The Working Actor

BRAILLE EDITIONS OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND PLAYBOY:

WATCH RYAN TALK ABOUT GETTING CUT FROM A DE NIRO FILM:

Age: 33

Ryan is originally from Portland, ME but has lived in LA for 10 years. He has worked at The Braille Institute of America for 2 years.

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HIM IN: “Alias,” “Cold Case,” “General Hospital,” “NCIS,” “Star Trek Enterprise,” a Bud Light Commercial, and a EA Sports Commercial.

UPCOMING: An episode of “Days of Our Lives” that airs VERY soon.

DREAM ROLE: “The Burt Lancaster role in a movie I just wrote.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “I was called into audition for a movie opposite Ryan Goseling. After a few call backs I got to read with Ryan. He was playing a mentally handicapped man and I was one of his friends. We were full grown men with the minds of children. It was a fairly physical scene, so I asked Ryan ‘Are you gonna go for this? How far should we take it?’ He was like, ‘yeah let’s just go for it.’ We ended up trashing this entire room. Tables were cleared, chairs were turned over, things were off the wall. We had a great time, but the casting director just looked at us in shock. The movie never got made, but it was pretty funny. You have to just go in and enjoy it, you never know if that’s gonna be your last chance.”

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “A little over a year ago, my daughter was born. That changes your actor ego dramatically. You go from ‘me me me I want to get this part’ to ‘her her her.’ I think it has made me a better actor. The ego is out of it now. I just go in and have fun on auditions. I’ve booked more since I’ve changed my approach.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “I just found out I didn’t book this part that I really wanted. I was on the 405 driving to do a kid’s birthday party bubble show for $60. My car basically blew up. I pulled off the 405, called my parents and broke down in tears. I was like, ‘why am I an actor? I’m gonna go make $60 eating birthday cake. I don’t even want to eat the cake and my car broke down.’ It was one of those moments of weakness as an actor where you wonder what you’re doing. A few weeks later I booked a job on a soap, and that led to more work. Things turned around, I think this town has a way of testing you before it rewards you. That moment was one of my greatest tests.”

The Braille Institute of America provides amazing services for for people with blindness and severe sight loss. They teach people how to setup their homes, interact with mass transit and more. I was blown away by the amount of resources they offer. People can call into The Braille Institute of America and have an article from a newspaper read to them. Check out some interesting things I saw during my visit:

Braille editions of The Bible:

You can have audio books sent to you on tape for just any title out there. In the days before tapes and digital drives they would send records in the mail: