The following Career Dispatches essay was written by Rich Ting, who can currently be seen starring on Cinemax’s “Warrior,” from the mind of Bruce Lee and creator Jonathan Tropper.
Every day, actors are judged, criticized, and rejected. It can be very intimidating and overall discouraging. The industry continues to test our commitment, willingness, self-sacrifice, and level of perseverance that we are able to uphold and exercise in order to pursue our dreams as artists.
My journey thus far represents one in which I have refused to give up and stop. There have been numerous times in my career that I have hit a dead end or did not know what to do or what to focus on. These times have always tested my faith, courage, and belief in what my parents installed me as a child: to always keep working and never quit. Constant rejection and failed auditions have motivated me to continue to work on my craft but to focus on different aspects of the training, such as my physical health and scene study classes. I have found that by staying in top physical shape as well as working with other actors in my acting studio has provided me with the positive distractions from the everyday grind of auditioning and stressing about the next job. I pride myself on the notion of always “being ready,” so I never have to “get ready” for the next potential role or project. The most detrimental thing any actor can do to sabotage their career is to literally stop.
Throughout my early life, I was always searching for something that would wake me up in the morning and get me out of bed. In college, I heard all of my classmates discussing their future plans and career goals, but I still had not pinpointed exactly what I wanted to do. I always knew regardless of what I chose as a future career that I would need to absolutely love it, be it, and live it every day of my life. From being a history major at Yale University while completing all of my pre-med requirements to earning a joint J.D./MBA dual degree in graduate school, I still did not know what I wanted to do with my life.
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My parents taught me to always keep working at something and never stop; if I didn’t know what to do, then I should continue focusing and striving for excellence on what I was currently working on in my life. I always believed that as long as I kept on working towards a common goal, other unexpected opportunities and doors would present themselves to me. Not knowing exactly what I wanted to pursue as a career, I had the confidence and faith to believe that as long as I stayed motivated, proactive, and determined, that career door would eventually be there for me to walk through. And that’s exactly what happened.
An offer at a law firm brought me back to Los Angeles where I coincidentally received my first job offer to work on a Warner Bros. feature film in the summer of 2007, drastically altering my career path. Ironically, my dream of being an actor in Hollywood had begun solely based on my achievements and accomplishments of graduating from law and business school and accepting a job at a law firm.
Whether I was studying at Yale or pursuing my graduate degrees in law and business or trying to get representation as an actor, I always kept working and never let my creative engine stop. Every conclusion or rejection that I have faced has always allowed for another door to open. If I would have stopped persevering or quit in any of my ventures, I would have never ended up playing collegiate football at Yale, graduating from law and business school, signing with an agency, joining my actors studio, or even booking my next job. This is all obviously easier said than done, but I stress to everyone that during those dark, lonely times when things appear to not be working out or progressing as you would have expected, you must always continue to stay active and proactive about fine tuning your craft, whatever that specialty or interest may be.
The training never stops, so one should always be cognizant that they are not only training or grinding as a young actor until they “make it,” but that the training and commitment is a lifestyle for the long haul. You must love it, be it, and live it every day of your life. To me, this is what being an actor in Hollywood is all about.
As I reflect on my acting career to this point, I can only attribute it to the principle my parents preached to me as a child: always keep working no matter what you do. Throughout my life as a student, athlete, and now actor, I have continued to live by this principle of always working and persevering through both the positives and negatives in any given situation, despite not knowing what the future holds for me. It has been an incredible journey since I began acting, and I am grateful for all the opportunities as well as friendships and relationships this profession has afforded me.
I encourage everyone pursuing the same path as me or sharing similar desires and career goals to always keep grinding and working no matter how difficult the process is or becomes. The worst decision anyone can choose to make is to literally stop and negate all of the positive momentum that he or she has generated so far in their individual career and life. Had I quit studying martials arts as young child or playing Pop Warner football in elementary school, I am confident that I would have never achieved my first childhood dream of playing Division 1 college football at Yale University nor been presented with the opportunities (decades later) that would allow me to fulfill my second childhood dream of working as an actor in Hollywood.
Words cannot express how honored and humbled I am to bring to life an idea, vision, and dream of the legendary martial artist and my childhood idol, Bruce Lee, on “Warrior.” Never would I have imagined that I would be starring in a project created by the greatest martial arts legend of all time while continuing the pursuit of my dream of being an actor. Despite the fact that the entertainment industry is exceptionally critical, unpredictable, and often discouraging, I continue to stay committed every day to working and pursuing my craft no matter what lies ahead because as Lee said himself, “running water never grows stale, so you just got to keep on flowing.”
What to star on a Cinemax series like “Warrior”? Check out Backstage’s TV audition listings!
