December 15, 2024 • 53 mins
In this episode of Creative Space, host Jennifer Logue sits down with Tyler Andrews, an actor whose journey has taken him from Playhouse West to starring roles in film, television, and theater. Most recently, Tyler captivated audiences as Jerome in The Christmas Chain, now streaming on Apple TV+.
Jennifer and Tyler dive deep into:
- His early life and how a friend's unconventional compliment sparked his acting journey.
- The transformative experience of training at Playhouse West and its impact on his career.
- Overcoming self-doubt and building resilience as a creative professional.
- Adapting to life in Los Angeles and navigating the challenges of the entertainment industry.
- Behind-the-scenes stories from The Christmas Chain and why storytelling is a public service.
Whether you’re an actor, artist, or simply fascinated by the world of creativity, Tyler’s story will leave you inspired to embrace your authentic self and commit to your craft.
For more about Tyler Andrews, follow him on Instagram: @TylerJosephAndrews.
To learn more about Jennifer Logue, visit: https://jenniferlogue.com.
SHOW NOTES:
0:00 — Introduction
1:10 — Tyler’s Journey: From Soccer to Acting
9:15 — Starting at Playhouse West: A Life-Changing Leap
15:30 — The Power of Repetition and Self-Reflection in Acting
22:45 — Moving to Los Angeles: Challenges, Lessons, and Survival Tips
32:00 — Behind the Scenes of The Christmas Chain
40:25 — Tyler’s Thoughts on Creativity and Being Authentically Yourself
48:10 — Dealing with Self-Doubt and Staying Disciplined
52:15 — What’s Next for Tyler
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennifer Logue (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
of Creative Space, a podcastwhere we explore, learn and grow
in creativity together.
I'm your host, jennifer Logue,and today we're joined by actor
Tyler Andrews.
Tyler's journey in acting hastaken him from Playhouse West to
a variety of roles in film, tvand theater.
(00:33):
Most recently, he starred asJerome in the Christmas Chain,
which just made its debut onApple TV+, which I'm so excited
about because I love Christmasmovies so much, and Tyler's here
to share what he's learnedabout building a career in
acting and adapting to lifeafter acting school.
(00:53):
Welcome to Creative Space,tyler.
Tyler Andrews (00:56):
Hello hello, hello.
Thank you for having me,jennifer.
It is really really nice to seeyou.
Jennifer Logue (01:01):
And we should mention that we have trained
together.
We've known each other forquite some time now oh,
seriously, playhouse west is oneof my favorite experiences of
my life so far.
Tyler Andrews (01:14):
We were talking about this before we started
rolling yeah, absolutely,playhouse west is has been a
monumental, you know, piece ofmy life and I hold it dear to my
heart for sure.
Jennifer Logue (01:27):
Yes, so where are you calling from today?
Tyler Andrews (01:31):
I am in the great city of Los Angeles, right in
Hollywood.
Jennifer Logue (01:37):
Love it.
I have to ask I don't think weever talked about this when we
were training, but where are youfrom originally?
Tyler Andrews (01:44):
I was born and raised in Kentucky.
My father was in the military,so we had moved around a lot,
but I spent about 14 years of mylife in Kentucky and then, when
my father retired, we actuallymoved to Pennsylvania, where my
mother's family and my father'sfamily was originally from.
And then that's when I wasliving in Northampton,
pennsylvania I would travel backand forth from New Jersey to
(02:07):
visit my mom's side of thefamily as well, and then
eventually after college well,middle of college when I left.
Jennifer Logue (02:18):
I moved to Philadelphia Very cool.
So I've got to ask what wasyour first creative outlet?
Was it always acting, or didyou have something else that you
liked to do before you got toacting?
Tyler Andrews (02:30):
I don't.
I played soccer my whole life.
I don't know if you wouldconsider that somewhat a
creative outlet, but it was myoutlet to just like sort of
express myself.
It was something that I lovedto do.
I mean, I played my wholeentire life and everyone in my
family had played soccer as wellmy sister, my brother.
My father had been a coach forsome small leagues that I was in
(02:54):
when I was younger in Kentucky,but soccer was what I wanted to
do.
I went and played soccer atBloomsburg University in
Pennsylvania for a year and Ihad ambitions to go pro, but I
think deep down I just knew thatI wasn't probably good enough
to go pro and probably deep downdidn't love it enough.
(03:16):
I found myself falling out oflove with soccer.
So then eventually I left.
That was really my creativeoutlet.
I think you know now that wespeak about it, though when I
was in second grade or firstgrade I had played the wolf in
Red Riding Hood.
Ok, yes, I played the wolf inRed Riding Hood for a classroom
(03:46):
play that we had put on.
That was my first everperformance.
Jennifer Logue (03:47):
I love it and you loved it.
Tyler Andrews (03:48):
Clearly, you remember it so I did like it
actually.
Yeah, I actually really didlike it and I remember when we
were casting for it in thatclassroom I wanted to be the
wolf.
It was like I liked that sortof like the guy who was the he
was the main sort of evil man.
I always sort of like the guywho was the, he was the main
sort of evil man.
I always sort of liked doingthat stuff, I guess.
Jennifer Logue (04:09):
Oh my gosh, awesome.
So what led you to startstudying acting at Playhouse?
Tyler Andrews (04:17):
I was, so I failed out of school.
I had my first semester incollege.
I had a 0.169 GPA and then Iquit soccer.
I was out of love with soccer.
I didn't think I was built tobe in a nine to five job.
Jennifer Logue (04:40):
And weirdly enough.
Tyler Andrews (04:41):
I was about 13 years old, 14 years old, I was
hearing my dad have aconversation.
I think he was talking to oneof the soccer parents, or maybe
it was to my mother, and he justmade a joke how he could never
see me working in an office job.
And I guess he just kind ofknew, he kind of had some idea
that Tyler was like our blacksheep of the family, some idea
(05:07):
that Tyler was like our blacksheep of the family.
So I ended up failing out ofcollege.
I went and worked for a cardealership that my cousin had
gotten me a job at and I wasjust deeply unhappy.
I didn't want to do this.
I knew deep down that somethingneeded to change in my life.
I ended up quitting that joband I was sitting in a car one
night with my friend, aidenSylvester harms, and he said
(05:30):
Tyler, you know you are the bestliar I know.
And I was like, oh man, do Ilie a lot?
And he was like you do, but youdon't do it in a bad way.
You do it to play jokes on us,to make us believe something
that's not true, and then we alllaugh about it.
And he was like you should bean actor and I was like,
absolutely not.
No, I'm not.
(05:51):
I don't like theater.
I don't understand that world.
And I got to my job the next dayI looked up Playhouse West I
actually just looked up actingschools nearby and Philadelphia
was about an hour and a halfaway.
I saw a photo of Tony with JeffGoldblum and I was sold.
I was like I'm going to callthis guy.
(06:11):
His number's there, I'm goingto call him.
So I ended up calling him andI'm like in the middle of my
last day at my job trying tosell cars, I had just been
promoted to go to the used carsa lot so I could start making a
little bit more money.
This was going to be my future.
And then tony called me and hewas like hey, how are you?
(06:32):
I saw you put an inquiry in.
You should come up.
And uh, look at one of ourclasses audit.
And I was like, okay, I'll bethere, I'll be there, uh, next
week.
And I hung up the phone, quit,quit my job, just drove to
Philadelphia.
I told my dad after I left.
I was like I'm not going tocome home, I'm just going to
drive to Philadelphia.
I had a girlfriend at the time,who lived about 45 minutes
(06:55):
outside of Philly.
So I'd lived with her for abouta week and then I moved to
Philadelphia and just startedwith glasses.
I was just.
I was just sold on the idea ofI was going to change my life,
but I wasn't in love with acting, I knew nothing about it, I
just thought this is how Iescaped me, failing me not
following through with thingsthat I should be doing me doing
(07:18):
things that weren't good for me,that were really going to lead
me either being in jail or whoknows, who knows knows because I
wasn't leading a good life upuntil I left wow.
Jennifer Logue (07:29):
So acting gave you that foundation like that
was your, it was something tocommit to.
Tyler Andrews (07:37):
Yes, you know yes and focus on that yeah, so that
was my.
My parents didn't understandwhy I wanted to be an actor and
I didn't either, so there was alot of pushback.
They were like you don't get ajob, get a job.
And I was like I don't want todo that.
I I I know there's somethingmore for me in life and I just
(07:57):
have to be selfish here.
And they didn't understand ituntil I got in class and they
had saw me act in a movie that Ihad gotten to be a part of,
because it was a military movieand he was in the military for
20 years.
I remember he was acting and hewas loving it, and he was like
oh, now I see why you want to dothis.
(08:18):
This is, it's something special, yeah.
And he also saw.
Welcome Home Soldier.
Jennifer Logue (08:25):
Oh, he saw that.
Tyler Andrews (08:29):
Yes, and it was like the first time I ever saw
him cry, really Wow.
I'd seen him like tear up butlike not really.
You know, it was like I waslike, oh my gosh, this stuff's
making my dad cry.
This is magic Like, cause he'slike a tough guy serving the
military for 20, 21, 20 years.
I was like this stuff's good.
Jennifer Logue (08:56):
It's powerful, it's a public service acting.
We need that outlet, societyneeds the outlet because the
vast majority of people arestuck in their heads and when
you see a movie and you connectwith it, that's like an
emotional release.
You identify with thecharacters and like it's.
It's so powerful and it's suchyou know you're doing God's work
(09:21):
.
When you're an actor, youreally are yeah, I do think it
is a actor.
You really are yeah.
Tyler Andrews (09:26):
I do think it is a service.
It very much is.
Jennifer Logue (09:28):
And it's a calling, you know.
So this is creative space, andI love asking this question of
everyone.
But what is your definition ofcreativity?
Tyler Andrews (09:42):
I think creativity is freedom of
expression.
Tony taught me this great,great acting lesson when I was
at Playhouse West.
I was always doing scenes andwhen I would start the scene off
, I was doing a voice, I wasacting.
Yeah, stop, stop, stop.
(10:03):
He's like what are you doing?
I was like you see how you'retalking now you sound like
yourself.
He said when you start acting,you're acting, you're putting on
this facade.
He said it's not real.
Creativity comes from yourself,your personality.
I think the more you can beyourself, the more you can
express who you are your idea ofit, your choice of it, the way
(10:27):
you feel about it.
That's the creativity, becauseit's really.
It's pure, it's just you, it'syour ideas, it's your thoughts
about this and it's been drawnfrom your environment and things
you read and see and watch andhear.
But I think that's whatcreativity is to me it's fully
expressing yourself and notbeing afraid to do it, because
(10:50):
people want to see yourpersonality.
When you, when you meet someoneand you're drawn to them, it's
because they're reallyauthentically their self.
They're not, they don't care ifthey, if you like them or not.
They're just themselves.
I think, when you can do that inreal life, it goes right into
(11:11):
acting.
You can be yourself, you canreact how you react, and that's
interesting, that's creativity.
Jennifer Logue (11:18):
Yeah, no filters , no finessing, censoring
yourself like that pure essenceof who you are deep down, which
I feel like most people neverget to yeah, I think everyone
should take an acting class,even if you don't want to be an
actor.
Tyler Andrews (11:34):
Just then you can start to actually express
feelings you don't get to inreal life because you're used to
suppressing them yeah, yeah,yes.
Jennifer Logue (11:46):
Hit the nail on the head, tyler, that's I mean,
apart from acting like that wasmy favorite part of class, like
it really peeled back layers ofthe onion for me as a person
like whoo, like I gotta work onyourself.
