From Brymbo to Broadway - with Harrison Tipping

In this episode of the CRE8IVE Wrexham Podcast, we are joined by Wrexham-born actor Harrison Tipping, whose journey has taken him from local theatre productions in North Wales to the bright lights of New York City and the Off-Broadway stage.

Harrison shares the story behind his decision to leave home at just 18 years old to pursue his acting ambitions in one of the most competitive creative cities in the world. We discuss his training at the prestigious Stella Adler Studio of Acting, the challenges and rewards of building a career overseas, and the resilience required to succeed in the performing arts industry.

Throughout the conversation, Harrison reflects on his Welsh roots, the influence of growing up in Wrexham, and the importance of representing Wales on an international stage. We also explore his recent Off-Broadway debut in The Honey Trap, the realities of professional acting, networking, handling rejection, and the lessons he has learned along the way.

Whether you're an aspiring actor, creative professional, student, or simply someone inspired by stories of ambition and perseverance, this episode offers an honest and insightful look into what it takes to turn a dream into reality.

Join us for an engaging conversation about creativity, opportunity, identity, and the journey from Wrexham to New York.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Chriso and welcome to Creative Wrexham, the podcast celebrating the incredible artistic talent, creatives and dreamers coming straight out of our brilliant city. I'm Simon Jones.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

And I'm Emily Freeman. Thanks for joining us today, everyone. Now, Simon, we always talk about how Wrexham's having a massive moment on the global stage right now, mainly thanks to a certain football club and some of its Hollywood magic. But today we are shining the spotlight on a local creative who's taken the leap from North Wales all the way to the bright lights of New York City.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

That's right. Our guest today is an absolute powerhouse of a young actor. At just 18 years old, he packed his bags and swapped Wrexham for Manhattan to train at the world-renowned Stella Adler studio for acting. Fast forward to today, he's 26, living in Harlem, and recently wrapped up a massive 100-performance run, making his off-Broadway debut in the Honey Trap at the Irish Repertory Theatre.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

It's such an inspiring story. He's literally gone from performing for locals at the Brumbo Cricket Club as a kid to performing in front of over 15,000 people in New York. And get this, his 86-year-old granddad John, who lives in Bang Grande, actually made his very first trip across the Atlantic just to see him take the stage off Broadway.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

I love that. But you know, the journey wasn't always smooth sailing. Like a lot of creatives trying to make it abroad, he hit a massive roadblock early on with his US visa. He generally thought his American dream was over until a bizarre, completely random twist of fate happened in a New York tea shop. He ran into none other than Rex May of C co-owner Ryan Reynolds, where he struck up a conversation and Ryan ended up writing him a personal letter of recommendation that saved his visa.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

It's amazing, isn't it? The synchronicity. We're going to be chatting with him about what it's like representing Wales in the US, how growing up around the calm landscapes of North Wales keeps him grounded in the chaos of NYC. And what's coming next for him now that he's back in the audition room?

SPEAKER_03 2:03

Amazing. It is a great story. We're so proud to welcome to the show the incredibly talented actor Harrison Tipping. Harrison, welcome to Creative Wrexham. Hey!

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Woo!

SPEAKER_03 2:16

How are you?

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Great, guys. Yeah, amazing. So nice to be home. Suffering with some slight jet lag, but landed down straight into the studio and happy to be here.

SPEAKER_03 2:26

When did you fly over here then?

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I flew on Tuesday night, uh, landed Wednesday afternoon, survived till 10, had some glasses of red wine, and woke up at 7:30, went for a run, got my teeth sorted at the dentist, and now I'm ready for this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Oh, fantastic. When do you fly back?

SPEAKER_02 2:44

I fly back technically on the 14th, but I might push it back slightly. Stay in Wrexham a bit longer. See if I can get a couple pints.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

See you at the turf next.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

So um Wrexham Born and Bred. Yeah. Yeah. What was it that first sparked your interest in acting?

SPEAKER_02 3:01

So funnily enough, we're actually in the place now because um at the Glindou University, uh, a friend of mine when I was nine years old um was in a show there with the Delta Academy of Performing Arts. Um, and I remember being in the audience in the William Asin Theatre. I always tell this story because it's the first time I can remember being in a in a theatre space with the lights low and sat with all these audience members, and these dancers slowly started crawling like on the floor down towards the stage, and I felt so immersed in the piece that they were creating. And then a couple days later, I went to her house, and I remember being like sat in her living room at nine years old and saying, like, I want to be an actor. Um, and then started to go to performing arts classes at Delta Up in Brimbo. And funnily enough, my nan was driving me here today, and she was telling me because I always used to cry when I used to go there, because I used to hate being away from home, even for like three hours. Yeah, so still cry now, and um, she was telling me these stories that she we'd like to sing songs in the car while I was driving there because I was so sort of scared to be away from home. But then I'd go and do these classes for three hours, and I'd come out with just like the biggest smile on my face. Um, and we used to do dancing, singing, and acting, and I was two left feet and not the voice of an angel, but uh the acting side of things I loved. Um, and I can remember, you know, those cold winter nights when it's like raining and snowing and uh just up in Brimbo and going there every week and having such an amazing group of friends there, and my teacher Martine Jones and all the teachers there, you know, just real uh building blocks for my passion of acting. Um, so I get like when I talk about it, I get kind of goosebumps because like to think that I'm 26 and I'm living in New York and I've had all these amazing experiences, but being back home as I'm getting older, I'm just like, it's just so amazing to be back with all these people who I'm meeting now or old faces, and yeah. So that's sort of what sparked my interest was seeing a show at the Glindua University.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yeah. And you you've just touched on the Delta Academy. How important was having a local organization like that in Wrexham that was able to help you discover that passion?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Well, you spot on that you just said it there, like a local, you know, a local club, you know, and it's for people from every background, all ages, and you don't even have to go there with the aspiration of wanting to be a performer. You can go there just to create a good group of friends, learn how to socialise, learn how to be in group settings, and doing that from a young age, and then I even taught there for a couple of years. So shout out all the kids at Delta, you guys are all legends if you listen to me. Um, you know, places like that are essential for young people. They just truly are, and not just for people, like I say, who want to go on and have a career in performing arts, but just as a confidence builder and for kindness and compassion, and that's what the arts is about. It's about storytelling through singing, dancing, acting, reading books, doing poetry because it touches us all, no matter what age you are. That's the beauty of art. Yeah, you can be three years older, you can be 93 and be touched by a song, by a dance, by a piece of theatre, you know. And I want to give a real special shout out to a teacher called Martine Jones, who she actually flew out to see me in New York in my off-Broadway debut. You know, she nurtured me from such a young age, and she took such care and time with me. And I think, you know, I can't speak for her, but maybe saw something or or felt something in me. And she's been such a a beautiful friend of mine. And to be, you know, nine years old, to then you know, you grow up and you get to know them as an adult, and yeah, you learn these things about you know, humans and how hard and challenging life can be. And when you're so young, you're kind of you're not ignorant. Well, you're ignorant to that because you're just not aware of that. And she nurtured me, and you know, I have so much love for her, and for her to fly all the way out to see me and the show, we talk about it all the time, like we still pinch ourselves like that was a real moment that we experienced. And you know, Delta is such a fantastic place for young people to go because it just builds those those fundamentals of confidence. Um, and it's just fun to be creative, you know, even if it's just for to be fun and silly, like as we get older, we lose that childlike play because life takes over and become so serious. But to be reminded, like to be playful and silly and not take yourself too seriously, is just so I think important in life in general.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

