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How can I use storytelling and acting to create meaningful impact and build a long-term career in the entertainment industry?
I’m 17, a high school student in Los Angeles, and I’m pursuing acting and voiceover professionally. I’m currently signed with Brave Artist Management and DDO Artist Agency, and I’m auditioning for lead roles. I’m especially interested in storytelling that creates real emotional impact, inspired by actors like Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Outside of acting, I’m also a day trader and a high school volleyball player, so I’m used to balancing multiple commitments and staying disciplined. I’m looking for advice on how to keep improving my craft, stand out in auditions, and build a long-term career in the entertainment industry.
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Jonathan’s Answer
Congratulations on your amazing discipline and mindset at such a young age. Balancing acting, voiceover work, day trading, sports, and school shows a focus and consistency that many people never achieve.
To build a long-term career, recognition is important. But it's not just about winning awards or landing big roles. Recognition also comes from how you live, work, and connect with others through your story and authenticity.
The actors you admire stand out because they make people feel something real. This comes from experience, vulnerability, discipline, and honesty. Keep building your personal story through both successes and mistakes, as no one leads a perfect life.
People connect deeply with those who share their challenges, failures, growth, and perseverance. These experiences will enrich your performances and storytelling.
Keep improving your craft and also focus on growing as a person. Your ability to balance different passions can become part of what makes you unique in the entertainment industry.
To build a long-term career, recognition is important. But it's not just about winning awards or landing big roles. Recognition also comes from how you live, work, and connect with others through your story and authenticity.
The actors you admire stand out because they make people feel something real. This comes from experience, vulnerability, discipline, and honesty. Keep building your personal story through both successes and mistakes, as no one leads a perfect life.
People connect deeply with those who share their challenges, failures, growth, and perseverance. These experiences will enrich your performances and storytelling.
Keep improving your craft and also focus on growing as a person. Your ability to balance different passions can become part of what makes you unique in the entertainment industry.
Updated
Rick’s Answer
O'Cean,
I love where your mind is at, because you’re already doing something most people don’t figure out until much later. You’re treating this like a profession, not a dream. Being signed, auditioning, balancing trading and school… that tells me you understand discipline. That’s a huge advantage in this business.
Let me answer you not just from theory, but from a lifetime in the trenches.
I spent decades building a career in business, working at a high level where persuasion, understanding people, and reading situations mattered every single day. At the same time, I was writing screenplays and sitcoms, year after year. I wasn’t an overnight success. Far from it. I wrote for decades, had scripts place highly in competitions, got close… and still couldn’t break through the system. For a long time, it felt like talent alone should be enough. It isn’t.
What changed everything for me, after all those years, was understanding that this industry doesn’t just run on talent. It runs on packaging, positioning, and emotional impact. That’s when things started to open up.
I’m now working directly with experienced industry professionals, building real packages around my work, getting my material in front of the right people. After all that time, I’m finally on the side of the business where things can actually happen. So when I talk to you, I’m not guessing. I’ve lived the long road.
The actors you mentioned, Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Daniel Day-Lewis, they’re not just talented. They understand story. They choose roles that say something about being human. That’s why they last.
When you walk into an audition, you’re not there to “perform.” You’re there to make someone feel something real. That comes from asking yourself: “What does this character want so badly it hurts, and where have I felt that in my own life?” That’s the difference between a good read and one that sticks with people after you leave the room.
Now here’s the part I wish someone had told me when I was starting out: If you want a long-term career, you cannot wait for permission.
Most actors are waiting, waiting to be picked, waiting for the right role, waiting for a break. Meanwhile, the people who last are doing something different. They’re learning the business side, how projects actually come together.
Why do certain actors get cast?
Why do certain films get made?
It’s not random. It’s packaging, actors, director, material, timing.
That knowledge took me years to understand. You can start learning it now. And you already have an edge most actors don’t, you’re a day trader. That means you understand risk, discipline, and decision-making under pressure. That’s exactly what this industry is.
Over time, the actors who build real careers don’t just act, they become part of the creation. They collaborate with writers, develop projects, even produce. That’s how they gain control.
So while you’re building your acting career, start asking yourself:
“What kinds of stories do I want to tell?”
“What roles do I want to be known for?”
Because one day, you won’t just be auditioning, you’ll be helping create those roles. And I’ll leave you with something I’ve come to believe after all these years:
Everyone is brilliant at something. But you don’t find it by guessing, you find it by doing, failing, adjusting, and staying in the game long enough for it to reveal itself.
You’re already in the arena at 17. That’s powerful. Stay disciplined. Stay curious. Keep going. If you do that, you won’t just have a career, you’ll have one that means something.
Best regards,
Rick
I love where your mind is at, because you’re already doing something most people don’t figure out until much later. You’re treating this like a profession, not a dream. Being signed, auditioning, balancing trading and school… that tells me you understand discipline. That’s a huge advantage in this business.
Let me answer you not just from theory, but from a lifetime in the trenches.
I spent decades building a career in business, working at a high level where persuasion, understanding people, and reading situations mattered every single day. At the same time, I was writing screenplays and sitcoms, year after year. I wasn’t an overnight success. Far from it. I wrote for decades, had scripts place highly in competitions, got close… and still couldn’t break through the system. For a long time, it felt like talent alone should be enough. It isn’t.
What changed everything for me, after all those years, was understanding that this industry doesn’t just run on talent. It runs on packaging, positioning, and emotional impact. That’s when things started to open up.
I’m now working directly with experienced industry professionals, building real packages around my work, getting my material in front of the right people. After all that time, I’m finally on the side of the business where things can actually happen. So when I talk to you, I’m not guessing. I’ve lived the long road.
The actors you mentioned, Timothée Chalamet, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Daniel Day-Lewis, they’re not just talented. They understand story. They choose roles that say something about being human. That’s why they last.
When you walk into an audition, you’re not there to “perform.” You’re there to make someone feel something real. That comes from asking yourself: “What does this character want so badly it hurts, and where have I felt that in my own life?” That’s the difference between a good read and one that sticks with people after you leave the room.
Now here’s the part I wish someone had told me when I was starting out: If you want a long-term career, you cannot wait for permission.
Most actors are waiting, waiting to be picked, waiting for the right role, waiting for a break. Meanwhile, the people who last are doing something different. They’re learning the business side, how projects actually come together.
Why do certain actors get cast?
Why do certain films get made?
It’s not random. It’s packaging, actors, director, material, timing.
That knowledge took me years to understand. You can start learning it now. And you already have an edge most actors don’t, you’re a day trader. That means you understand risk, discipline, and decision-making under pressure. That’s exactly what this industry is.
Over time, the actors who build real careers don’t just act, they become part of the creation. They collaborate with writers, develop projects, even produce. That’s how they gain control.
So while you’re building your acting career, start asking yourself:
“What kinds of stories do I want to tell?”
“What roles do I want to be known for?”
Because one day, you won’t just be auditioning, you’ll be helping create those roles. And I’ll leave you with something I’ve come to believe after all these years:
Everyone is brilliant at something. But you don’t find it by guessing, you find it by doing, failing, adjusting, and staying in the game long enough for it to reveal itself.
You’re already in the arena at 17. That’s powerful. Stay disciplined. Stay curious. Keep going. If you do that, you won’t just have a career, you’ll have one that means something.
Best regards,
Rick