Tyler Andrews (12:04):
Work on yourself confront yourself confront
yourself, yeah you know, inrepetitions, when you first
start, you're you don't knowwhat it is, you're just being
yourself.
You're answering how you'regoing to answer.
Sometimes you answer andsomeone goes you're being
manipulative.
Yeah, you know what are theytalking about.
(12:26):
We're acting here like no onesaid that to me in my real life.
You're starting to.
I don't know what's going on,but you like understand a piece
about me.
You actually might look intoyour life and say, huh, I
actually am a little bitmanipulative.
You change it about yourself,or you have a better
understanding of how you do itand why you do it, and then you
can start to be more empatheticabout it because, what makes you
(12:49):
be empathetic about it?
Jennifer Logue (12:51):
it's a mirror, it's like the ultimate mirror
that exercise like oh yeah, forsure amplifies as little parts
of yourself that you don't evenrealize you're there.
Tyler Andrews (13:00):
Sometimes other people see they pick up on a
vibe and like yeah, I realizeyou're giving that off yeah, you
don't, you don't and stillbuild that muscle of the
perception of how someone elsefeels and how you make them feel
so yeah, that I love therepetition activity.
Jennifer Logue (13:22):
I would love to just have repetition like once a
week at my house, like justhave that like a repetition
party at least once a week.
I do it every day.
Tyler Andrews (13:31):
I could find people you know, foundations of
acting into that.
One little exercise I find tolisten, to feel, to not take
anything for granted.
Um, even in the moment, youknow, it's like it's a lot of
(13:54):
the things that just it comesdown to.
When you're done with thehomework, when you walk on stage
and you, just you leave all thehomework behind, those are the
things that you have to doListen, just listen to them,
just listen and be emotionallyavailable and read their
behavior.
That's how you're making themfeel and react.
Off the behavior.
Get what you want.
Jennifer Logue (14:18):
Yes, yeah.
So okay, we talked a lot aboutPlayhouse West, but apart from
repetition, do you want to talkabout how the training at
Playhouse has shaped yourapproach to acting?
Tyler Andrews (14:32):
I think some of the things that Playhouse West
has taught me.
One, I mean, I'm honestly thebiggest tool.
Every actor should have thisexperience.
It was that story I just toldyou.
You have to use your own voice.
And like it sounds so small,like, yeah, of course I talk in
(14:53):
my own voice, I sound likemyself, but it's more than that.
It's like Playhouse Westteaches you to be yourself.
You know, a character is theopinion you hold.
You're still yourself.
You're not becoming someoneelse, it's I.
I am this person.
I think that's the approachthat I've taken and I always
look at it from that.
(15:14):
When I'm, you know, doing thehomework, is that it's me in
these circumstances.
So what the heck would I do ifI have this opinion?
You know, I love this girl, I'mtotally in love with her, but I
don't know Her family has likea past of racial.
You know people who are racistand like what do I do with this?
(15:36):
And you think about okay, justthink, what would I do?
How would I actually feel aboutthis?
And you start there, youpersonalize it.
Is there anything in my realwould I actually feel about this
?
And you start there, youpersonalize it.
Is there anything in my reallife that I understand about
this?
I've ever really actuallyexperienced racism.
What's racism to me?
If I met a racist right now?
Do I know any racist?
And you start from there andit's really giving me a solid
(16:06):
approach about justpersonalizing it, just making it
personal, not making it abouthow do I sound, how do I become
sad.
No, it's just about like thisis a real human being.
I remember it's happened acouple times now, even with this
christmas movie that I've done.
You get a script, it's acharacter, right, you know it's.
This person doesn't exist, butsomeone just like that does
exist and they just might cometo watch the movie.
(16:28):
Yeah, to watch you on stage soyou treat it like it's a real
person because it's thatimportant, and Playhouse West
has also shown me how importantstorytelling is to other
individuals who come and watchit, who might just be in class,
and they've been through that.
I did a story where Greg got apan where I was molested by my
(16:56):
father and my friend was alsomolested by my father and he
didn't want to do anything aboutit.
He wanted to forget and actlike it never happened because
it was too much for him.
I we did it for scene day.
Someone came up to me after andsaid I haven't done anything
about this I haven't doneanything.
They just looked at me and theyknew they were gonna.
(17:17):
That's all they needed.
The year is to see someone elsedoing something about it, so
it's so important yeah, and it's, it's really.
I think I give all the credit totony.
Tony made me realize howimportant this stuff is through
his story, so through what heteaches you there, through his
dedication.
(17:37):
He's there five days, six daysa week.
He is just as prepared as youare in your scenes.
He knows just as much as you onthose sort of stories, as he's
been working on for 20 years,and he's also a director and
he's writing.
So we had to see his commitmentand then to be like, well, he's
just a teacher.
You know, I got to be an actor,he's.
(17:58):
I can't let Tony outwork me.
I can't let Tony be dedicatedas me.
He's, he's freaking, he's on,he's on the role.
He'll sometimes hop in anotherlevel and you see that he is
alive, he's got the stuff.
So you're like you know youkind of have someone to.
You know it's a healthycompetition, you and all your
(18:19):
friends.
Okay, let's see who canrehearse some more this week.
Yeah, let's just have acompetition.
Or like, let's just see youknow who can, how many spoon
rivers can we get through and inthe next month, how many can we
actually prepare, go throughand finish them?
So yeah, it's just, it's reallygiving me that sort of love of
(18:42):
wanting to do this for life, andhow important it is how serious
other actors take it it'staught me how to understand
scripts, how to how to begin tounderstand characters.
Jennifer Logue (18:55):
I mean tony's screenwriting course oh, I love
that screenwriting course.
Oh gosh, it's changed my life.
Tyler Andrews (19:01):
Yeah, I wasn't a writer until I took it.
That's my main hobby now.
I write all the time because Ilove it, gave me an
understanding on how to makestories and, yeah, it's been
really instrumental in my life.
Jennifer Logue (19:18):
Tyler, no shade on the college that I went to,
but I have an English major.
I learned more about writing inTony's class than I did in
college and it was a lot moremoney.
Tyler Andrews (19:32):
You hear that a lot, actually those stories.
I've never taken ascreenwriting course like this,
and it's more than justscreenwriting, it's an acting
course.
Jennifer Logue (19:42):
Yeah, it's more than just streamwriting, it's an
acting course.
Yeah, it's seriously.
I keep, we keep saying thistony's class just changed your
life, it really, and he's he'snot like sponsoring this y'all
he ain't.
Tyler Andrews (19:54):
He ain't sponsoring this.
I'm telling you he ain'tsponsoring this.
But if you're in philadelphiaand you're a director just a
creative artist go look atPlayhouse West Philadelphia.
Just audit the class, watch theproduction, because it's really
important.
Jennifer Logue (20:10):
And be ready to work your butt off.
Tyler Andrews (20:13):
Be ready to work for sure.
Jennifer Logue (20:15):
Yes.
So once you left Playhouse Westto go on your own and pursue
your career, what initialchallenges did you face?
Tyler Andrews (20:30):
A lot of challenges.
You don't.
I'm not training right now.
Thankfully I've been busyenough to not really have the
time to commit like a full monthto going back to playoffs West
Los Angeles to maybe do somescene work.
That I've been able to findsome rehearsals with students
who are out here from playoffsWest Philadelphia, who are
(20:53):
alumni that have been out herefor two to three years.
The challenges are you don'twork probably with anyone that
has really gone through ourtraining our way of preparing,
our way of rehearsing.
It's very exclusive to a coupleschools that go through all the
(21:15):
doors and activities, the spoonrivers, the non-verbals, the
ways, everything, how we do it.
A lot of people don't have that, have never done that.
So you have to learn how towork with people that don't do
doors and activities.
I find the best thing to do isto just keep doing it in your
own words, just keepunderstanding it.
(21:35):
Have discussions with the otheractors on what is this for us?
What does this mean?
Why the heck are we tellingthis story?
What does this scene mean?
And having those discussions?
Because everyone understandsthat.
Why are we telling the story?
But it's the challenges havebeen of like how do you work
around not being able to dodoors and activities?
Me, to be honest with you, Ihave some friends out here that
(21:59):
learn that know we, we rehearsein the same way.
I'll just pull them two asideand they'll be my backup scene
scene partners.
I'll work as much as I can.
Um, there's also challenges ofbeing in los angeles.
It's a kind of an isolatingcity.
You live on your own prettymuch, unless you're living with
your friends.
Everyone's kind of like 20 to45 to an hour um away from you.
(22:24):
So rehearsals can be a littlebit difficult.
It's a little bit moreexpensive here, so you might
have to get a nine to five jobto survive.
There's a lot of challengesthat come with it and really
when, if you are an actor comingout here to los angeles, you're
going to be tested on how muchyou really want to do this can
you work a nine to five jobBecause you have to?
(22:46):
It's too expensive out here tonot, unless if you're a working
actor and then also rehearse onthe weekends or rehearse after
work or still keep up with thatsort of stuff and you might come
out here and not know anyonefrom Playhouse West.
So you have to start learning.
How can I do this on my own?
What can I do on my own?
Can I work on speeches on myown?
Can I still do non-verbals onmy own?
(23:07):
Or can I find a community outhere?
Some other acting schools testthem out or can I go and find
some serious actors there that Iwant to work with and build a
community?
But there are a lot ofchallenges in that way of not
having a lot of people to maybesee or hang out with or just
have a community in general,like you have at Playhouse West
Philadelphia.
Yeah, there's, there's I thinkthere's many challenges out here
(23:31):
, but it also it's like Iremember when I first got here.
It's kind of that cliche line,but someone I really took at the
heart.
This is the city of haves andhave-nots and wants and do not
want, and you have to make adecision.
Do you want it or is this goingto be where you plateau, you
(23:53):
make them arise?
I was like, well, I can't letthat happen to me, because I
came out here on a mission.
I came out here and I told myparents this is what I love to
do.
I told mom, hey, I'm comingback to work an actor.
It's going to happen Like, thisis what we all decided Tyler's
going to do and I'm going tofollow through with it.
But the challenges come with itand you just have to stay
(24:16):
disciplined.
You can't give up on thatdiscipline because it's so easy
to fall off.
Can't give up on thatdiscipline because it's so easy
to fall off, so easy to be likeI'm just gonna go hang out with
some friends and go to the baron the weekends and just, you
know, wait for the bigopportunity to come.
It's like how do you keepyourself occupied?
create creatively when you'renot working when you're not in
school anymore?
Can you read more?
(24:37):
Can you paint more?
Can you find more people?
Can you go?
Can you start to do differentthings that are enhancing your
acting, even though you're notgetting trained at playhouse
west two days a week, and alsodoing a bunch of short films?
Or can you make short films andif you can't find three people
to do it, put up your phone andmake a short film by yourself.
(25:00):
It's better than doing nothingif you feel like you're stuck.
So when the challenges come,just do something creative and
just counterbalance it.
Okay, I have to get a job.
Well, I'm going tocounterbalance it.
On the weekends I'm doing allmy creative stuff.
No one's gonna send me to gobartend anymore my weekends, or
I'm being creative.
(25:20):
Are you Just?
find those ways to get aroundthat.
Yeah, but it's a creative town.
Every industry is out here.
You'll meet artists who sing.
You'll meet rappers.
You'll meet painters.
You'll meet people who mixmusic.
The amount of time I've seen,you know, famous rappers on the
street.
I have a friend who's moving toLos Angeles.
(25:41):
He said is the music industryout there?
I say I see artists, I listento.
And I'm like you feel that sortof energy of like oh yeah, the
industry is out here and it kindof gives you some excitement,
of like it's not far from me, Ican do this.
