Meet Steven Owsley | Actor and Pianist

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

Hi Steven, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
Author Laurie Anderson once said “Make the most beautiful thing you can everyday.” If you have decided to be a creative professional and express your humanity in abstract form as a living, motivation will dry up quickly. However, seeking to make a gift for someone, or create something that is personal and beautiful to you is essential. Whether I am playing Chopin on the piano, memorizing a monologue about a man unburdening his soul, or singing “The Greatest Showman” for an audition, it must be an outpouring of the beauty I am already pursuing. I don’t wake up and suddenly decide to create. I create daily, and sometimes it’s writing, or music, or prose. I feed the muse daily. And when a scary opportunity arises to show my work or have my work assessed, it is a continuation of my journey, not an isolated, terrifying journey up a sudden mountain. I’m already climbing everyday.

the only control I have is to apply myself fully to make the most beautiful I can. Yesterday’s efforts and gifts were made under yesterday’s circumstances. See who and where you are in the moment, and create something incredible. You are enough in this moment. Begin! Someone’s waiting for your inner life to come out.

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 so proud to be a theater actor in 2025! I love social media, and clips of brilliant, hilarious, and splashy things that compress ideas and feelings into a story that can be consumed in under 7 seconds.

But I love live theater so much. I spent 12 years in Michigan, studying at the Purple Rose (Jeff Daniel’s theater in Chelsea, Michigan), and acting in dozens of plays, skits, musicals, feature and short films to collect and refine my love and skill for acting.

In 2019, I won the Broadway World Award for “Best Actor in a play” where I played 40 characters in “The 39 Steps,’ at “The Sauk Theatre.” To prepare for this part, I watched hours of the “Carol Burnett Show” to observe and steal from the brilliant comics playing vastly different characters moment by moment. Using my love of skits and comedy in service of a full-length story on stage was one of the great artistic feasts of my career so far.

A year later, the pandemic changed everything and my theater career seemed to grind to a halt. I had booked 3 musicals back to back from April to November of 2020 and they disappeared in a poof as the COVID-19 virus expanded across the global stage. I formed a theater company in the summer of 2020 to produce outdoor productions with small casts to continue to feed my creative hunger and provide beautiful things for audiences. I am passionate to act whether I am given the most glorious stage, lighting, and budget.

Now that I have moved to Los Angeles, I am in pre-production for a play for myself and my friends this Halloween. I am eagerly hoping to further incubate my talents and passions among new friends and collaborators. The pandemic has abated, but all my hard work in researching plays with small casts will come to fruition. Nothing is ever wasted! Stay tuned for “Gaslight” this fall season. If you have the impulse to act, the only one stopping you, is you. If you want to work on something, let’s have coffee!

When someone asks me what my dream roles are, I can’t often answer. I’d love to play Danny Kaye in a biopic, or Cyrano De Bergerac. But the great challenges and joys of my career have manifested beyond where I could place myself. When I arrived in Los Angeles and was looking for jobs and housing, I was barely thinking of my acting career as I reached for stability. A director was looking for males for her theater production and heard me sing on facebook. A few hours later, Cantor Judy Sofer heard me sing over the phone, and do a Russian Accent (which I had perfected years before when I did “You Can’t Take It With You”). She offered me the role of Fyedka in “Fiddler On The Roof.” I had been in LA for 3 weeks, and was scrambling to find my footing, but the perfect role for me in a perfect company of friendly artists had bubbled up around me. I took 3 hours of public transportation to and from these rehearsals, grateful to be paying a price for what I love to do most. After completing “Fiddler on the Roof,” I was cast in a production of “All About Eve,” and I was absolutely astounded that I had done 2 theater productions within 9 months of arriving in LA. Embrace the chaos, and the way will appear.
I have enjoyed playing a goofy spy in “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang,” Professor Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” and the murderous Ratchett in “Murder on the Orient Express.” But I dont place myself in any category so as not to discredit any challenge or possibility that comes my way. If I had told myself I was a “funny side character,” I would never have allowed myself to embrace the depressed, recovering addict I played in the feature film “The Social Worker.”
The best role for me may not exist yet, and the best I have already done is not the best I will ever do. I overcame my limiting beliefs about myself by saying yes to everything and believing I brought value to everything offered to me.

In my early days I was terrified of film, thinking that theater and film acting were in opposition. I felt that the difference between theater and film was Opera (theater) and folk music (film) and I had to pick a lane. I’m so grateful for my opportunities to work in films that showed me that I was as capable in front of the camera in a small room with heavy circumstances as I was on a stage with an orchestra and an accent.
When acting isn’t in my reach immediately, I love to write books and compose and perform music. I have been playing the piano since I was 8 years old and I am so blessed to be pouring into that skill daily through practice. Exploring new styles in my musical abilities as I play events and compose music would never have been a “goal’” to my 7th grade self, plunking out Norah Jones on my electric keyboard. Writing sentences daily for my fantasy book about a tortured, heroic group of magical creatures would never have occurred to my 8 year old self rushing through his homework to watch “Gargoyles.” But I am so glad the thrills and impulses of my creative infancy has survived the insecurities, laziness, and distractions of my adult life. I endeavor daily to make the beautiful thing I can. It’s never the same thing twice. What an honor to be an artist and strive to make he beautiful thing I can everyday!

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 love the Academy Museum and the Peterson Automotive museum! I’d bring a friend there in a heartbeat. I find it impossible to bring someone in contact with classic storytelling and classic cars without sparking awe, smiles and conversations.
While you are in the neighborhood, visiting the Pantheon Cafe on Fairfax is a must! The vibe, decor, incredible staff and service make it my go-to place to work alone or bring a friend for hours of conversation. The “Black Vanilla” latte is made with activated charcoal, which I had never heard of before in coffee. That is now my drink of choice, and the smoky flavors of the charcoal combined with the sweetness of vanilla pair exquisitely, especially when I am writing about Dragons and Centaurs.
The Santa Monica Pier is traditionally the go-to pier for tourists. But I think the Manhattan Pier, with its tiny, beautiful aquarium, open space, and much less tourist traffic is a stunning and whimsical way to spend an afternoon.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Timm Richardson was my first ever acting coach, Denise Weber who always believed in me, and the amazing artists in Michigan at the The Sauk Theatre, Center Stage Jackson, Croswell Opera House, and the Purple Rose Theater who mentored and encouraged me. A special thanks for the Jewish Federation of the San Gabriel Valley for welcoming me into their creative family when I arrived in California.

A huge thanks for my parents in Brazil, and the many Brazilian friends and chosen family I had growing up there that shaped into the passionate, expressive, and sensitive person I am today.

Instagram: @Hollywoodpianoman

Facebook: Steven Owsley

Other: Stevenowsleyla@yahoo.com