You mentioned before about being with Delta Academy and then coming back to William Aston Hall in Wrexham. Um, what was the moment that stayed with you from William Aston Hall from performances there?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Um, so this is a bit of a class one. So we were doing uh a Christmas carol, like a condensed version of it, and I was playing Bob Crouchett, and we had this massive snowstorm. It was like in 2017, and they had to cancel one of the shows. And one of the guys playing the guy playing Scrooge couldn't do the show the next day that they were trying to like resort out and put on the schedule. So Delta turned around to me and I was 17 and they were like, Would you play Scrooge? And I was like, Are you being fucking serious? And they were like, Yeah, tomorrow, would you go on and be Scrooge? And I was on the phone to them, and I was only 17, and I thought, There's no way I can do that. Like, you know, in a theater, like how big is that this like 800 seats or close enough, you know? And I was thought there's no way. And I put the phone down, and then I thought it was just this moment of like, I have to do this, yeah. And I rang them straight back and went, I'll do it. And then I went there, they made sure I had a hot chocolate side stage, they gave me the script, and we were doing the blocking with just like three of us of like the show, and I think it was something because it was a condensed version. I remember counting as something like 65 or 75 lines that like I had to learn, and I had 24 hours to learn them. And then I was side staged the next night, having gone over all these lines. There's a theatre full of like six, seven hundred people, and this girl comes up to me and she goes, Who are you playing? I'm like, I'm playing Scrooge tonight. And she looked at me and she went, You're going on as Scrooge, and I was like, Yeah, and she went, Good luck.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

And she walked off. And it was like two minutes before we're about to go on stage, and I just thought, What the fuck am I doing here?

SPEAKER_02 9:39

And I'll never forget it was like it was a moment I felt so alive as a performer because you're always nervous to go on stage anyway. But to go on stage with this like limited time, it was this kind of like weird, like the theatre gods were kind of looking after me because I think I decided to take this risk and this moment of like just this like stepping into the fire, and I can remember that like it was yesterday, this is like eight years ago now, and I can remember you know, the curtains open, the light is shining on you, and you can see certain audience members' faces, and you've got to like go through this whole show. But I can remember that like it was yesterday, and this is like eight years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

I mean, there's a part of it where you're sort of like, maybe because you were playing Bob, you'd like already absorbed some of you know Scrooge's lines. But then when you actually sit down and you take a step back from it and you go, imagine being given 24 hours to learn the main role of a play and then perform it. Like, I don't think anybody that I mean, I think you can understand it to a degree, but for somebody that has done plays and stuff before, the idea of somebody handing me a play and going be off script in 24 hours for the main role is that's absolutely incredible.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

I don't think I'd do it now. It was like young brash arrogance, probably, or whatever it was, but well, I mean it clearly worked.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

I mean, talking about taking bold leaps, um at the age of 18, you moved from Wrexham to New York. So was that shortly after you played Scrooge? You said you were 17 then. So was that quite a quick process from that to to moving out to New York?

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Yeah, so that would have been I was 17, so that would have been in the December when I was 17, and then the following September, like eight months later, I moved to New York, which was again as I've got older and appreciated that I kind of can't believe I did that.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

And you know, did you just go, I'm going, or did you have an opportunity out there?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

I was fortunate enough. So I'm a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, which I got into when I was like 17. I did a two-week course down in London, and again, a big shout out to that organisation, they're fantastic for young people, and I know they have one in Wales as well. I did the one in um down in London, and they were holding free auditions for this school in New York, so I just thought this is a great opportunity to get some audition experience with no thought that I would ever like even like get accepted. And then all of a sudden, I'd done this audition for Stella Adler, and I was presented with this opportunity of being able to go out there and go to their three-year school that came out of nowhere. And at first it was kind of like I'm not gonna do this because everyone's going to London or going to um Royal Welsh in Cardiff, and I was auditioning for all these schools there, and then it was kind of like I had all of a sudden this opportunity to not only study acting at an amazing school with like such a prestigious background, but go to a different country, and I think again it's like I talked about this earlier about like stepping out into the fire and just the unknown of things, and I think you know, it was just an opportunity I couldn't say no to, and I think I would have regretted not going. But I remember distinctly, you know, you know, it was summer and went on holiday, and then I'm going to New York and not really thinking about it and going on the plane with my mum. And I remember like touching down and getting in a cab and thinking, what the fuck have I just I I've destroyed my life, like and like that like young boy going to Brimbo crying in the car with my nana, yeah, was like back. I felt like this little boy again, and I was like, What am I doing? But you know, it almost feels like a lifetime ago that I did that, and I again like I say, as I get older, I kind of appreciate how huge of a jump that is because at 18 I thought I knew everything about myself and I felt so confident in who I was. Yeah, but then you kind of realize like you kind of don't really know who you are, and you're figuring all those questions out.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

What's what's that adage of you know, the wonderful thing about being young is that you don't really realize that you're so young, you think you're a grown-up, and it's only when you get older that you realize, you know, you were such a baby. Yeah. Um that that beautiful synchronicity that you mentioned, even when you first mentioned it, um, about how when you were in the car outside Brumbo you used to cry because you couldn't bear the idea of being away from your parents for a few hours. Yeah. The first thing I thought of when you said that was how did that feel then when you moved to New York? How did you feel when you moved to New York as that same person who must have such a strong connection to your family that the idea of moving away from them feels scary? You've gone from three hours separated in in a car to that that's a huge distance, you know, uh psychologically and you know, uh geographically, like you you're aware that you're you're physically separated from them. You know, did was that transition very hard or was were you different by the time you'd gotten to 18? Did you did you feel ready for it?

SPEAKER_02 14:37

That's a brilliant question. I've got no more questions, yeah. We should just end it there, guys. It's so funny because I remember landing and being terrified, but then slept, and then the next day I was straight into school, and I had a class with a teacher who since passed, it was called Ron Burroughs, and he was actually Stella Adler's assistant for like 30 years. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

And he had this ability when you would step into a room to just hold everyone in the palm of his hand in a calming presence and essence, because that was his philosophy and teaching of this like calm zoning in and being in the moment, which is so fundamentally important as an actor. And I remember doing that first class with him that the day after I'd landed and walking out of that class, and my mum's downstairs, and I went, This is the right decision. I was like, no matter how terrified I am, no matter how scared I am, how far I'm gonna be away from home psychologically, physically, this is why I'm here, is to try and hone and become an actor and hone my skills. And again, I'd had a I was quite fortunate, I had a lot of opportunities in performing up until that age, which really were essential in my development as a young actor on stage, especially. But you know, I knew you know it was the right decision to be in New York to learn even further to become an actor. Um, but there were definitely times where I felt homesick or you know, and and scared and the fear, but I think I was so determined to want to be good at what I did and just to to learn, and I still want to forever hold that um that feeling of wanting to continue to just always improve and learn from people around me. I think you never stop in acting, especially even just in creativity. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

If um if there's a young actor out there who wants to kind of follow in your footsteps, what kind of advice would you give them if they were going to perform in art schools and wanted to kind of experience that kind of life outside of the UK? What kind of advice would you give them, knowing what you've done from being at that age at 18?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah, I think you know, obviously there's so many things we could talk about there, but I think a couple fundamentals is I remember being 18 and a lot of schools had denied me, and there was that thing of like being too young, and that used to really frustrate me because they used to talk about life experience and things like that. And I remember being young and being annoyed by that because I kind of thought the idea of being an actor is to use your imagination to step into the shoes of characters and situations that are different to yours that you haven't experienced, but allow your imagination to help you feel and understand what it might be like. But what I would say is don't allow being rejected or being told no or being told you're not ready to stop you from following your dreams. You know, it's all essential in your you know journey to become and being an actor. Um, being told no is a part of this business, you know, from a young age to an old age. And I think all actors will tell you that. So just because you know, people are saying either you're not ready or you know, not right now, it doesn't mean that you're not an actor, you are an actor. And the other thing I'd say, and this is hitting me now more than ever, is when you're not working as an actor, there's this like fear of I'm not an actor, or I'm rubbish at what I do, or I'm not good enough because I'm not working. And that just so isn't true because the world around us, you know, art imitates life, you know, and the holding the mirror up to nature, that sort of stuff. Just living life gives you all the experiences you need to become an actor. So my advice to young actors would be just experience life in all ways, whether that's going to a house party, whether it's going for a walk on your own, listening to some music, writing a poem, you know, reading a book, all these things to just keep creatively inspiring your imagination is a fundamental essential. And don't allow, you know, being told that you're successful or being in a show or going to a drama school. That's not the definition of becoming an actor. You know, it's a lifestyle. So great.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

One of the things that you touched on now, um, I think is really important to um reflect on in terms of the Creative Rexum um sort of idea, which is that you said there about um, you know, in this business you have to be told to know a lot. I think that's one of the big things that stops people from not just getting into acting but getting into any creative field, is the fear of failure and the fear of rejection. It's something that a lot of other industries don't really have. You might get apply for a job and get a no, but you might not be applying for jobs very often, especially if you work in a career that's got, you know, legs to it. But in the creative industries, you have to constantly move and you have to constantly apply, and you get, I think the fear of failure is what holds a lot of people back from the innate creativity that everyone has, but only certain people have the confidence to tap into. Um, so as a young actor who has done this and has pushed past that fear of failure, and you're, you know, you're doing it, this is your career. How do you deal with rejection? Because you've just said it it happens, you still have to deal with it. How do you, to any other creative out there, acting or any other industry, what do you do when you get a no? How do you deal with that rejection? How do you move past that?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

So recently I've been getting either a lot of no's or even what feels even worse, just no answer, right? You know, apply, you know, I spend hours learning the lines, filming a self-tape, going to an in-person audition, waiting and not even hearing back, which is as I think is even harder than a no.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Um, and I talked about this again recently, you know. Um for me, the no's are another inspiration of I will do this. Yeah. You know, it's about converting things into fuel and motivation to keep on going. And especially, you know, I'll talk from an acting point of view. It's like there are so many reasons why you do or don't get apart, down to silly things like you have blue eyes and we wanted someone with brown eyes, you know, to be opposite someone or blonde hair rather than brown hair, you know, small little things like that that you can't be in charge of. But it's about then letting go of the uncontrollables, which is a consistent battle. Even in as a performer, you can be on stage or on a set, and there are things that are going on around you that are like either frustrating you or taking you out of it, but you have to try and allow to not let those things distract you from your job. And your job, you know, as an actor, taking all these no's is to go, okay, no problem. On to the next, onto the next, onto the next, because it makes it so much more sweeter when you do finally get that opportunity to work and you don't take it for granted. Uh, and it it fuels you, and you know, being told no and being rejected is super hard, you know. And I'm talking from a a place in my life now where I haven't worked for kind of four months, you know. I came off the back of an amazing, you know, my off Broadway debut for five months, sellout show, amazing cast, what amazing opportunity was so fulfilling, and then it's over. And that kind of juxtaposition in life. Can be really challenging. So then to add to that, I would just say it goes back to that thing of living life. And I think that's what I'm trying to get better at doing. And even my dad said to me recently, it's like even me being in New York and just sort of surviving there is an achievement on its own. And I say that for me for New York, but just people like my age, younger, like life can be so challenging. And it's important to sit back and you know, give yourself kudos for all the little day-to-day wins that you've got going on, you know. But yeah, to answer the question, like the nose, just get allow it to be fuel to motivate you.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Talking just very briefly about your acting ability. Do you think that growing up in North Wales has shaped the type of performer that you are?

SPEAKER_02 22:48

De definitely. And I was fortunate enough to have done an interview in New York recently with the Welsh government, and they asked me this question. And I landed yesterday, right? And the first thing I said is, I want to go to the Horseshoe Pass up in North Wales to see the hills and the green trees. And again, I talk about I literally I'm getting goosebumps about it because North Wales is beautiful and it's gorgeous. And I live in East Harlem with the hustle and bustle and the craziness and people who are so different to me, and it's amazing and beautiful. But then I get to step back into the countryside of Wales and just see the hills and the sheep and lay in the grass and smell the horse shit in cowpoo. And it's like it's amazing. And the reason it shapes me is because it's like I remember being a young, young boy listening to music and being on my own and either running up in those hills or just walking around and like speaking monologues out loud or singing the songs out loud, even though I couldn't sing, or you know, and this feeling of of um creativity and inspiration from the songs or just the environment around me, it's just beautiful, and that's why poets you know talk about these places like Dylan Thomas and all those sorts of people.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

It's like that's why they call your Heraith.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Yeah, yeah, exact exactly, yeah, Heraith. And you know, to to be in New York but know I'm from here, as I get and again, I'll get an older, like there's such a sense of pride with that. And you know, I mean, I just have a soft spot for the countryside anyway, but you know, there's something so amazing to be able to feel like that landscape is within you as a performer. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

There's a there's a real like romantic aspect to New York when you're there, when you've stood amongst it, when you're feeling it. It's it's familiar and you know overwhelming all at once because we grow up with so much of it in our consumption of media, you know. Um so even if you uh go in there for the first time, it's familiar, right? And there's a real sort of uh romanticism to there. It's a very different one, but you also get it when you're in North Wales, right? You stood on top of it, you feel a lot of things. It's a very different environment, but it invokes a very similar sort of feeling. Do you feel like it has been a huge shift for you to be in New York, or do you feel like it's been more subtle? What was it initially, you know, you said about giving yourself or your father giving you kudos for just making the move to New York, even when you're just there? Do you what's your relationship like now with New York living there?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

I mean I was thinking about this a lot recently. Um I was in a relationship over there for three years, and I'd gone through a lot of visa trouble to even just be in America, and we'd been apart, you know, and I was like back living in Wrexham and working in a cafe and teaching here, and my life had been set up over there, and I finally got back, and then sort of nine months later, you know, we we broke up just because you know, things weren't uh they weren't right anymore, basically. You know, and she was a beautiful person and we had an amazing relationship, but it just wasn't meant to be anymore. And it was the day before I started rehearsals for my off-Broadway debut. So I had this in one hand, I was like gonna be an actor performing at this like prestigious theatre with an amazing cast, amazing play, and my heart had just been broken. And I guess what I'm trying to say is the city changed for me. And that kind of might people might think that sounds cringy to say, but I guess what I'm saying is when you go through these experiences of life, a place that might have held so much love, or you saw it in a certain way can completely change and you can see it in a totally new way. And my life for a while over there doing that play was really challenging, and my relationship with New York changed because it was almost like, well, what's the point in being here anymore if I'm not here with someone who I loved and and shared that experience with, you know? And I guess my to answer your question is like my relationship with New York always changes, but I think fundamentally, like I'm so grateful and blessed that I was given an opportunity at such a young age to go and move out there and perform there and learn there, and you know, long may that continue and I get more experiences there. Yeah, but equally, again, while I'm getting older, coming back home and being surrounded by people like you and just being back in Wrexham makes me understand how special home can be. And at a young age, we have, or at least I felt I was trying to escape my life here because I was like, there's more out there and there's more to the world, and that's true, and that's there, that's beautiful, but it's also great to have appreciation from about where you're from and the people who make you from where you're from.

SPEAKER_03 27:55

Very much so, and I think from our side, from setting up Creative Rex and bringing people together, and obviously I knew you through doing uh filming projects uh about just over a year ago, um, and bringing people together and having that connection with people and finding you've got strength in people and strength in their ability and their their conversations and their experience. Uh, and it's not uh a solo kind of project industry. We need to collaborate these people better together. And yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

And just to add off that, you know, I think there's sometimes this mistake in performing arts or creative industry that it's like this big competition where you know you've got to be, you've got to be the best, and it's you against everyone else. And I think that approach personally so wrong. And the reason I say that is because creativity is a team sport, it's a team effort, and it's everyone who is part of a creative project, whether it's a film, a play, music, dance, everyone is essential to make that project happen, and everyone has equal importance. And if people are in an environment where they don't feel that, then that's wrong. Yeah, you know?

SPEAKER_00 29:05

We we talk about this quite a lot, um, Simon and myself, because um when we were we first met, we first met by going up for the same opportunity. And so that that was competitive in its nature, and we managed to instead turn it into a great sort of like uh collaboration and friendship um by not looking at it as a competitive thing. I think you know we have been very supportive of each other going up for the same things, and sometimes you've got it, and sometimes I've got it, and and it's it's been really lovely like that, but you know, collaboration is what this industry, you know, so strongly revolves around. Definitely. However, New York is one of the most competitive cities in the world in terms of um you know, the the market that you're in in your your job searching and auditioning. How do you find it then, applying that approach that you have, which you know is is so important of collaboration? How have you found that going into one of the most competitive cities in your field?

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Yeah, I mean, I'll talk in terms of this play that I've just done. So I moved back to New York in 2025 because my visa had been approved and I'd waited two years to get this visa right. And the only way I can describe it is I remember being up at the Horseshoe Pass when I had no visa in my car on my own at night. Sounds pretty sad, right? And thinking, I don't know what's gonna happen, I don't know where life is gonna take me, but I'm gonna make this happen. Whatever that means, I'm gonna make it happen. Fast forward nine months, my visa gets approved. So I had this, I was doggedly determined to become an actor. And I'm in this tea shop again. I love this tea shop. I obviously love drinking Yorkshire Gold. And an actor walked in and he told me about this play that was going on. And they were trying to find people in their mid-twenties to play young British soldiers from the north of England, and I was like, hand in the air, like, get me in that room. So I auditioned, uh, I emailed like six different people associated with the project just to try and get my name in the circle. And by pure, you know, luck or fate or whatever, someone replied to my email and said, I forwarded your information onto the casting department, and then an hour later, I got a request for the audition.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

I then sent off a self tape, didn't hear anything for three weeks. Again, rejection, no, I've not got it. I then found out I got a call back in person. So I was like, fantastic. They liked my original self tape. I'm gonna go to this in-person audition. First one I'd done in about a year. Again, this idea of stepping into the fire, the unknown. I hadn't acted in forever. I hadn't had a visa. I was about to walk into an off-Broadway theater in the middle of New York, you know, shaking in my boots. But all I knew is I want this and I want to do this. And I walked into that room and blessed be my guardian angel, I was fortunate enough. I just felt like I had smashed the audition. And I've walked out of plenty of audition rooms where I feel like I failed, did rubbish, flummoxed my lines, all of it. But I just felt like I had absolutely owned that room in a respectful way. And then I got given a final call back the following day, went and did that, and then an hour later I got a call from my manager saying they want to offer you a part in the play. And I guess what I'm trying to say is it is competitive and it is hard, of course it is. But if you have self-belief and you work hard and you don't stop, opportunities will come your way.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Um, and you know, it's just about it's that silly thing, but just not giving up, never giving up.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

Just before we go back to your off-Broadway debut, before that, you'd had a bit of success with some films as well. Yeah. Tell us a bit more about that.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah, so I graduated from school in 2022. I was fortunate enough to do my feature film out in Austin, Texas, film called Protocol 7, which is a corporate thriller, and I got to film opposite someone called Eric Roberts, who's which is amazing, by the way. Can I say well done? Thank you very much. So, yeah, I got to work opposite him, a guy called Matthew Marsden who'd done Coronation Street and he'd moved to America. And that was my first time doing a feature film out there, and it was a it was a fantastic opportunity for me as a 22-year-old actor to really get myself immersed into a film set with a really professional bunch of people who had worked in the industry for a long time. And again, that thing of like, I remember first day on set and being incredibly nervous, and all I had to do was walk up to an elevatory directory board, look at it, and decide where I was going. I didn't even have to say any lines, right? Yeah. And I was walking to the set to go and do that, and there's all these people with the sound and the lights and stuff like that. And you can't, you know, there's this thing I talked about with Ron Burroughs, that teacher, about having an element of calmness to you. So um, you know, it's trying to, you know, you've got to try and remain calm on a film set while remaining open and playful and free.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

And I felt like I really had a great group of people on that film to allow me at you know, a young age to be playful to the point where, you know, you feel relaxed in the room. And then some other stuff that I've done is uh I wrote my own uh short film called Stand Two a couple of years ago, which is about a post-traumatic stress disorder and infantry soldiers. Um, and uh, because I've got some personal connections with the military.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

And um, I thought, you know, I'd seen a lot of films that were about war, you know, in the thick of it with bombs and guns going off, and you know, amazing films. But I I felt like I hadn't really seen a film that really talked about the after-effects of war in like family life or the returning home. And that was the inspiration for me to write my first short film, which we filmed in 2020 now, so it's like six years ago. You know, and there are it's funny because there are things about that film, you know, technically that weren't spot on or weren't perfect, but for me, that's kind of the beauty of it because it's just about there was four of us who we made this script, we got together with a camera, a bit of sound, and we told this story. And that again, that's what being creative is about. You know, you don't need to be in these $10 million film sets or you know, to have a tell an amazing story. You just need a group of people who are all on the same mission, yeah. Um, and for me, the reason that film's important is because so many men and women sacrifice so much in the armed forces, and that's not even just from you know, going away from home. It's such a hard lifestyle where they move all over the UK, they move to other countries, they're apart from their families, their children, their partners for so long. And you know, they get paid like nothing to do this, and these are the you know, they are the building blocks of our society because they're people that keep us safe, and everyone has their own personal opinions towards the military and all that sort of stuff. But fundamentally, these are people who are trying to earn a living to survive and support their families, and for me, that's why it was important to tell that story. And I'd actually love down the line to probably re-approach that film with a bit more of a bigger budget and a bigger creative team and explore that and not just the effects on people directly uh affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, but also the families surrounded that because they're stories that are really important to tell. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

We when you're talking about storytelling um within that context, you know, as somebody who has now traversed multiple different ways of telling stories, what do you find on a personal level? I don't want to get you in trouble, but what what do you find is personally your favourite method of that? Do you prefer being on stage? Do you prefer um, you know, screen? What what's your favourite medium that you found as a performer? Or do if you don't want to pick a favourite, what what have you found the differences between them all to be? You know, uh performing on stage, performing uh in front of a camera?

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yeah, I think um so I started in theatre on stage, and I think, you know, again, you know, especially in the UK, when I was younger, you know, there wasn't a lot of opportunity to do a lot of film and camera work in comparison to America, where it was huge. But the thing I love about the stage is it's like live music. You can't beat that feeling of being in a room with a bunch of people, the lights slowly go down, the curtain slowly opens, there's some music in the background with the sound of the lights, and actors walk onto a stage and tell a story is an it's an exchange of energy that cannot be repeated or or shown in other ways. And I don't mean that to discredit films. I love films, and I would love to do more film stuff to answer the question. Basically, is I'd love to do all of it. But I think the beautiful thing about live performance is there is a real you are changed in that room as a as an actor and as a an audience member, you know, and thing with things like Shakespeare, you get to look people in the eye in the audience and speak the words and the language and connect with them.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

I was just gonna say you're getting an immediate reaction from somebody as well, and seeing their emotional kind of drive as you're delivering that line.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Yeah, exactly. You know, and we live in a world where we are consistently consuming technology all the time, and we're addicted to our phones and to screens, you know, and that can be really detrimental. And I found it in myself, you know, I'm I'm on social media and I'm not really caring about what I'm looking at, and I'm scrolling and I'm clicking on a video and going straight off it because our attention spans are being taken away from us. And we there's part of that that's hard for us to battle against, but that's again why things like the theatre or live music, live performance is essential. And I hope and I think there will be a resurgence in people wanting to feel that connection. And it's as simple as like going to the cinema, right? I went to the cinema the first time in months the other day to watch a film called Obsession, which was amazing. Yeah, and it reminds us like I feel like a nine-year-old boy again, you know, going to you know, Cine World with popcorn and sitting in the theatre, and you know, that that feeling, you know, uh, we need to bring that back in, you know.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

I well, my background was a cinema manager, yeah. And I used to love that industry because I was back at the Hippodrome Theatre, the Apollo Theatre as a kid, and that's what kind of brought me into the love of theatre and and um and cinema, really. And when I became a cinema manager, obviously it was very corporate. Um, but I used to love going to independent cinemas and small kind of cinemas in the in the the back ends of town um that would just have character and have some kind of feeling and emotion to it. And even last night I was at the Liverpool Philharmonic uh watching a film with a live orchestra, and it was a better feeling than just watching something, and yeah, there was a more of a motive connection, an emotive connection, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

I was um I was watching ET the other week and um you know, like such a classic film, and I was realizing that part of I think, you know, people that love film and love cinema, and there's that want to be part of the making of it. There's that desire to create something that's sort of immortal, something that will live forever, you know, performance that you know that was something that was a couple of months of a few uh hundred or however many people's lives back in the 80s, 40 odd years ago. And that is long gone, and yet it's it's still you know eternal, it will be there forever. Whereas theatre, I think what's so um amazing about being part of it is you are fully immersed in it. It is the fully being in the present, right? You you when you're doing it, I mean you've you've done the honey trap. How many shows did you have with the honey trap?

SPEAKER_02 41:10

I think in the end it was like 107 performances.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

So so your challenge as a performer is you have to make that fresh for yourself, for the audience, but also make sure that everybody has the same experience as each other, but you're making that, you know, you don't want to lose that magic of it almost being like two muscle memory and rehearsed, that you're doing it again and again the same and you're losing that raw energy. So you're having to reinvent that in a similar fashion every single night for 100 birds. That is it's it's an incredible skill.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

You know, how how did that feel as a performer to get that experience of doing such a long run like that and getting to experience that?

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I was absolutely terrified. The answer to the great question, because up until that point, the most performances of a single play I'd done was 12th night. I'd done 13 performances of this play, right? And then all of a sudden I was faced with doing a show that was at that point going to be 70 performances plus four weeks of rehearsal, right? So you're speaking the same lines rehearsing six days a week over and over again, and there's a fear of it becoming boring or it becoming unstimulating. You know, again, I could talk about this for hours. I think what's important for actors first, I'd say, is for an audience, it's the first time that they will hear and see those words and your performance. It might be the hundredth time you've done it, but for them it's the first. Yeah. So that's a special and amazing thing that you can't underestimate for their experience of it. As an actor, my approach to the work changed. And what I meant by that is when you only do a limited amount of performances, you run solely off adrenaline, excitement of the freshness of it, new discoveries, and just the buzz and the adrenaline of it. Whereas when you're on, you know, show seven of the week, you know, and you're tired, you run off different things. And I think what I would say is I then became very in touch and attuned to how I felt in my life at that point. And I drew off things like that, you know. I talked about I was going through a breakup at the time, you know, and I could draw off those personal experiences in my day-to-day life and convert those feelings and thoughts and energy into my work and into my performance. And again, that's the beauty of live performance. And, you know, what I would say is what I can always guarantee is anytime I'm gonna walk onto a stage and perform, I'm gonna this thing I talk about, bear my soul. And what I mean by that is the words are a vessel and the characters are a vessel, but there is always gonna be an innate. Distinct truth from my personal life that's going to show up in the work. And I don't say that in an indulgent way, I just mean it's the rawest depth of humanity that I'm going to speak these words from a place of true vulnerability, basically, in my work. And you just have different approaches, you know. Some days you go on and you're a bit more playful and silly, and you're kind of playing games with the actors on stage, which brings like an excitement to it. Some days you just you're a bit more serious, you draw off how you were feeling that day. But I had such a fantastic experience in that show, and I was surrounded by actors in the industry, Samantha Mathis, you know, who'd done you know loads of films, and she was lovely. Yeah, incredible career. And she's like in her mid-50s, and we were doing rehearsals, and she turns around to me and goes, Why the fuck do we do this? Like she's like, I'm terrified. Like, what and you know, there she is, this monumental career worked with all these amazing performers, and she's turning around to me and saying that. And it just reminded me like the humanity about this thing about staying humble, wanting to learn, being open. It's not a competition, you're working together. And you know, it's you know, that experience. I, you know, I miss it so much. I'm almost craving to get back onto the stage again.

SPEAKER_03 45:19

I guess it's quite humbling as well to hear that that putting you back in that place of remember your first performance always is like we're doing this because we love that response, we love that feeling of getting the audience reaction.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Yeah, speaking of it, what what did it feel like walking onto the off-Broadway stage for the first time?

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Yeah, I mean, in so we did I think it was like 13 or 14 preview shows, which is basically the show you're doing the whole performance in front of a whole audience, but things are still changing. And again, just being terrified, and you you do you rehearse all day, you do the show at night, and then you get notes on your performance, which is all part of being an actor anyway. But again, you know, that's it's the nerve, the nerve-wrackingness of it, if that's a term, because it's like you know, your work is still being judged by the director and the creative team, and things are still changing and being worked out. But you know, yeah, to to have been in that theatre, you know, again, I compare it to likes of being in the Glindur or Brimbo Cricket Club or T Palb even, and it's just like you know, I can't quite believe I I did that, and I feel you know, my family flew over to see me. I had friends, you know, my great friend Shannon Halley flew out, my old drama teacher, you know, you know, like I say, family members, and you know, that is so um bizarre for me. Like, what what did I ever do to deserve that? And I feels I feel so grateful for that. And I just again, long may I have more opportunities like that because definitely it's so special to be able to walk onto a stage and like I say, bear my soul for an audience, and yeah, I just I don't say it to sound cringy or whatever, but it brings me a lot of joy to think I'm making people proud of me from where I'm from, of course.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

And it's a huge accolade, Harrison. Thank you, mate. Thank you so much. It's amazing to see your career excelling, and and you know, I've known you for a couple of years, yeah, and it I keep watching your performances and your kind of and it it's an absolute pleasure. Um, the one thing I've got to talk about, which was the bizarrist kind of thing that I saw, was um the story about how you met Ryan Reynolds and how that kind of chance encounter actually happened and how it affected you. And obviously, I know a little bit of the story, but tell everyone about how that happened.

SPEAKER_02 47:46

Yeah, so a little bit of context was I was a I'd graduated from school in America, I'd worked out there for a Stella Adler.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

Stella Adler. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:54

Yeah, yeah. So I graduated from Stella Adler, I'd done a feature film, I'd done some theatre in Florida, I'd done Romeo and Juliet in New York. So everything was feeling amazing, right? I had a girlfriend, loads of friends, my career was happening, it was great. And I'd applied for a uh what's called an 01 acting visa. And to cut a long, laborious story short, I had got rejected for the visa. So I had to move back home. So I had to leave my apartment, my partner, my friends, my career, my life in New York, move back home, work back in the Grosvenor Garden Centre Cafe. Big love and shout out to all the people I moved with home, serving toast and cups of tea, right?

SPEAKER_03 48:35

Other garden centres are also available. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

At uh and um, you know, again, my life felt like it was gone pause again. So I go back out to America to see my girlfriend, and I go to this tea shop that I always go to because I'm missing home, want to get a cup of tea. And I walk in there, and I've it's the second time I've applied for the visa, and I've been told that I don't have enough evidence again, and I have to submit some more evidence within this certain time frame. So it's late nights, I'm working frantically to try and get more information and evidence, and I'm two days away having to submit my application, or have been outright rejected. So at this point, it's nearly two years I've been waiting. And I look out the window, and Ryan Reynolds walks past the window, and I I kind of like blink and I'm like, I have to go and talk to him. Yeah, and I'm not someone, I'm not very like celebrity, like I wouldn't want to run up to a celebrity and be like, oh my god, or can I get a picture of something like that? And I don't mean any shade by that, it's just not the way I am at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

It would make you feel a little bit scared or self-conscious.

SPEAKER_02 49:42

Exactly, yeah, you know, and also working in this line of work, understand like they're also human beings who live day-to-day lives and they just want to like go and get a coffee, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:50

So you're pushing past like a massive boundary of fear to go run and talk to this guy.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Exactly, because it's like I've been, you know, at home wanting to sort this visa out for two years, spent so much money, so much stress and time and uncertainty, and all of a sudden, the guy who is the co-chairman of Wrexham Football Club, who's also an actor.

SPEAKER_00 50:12

I mean, you you couldn't write it. Of all the famous actors you could bump into, that you could be like, hi, would you support my application for no reason? You've bumped into somebody that is from the sort same sort or like has a connection to the same small town that is now, you know, obviously changing, you know. But you know, Rex to those of us that have grown up here, Wrexham is a small town. Yeah. That people I used to tell people I'm from near Manchester. If I was in the States, I would say Manchester. Yeah. Because I would think people know Manchester United. Yeah. They might not even know Liverpool. I'd say Liverpool because the Beatles, yeah. Right. But you know, when when you're talking about it on a global scale, people sometimes wouldn't even know where Wales was. Yeah. Never mind that they would guess where Wrexham is, you know. And now, you know, we were saying outside, you know, when we were having a little chat before we come in the podcast studio. Um, you know, I was in a restaurant in Thailand and the server from Myanmar knew where Wrexham was. They said, Where are you guys from? I said, you know, Wales. And they said, Wrexham. And well, we were like, Yes, that's exactly where we're from. So he walks past the window, the co-chair of Wrexham AFC. Unbelievable. And you need your visa signing. It's it's just you couldn't, you couldn't write it.

SPEAKER_02 51:26

And that's the thing. I remember telling people the story, and a lot of the word that kept coming up was like fate. Yeah. Because, like I said, it had been so hard. My life had felt so stagnant, and things felt like they just were never gonna work out. And all of a sudden, you know, Ryan walks past the tea shop.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

So I go outside to him, and he's sat there with his wife and their children, and they're having breakfast. I'm like, am I really gonna stop him from eating his full Monty breakfast? To ask, well, just to tell him my story, basically. Because this is the thing. When I went out to see him, I didn't go with an intention of please help me. Like I'm, you know, I'm desperate. It was more of just a he's the chairman of the football club from the town I'm from. He's an actor, I'm an actor, I'm from Wrexham, I'm in America, he lives here. I'm just gonna tell him my story.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

Did it feel like you were just sort of like feeling a pull to just go out and speak to him without knowing sort of what was coming of it?

SPEAKER_02 52:28

Like I said, I fully went to speak to him genuinely with no intention in mind. I didn't go like, and now he's gonna like give me a draw in a Marvel film, or he's gonna see me and like I'm from Wrexham and he's gonna like take me under his wing. It was purely just to go, hello, I'm Harrison, I'm from Wrexham. I used to perform right next to the football club ground in the theatre there. I've been trying to make a go of it in America, and I'm just facing loads of difficulties with my visa. And I told him this, and then he was like, Well, I'm Canadian. So when I was going through the process 20, 30 years ago, I went through the same thing and he was like, and it's an absolute nightmare. And he's eating his toast while he's telling me this. And he just nonchalantly went, Well, I'll just sign a letter of recommendation for your visa application. And then I was just like, What? And he was like, Yeah, like I can do that. I'll just you could sign a letter and you could put it in your application if that's helpful. And I was like, that would be amazing, but I've got to get this by Thursday and today's Tuesday. So, and bearing in mind, lots of people take like a couple of weeks to sign these letters. He got this letter back to me in less than 12 hours. Oh, yeah. He then checked in with me the following day to make sure I had received the letter, and then one of the things that I haven't really mentioned before, so a bit of an exclusive, was he messaged me on Instagram to make sure I'd had this letter, and he sent me this wonderful message about how to conduct yourself in this industry. And this has happened nearly this is about a year and a half ago now, and that message just meant so much to me and really touched me because he talked about how when you're a good person and you work hard and you stay humble, people are gonna be there to pick you up and help you in times of trouble and times of need. And I think that's what he saw in me. He saw this young lad who's just trying to make his dreams come true in this really tough point, and he just wanted to be a part of that. And again, that goes back to this thing we've been talking about this whole time. When you work hard and you have humility and you know, you remain humble and you just want to learn, people want to be surrounded by people like that because you elevate each other, and he just did me, you know, the biggest favour. And you know, a month later my application was approved. Um, and then I landed the honey trap, and you know, he shared on his the the leader, you know, shout out the leader, the local newspaper. They did an article about that, and he shared that on his social media for me. So what he's done, you know, for me on a personal level has been amazing. And I I wrote it down in my journal the night it happened. I said, I'm gonna pay him back, and I just know there's gonna be some point where our paths will cross again, and I can't wait just to look him in the eye and go, Thank you, because without your generosity, you know, my life would have been very different, yeah, and it would have worked out and I'd have been fine. But he gave me something in a time of need when I needed it, and the thing I just say off that is like it's so important to help people around you in times of need because kindness is such an amazing, beautiful thing to do, and it can be as simple as just seeing someone needs a cup of tea or going out for a pint or whatever, just to show that you care for people. Yeah, fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 55:39

Exactly the point that we made about Creative Rex and of collaborating and and connecting people and supporting them as well through this whole journey. Yeah, and it's not about me being solo into this thing, to this journey. We do it a lot, we support each other, we promote each other, we help other people get into different places, and exactly what you said there, it's about that support and encouragement, really, that we all need really to help pursue that journey when we're having good days and bad days. Um, just going back into a little bit of your kind of Welsh identity, and you're a big supporter of the Welsh culture and your your where you're born and bred from. Um, are there any kind of Welsh stories or writers or historical figures that you would like to portray on screen one day?

SPEAKER_04 56:22

Oh or on stage here.

SPEAKER_02 56:25

I recently saw the Mr. Burton film. Yeah. Um, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a screening of that out in New York. Um, and Richard Burton's daughter was actually at the screening. Oh, wow. Wow. And ironically, she had worked at the Irish Repertory Theatre where I'd done my debut, so it was all kind of like interlinked. And he uh the you know, this film's a beautiful film about his relationship with his teacher who adopts him, um, and you know, his profound love for Shakespeare. And I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, I've always had a love and a passion for Shakespeare, and it can feel so alien to us because the language is so different. But again, when it's done in a way that it's relatable, it can touch people of all ages from all cultures. So I guess what I'm trying to say, when I watched that film earlier this year, it made me remember that I want to do some more Shakespeare again and be in the footsteps like someone like Richard Burton, you know, who's from who's from South Wales, wasn't he? Yeah, you know, and he travelled and had an extensive, amazing career in the US on Broadway, obviously in film and television, but also in theatre, you know. And I would love, I suppose, I guess my connection there is to be, you know, to try and step in the footsteps of someone like him, you know, and who's someone who's very synonymous with their voice.

SPEAKER_03 57:42

Yes, as well as Richard Burton was War of the Worlds. Yeah, War of the Worlds, yeah. Like we've we worked recently with um Mark Lewis Jones. Yes, and again, someone who's very synonymous in their vocal ability and doesn't really strive away from their Welsh identity so much, even though they have acted with an American accent sometimes. But traditionally, a bit like Anthony Hopkins, yeah, very much into that driven narrative of being in the Welsh identity.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Yeah, and it's the same with the national youth uh the National Theatre of Wales now, you know, with what Michael Sheen has done again, talk about this thing about kindness and passion and giving opportunities to young people and people in Wales. It's like, you know, self-funding that so uh there can be a National Theatre of Wales again, once more that can tour around. So, you know, I would love at some point to be involved with those guys and do some work with those people. Um, and I honestly I would love to come back home and do some work, you know. I've been in America now on and off for the last sort of seven years and had some brilliant opportunities and you know, want them to continue, but it would be amazing to even do something at Theatre Cluid, you know. Yeah, you know, just to like and have all my families and friends locally be able to come and see me work and see me do my thing here in Wales.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Is there anywhere else that you would like to see your career? So we've talked a lot about home and Wales, we've talked a lot about New York. Is there anywhere else that you could envisage your career taking your that you would like to? LA? Would you like to um, you know, try any other countries? Is there any other sort of parts of the world that you could see this career taking you?

SPEAKER_02 59:16

Yeah, I mean, uh fortunate enough, you know, the film that I did uh I did out in Austin, Texas, and then I did some theatre in Florida, and then some theatre in New York. So I've been fortunate that I've travelled the US with it, but I suppose, you know, I would love to just perform in some theatres in the UK again, you know, even up in Scotland or down in London. Yeah, I suppose I keep talking about the stage because I suppose I really miss it. And yeah, I would just love to, you know, wherever I'm fortunate enough to be taken for work will be a blessing, and to have the ability and opportunity to travel and meet new people and new cultures and work with people is just amazing. And you know, I'd love for that to happen. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

I have a feeling it will.