If other people can do it, Ican get out here, bust my butt
and do it if other people can doit, I can get out here, bust my
(26:05):
butt and do it.
Jennifer Logue (26:05):
So what advice do you have for an actor like
what things should they dobefore they move out to la?
Tyler Andrews (26:12):
let's break it down a little bit financial wise
financial wise, I really togive everyone an estimate, I do
think it's important.
You need about three and a halfthousand dollars if you want to
like get a room out here, tomove out here and then like you
have a month to find a job andpay your next run, okay, your
next rent about three and a halfthousand.
(26:33):
But if you want to be secure,get like five thousand dollars.
And or I would say like, ifyou're coming out here, come out
here with a serious actor,friend, someone that you know
can be your accountability buddy, you can move in with them and
you sort of have this hey, man,where we came out here with the
goal and I'm not gonna let yougive up on that and you're not
(26:53):
gonna let me give up on that.
When we're in, when we havethose moments of doubt where
it's like the hundredth audition, I haven't heard anything, any
feedback, what are we doing here?
But I also think to come out toLos Angeles, you have to feel
like I don't think that youdon't, you don't need to be out
here, you don't, you don't havean agent.
If you're not to the pointwhere you're, you're like I
(27:18):
don't want to say you'reupgrading your career but you're
getting to a point where you'realmost becoming a working actor
.
You're having to be required togo in to test shoot, maybe
multiple times a month, and youdon't have the money to fly out
here.
But if you're in Philadelphiaright now and you're listening
to this, there's no need to goout to Los Angeles.
You have the best place to bein the world and I fully believe
(27:42):
that.
But if you're going to come outhere, know that you can get in
the room with any castingdirector and you're not going to
waste their time.
You know that you're ready towork.
You know you can be on set.
You know you can break down 130page strip because you might be
required to do that.
You might be casted in afeature film.
I'd never done that.
Before I got here I got castedin a feature film.
(28:05):
I said, oh my gosh, atPlayhouse West I should have
tried to break down and fullyanalyze a feature film because I
know I was going to be requiredof it.
So you have to make sure you'rereally you got everything out
of Playhouse West, if you'refrom Playhouse West or if you're
just an actor who's not atPlayhouse West.
You're ready to enter theindustry.
You know you're not going towaste anyone's time.
(28:25):
You know you're talented and ifsomeone asked you, are you
talented, you say yes, I am, andyou call me in Because if
you're not confident, they'regoing to know you're not
talented.
Jennifer Logue (28:36):
You can tell.
Tyler Andrews (28:37):
It's a lot about being confident.
As you get in the room, youknow your body's shaking, you're
a little nervous.
You know there's people thatyou don't know and you've heard
of them.
You go oh my gosh, am I readyfor this?
Am I supposed to be here?
You have to feel like you'resupposed to be.
You're like you deserve it.
Yeah, because you deserve it.
If you're in the room, you'rein the room because they like
(28:58):
you, they think you're good andthey want you to win.
They want you to win.
But I say, yeah, if you're gonnacome out here, just know that
you're ready, like you're reallyready to enter the industry and
you make sure you know thatthere's no rush.
There's no rush.
There's no rush on being great.
There's no rush on feeling like, oh, I have two more years that
(29:21):
I could get out of training andthat I could become really good
and still search for an agentIf you don't have an, an agent,
train, train, but it's allvirtual.
There's nothing really inperson until you're getting
called back.
You know maybe the fourth time,but I've been tested so many
times virtual, never gone inperson.
(29:42):
So there's that sort of newchallenge that everything's
online so you don't really needto be in Los Angeles, unless if
you have a job out here.
Jennifer Logue (29:52):
So you had your agent before you went to LA.
Tyler Andrews (29:56):
I did yes, yeah, I had Ryan Hayden with Ideal
Talent Agency.
Yeah, and that was the reasonwhy I came out here, because I
got casted, thankfully, in thisTV show called All-American
Homecoming for an episode.
So when I got that phone call,you know, the funny thing is,
when this is and I'm surethere's many actors that can
(30:18):
relate to this sometimes you gettested or you're having an
audition.
They say, hey, we want la localhires, you have to live in la.
But you lie.
You said I live in Los Angelesand you, you know, you're in
Idaho and you don't actuallylive in Los Angeles, so you're
in Kentucky and you and youdon't live in Philadelphia or
whatever.
(30:39):
So I remember getting the phonecall from my agent and he's like
hey, tyler, uh, you got casted.
I was like, oh, great, great,great.
When do I need to be in LosAngeles?
He said three days.
I was like, oh my gosh,philadelphia, okay, okay.
I hung up.
The phone went home.
Thankfully, I just moved inwith my parents.
For like a week I was stilltrying to find an apartment,
(31:09):
shell, and I'm just gonna liveout there.
That's gonna be my life fromnow on, because I think this is
it for me and my parents werelike great, like they've been
always been so supportive yeahthey.
I thank them so much becausethey're really the reason why,
like, I was able to get out herein a second, because they
helped me out.
They were like, yeah, this islike they were immensely happy
for me.
And I was like, so was I.
(31:30):
So I was like I'm just gonnadrive across the country, let's
go.
And then I just I did it inlike two days.
And I remember, like the dayafter I got here, I like walked
into you know, uh, the studio alot, and I was getting changed
and I was just like still tryingto like recover from the long
drive.
And they asked me like so youlive in los angeles?
And I was.
I just told them the honesttruth.
(31:51):
I was like no, I just drovehere.
I just drove here dedication,that's dedication it was.
Jennifer Logue (31:59):
It was such a really cool experience to live
there wow, now we got to talkabout the christmas chain
because I I saw you post aboutit a few.
I was like a month or two agoand I was like, is that a like
christmas time romantic movie?
I was like I gotta see this.
(32:21):
I get so excited.
Tyler Andrews (32:23):
One of my dreams is to start in a hallmark movie
that is like not a serious, Ijust love them they make me so
happy at christmas time.
It's a personal thing, so I'llhave to.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
I have to refer you to someoneto have on your podcast.
Her name's chelsea gilson.
She is like the number oneperson who does christmas movies
(32:47):
.
She has like 15 under her belt.
She's always been doing them.
She might be a really goodreferral for you because she's
always doing them and she lovesdoing them.
She does them like all yearround.
She's so good at it.
I love it.
Yeah, I'll definitely get youin contact with her.
She'll be a really goodconnection for you.
Jennifer Logue (33:04):
Oh, Tyler, thank you Absolutely.
I am like her number one fanalready.
Tyler Andrews (33:12):
She plays the doctor in the movie the
Christmas Chain.
Jennifer Logue (33:15):
Oh, she plays the doctor.
Tyler Andrews (33:16):
Yes.
Jennifer Logue (33:18):
Oh, that's awesome.
Wow, so did she write it aswell.
Tyler Andrews (33:23):
No, she didn't write it.
She didn't write it.
No, she's just an actor.
Jennifer Logue (33:27):
Okay, cool, well , but let's talk about the
Christmas Chain.
Yeah.
Like how did the opportunitycome about?
First, Did you audition for it?
Tyler Andrews (33:38):
Did it come through your agent?
It came through my agent but,interesting enough, I've been
talking about everything's invirtual.
This was actually an in-personaudition and thank God I in los
angeles, because it was inburbank.
This was a really I knew assoon as I got there I did.
I just actually going to thisaudition.
(34:01):
This is a good story.
Actually, I had just auditionedfor this big film and I I
missed out on and I was likenumbered one or two in the order
and I was so disappointed, sodisappointed.
I was like, oh, this was theone I remember my dad was
calling me, said hey, I'm seeingsigns for this uh movie, uh the
, the sequel, like around townand I'm like getting weird
(34:24):
messages, like people are likesaying they're seeing a bunch of
all this stuff and I was like,oh my gosh, this is it, like
this is gonna happen, and thenit doesn't happen.
You know that's how theindustry works.
You never know what's going tohappen.
And I remember the next week Ihad gotten this audition for the
christmas chain and I was likewhat is this, the christmas
chain?
Something about kidney?
And I was like, all right, Iwas feeling really down and I
(34:44):
remember I got to the audition.
I just was like this is how theindustry works.
This is like it's not aboutgetting the job.
You get the job when you get togo in and audition.
So I was like you know, I'mgonna leave that behind.
This is the next project.
I'm just gonna come over theaudition, treat it like this is
my project and I'm like justcoming in to rehearse.
I remember getting getting donewith the audition and I was so
(35:07):
just happy with that.
I was like like that actuallyfelt really good, like whether I
did it or not, who cares Like Ijust had a really good
experience working with some ofthe actors I did and then I got
a callback and there was acouple of callbacks and it ended
up being casted and workingwith some of the most nice,
wonderful people I've ever metin my life Susan Ann DeLaurentis
(35:31):
, dale Fabujar, all thesewonderful people in my co-star,
carissa Murray, chelsea, stefanLogan, mr Coffee.
I've got to work with so manywonderful people from that like
Eric Roberts came on set one day.
It was, it was great, it wasgreat.
Jennifer Logue (35:50):
Cool.
How long did it take to film?
Tyler Andrews (35:53):
That's another actually crazy story.
So the film is a feature film,it's an hour and a half, but we
only had 11 days to film it.
What 11 days?
Three locations, and I rememberyeah, we were pushing the
schedule.
We had everything in the train.
I think we shot in six days andin the first scene we actually
shot that very first scene whenyou see us at the train station
(36:15):
in about 20 minutes, because itwas the last day we had light,
all these light sequences theyhad.
They were doing a fantastic job, but 11 days we had.
How do you keep it straight inyour head when you're shooting
out?
(36:42):
of sequence, like emotionally,like the arc yeah, this film was
actually, I believe was filmedin sequence oh it was Pretty
much in sequence, pretty much insequence, a couple scenes.
But how I do it, you know, onfilms that aren't in sequence, I
think that's where sceneanalysis comes from.
(37:03):
I don't, you know, I listen toa lot of podcasts and you don't
hear a lot of like what is sceneanalysis or what really is it,
and podcasts, and you don't heara lot of like what is seen now
it says, or what really is it.
And I think, like when youunderstand the arc, you know the
story.
At the very beginning of thestory I'm like this and then I
do and I'm starting to gothrough this thing that's
happening to me in the storyusually the inciting incident,
(37:23):
the main conflict.
You find those, those, you knowit's, it's, it's actually.
It's very difficult because youare almost using the director's
scope when you're doing that,because you're trying to look at
the scene before and if youhaven't shot the scene before
(37:45):
and that's also a very emotionalscene and you find out some
sort of new conflict in thescene, you almost kind of have
to make a choice of like OK,that scene before is a lot more
personal to my character, so I'mgoing to take that a lot more
personal.
Maybe I'll play this a lot moresimple so that it's not just
the same sort of scene back toback.
(38:06):
You know it's interesting thatyou don't want to plan what
you're going to do, obviouslyscene back to back.
You know it's interesting thatyou don't want to plan what
you're going to do, obviously,but you don't also want to make
sure you're not telling thestory Correct.
And that's when you also go toyour director.
Right, he, she, they, they areyour best friend, they're your
best friend and they are goingto help you answer those
questions.
(38:26):
Hey, in this scene, you knowit's two arguments and like back
to back, but I don't want toboth be knocked down.
Dragging out arguments it feelslike sending me like sort of
flat.
Does this mean something moreto me?
Is there a moment here where wecan change, where I can
actually, instead of arguing,can I just to her and she's the
one arguing at me because Imessed up and you see, if
there's opportunities to changethat, make the story lead where
(38:49):
it's supposed to go you want tomake choices that lead the story
where it's supposed to go.
You can make a lot of choices,but sometimes there's a couple
choices that you need to make soit actually makes sense what
happens in the next scene askquestions and collaborate yeah,
(39:11):
for sure.
And ask your, ask your scenepartner too.
Yeah, no, ask everyone there,because they're all part of the
story, even the sound guy, soundwoman, they're all part of the
story.
They all have ideas and I'mtaking ideas from anyone I can
get.
You don't have to take all theideas you hear, but you can take
as many that might work andalso yeah, has a different
(39:32):
perspective on set.
Jennifer Logue (39:33):
What would you say?
What did you say?
Tyler Andrews (39:35):
yep, you have another take.
Do it.
Try it one way, try it theother way.
Worry about it in post editingit's the editor's job, so you
can't do anything about editingeither.
They'll know what's right inthe end the director will know
what's right.
You're just a storyteller andyou're just trying to give your
(39:55):
choices, give your creativityand let them choose what's right
for the story.
So sometimes you don't evenhave to really worry about it.
It's not your job, at the endof the day, to decide what
they're going to show.
You can just make sure I'llgive them choices.
I'll give them multiple choices, so they have a variety to use.
Jennifer Logue (40:12):
That's a great way to put it.
Tyler Andrews (40:14):
I haven't really actually thought about that.
Jennifer Logue (40:16):
Yeah, I feel like some things are often shot
out of sequence, especially ifthere's a tight time crunch, and
it's like, how do you maintainthat continuity?
Um, but the director normallyhas that on lock.
But something that I didn'tthink about before acting school
was all the different layers ofstorytelling that exists in a
film.
(40:36):
Like you know, you have theacting storytelling arc, you
know like the emotional arc, andthen you have, like
cinematography, the writingitself.
You know even the sound, andthe sound design is telling the
story.
And, yeah, it's, it's crazy.
There's a.
I did an interview withChristine Ng, in the first
(40:59):
season, I think, and she's acinematographer, she does.
She did Poker Face seasons oneand two.
She's done a lot of cool stuff,but she talked about how
everyone is part of the energyon set.
Like and I.
I had never thought of thatbefore but, like everyone's
energy impacts the room.
And that's why it's soimportant to like.
(41:21):
Have a good attitude and nomatter who you are like, even
for behind the scenes like youcan have an impact on the energy
.
Tyler Andrews (41:29):
Absolutely Especially.
You know if you're the leadactor, you're the supporting
actor.
You know it's part of that sortof can be difficult sometimes
and I don't like to say this isthe hardest job in the world or
this is a hard job because weget to play for a living.
It's difficult in many ways butit's a lot easier than you know
(41:49):
.
Grunt work, you know, being aunion worker or something like
that.
It can be wearing on your body,but not as much as them.
But yeah, it can be challengingin that way.
Jennifer Logue (42:00):
Let's talk about self-doubt, because we were
talking about that before westarted rolling, and I think
it's so important to talk aboutbecause so many of us, as
artists, we see everyone on theoutside doing their thing and
we're like, oh my gosh, they'reso confident, they're so awesome
.
And then on the inside, you'relike, oh, but I feel like, am I
(42:22):
really good enough for this?
You know, I feel like all of usmay have this little voice in
the back of our heads thatdoubts our abilities, or doubts
our you know ability to go outand do something with our
talents.
So how do you deal withself-doubt, and do you even deal
with it at all?
Tyler Andrews (42:41):
I definitely do.
I definitely do.
I'm a very hard critic ofmyself.
I do not like to watch myselfact.
I don't know why.
I never really understood whenI would hear actors talk about
they don't like to watchthemselves act, I said what do
you mean?
You did that.
You don't like that.
Now that I've watched a coupleof my movies with other people,
(43:02):
I don't like it, you know.
Know, because I don't like thechoices I make, or I thought I
could do better, I could dobetter, I could do better and I
almost doubt am I really thatgood?
Do I have talent?
Do I belong in this industry?
Am I really gonna have aworking career?
All these things go through mymind, you know, even when you,
even when I book the job, it'sthe of.
Is this going to be good enough?
(43:23):
Why the heck did they cast me?
I saw some other great looking,you know.
There's a taller guy there,there's a more handsome guy
there, someone who I thought hada better voice.
All these things come up and Iremember self-doubt when I first
started Playhouse West.
When I first started, my actingcareer was actually really
important to me.
It actually really helped mebecause I was doubting when I
(43:46):
first started acting, I thoughtthis would be the easiest thing
ever.
All I had to do is commit andI'll be great.
And my first three and a halfyears at Playhouse West, I
struggled, I struggled.
I was really bad, couldn'tunderstand things.
I was playing the words, allthese issues were coming up, but
I had doubted myself in thesense that I knew I wasn't
(44:07):
talented.
I knew I didn't have what ittakes right now to be a working
actor, to really express myself,to do all the scene analysis,
to do all those components.
So that doubt came in.
But then I used it to myadvantage.
I said, yeah, I doubt mycapabilities to do that stuff
because I know I'm not good atit, but I'm going to become
(44:29):
obsessed at becoming good atthem.
So the doubt fizzles out.
And I think that's how you getrid of doubt is by saying, okay,
I doubt my confidence, myconfidence.
You know what I used to do.
I used to doubt my confidenceall the time.
I used to not be able to bemyself on stage.
I would go out in public andLuke Kwan can attest.
(44:50):
Yeah, luke can attest to this,juliet Valdez can attest to this
.
I would publicly embarrassmyself.
I would go out into the grocerystore and start singing.
I would do all these things andthey would go you're crazy,
what are you calm down?
What are you doing?
I said I'm just doing itactually so that when I get on
stage I'm less nervous becausethere's my friends that I'm like
(45:13):
nervous.
So I said why am I nervous withmy friends in stage?
So I don't feel like I'm doingenough.
I said, well, if I can get someconfidence I can start to build
on top of that.
So for me I I just publiclyembarrassed myself.
I just started acting a fool andreally I was acting like myself
.
So that self-doubt of like I'mnot good enough kind of fizzled
away.
I said I don't care if I'm goodenough, you just either accept
(45:35):
me or you don't.
I'm not going to change for youto accept me.
We had the self-doubt.
I turned it into obsession overthe things I wasn't good at.
That I knew I had to be atleast foundationally good at for
acting and I obsessed over that.
But doubt still comes in of likeI don't think am I good enough
(45:55):
to be in the industry?
Do people really like me?
Why?
I mean, I remember my firstyear with my agent.
There's probably about 50, 60auditions I did.
I never heard anything back,not one thing, no criticism, no
callbacks, anything.
And that was creeping in.
I thought this was going to bethe easiest thing in the world.
I get an agent.
Finally I can just work, andI'll work on some capacity all
(46:16):
the time.
Nuh-uh, not how this industryworks, especially when you're I
mean, for some people it doeswhen you're first starting out,
you know luck comes to play inthat and you get to work.
But also you're, maybe you'remore prepared.
Maybe I wasn't as prepared ayear ago as I am now and that
doubt creeps in.
But the only way I've been ableto not worry about it is by
(46:39):
just consistently working on thethings that I doubt is by just
consistently working on thethings that I doubt.
If it's me not being emotional,well, I'll just spend a full
week of watching reallyemotional movies and sitting
here and crying my tears out tothis laptop and being like I'm
going to open myself up more toit, and then maybe I'll go out
in public and I'll meet someonerandomly and I'll just talk to
them and if they start to saysomething about their life
(47:01):
that's personal, I'll really tryto be effective.
I'll really try to be effective.
I'll really try to take it inand be empathetic towards it,
because your real life reallydoes relate to the type of actor
you are.
That's another challenge Comingout here.
To Los.
Angeles you're not seeing a lotof.
If you're not in a school,you're not seeing all your
(47:25):
friends tear their heart out onstage and you're like feeling
that empathetic all the time canbe like.
It can be a cold business, youknow.
It can be like the blind and ifyou're not willing to do that
work of still keeping your heartopen as much as you can, still
practicing those tools, thedoubt will creep in immediately
and I've noticed that out hereand I was like oh, stop, stop,
stop, stop.
we've experienced that before.
What do we got to do?
(47:46):
I just got to rehearse.
I got to rehearse and work onthese things.
So that gave me confidence.
That gave me the confidencebeing involved in the creative
process.
Jennifer Logue (47:56):
Yes, putting yourself into the work, just
working, working out theself-doubt.
Tyler Andrews (48:01):
By yourself.
With friends, working out theself-doubt by yourself.
Jennifer Logue (48:03):
yeah, anyway yeah, so for actors just
starting out, tyler, what do youthink and we touched on some of
these things already, but justin case there's more stuff you
want to touch on what are themost important things to focus
on for them to progress in theircareers?
Tyler Andrews (48:20):
I'll go from two perspectives.
If you're're at Playhouse West,just focus.
If you're listening to this andyou're a Playhouse West student
, just focusing on the craftthere, focusing on the skills
that you're learning in theschool because they are
applicable in everything you doin the industry.
The words and activities areevery scene, practically
(48:42):
Nonverbals are all in scripts,fantasies are used constantly,
spoon rivers are all thespeeches and the films are going
to do.
So.
The more you can become greatat those things you're learning
at playhouse west, the moreprepared you're going to be for
the industry.
So there's no rush to get outof it.
Use all the time you can there,because it's it's.
I'm telling you, there's noother place like that.
(49:05):
But if you're not an actor who'sat a school and if you and if
you don't think you have thetime to train, or maybe not even
have the money to train, Iwould say I told a friend of
mine this reason is to startwatching modern tv shows and
modern movies and ask yourselfwhat is required of those actors
.
What are they doing?
(49:25):
What's required of them?
Are they required to beemotionally available, to be
able to take themselves on theseemotional roller coasters, to
be affected by what the otherperson is saying.
You know they have to be ableto build these characters to be
someone.
Maybe they're not, you know youmight have to play a pastor and
start to ask yourself questionshow would you get there for
(49:46):
yourself?
And start to work on it.
Start to practice.
You can practice by yourself.
If you watch, you know a movieand I watched the midnight mass
is a really good character whoplays the pastor.
And if you find yourself I wantto play a preacher just be a
preacher.
Try to start applying thosethings that might work for
(50:07):
yourself by yourself and learnwhat works for you.
And I would also say readacting books, you know.
Read about different techniquesand try those things on.
See if it works for you.
Try it for like three months.
If it's not working for you,find something else that works.
Try it for like three months.
If it's not working for you,find something else that works.
You can really learn by justwatching actors what they're
required to do and then doingthose same exact things that's
(50:31):
great advice.
Jennifer Logue (50:31):
I had never heard that before either, so
that was a first on the podcast,cool.
So what's next for you, tyler?
Tyler Andrews (50:39):
ah, I wish, I wish we were next week so I
could tell you.
I can't tell you yet.
Jennifer Logue (50:45):
There's news.
There is news.
Tyler Andrews (50:49):
There's big news.
There's big news that I'mreally, really, really excited
about.
It'll keep me busy for a while.
Jennifer Logue (50:58):
Yeah, Anyone that follows me on social
media'll know with probablythey'll know by december okay
that'll be our christmassurprise, our holiday surprise,
yeah it'll be a nice christmassurprise for everyone.
Tyler Andrews (51:12):
Yeah, I'm really happy about it.
Jennifer Logue (51:13):
I think everyone will like to hear about that so
, tyler, I'm so excited to hearabout this next project you're
going to be working on I don'tknow what it is, uh, because you
can't tell anybody untilDecember, but that's totally
okay.
But thank you so much forsharing your journey with us on
Creative Space.
Seriously, such a greatconversation.
Tyler Andrews (51:36):
Thank you so much for having me, jennifer.
