Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Watson
Hi Garrett, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in 1993 in philadelphia pennsylvania. North philly to be exact. I finished elementary school, highschool, and college (a year and a half at penn state) there. Around 2014-15, I had to leave home for unlisted reasons and venture into the world on my own as a new 21 year old. Despite many challenges, and job transitions, and living on my own, I got into the accounting field. I had one position at a distribution company and one at a security risk and travel agency. I had amazin managers at both but after 3-4 months I was completing a weeks worth of work in 1 day at both. I then decided to take 3 days off of my latter job to get myself together since I was around my first quarter life crisis.
on the 3rd night, I had a dream telling myself that I should move to florida. Ive always wanted to and dreamed of it and didnt have any kids gf or major attachment to family. I came back in the next day, put 1 month notice in and began preparing to move. I sat down with my supervisor and explained to her that I had a calling and she told me to pursue it.
I enjoyed working for her so I spent the month training the new employee as well.
I drove down in my car on 3 scoops of pre workout ( I was already a gym rat at the time) and told myself I could do the drive without sleep. One of the most interesting things about this was when I was already stressed out, I would jump on I95 in my modified 03 Hyundai tiburon and cruise down I95 for hours with widnows down, music and no gps to clear my mind.
So taking the drive south to orlando (which is where I picked) was not hard. I got here and stayed at an extended stay suite with a few thousand dollars to my name and immediately applied to hundreds of jobs. I decided to give the nightlife a try to just network since I didnt know anyone here.
Its how I began my acting journey. I owe alot of credit to people like cameron V, danielle S, Jazmin L., Keith G, and many others who pushed me to jump into a world that seemed to keep following me no matter how much I rejected it.
I began with commercials and eventually wanted to delve into the world of TV and film. But I never understood why.
After my first few acting classes, I realized I had alot of pent up trauma and emotions I never expressed and understood which were prohibiting me from progressing in my work and craft. So I began pursueing acting as a journey of becoming a more understanding and better man, rather than simply trying something out to collect a check.
Despite starting classes in atlanta, and training with great coaches in florida such as Rus Blackwell, I ended up online during covid in classes with a coach named Howard Fine. I had heard many great things about him, but didnt realize how much work there was to do to hone my craft. And boy was there work.
Not only a coach, but I call him to this day a wizard. He gave so many notes on things that talked about life and life lessons. And I realized just how similar acting was to real life. I also began having an appreciation for theatre. I have learned so much in the pursuit of this career and continue to strive to see how far I can go in terms of not just work, but craft as well.
I then started taking his yearly 4 day intensives in los angeles where I built an amazing network and friends group of other actors. To this day I continue working on my craft, in and out of class. One thing ive learned is when youre not in class, go get life experience! Its the greatest thing you can bring to the stage and camera; truth.
Also having been a personal trainer I had a fitness brand called garbear Fitness which, just like the entertainment industry had hit a heavy blow during covid and even after.
Covid taught so many of us to leave jobs we werent passionate about and find other alternative means to work and also survive. And I believe many of us are still working towards our goals and dreams in this changed world today.
During the covid time block, I stepped into fatherhood which was a journey I had not chosen but it somehow found its way to me. For the parents out there, I think we are all in sync on how parenting is. For the non parents or soon to be, I will say this: Be patience with your younger self, and realize they will teach you and fill in the areas of your life that you may never have known you needed to work on.
Having left home at 21, and now 31, I will say life has presented me with so many ups and downs. I think these days I enjoy peace and quiet more than ever. I want to thank my friends and those around me whove helped me through the hard times and vice versa. We are all trying to navigate so much these days, but one thing ive learned is to breath, tell yourself you have time and give yourself some grace.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Oh God no. The amount of rejection in not getting booked work for commercials tv and film, 500+ jobs applied for after covid and no interviews, bartending positions I was passed on, or ones that didnt work out, courses online at harvard ive had to put a pause on to find more work, the car repair issues, COVID, and juggling personal life and parenting.
See, we all have this notion that everyones life is what it seems on social media. Its not. Im a very reserved person and dont share majority of my world because its just that: my world. But I do enjoy sharing failures as we all may fear to show. But we all fail and we all have set backs and all must experience these things as part of life. We all go thru so many hardships that many of us may never know about. And thats ok.
We always wonder, why me? Sometimes we ask God why us. Why why why.
I like to believe theres truth to “every next level demands a different you” and :experience is the best teacher” but I still question why me.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve generally become known in Orlando for commercials and personal training. I’ve worked on 3 films and looking to continue to do more. I picked up archery and sword combat and soon preparing to work on english dialect.
I want to do more fantasy, sci fi, period piece, horror and psychological thriller. I want to tell the stories of those with not only personal problems but challenges they face in their day to day lives. War, famine, drugs, terror, heartbreak.
Theres so much to explore in the tales of light and dark. I want both.
Im currently signed to Brevard Talent Group for the southeast and Venture Entertainment Partners for the west Coast. I currently study online at Howard Fine, and also have worked with Rus Blackwell and Micheal Testa Recently.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
network when you can and where you can. This is so important. That event you are second guessing going to? Go.
Those classes youre afraid to take because of public speaking? Do it.
Do it, but do it afraid.
Closed mouths dont get fed.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://garbearfitness.com
- Instagram: watsonalexander
- Youtube: garbear fitness
