re-pursue acting and sought to take up the space that Crazy Rich Asians and Henry Golding created for Asian male actors.

A few months later, I started betting on myself by joining John Kirby’s studio through my friend Marali, and wow, that first year of classes was a wild ride. I was so in awe of everyone’s talent in that first class, scene after scene, performance after performance. I knew I was not going to reach any of their talent levels right away, but I knew to genuinely put in the work for each character and scene assignment. I had a lot of struggles and challenges those first few months in class, but out of that, I certainly grew as an actor and a lot of the veterans in the class went out of their way to notice and congratulate me on the strides I made.

From there to now, there have been SO MANY steps of progress. In 2020, that was ironically when I started sending self-tape auditions via Actors Access. That July, I earned my first IMDb credit as a zombie in an independent zombie movie! I had cool, creepy zombie makeup on set and that was the first time I heard “Lights, Camera, Action!” in real life. After over a year of getting paid background gigs and my friend, Jane Ashley Barrera, forwarding me the casting call, I finally landed my first-ever speaking and lead role in October 2021 for “The Perfect Couple”, written by Mike Talplacido. As big as that was for me, I was not able to return to a film set until September 2022 for “Good Filipino Kids” directed by Andrew Acedo. My “Perfect Couple” Co-Lead, Camille Aragon, referred me to that project.

After a long wait, “The Perfect Couple” premiered in November 2022 at the Asian World Film Festival in November 2022. I know I could have watched the final cut privately before this premiere, but I personally wanted my first watch of “The Perfect Couple” to be on a big screen. After watching 8 other quality films in the same block, I met and connected with a few other filmmakers and actors representing some of those films.

In March 2023, I reunited with Mike Talplacido for #DON’T, a play that he wrote as a modern adaptation of Noli Me Tangere, which was written by Filipino national hero Jose Rizal in the late 1800s. Randal Kamradt Jr. was the director of #DON’T and I had the important supporting role of Governor Sibyla. #DON’T kept myself and everyone involved with the play quite occupied for 2+ months with rehearsals, events, and the 5-show run during the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2023.

After #DON’T ended, I took on being an executive producer and lead actor for Nievera’s “Energy” music video, directed by Cassandra Pimentel. The concept of the music video was Nievera and his group of friends spending the day having fun going to an amusement park, a beach, and having a bonfire at the beach. We shot the video in July 2023 at Mission Beach in San Diego, CA. That next month in August 2023, Rommel Andaya cast me with a leading role in his 48-Hour Film Festival short “What A Ride”. That was my first time driving on-camera and being involved with a film in a 48-Hour Film Festival. “What A Ride” and “Energy” premiered on back-to-back weekends in the latter part of August 2023.

In September 2023, Randal Kamradt Jr. and his wife, Malou Kamradt, then cast me to be in Garth Garcia’s “Always In My Head” music video, where the concept of the video takes a nod or two to some “dream world”-related movies. After shooting “Always In My Head”, the Kamradts also cast me with the recurring role of Actor Joe in their episodic project “No Room For Love“. The show is mainly about a 7-member family crammed, yet sharing an apartment in Hollywood, while each character pursues their entertainment career. From October 2023 to January 2024, “No Room For Love” kept me quite occupied with the Actor Joe role, as well as being crew on some other shoot days.

From November 2023 to January 2024, I was able to act in a few student short films directed by Cypress College students taught by Professor/Director Charles Jon Gray. Earlier in March 2024, I recorded some voice-over lines for a role in the short “Fractured”, directed by Jeff Aquino. Most recently, I attended the DisOrient Film Festival in Eugene, Oregon representing “Always In My Head” with directors Malou & Randal Kamradt and editor Daniel Tong. Right now, I am waiting with these mentioned collaborators for some selection decisions by upcoming film festivals.

Speaking of film festivals, I just received news that “Always In My Head” is going to be part of the “Cinema Musica” block for the Opening Night of this year’s VC Film Fest (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival). What a way to kick off AAPI Heritage Month!

This 5+ year journey has been far from easy, but there was no way I was going to give up. However, I did have the highest amount of frustration during the “drought” after filming “The Perfect Couple” in November 2021 to filming “Good Filipino Kids” in September 2022. I was submitting and auditioning to so many projects during that, but not landing a single role for most of 2022. I am certainly proud of myself for staying in touch with some “Perfect Couple” people, because if I did not, they might not have referred me to projects like “Good Filipino Kids” and more. But at the same time, I had so much doubt and kept asking myself “what the f*** am I doing?” while waiting for either my next project / “The Perfect Couple” to premiere. Lo and behold, almost every project I have been involved with since “The Perfect Couple” premiered, has been because of “The Perfect Couple”. It led to #DON’T, and that was even more of “blast-off” point with all the events promoting it and the projects that came after for me, and for others too.

One important lesson I’ve learned along the way is to appreciate and realize the moments as they are happening. If the moment is good, definitely smile, breathe, and ride the wave of contentment and euphoria. If the moment is not so good, also breathe, ride out the emotion, but try to eventually realize the lesson this moment is trying to teach you. I have also learned that showing up consistently and reliably for yourself, for people, for projects, etc speaks positive volumes in the entertainment industry.

I want the world to know that my story may have a lot to it already, but I feel that it is just beginning. Stay tuned.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would definitely take them to all my favorite food spots like Palms Thai Hollywood, Jjukku Jjukku Korean BBQ, and El Flamin’ Taco Food Truck late at night. I would also treat them to Filipino food at Gerry’s Grill in Artesia. And of course I would squeeze in fast food stops at In-N-Out Burger and Jollibee.

For places to drink, I would certainly take them to Lock & Key, then later take them to clubs like Dragonfly, Hyde, and The Highlight Room.

Hopefully they visit when I’m shooting a project, so they can be on-set at a studio and maybe have a small role.

Take them to Lake Hollywood to have quality pictures in front of the Hollywood sign. I’d drive on Mulholland Drive so they can see all the mansions in the hills. Go to the Griffith Observatory to get a different view of the city.

Disneyland and Universal Studios, necessary theme park visits.

Depending on the time of year, I’d get us tickets to a Lakers or a Dodgers game.

Basic, I know lol.

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 like to dedicate my shoutout to Marali Natalia, John Kirby, Frankie Chantel Liles, Jane Ashley Barrera, Mike Talplacido, Camille Aragon, Andrew Acedo, Charles Jon Gray, Randal & Malou Kamradt, Cassandra Pimentel, and Rommel Andaya as the current wonderful village of people directly responsible for my current acting career.

Big shoutout and lots of LOVE to my mom, my sister Bianca, and my dad for ALWAYS believing in me.

Instagram: julbata

Image Credits
Cynthia San Luis, Sthanlee Mirador, Melissa Jane Rodriguez, Theresa Krosse, Kimberly Barrientos, Alicia Ricafrente, Maggie Gallagher, Shandon Youngclaus