It was so nice to catch up andbe able to talk to you again.
It's been such a long time.
So thanks for having me.
Jennifer Logue (51:42):
really it's been a pleasure oh, thank you now,
before we go, though, where canour listeners uh follow you
online so they can hear aboutthis exciting news in december?
Tyler Andrews (51:54):
yeah, okay, so they can find me on instagram,
um, at tyler joseph andrews andjust my other I.
I only have other.
That's, that's all I have.
Oh, sorry, I'll end that.
Tyler Andrews is my Facebook.
But, yeah, social media wiseand that sort of way where you
can see all my posts InstagramTyler Joseph Andrews.
Jennifer Logue (52:16):
Awesome.
Well, thank you again, andthank you all for tuning into
creative space.
Be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss the next episode.
Until next time.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode
of Creative Space, a podcastwhere we explore, learn and grow
in creativity together.
I'm your host, jennifer Logue,and today we're joined by actor
Tyler Andrews.
Tyler's journey in acting hastaken him from Playhouse West to
a variety of roles in film, tvand theater.
(00:33):
Most recently, he starred asJerome in the Christmas Chain,
which just made its debut onApple TV+, which I'm so excited
about because I love Christmasmovies so much, and Tyler's here
to share what he's learnedabout building a career in
acting and adapting to lifeafter acting school.
(00:53):
Welcome to Creative Space,tyler.
Tyler Andrews (00:56):
Hello hello, hello.
Thank you for having me,jennifer.
It is really really nice to seeyou.
Jennifer Logue (01:01):
And we should mention that we have trained
together.
We've known each other forquite some time now oh,
seriously, playhouse west is oneof my favorite experiences of
my life so far.
Tyler Andrews (01:14):
We were talking about this before we started
rolling yeah, absolutely,playhouse west is has been a
monumental, you know, piece ofmy life and I hold it dear to my
heart for sure.
Jennifer Logue (01:27):
Yes, so where are you calling from today?
Tyler Andrews (01:31):
I am in the great city of Los Angeles, right in
Hollywood.
Jennifer Logue (01:37):
Love it.
I have to ask I don't think weever talked about this when we
were training, but where are youfrom originally?
Tyler Andrews (01:44):
I was born and raised in Kentucky.
My father was in the military,so we had moved around a lot,
but I spent about 14 years of mylife in Kentucky and then, when
my father retired, we actuallymoved to Pennsylvania, where my
mother's family and my father'sfamily was originally from.
And then that's when I wasliving in Northampton,
pennsylvania I would travel backand forth from New Jersey to
(02:07):
visit my mom's side of thefamily as well, and then
eventually after college well,middle of college when I left.
Jennifer Logue (02:18):
I moved to Philadelphia Very cool.
So I've got to ask what wasyour first creative outlet?
Was it always acting, or didyou have something else that you
liked to do before you got toacting?
Tyler Andrews (02:30):
I don't.
I played soccer my whole life.
I don't know if you wouldconsider that somewhat a
creative outlet, but it was myoutlet to just like sort of
express myself.
It was something that I lovedto do.
I mean, I played my wholeentire life and everyone in my
family had played soccer as wellmy sister, my brother.
My father had been a coach forsome small leagues that I was in
(02:54):
when I was younger in Kentucky,but soccer was what I wanted to
do.
I went and played soccer atBloomsburg University in
Pennsylvania for a year and Ihad ambitions to go pro, but I
think deep down I just knew thatI wasn't probably good enough
to go pro and probably deep downdidn't love it enough.
(03:16):
I found myself falling out oflove with soccer.
So then eventually I left.
That was really my creativeoutlet.
I think you know now that wespeak about it, though when I
was in second grade or firstgrade I had played the wolf in
Red Riding Hood.
Ok, yes, I played the wolf inRed Riding Hood for a classroom
(03:46):
play that we had put on.
That was my first everperformance.
Jennifer Logue (03:47):
I love it and you loved it.
Tyler Andrews (03:48):
Clearly, you remember it so I did like it
actually.
Yeah, I actually really didlike it and I remember when we
were casting for it in thatclassroom I wanted to be the
wolf.
It was like I liked that sortof like the guy who was the he
was the main sort of evil man.
I always sort of like the guywho was the, he was the main
sort of evil man.
I always sort of liked doingthat stuff, I guess.
Jennifer Logue (04:09):
Oh my gosh, awesome.
So what led you to startstudying acting at Playhouse?
Tyler Andrews (04:17):
I was, so I failed out of school.
I had my first semester incollege.
I had a 0.169 GPA and then Iquit soccer.
I was out of love with soccer.
I didn't think I was built tobe in a nine to five job.
Jennifer Logue (04:40):
And weirdly enough.
Tyler Andrews (04:41):
I was about 13 years old, 14 years old, I was
hearing my dad have aconversation.
I think he was talking to oneof the soccer parents, or maybe
it was to my mother, and he justmade a joke how he could never
see me working in an office job.
And I guess he just kind ofknew, he kind of had some idea
that Tyler was like our blacksheep of the family, some idea
(05:07):
that Tyler was like our blacksheep of the family.
So I ended up failing out ofcollege.
I went and worked for a cardealership that my cousin had
gotten me a job at and I wasjust deeply unhappy.
I didn't want to do this.
I knew deep down that somethingneeded to change in my life.
I ended up quitting that joband I was sitting in a car one
night with my friend, aidenSylvester harms, and he said
(05:30):
Tyler, you know you are the bestliar I know.
And I was like, oh man, do Ilie a lot?
And he was like you do, but youdon't do it in a bad way.
You do it to play jokes on us,to make us believe something
that's not true, and then we alllaugh about it.
And he was like you should bean actor and I was like,
absolutely not.
No, I'm not.
(05:51):
I don't like theater.
I don't understand that world.
And I got to my job the next dayI looked up Playhouse West I
actually just looked up actingschools nearby and Philadelphia
was about an hour and a halfaway.
I saw a photo of Tony with JeffGoldblum and I was sold.
I was like I'm going to callthis guy.
(06:11):
His number's there, I'm goingto call him.
So I ended up calling him andI'm like in the middle of my
last day at my job trying tosell cars, I had just been
promoted to go to the used carsa lot so I could start making a
little bit more money.
This was going to be my future.
And then tony called me and hewas like hey, how are you?
(06:32):
I saw you put an inquiry in.
You should come up.
And uh, look at one of ourclasses audit.
And I was like, okay, I'll bethere, I'll be there, uh, next
week.
And I hung up the phone, quit,quit my job, just drove to
Philadelphia.
I told my dad after I left.
I was like I'm not going tocome home, I'm just going to
drive to Philadelphia.
I had a girlfriend at the time,who lived about 45 minutes
(06:55):
outside of Philly.
So I'd lived with her for abouta week and then I moved to
Philadelphia and just startedwith glasses.
I was just.
I was just sold on the idea ofI was going to change my life,
but I wasn't in love with acting, I knew nothing about it, I
just thought this is how Iescaped me, failing me not
following through with thingsthat I should be doing me doing
(07:18):
things that weren't good for me,that were really going to lead
me either being in jail or whoknows, who knows knows because I
wasn't leading a good life upuntil I left wow.
Jennifer Logue (07:29):
So acting gave you that foundation like that
was your, it was something tocommit to.
Tyler Andrews (07:37):
Yes, you know yes and focus on that yeah, so that
was my.
My parents didn't understandwhy I wanted to be an actor and
I didn't either, so there was alot of pushback.
They were like you don't get ajob, get a job.
And I was like I don't want todo that.
I I I know there's somethingmore for me in life and I just
(07:57):
have to be selfish here.
And they didn't understand ituntil I got in class and they
had saw me act in a movie that Ihad gotten to be a part of,
because it was a military movieand he was in the military for
20 years.
I remember he was acting and hewas loving it, and he was like
oh, now I see why you want to dothis.
(08:18):
This is, it's something special, yeah.
And he also saw.
Welcome Home Soldier.
Jennifer Logue (08:25):
Oh, he saw that.
Tyler Andrews (08:29):
Yes, and it was like the first time I ever saw
him cry, really Wow.
I'd seen him like tear up butlike not really.
You know, it was like I waslike, oh my gosh, this stuff's
making my dad cry.
This is magic Like, cause he'slike a tough guy serving the
military for 20, 21, 20 years.
I was like this stuff's good.
Jennifer Logue (08:56):
It's powerful, it's a public service acting.
We need that outlet, societyneeds the outlet because the
vast majority of people arestuck in their heads and when
you see a movie and you connectwith it, that's like an
emotional release.
You identify with thecharacters and like it's.
It's so powerful and it's suchyou know you're doing God's work
(09:21):
.
When you're an actor, youreally are yeah, I do think it
is a actor.
You really are yeah.
Tyler Andrews (09:26):
I do think it is a service.
It very much is.
Jennifer Logue (09:28):
And it's a calling, you know.
So this is creative space, andI love asking this question of
everyone.
But what is your definition ofcreativity?
Tyler Andrews (09:42):
I think creativity is freedom of
expression.
Tony taught me this great,great acting lesson when I was
at Playhouse West.
I was always doing scenes andwhen I would start the scene off
, I was doing a voice, I wasacting.
Yeah, stop, stop, stop.
(10:03):
He's like what are you doing?
I was like you see how you'retalking now you sound like
yourself.
He said when you start acting,you're acting, you're putting on
this facade.
He said it's not real.
Creativity comes from yourself,your personality.
I think the more you can beyourself, the more you can
express who you are your idea ofit, your choice of it, the way
(10:27):
you feel about it.
That's the creativity, becauseit's really.
It's pure, it's just you, it'syour ideas, it's your thoughts
about this and it's been drawnfrom your environment and things
you read and see and watch andhear.
But I think that's whatcreativity is to me it's fully
expressing yourself and notbeing afraid to do it, because
(10:50):
people want to see yourpersonality.
When you, when you meet someoneand you're drawn to them, it's
because they're reallyauthentically their self.
They're not, they don't care ifthey, if you like them or not.
They're just themselves.
I think, when you can do that inreal life, it goes right into
(11:11):
acting.
You can be yourself, you canreact how you react, and that's
interesting, that's creativity.
Jennifer Logue (11:18):
Yeah, no filters , no finessing, censoring
yourself like that pure essenceof who you are deep down, which
I feel like most people neverget to yeah, I think everyone
should take an acting class,even if you don't want to be an
actor.
Tyler Andrews (11:34):
Just then you can start to actually express
feelings you don't get to inreal life because you're used to
suppressing them yeah, yeah,yes.
Jennifer Logue (11:46):
Hit the nail on the head, tyler, that's I mean,
apart from acting like that wasmy favorite part of class, like
it really peeled back layers ofthe onion for me as a person
like whoo, like I gotta work onyourself.
Tyler Andrews (12:04):
Work on yourself confront yourself confront
yourself, yeah you know, inrepetitions, when you first
start, you're you don't knowwhat it is, you're just being
yourself.
You're answering how you'regoing to answer.
Sometimes you answer andsomeone goes you're being
manipulative.
Yeah, you know what are theytalking about.
(12:26):
We're acting here like no onesaid that to me in my real life.
You're starting to.
I don't know what's going on,but you like understand a piece
about me.
You actually might look intoyour life and say, huh, I
actually am a little bitmanipulative.
You change it about yourself,or you have a better
understanding of how you do itand why you do it, and then you
can start to be more empatheticabout it because, what makes you
(12:49):
be empathetic about it?
Jennifer Logue (12:51):
it's a mirror, it's like the ultimate mirror
that exercise like oh yeah, forsure amplifies as little parts
of yourself that you don't evenrealize you're there.
Tyler Andrews (13:00):
Sometimes other people see they pick up on a
vibe and like yeah, I realizeyou're giving that off yeah, you
don't, you don't and stillbuild that muscle of the
perception of how someone elsefeels and how you make them feel
so yeah, that I love therepetition activity.
Jennifer Logue (13:22):
I would love to just have repetition like once a
week at my house, like justhave that like a repetition
party at least once a week.
I do it every day.
Tyler Andrews (13:31):
I could find people you know, foundations of
acting into that.
One little exercise I find tolisten, to feel, to not take
anything for granted.
Um, even in the moment, youknow, it's like it's a lot of
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the things that just it comesdown to.
When you're done with thehomework, when you walk on stage
and you, just you leave all thehomework behind, those are the
things that you have to doListen, just listen to them,
just listen and be emotionallyavailable and read their
behavior.
That's how you're making themfeel and react.
Off the behavior.
Get what you want.
Jennifer Logue (14:18):
Yes, yeah.
So okay, we talked a lot aboutPlayhouse West, but apart from
repetition, do you want to talkabout how the training at
Playhouse has shaped yourapproach to acting?
Tyler Andrews (14:32):
I think some of the things that Playhouse West
has taught me.
One, I mean, I'm honestly thebiggest tool.
Every actor should have thisexperience.
It was that story I just toldyou.
You have to use your own voice.
And like it sounds so small,like, yeah, of course I talk in
(14:53):
my own voice, I sound likemyself, but it's more than that.
It's like Playhouse Westteaches you to be yourself.
You know, a character is theopinion you hold.
You're still yourself.
You're not becoming someoneelse, it's I.
I am this person.
I think that's the approachthat I've taken and I always
look at it from that.
(15:14):
When I'm, you know, doing thehomework, is that it's me in
these circumstances.
So what the heck would I do ifI have this opinion?
You know, I love this girl, I'mtotally in love with her, but I
don't know Her family has likea past of racial.
You know people who are racistand like what do I do with this?
(15:36):
And you think about okay, justthink, what would I do?
How would I actually feel aboutthis?
And you start there, youpersonalize it.
Is there anything in my realwould I actually feel about this
?
And you start there, youpersonalize it.
Is there anything in my reallife that I understand about
this?
I've ever really actuallyexperienced racism.
What's racism to me?
If I met a racist right now?
Do I know any racist?
And you start from there andit's really giving me a solid
(16:06):
approach about justpersonalizing it, just making it
personal, not making it abouthow do I sound, how do I become
sad.
No, it's just about like thisis a real human being.
I remember it's happened acouple times now, even with this
christmas movie that I've done.
You get a script, it's acharacter, right, you know it's.
This person doesn't exist, butsomeone just like that does
exist and they just might cometo watch the movie.
(16:28):
Yeah, to watch you on stage soyou treat it like it's a real
person because it's thatimportant, and Playhouse West
has also shown me how importantstorytelling is to other
individuals who come and watchit, who might just be in class,
and they've been through that.
I did a story where Greg got apan where I was molested by my
(16:56):
father and my friend was alsomolested by my father and he
didn't want to do anything aboutit.
He wanted to forget and actlike it never happened because
it was too much for him.
I we did it for scene day.
Someone came up to me after andsaid I haven't done anything
about this I haven't doneanything.
They just looked at me and theyknew they were gonna.
(17:17):
That's all they needed.
The year is to see someone elsedoing something about it, so
it's so important yeah, and it's, it's really.
I think I give all the credit totony.
Tony made me realize howimportant this stuff is through
his story, so through what heteaches you there, through his
dedication.
(17:37):
He's there five days, six daysa week.
He is just as prepared as youare in your scenes.
He knows just as much as you onthose sort of stories, as he's
been working on for 20 years,and he's also a director and
he's writing.
So we had to see his commitmentand then to be like, well, he's
just a teacher.
You know, I got to be an actor,he's.
(17:58):
I can't let Tony outwork me.
I can't let Tony be dedicatedas me.
He's, he's freaking, he's on,he's on the role.
He'll sometimes hop in anotherlevel and you see that he is
alive, he's got the stuff.
So you're like you know youkind of have someone to.
You know it's a healthycompetition, you and all your
(18:19):
friends.
Okay, let's see who canrehearse some more this week.
Yeah, let's just have acompetition.
Or like, let's just see youknow who can, how many spoon
rivers can we get through and inthe next month, how many can we
actually prepare, go throughand finish them?
So yeah, it's just, it's reallygiving me that sort of love of
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wanting to do this for life, andhow important it is how serious
other actors take it it'staught me how to understand
scripts, how to how to begin tounderstand characters.
Jennifer Logue (18:55):
I mean tony's screenwriting course oh, I love
that screenwriting course.
Oh gosh, it's changed my life.
Tyler Andrews (19:01):
Yeah, I wasn't a writer until I took it.
That's my main hobby now.
I write all the time because Ilove it, gave me an
understanding on how to makestories and, yeah, it's been
really instrumental in my life.
Jennifer Logue (19:18):
Tyler, no shade on the college that I went to,
but I have an English major.
I learned more about writing inTony's class than I did in
college and it was a lot moremoney.
Tyler Andrews (19:32):
You hear that a lot, actually those stories.
I've never taken ascreenwriting course like this,
and it's more than justscreenwriting, it's an acting
course.
Jennifer Logue (19:42):
Yeah, it's more than just streamwriting, it's an
acting course.
Yeah, it's seriously.
I keep, we keep saying thistony's class just changed your
life, it really, and he's he'snot like sponsoring this y'all
he ain't.
Tyler Andrews (19:54):
He ain't sponsoring this.
I'm telling you he ain'tsponsoring this.
But if you're in philadelphiaand you're a director just a
creative artist go look atPlayhouse West Philadelphia.
Just audit the class, watch theproduction, because it's really
important.
Jennifer Logue (20:10):
And be ready to work your butt off.
Tyler Andrews (20:13):
Be ready to work for sure.
Jennifer Logue (20:15):
Yes.
So once you left Playhouse Westto go on your own and pursue
your career, what initialchallenges did you face?
Tyler Andrews (20:30):
A lot of challenges.
You don't.
I'm not training right now.
Thankfully I've been busyenough to not really have the
time to commit like a full monthto going back to playoffs West
Los Angeles to maybe do somescene work.
That I've been able to findsome rehearsals with students
who are out here from playoffsWest Philadelphia, who are
(20:53):
alumni that have been out herefor two to three years.
The challenges are you don'twork probably with anyone that
has really gone through ourtraining our way of preparing,
our way of rehearsing.
It's very exclusive to a coupleschools that go through all the
(21:15):
doors and activities, the spoonrivers, the non-verbals, the
ways, everything, how we do it.
A lot of people don't have that, have never done that.
So you have to learn how towork with people that don't do
doors and activities.
I find the best thing to do isto just keep doing it in your
own words, just keepunderstanding it.
(21:35):
Have discussions with the otheractors on what is this for us?
What does this mean?
Why the heck are we tellingthis story?
What does this scene mean?
And having those discussions?
Because everyone understandsthat.
Why are we telling the story?
But it's the challenges havebeen of like how do you work
around not being able to dodoors and activities?
Me, to be honest with you, Ihave some friends out here that
(21:59):
learn that know we, we rehearsein the same way.
I'll just pull them two asideand they'll be my backup scene
scene partners.
I'll work as much as I can.
Um, there's also challenges ofbeing in los angeles.
It's a kind of an isolatingcity.
You live on your own prettymuch, unless you're living with
your friends.
Everyone's kind of like 20 to45 to an hour um away from you.
(22:24):
So rehearsals can be a littlebit difficult.
It's a little bit moreexpensive here, so you might
have to get a nine to five jobto survive.
There's a lot of challengesthat come with it and really
when, if you are an actor comingout here to los angeles, you're
going to be tested on how muchyou really want to do this can
you work a nine to five jobBecause you have to?
(22:46):
It's too expensive out here tonot, unless if you're a working
actor and then also rehearse onthe weekends or rehearse after
work or still keep up with thatsort of stuff and you might come
out here and not know anyonefrom Playhouse West.
So you have to start learning.
How can I do this on my own?
What can I do on my own?
Can I work on speeches on myown?
Can I still do non-verbals onmy own?
(23:07):
Or can I find a community outhere?
Some other acting schools testthem out or can I go and find
some serious actors there that Iwant to work with and build a
community?
But there are a lot ofchallenges in that way of not
having a lot of people to maybesee or hang out with or just
have a community in general,like you have at Playhouse West
Philadelphia.
Yeah, there's, there's I thinkthere's many challenges out here
(23:31):
, but it also it's like Iremember when I first got here.
It's kind of that cliche line,but someone I really took at the
heart.
This is the city of haves andhave-nots and wants and do not
want, and you have to make adecision.
Do you want it or is this goingto be where you plateau, you
(23:53):
make them arise?
I was like, well, I can't letthat happen to me, because I
came out here on a mission.
I came out here and I told myparents this is what I love to
do.
I told mom, hey, I'm comingback to work an actor.
It's going to happen Like, thisis what we all decided Tyler's
going to do and I'm going tofollow through with it.
But the challenges come with itand you just have to stay
(24:16):
disciplined.
You can't give up on thatdiscipline because it's so easy
to fall off.
Can't give up on thatdiscipline because it's so easy
to fall off, so easy to be likeI'm just gonna go hang out with
some friends and go to the baron the weekends and just, you
know, wait for the bigopportunity to come.
It's like how do you keepyourself occupied?
create creatively when you'renot working when you're not in
school anymore?
Can you read more?
(24:37):
Can you paint more?
Can you find more people?
Can you go?
Can you start to do differentthings that are enhancing your
acting, even though you're notgetting trained at playhouse
west two days a week, and alsodoing a bunch of short films?
Or can you make short films andif you can't find three people
to do it, put up your phone andmake a short film by yourself.
(25:00):
It's better than doing nothingif you feel like you're stuck.
So when the challenges come,just do something creative and
just counterbalance it.
Okay, I have to get a job.
Well, I'm going tocounterbalance it.
On the weekends I'm doing allmy creative stuff.
No one's gonna send me to gobartend anymore my weekends, or
I'm being creative.
(25:20):
Are you Just?
find those ways to get aroundthat.
Yeah, but it's a creative town.
Every industry is out here.
You'll meet artists who sing.
You'll meet rappers.
You'll meet painters.
You'll meet people who mixmusic.
The amount of time I've seen,you know, famous rappers on the
street.
I have a friend who's moving toLos Angeles.
(25:41):
He said is the music industryout there?
I say I see artists, I listento.
And I'm like you feel that sortof energy of like oh yeah, the
industry is out here and it kindof gives you some excitement,
of like it's not far from me, Ican do this.
If other people can do it, Ican get out here, bust my butt
and do it if other people can doit, I can get out here, bust my
(26:05):
butt and do it.
Jennifer Logue (26:05):
So what advice do you have for an actor like
what things should they dobefore they move out to la?
Tyler Andrews (26:12):
let's break it down a little bit financial wise
financial wise, I really togive everyone an estimate, I do
think it's important.
You need about three and a halfthousand dollars if you want to
like get a room out here, tomove out here and then like you
have a month to find a job andpay your next run, okay, your
next rent about three and a halfthousand.
(26:33):
But if you want to be secure,get like five thousand dollars.
And or I would say like, ifyou're coming out here, come out
here with a serious actor,friend, someone that you know
can be your accountability buddy, you can move in with them and
you sort of have this hey, man,where we came out here with the
goal and I'm not gonna let yougive up on that and you're not
(26:53):
gonna let me give up on that.
