Meet Lawrence Reuben-Brown | Actor & Antiquarian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lawrence Reuben-Brown and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lawrence, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
How you do anything, is how you do everything! I remind myself of this everyday and how I approach anything from my relationships with people to cooking, to work and my art. If I don’t take care and act diligently in a single area of my life with will soon overflow into other areas. Remembering this keeps me true to myself in everything I do.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a thespian and lucky to work across voice, screen and stage acting. What I love most about my calling is that I have an opportunity to really see individuals, hone in and study their stories and what makes them human. I’ve discovered unsung hero who’s stories have been piece together from newspaper cuttings and court documents in the early 20th century, but were part of a journey battling for women’s rights and peace in the UK; I’ve discovered parts of myself I had long buried but had to uncover to empathise and relate to characters who initially made me feel uncomfortable when reading a script. Everyday I get to explore how incredible it is ti be a human being.

I started my journey in acting at school participating plays but took a long hiatus in my 20s, where i travelled extensively, worked a number of different jobs and had relationship that gave me life experience and lesson I now bring to the productions I work on.

Acting is not a straight forward career with set structures and routes to progress, we have to do a lot of self discovery as well as learning techniques and tools to act. One thing I have learned is that we have to take our development into our own hads and seek out the specific training we need for oursleves. We create our own program and toolbox of what we need to make it as an actor.

One of my favourite jobs was playing a character called Anthony in the arthouse feature film shoot in Italy, Punch of A Late Summer. This was my first feature film where I had the opportunity to really dive into a character for a long period of time living as him over the month we were shooting. I grew as an actor and started to actualise my skills and learnings over the years to deliver an honest new character who was different personally to myself.

Training is something we need to be constantly doing as actors, and every time I step into a studio for classes I have an overwhelming sense of belonging and peace. I know this is my calling and I will be doing this as long as I live.

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.
One of my oldest friends Danny was visiting from the UK and as fans of the show Californication we had to visit Venice beech and the Canals. For breakfasts and Brunch Cafe Vida in Culver City is amazing for food and service. I was recently shooting up at a ranch in Malibu and went for lobster burritos at Howdy’s cafe once we wrapped and I can honestly say they’re the best I’ve every had!

For a Friday night out, we have to go and see Toledo Diamond at Petit Ermitage in West Hollywood, incredible show!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a lifelong martial artist my association and teachers have played a huge part in shaping the person I’ve become today. As a teenager I remember meeting my mentor and teacher Iain Armstrong outside the Nam Yang Pugilistic Association martial arts centre to ask to become a student. Since that day I’ve also had a mentor to reach out to even when living on opposite sides of the world to talk about anything in life as well as guide me in my martial arts journey. Direct access to the knowledge and wisdom of Master Iain and late Master Tan based in Singapore, has helped me navigate adolescence and adulthood with an indelible confidence and mindset in all areas of my life.

Website: https://www.lawrencebrown.me/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawrencerdb/

Image Credits
David Yiu