SPEAKER_03 59:59

We'll keep watching with uh with baited breath for that. We could talk all day, to be honest, Harrison. But what I want to do is just give you a quick quick fire round. Yeah, quick Q. Okay, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:12

Okay, so your favourite actor, Tom Hanks, and Tom Hanks, because the film Castaway was another big moment of me deciding I wanted to be an actor. And I think um, you know, ironically, when I was leaving Harlem the other day, I was in my local dive bar and it was on the TV, and I was just reminded again the power in his stillness when he's not talking, but you can see in his face and through his eyes this internal monologue that's going through his head, and just you know, he's just an amazing actor. So yeah, Tom Hanks.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:51

Uh favorite film.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

I would have said castaway now. Definitely castaway. I think another film that I love is The Green Mile, which is also another Tom Hanks film. Can I do a top three? Yeah, go ahead. Castaway's up there, because you know, when he loses Wilson, he won't cry. The Green Mile, and then this is a rogue one, Nacho Libre. Nacho Libre. Because our family is got Nacho.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:16

Our family's consistently quoted Nacho Libre.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

And again, just about being silly, you know. Yeah. Sometimes it's great just to chuck a film on that's silly and funny and not super serious.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:27

I've I've been uh telling Simon a couple of times recently that I rewatched Tropic Thunder the first time since it came out. I've watched it with some friends, and then I've watched it twice since then. Literally the past, I have no free time. I have like zero free time in my life, and yet I've managed to find the time to watch Tropic Thunder three times in the past month. Yeah, so silly.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:50

From that film, I started watching more of Danny McBride. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And we've watched from um Vice Principals to um The Righteous Gemstones, yeah, yeah. And I've just fallen in love with that comedic journey. It's it's been funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:03

He's a real favourite actor of mine.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:05

What's the um your favourite theatre production that you've seen?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:09

Oh, that I've seen. Um I recently watched Death of a Salesman on Broadway.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Oh, fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

With Nathan Lane. I was lucky a friend of mine got me some tickets for it, and it was um opening night. And um, it's uh, you know, obviously Arthur Miller, you know, it's an American classic play. But there was a performer, and I can't remember his name because I'm shocking with names, but he was one of the sons in there, and he has this monologue towards the end, and again, I was just in awe of him. I was like, again, you know, he's like 40, you know, and it just watching him bear his soul for a theatre full of people in this beautiful theatre, this beautiful set, live theatre, and it was I was just taken away by it, and again, that's the power of theatre when you you can go in as an audience member and be changed, and that was one of like a real class piece of theatre that I was just blown away by.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

That's fantastic. Is there a role not necessarily in a play, but a role in anything that you would really like to play one day?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

Ooh, um I always wanted to play Richard III in Shakespeare, which I'd love to do a production of at some point. Um but I I suppose I've done a lot of things to do with the military in my career so far. The Honey Trap was about young men in Northern Ireland in the British Army and my short film stand too. I think I'd love to delve into that kind of line of work again, some kind of like um military sort of story, but again, like the effects of like living a sort of day-to-day life in like normal society. Because I just have so much like admiration and respect for people who do that line of work, and I just think they're unsung heroes, and I feel like there's a way that we can touch on their stories, but really get it from the truth of their experience. And I think if I'm wanting to be involved in something like that, I I it would have to be having had some serious in-depth conversations with people who not only who have served but who are still currently serving, yeah. Just to get a real in-depth of what is the culture actually like and not to shy away from that.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:28

Yeah, yeah. Really get into the role of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:31

Yeah, very much so. I'm not even going to talk about the the wonderful tash that you grew. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:36

And the shaved head, yeah. It's now available on Yao TV if you stream it. I think I get like 20 cents.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:42

It was a very impressive mustache, I must admit. Thank you, man. Um, one word answers for this. Yeah. Okay. Uh, a place of Rexum you'll always recommend.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:51

Oh, um, I can't remember the name of it, but I want to say it's like penny black or something like that. It's on that strip of all the dirty bars with the sticky carpet.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

That's not where I thought you were gonna go at all. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

You can take the lad out of Wrexham, but not Rex about the lad.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:05

Something that you'll always bring with you from home or Wales.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:09

Um teabags. Teabags. Broadway or Hollywood? Broadway.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:18

Dream acting partner.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

Tom Hanks. Um I think we've already covered this, but best piece of advice you've ever received.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:33

I was after a class, I was like 19, sat sulking like a little teenage boy, and my teacher Ron Burrow said, You want this too much. You you want to be the thing, the best, you know, the the expert, the perfectionist too much. You have to let it go slightly. That's great. And that was the best piece of advice I got because it's amazing to be passionate about something. something and want to be great at what you do, but equally there has to be an element of letting go and not applying too much pressure on yourself because you become too uh egotistical or too self-centered on your opinion on talent or good work rather than letting go and allowing the work just to happen and to exist.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:22

Isn't that amazing? That's literally almost spot on the exact same piece of advice I once got from a mentor, completely different career field. But he uh said to me, I was you know young as well and sort of like you know very stressed about it and he said you will enjoy this all a lot more if you care less. Yeah. And he said and then the more that you enjoy it the better you will be at it. De definitely yeah just to summarise it all one word to describe your journey so far.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:48

Eventful that's a good word.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

There's a lot of subject um Harrison when people look back at your career let's say in 20 years' time what do you hope that they say about the impact that you've made not just as an actor but as someone representing Wrexham, North Wales on the world stage?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:08

I would love to think that anyone who I've ever interacted with whether it's the chefs at my school to famous actors to people in a cafe to friends to kids that I felt like I've had a genuine interaction with them so that they can walk away from me and think that I'm just a nice kind and good person. And I mean that in the sense of I think it's important just to be a good person. And that might sound really ironic but it's really easy to be miserable or angry or annoyed because there's so many reasons to do that. But if you can have a positive impact on people who are around you that's a really special thing to have and I'm always really reminded when I come home and I get to see all these people who are so happy to see me and I'm so happy to see them fills my heart with joy. So that's what I'd love for people to say about me when I'm when I'm dead and in the groove.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:00

I was literally about to say what a lovely note to end the podcast dead and in the groove well there we go that that ended it pretty quickly thank you Harrison it's amazing as always to see you and thank you so much for coming I mean I can champion yeah um you as a person and from everything that you've said today you're an absolute ambassador for for Wales and the work that you do is phenomenal you're a great guy and when I first met you I can comfortably say that everything you've said is is exactly true. It's about being that person helping other people and supporting people through that journey um we've loved having you here for the podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:39

Thanks so much for giving us your time and it's it's gonna be one of those careers to to watch I'm gonna be so excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:45

Yeah no I mean thank you for having me genuinely from my heart it's like it's such an amazing opportunity and that's why I landed yesterday and I was in New York messaging you're from East Harlem you know in the fitness playground saying let's make this podcast happen. So thank you for having me on and you know long may this continue in five years time let's have another one not even five years hopefully loads has happened and we could talk about more stuff.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:06

Yeah but yeah follow the podcast guys yeah we'd love to get you back on the podcast again and have a follow up definitely even if it's just we give you a call and find out where you're getting on sometimes anytime. Thank you for coming have a great time while you're back here safe journey home and uh we'll see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:22

Diock Diock and Varib