When we're in, when we havethose moments of doubt where
it's like the hundredth audition, I haven't heard anything, any
feedback, what are we doing here?
But I also think to come out toLos Angeles, you have to feel
like I don't think that youdon't, you don't need to be out
here, you don't, you don't havean agent.
If you're not to the pointwhere you're, you're like I
(27:18):
don't want to say you'reupgrading your career but you're
getting to a point where you'realmost becoming a working actor
.
You're having to be required togo in to test shoot, maybe
multiple times a month, and youdon't have the money to fly out
here.
But if you're in Philadelphiaright now and you're listening
to this, there's no need to goout to Los Angeles.
You have the best place to bein the world and I fully believe
(27:42):
that.
But if you're going to come outhere, know that you can get in
the room with any castingdirector and you're not going to
waste their time.
You know that you're ready towork.
You know you can be on set.
You know you can break down 130page strip because you might be
required to do that.
You might be casted in afeature film.
I'd never done that.
Before I got here I got castedin a feature film.
(28:05):
I said, oh my gosh, atPlayhouse West I should have
tried to break down and fullyanalyze a feature film because I
know I was going to be requiredof it.
So you have to make sure you'rereally you got everything out
of Playhouse West, if you'refrom Playhouse West or if you're
just an actor who's not atPlayhouse West.
You're ready to enter theindustry.
You know you're not going towaste anyone's time.
(28:25):
You know you're talented and ifsomeone asked you, are you
talented, you say yes, I am, andyou call me in Because if
you're not confident, they'regoing to know you're not
talented.
Jennifer Logue (28:36):
You can tell.
Tyler Andrews (28:37):
It's a lot about being confident.
As you get in the room, youknow your body's shaking, you're
a little nervous.
You know there's people thatyou don't know and you've heard
of them.
You go oh my gosh, am I readyfor this?
Am I supposed to be here?
You have to feel like you'resupposed to be.
You're like you deserve it.
Yeah, because you deserve it.
If you're in the room, you'rein the room because they like
(28:58):
you, they think you're good andthey want you to win.
They want you to win.
But I say, yeah, if you're gonnacome out here, just know that
you're ready, like you're reallyready to enter the industry and
you make sure you know thatthere's no rush.
There's no rush.
There's no rush on being great.
There's no rush on feeling like, oh, I have two more years that
(29:21):
I could get out of training andthat I could become really good
and still search for an agentIf you don't have an, an agent,
train, train, but it's allvirtual.
There's nothing really inperson until you're getting
called back.
You know maybe the fourth time,but I've been tested so many
times virtual, never gone inperson.
(29:42):
So there's that sort of newchallenge that everything's
online so you don't really needto be in Los Angeles, unless if
you have a job out here.
Jennifer Logue (29:52):
So you had your agent before you went to LA.
Tyler Andrews (29:56):
I did yes, yeah, I had Ryan Hayden with Ideal
Talent Agency.
Yeah, and that was the reasonwhy I came out here, because I
got casted, thankfully, in thisTV show called All-American
Homecoming for an episode.
So when I got that phone call,you know, the funny thing is,
when this is and I'm surethere's many actors that can
(30:18):
relate to this sometimes you gettested or you're having an
audition.
They say, hey, we want la localhires, you have to live in la.
But you lie.
You said I live in Los Angelesand you, you know, you're in
Idaho and you don't actuallylive in Los Angeles, so you're
in Kentucky and you and youdon't live in Philadelphia or
whatever.
(30:39):
So I remember getting the phonecall from my agent and he's like
hey, tyler, uh, you got casted.
I was like, oh, great, great,great.
When do I need to be in LosAngeles?
He said three days.
I was like, oh my gosh,philadelphia, okay, okay.
I hung up.
The phone went home.
Thankfully, I just moved inwith my parents.
For like a week I was stilltrying to find an apartment,
(31:09):
shell, and I'm just gonna liveout there.
That's gonna be my life fromnow on, because I think this is
it for me and my parents werelike great, like they've been
always been so supportive yeahthey.
I thank them so much becausethey're really the reason why,
like, I was able to get out herein a second, because they
helped me out.
They were like, yeah, this islike they were immensely happy
for me.
And I was like, so was I.
(31:30):
So I was like I'm just gonnadrive across the country, let's
go.
And then I just I did it inlike two days.
And I remember, like the dayafter I got here, I like walked
into you know, uh, the studio alot, and I was getting changed
and I was just like still tryingto like recover from the long
drive.
And they asked me like so youlive in los angeles?
And I was.
I just told them the honesttruth.
(31:51):
I was like no, I just drovehere.
I just drove here dedication,that's dedication it was.
Jennifer Logue (31:59):
It was such a really cool experience to live
there wow, now we got to talkabout the christmas chain
because I I saw you post aboutit a few.
I was like a month or two agoand I was like, is that a like
christmas time romantic movie?
I was like I gotta see this.
(32:21):
I get so excited.
Tyler Andrews (32:23):
One of my dreams is to start in a hallmark movie
that is like not a serious, Ijust love them they make me so
happy at christmas time.
It's a personal thing, so I'llhave to.
I'm sorry to interrupt you.
I have to refer you to someoneto have on your podcast.
Her name's chelsea gilson.
She is like the number oneperson who does christmas movies
(32:47):
.
She has like 15 under her belt.
She's always been doing them.
She might be a really goodreferral for you because she's
always doing them and she lovesdoing them.
She does them like all yearround.
She's so good at it.
I love it.
Yeah, I'll definitely get youin contact with her.
She'll be a really goodconnection for you.
Jennifer Logue (33:04):
Oh, Tyler, thank you Absolutely.
I am like her number one fanalready.
Tyler Andrews (33:12):
She plays the doctor in the movie the
Christmas Chain.
Jennifer Logue (33:15):
Oh, she plays the doctor.
Tyler Andrews (33:16):
Yes.
Jennifer Logue (33:18):
Oh, that's awesome.
Wow, so did she write it aswell.
Tyler Andrews (33:23):
No, she didn't write it.
She didn't write it.
No, she's just an actor.
Jennifer Logue (33:27):
Okay, cool, well , but let's talk about the
Christmas Chain.
Yeah.
Like how did the opportunitycome about?
First, Did you audition for it?
Tyler Andrews (33:38):
Did it come through your agent?
It came through my agent but,interesting enough, I've been
talking about everything's invirtual.
This was actually an in-personaudition and thank God I in los
angeles, because it was inburbank.
This was a really I knew assoon as I got there I did.
I just actually going to thisaudition.
(34:01):
This is a good story.
Actually, I had just auditionedfor this big film and I I
missed out on and I was likenumbered one or two in the order
and I was so disappointed, sodisappointed.
I was like, oh, this was theone I remember my dad was
calling me, said hey, I'm seeingsigns for this uh movie, uh the
, the sequel, like around townand I'm like getting weird
(34:24):
messages, like people are likesaying they're seeing a bunch of
all this stuff and I was like,oh my gosh, this is it, like
this is gonna happen, and thenit doesn't happen.
You know that's how theindustry works.
You never know what's going tohappen.
And I remember the next week Ihad gotten this audition for the
christmas chain and I was likewhat is this, the christmas
chain?
Something about kidney?
And I was like, all right, Iwas feeling really down and I
(34:44):
remember I got to the audition.
I just was like this is how theindustry works.
This is like it's not aboutgetting the job.
You get the job when you get togo in and audition.
So I was like you know, I'mgonna leave that behind.
This is the next project.
I'm just gonna come over theaudition, treat it like this is
my project and I'm like justcoming in to rehearse.
I remember getting getting donewith the audition and I was so
(35:07):
just happy with that.
I was like like that actuallyfelt really good, like whether I
did it or not, who cares Like Ijust had a really good
experience working with some ofthe actors I did and then I got
a callback and there was acouple of callbacks and it ended
up being casted and workingwith some of the most nice,
wonderful people I've ever metin my life Susan Ann DeLaurentis
(35:31):
, dale Fabujar, all thesewonderful people in my co-star,
carissa Murray, chelsea, stefanLogan, mr Coffee.
I've got to work with so manywonderful people from that like
Eric Roberts came on set one day.
It was, it was great, it wasgreat.
Jennifer Logue (35:50):
Cool.
How long did it take to film?
Tyler Andrews (35:53):
That's another actually crazy story.
So the film is a feature film,it's an hour and a half, but we
only had 11 days to film it.
What 11 days?
Three locations, and I rememberyeah, we were pushing the
schedule.
We had everything in the train.
I think we shot in six days andin the first scene we actually
shot that very first scene whenyou see us at the train station
(36:15):
in about 20 minutes, because itwas the last day we had light,
all these light sequences theyhad.
They were doing a fantastic job, but 11 days we had.
How do you keep it straight inyour head when you're shooting
out?
(36:42):
of sequence, like emotionally,like the arc yeah, this film was
actually, I believe was filmedin sequence oh it was Pretty
much in sequence, pretty much insequence, a couple scenes.
But how I do it, you know, onfilms that aren't in sequence, I
think that's where sceneanalysis comes from.
(37:03):
I don't, you know, I listen toa lot of podcasts and you don't
hear a lot of like what is sceneanalysis or what really is it,
and podcasts, and you don't heara lot of like what is seen now
it says, or what really is it.
And I think, like when youunderstand the arc, you know the
story.
At the very beginning of thestory I'm like this and then I
do and I'm starting to gothrough this thing that's
happening to me in the storyusually the inciting incident,
(37:23):
the main conflict.
You find those, those, you knowit's, it's, it's actually.
It's very difficult because youare almost using the director's
scope when you're doing that,because you're trying to look at
the scene before and if youhaven't shot the scene before
(37:45):
and that's also a very emotionalscene and you find out some
sort of new conflict in thescene, you almost kind of have
to make a choice of like OK,that scene before is a lot more
personal to my character, so I'mgoing to take that a lot more
personal.
Maybe I'll play this a lot moresimple so that it's not just
the same sort of scene back toback.
(38:06):
You know it's interesting thatyou don't want to plan what
you're going to do, obviouslyscene back to back.
You know it's interesting thatyou don't want to plan what
you're going to do, obviously,but you don't also want to make
sure you're not telling thestory Correct.
And that's when you also go toyour director.
Right, he, she, they, they areyour best friend, they're your
best friend and they are goingto help you answer those
questions.
(38:26):
Hey, in this scene, you knowit's two arguments and like back
to back, but I don't want toboth be knocked down.
Dragging out arguments it feelslike sending me like sort of
flat.
Does this mean something moreto me?
Is there a moment here where wecan change, where I can
actually, instead of arguing,can I just to her and she's the
one arguing at me because Imessed up and you see, if
there's opportunities to changethat, make the story lead where
(38:49):
it's supposed to go you want tomake choices that lead the story
where it's supposed to go.
You can make a lot of choices,but sometimes there's a couple
choices that you need to make soit actually makes sense what
happens in the next scene askquestions and collaborate yeah,
(39:11):
for sure.
And ask your, ask your scenepartner too.
Yeah, no, ask everyone there,because they're all part of the
story, even the sound guy, soundwoman, they're all part of the
story.
They all have ideas and I'mtaking ideas from anyone I can
get.
You don't have to take all theideas you hear, but you can take
as many that might work andalso yeah, has a different
(39:32):
perspective on set.
Jennifer Logue (39:33):
What would you say?
What did you say?
Tyler Andrews (39:35):
yep, you have another take.
Do it.
Try it one way, try it theother way.
Worry about it in post editingit's the editor's job, so you
can't do anything about editingeither.
They'll know what's right inthe end the director will know
what's right.
You're just a storyteller andyou're just trying to give your
(39:55):
choices, give your creativityand let them choose what's right
for the story.
So sometimes you don't evenhave to really worry about it.
It's not your job, at the endof the day, to decide what
they're going to show.
You can just make sure I'llgive them choices.
I'll give them multiple choices, so they have a variety to use.
Jennifer Logue (40:12):
That's a great way to put it.
Tyler Andrews (40:14):
I haven't really actually thought about that.
Jennifer Logue (40:16):
Yeah, I feel like some things are often shot
out of sequence, especially ifthere's a tight time crunch, and
it's like, how do you maintainthat continuity?
Um, but the director normallyhas that on lock.
But something that I didn'tthink about before acting school
was all the different layers ofstorytelling that exists in a
film.
(40:36):
Like you know, you have theacting storytelling arc, you
know like the emotional arc, andthen you have, like
cinematography, the writingitself.
You know even the sound, andthe sound design is telling the
story.
And, yeah, it's, it's crazy.
There's a.
I did an interview withChristine Ng, in the first
(40:59):
season, I think, and she's acinematographer, she does.
She did Poker Face seasons oneand two.
She's done a lot of cool stuff,but she talked about how
everyone is part of the energyon set.
Like and I.
I had never thought of thatbefore but, like everyone's
energy impacts the room.
And that's why it's soimportant to like.
(41:21):
Have a good attitude and nomatter who you are like, even
for behind the scenes like youcan have an impact on the energy
.
Tyler Andrews (41:29):
Absolutely Especially.
You know if you're the leadactor, you're the supporting
actor.
You know it's part of that sortof can be difficult sometimes
and I don't like to say this isthe hardest job in the world or
this is a hard job because weget to play for a living.
It's difficult in many ways butit's a lot easier than you know
(41:49):
.
Grunt work, you know, being aunion worker or something like
that.
It can be wearing on your body,but not as much as them.
But yeah, it can be challengingin that way.
Jennifer Logue (42:00):
Let's talk about self-doubt, because we were
talking about that before westarted rolling, and I think
it's so important to talk aboutbecause so many of us, as
artists, we see everyone on theoutside doing their thing and
we're like, oh my gosh, they'reso confident, they're so awesome
.
And then on the inside, you'relike, oh, but I feel like, am I
(42:22):
really good enough for this?
You know, I feel like all of usmay have this little voice in
the back of our heads thatdoubts our abilities, or doubts
our you know ability to go outand do something with our
talents.
So how do you deal withself-doubt, and do you even deal
with it at all?
Tyler Andrews (42:41):
I definitely do.
I definitely do.
I'm a very hard critic ofmyself.
I do not like to watch myselfact.
I don't know why.
I never really understood whenI would hear actors talk about
they don't like to watchthemselves act, I said what do
you mean?
You did that.
You don't like that.
Now that I've watched a coupleof my movies with other people,
(43:02):
I don't like it, you know.
Know, because I don't like thechoices I make, or I thought I
could do better, I could dobetter, I could do better and I
almost doubt am I really thatgood?
Do I have talent?
Do I belong in this industry?
Am I really gonna have aworking career?
All these things go through mymind, you know, even when you,
even when I book the job, it'sthe of.
Is this going to be good enough?
(43:23):
Why the heck did they cast me?
I saw some other great looking,you know.
There's a taller guy there,there's a more handsome guy
there, someone who I thought hada better voice.
All these things come up and Iremember self-doubt when I first
started Playhouse West.
When I first started, my actingcareer was actually really
important to me.
It actually really helped mebecause I was doubting when I
(43:46):
first started acting, I thoughtthis would be the easiest thing
ever.
All I had to do is commit andI'll be great.
And my first three and a halfyears at Playhouse West, I
struggled, I struggled.
I was really bad, couldn'tunderstand things.
I was playing the words, allthese issues were coming up, but
I had doubted myself in thesense that I knew I wasn't
(44:07):
talented.
I knew I didn't have what ittakes right now to be a working
actor, to really express myself,to do all the scene analysis,
to do all those components.
So that doubt came in.
But then I used it to myadvantage.
I said, yeah, I doubt mycapabilities to do that stuff
because I know I'm not good atit, but I'm going to become
(44:29):
obsessed at becoming good atthem.
So the doubt fizzles out.
And I think that's how you getrid of doubt is by saying, okay,
I doubt my confidence, myconfidence.
You know what I used to do.
I used to doubt my confidenceall the time.
I used to not be able to bemyself on stage.
I would go out in public andLuke Kwan can attest.
(44:50):
Yeah, luke can attest to this,juliet Valdez can attest to this
.
I would publicly embarrassmyself.
I would go out into the grocerystore and start singing.
I would do all these things andthey would go you're crazy,
what are you calm down?
What are you doing?
I said I'm just doing itactually so that when I get on
stage I'm less nervous becausethere's my friends that I'm like
(45:13):
nervous.
So I said why am I nervous withmy friends in stage?
So I don't feel like I'm doingenough.
I said, well, if I can get someconfidence I can start to build
on top of that.
So for me I I just publiclyembarrassed myself.
I just started acting a fool andreally I was acting like myself
.
So that self-doubt of like I'mnot good enough kind of fizzled
away.
I said I don't care if I'm goodenough, you just either accept
(45:35):
me or you don't.
I'm not going to change for youto accept me.
We had the self-doubt.
I turned it into obsession overthe things I wasn't good at.
That I knew I had to be atleast foundationally good at for
acting and I obsessed over that.
But doubt still comes in of likeI don't think am I good enough
(45:55):
to be in the industry?
Do people really like me?
Why?
I mean, I remember my firstyear with my agent.
There's probably about 50, 60auditions I did.
I never heard anything back,not one thing, no criticism, no
callbacks, anything.
And that was creeping in.
I thought this was going to bethe easiest thing in the world.
I get an agent.
Finally I can just work, andI'll work on some capacity all
(46:16):
the time.
Nuh-uh, not how this industryworks, especially when you're I
mean, for some people it doeswhen you're first starting out,
you know luck comes to play inthat and you get to work.
But also you're, maybe you'remore prepared.
Maybe I wasn't as prepared ayear ago as I am now and that
doubt creeps in.
But the only way I've been ableto not worry about it is by
(46:39):
just consistently working on thethings that I doubt is by just
consistently working on thethings that I doubt.
If it's me not being emotional,well, I'll just spend a full
week of watching reallyemotional movies and sitting
here and crying my tears out tothis laptop and being like I'm
going to open myself up more toit, and then maybe I'll go out
in public and I'll meet someonerandomly and I'll just talk to
them and if they start to saysomething about their life
(47:01):
that's personal, I'll really tryto be effective.
I'll really try to be effective.
I'll really try to take it inand be empathetic towards it,
because your real life reallydoes relate to the type of actor
you are.
That's another challenge Comingout here.
To Los.
Angeles you're not seeing a lotof.
If you're not in a school,you're not seeing all your
(47:25):
friends tear their heart out onstage and you're like feeling
that empathetic all the time canbe like.
It can be a cold business, youknow.
It can be like the blind and ifyou're not willing to do that
work of still keeping your heartopen as much as you can, still
practicing those tools, thedoubt will creep in immediately
and I've noticed that out hereand I was like oh, stop, stop,
stop, stop.
we've experienced that before.
What do we got to do?
(47:46):
I just got to rehearse.
I got to rehearse and work onthese things.
So that gave me confidence.
That gave me the confidencebeing involved in the creative
process.
Jennifer Logue (47:56):
Yes, putting yourself into the work, just
working, working out theself-doubt.
Tyler Andrews (48:01):
By yourself.
With friends, working out theself-doubt by yourself.
Jennifer Logue (48:03):
yeah, anyway yeah, so for actors just
starting out, tyler, what do youthink and we touched on some of
these things already, but justin case there's more stuff you
want to touch on what are themost important things to focus
on for them to progress in theircareers?
Tyler Andrews (48:20):
I'll go from two perspectives.
If you're're at Playhouse West,just focus.
If you're listening to this andyou're a Playhouse West student
, just focusing on the craftthere, focusing on the skills
that you're learning in theschool because they are
applicable in everything you doin the industry.
The words and activities areevery scene, practically
(48:42):
Nonverbals are all in scripts,fantasies are used constantly,
spoon rivers are all thespeeches and the films are going
to do.
So.
The more you can become greatat those things you're learning
at playhouse west, the moreprepared you're going to be for
the industry.
So there's no rush to get outof it.
Use all the time you can there,because it's it's.
I'm telling you, there's noother place like that.
(49:05):
But if you're not an actor who'sat a school and if you and if
you don't think you have thetime to train, or maybe not even
have the money to train, Iwould say I told a friend of
mine this reason is to startwatching modern tv shows and
modern movies and ask yourselfwhat is required of those actors
.
What are they doing?
(49:25):
What's required of them?
Are they required to beemotionally available, to be
able to take themselves on theseemotional roller coasters, to
be affected by what the otherperson is saying.
You know they have to be ableto build these characters to be
someone.
Maybe they're not, you know youmight have to play a pastor and
start to ask yourself questionshow would you get there for
(49:46):
yourself?
And start to work on it.
Start to practice.
You can practice by yourself.
If you watch, you know a movieand I watched the midnight mass
is a really good character whoplays the pastor.
And if you find yourself I wantto play a preacher just be a
preacher.
Try to start applying thosethings that might work for
(50:07):
yourself by yourself and learnwhat works for you.
And I would also say readacting books, you know.
Read about different techniquesand try those things on.
See if it works for you.
Try it for like three months.
If it's not working for you,find something else that works.
Try it for like three months.
If it's not working for you,find something else that works.
You can really learn by justwatching actors what they're
required to do and then doingthose same exact things that's
(50:31):
great advice.
Jennifer Logue (50:31):
I had never heard that before either, so
that was a first on the podcast,cool.
So what's next for you, tyler?
Tyler Andrews (50:39):
ah, I wish, I wish we were next week so I
could tell you.
I can't tell you yet.
Jennifer Logue (50:45):
There's news.
There is news.
Tyler Andrews (50:49):
There's big news.
There's big news that I'mreally, really, really excited
about.
It'll keep me busy for a while.
Jennifer Logue (50:58):
Yeah, Anyone that follows me on social
media'll know with probablythey'll know by december okay
that'll be our christmassurprise, our holiday surprise,
yeah it'll be a nice christmassurprise for everyone.
Tyler Andrews (51:12):
Yeah, I'm really happy about it.
Jennifer Logue (51:13):
I think everyone will like to hear about that so
, tyler, I'm so excited to hearabout this next project you're
going to be working on I don'tknow what it is, uh, because you
can't tell anybody untilDecember, but that's totally
okay.
But thank you so much forsharing your journey with us on
Creative Space.
Seriously, such a greatconversation.
Tyler Andrews (51:36):
Thank you so much for having me, jennifer.
It was so nice to catch up andbe able to talk to you again.
It's been such a long time.
So thanks for having me.
Jennifer Logue (51:42):
really it's been a pleasure oh, thank you now,
before we go, though, where canour listeners uh follow you
online so they can hear aboutthis exciting news in december?
Tyler Andrews (51:54):
yeah, okay, so they can find me on instagram,
um, at tyler joseph andrews andjust my other I.
I only have other.
That's, that's all I have.
Oh, sorry, I'll end that.
Tyler Andrews is my Facebook.
But, yeah, social media wiseand that sort of way where you
can see all my posts InstagramTyler Joseph Andrews.
Jennifer Logue (52:16):
Awesome.
Well, thank you again, andthank you all for tuning into
creative space.
Be sure to subscribe so youdon't miss the next episode.
Until next time.
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