Coast To Coast Creatives
Coast To Coast Creatives
Finding Community and Inspiration in Hollywood: A Chat with Romel De Silva
In this episode, I reconnect with actor Romel De Silva (He's All That (Netflix), Ghostwriter (Apple+), Heathers) after five years, reminiscing about our time working on the web series 'Part Time Fame' in LA and delving into Romel's impressive journey in the film and TV industry. Romel shares insights about his upbringing, the significance of the SAG-AFTRA strike, and how he balances his passion for acting and teaching. The discussion highlights the evolution of the entertainment industry, the impact of AI and technology, and the importance of representation and diversity in Hollywood. Tune in to hear Romel's inspiring story and valuable industry advice.
Romel De Silva Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romeldesilva/?hl=en
Romel De Silva IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5083959/
Joe: Welcome to Coast to Coast Creatives, a podcast for and about working professional artists within the entertainment industry. I'm your host, Joe Funk, and here we interview actors, directors, photographers, writers, and many, many more. Today, We're excited to welcome Romel De Silva, a film and TV actor, coach, and passionate advocate for the craft.
Romel and I go way back to our early days working on a web series in Los Angeles. And in this episode, we'll reminisce about those beginnings while diving into his journey into the film and TV industry. From navigating the ups and downs of Hollywood to his experiences during the SAG after strike, Romel has seen firsthand how the industry is evolving.
We'll also explore his love for teaching and musical theater, his thoughts on the rise of AI in entertainment, and the delicate balance between the artistic and business side of acting. So, without further ado, let's welcome Romel De Silva to the podcast.
Romel, how are you doing, buddy?
Romel: Thank you so much for chatting with me today. I'm excited just to actually talk to you because I haven't talked to you in so long. I know. I think that's really the prize for today, I think. Right? It
Joe: It has been about five years since you and I chatted last. Going back to it, the way that you and I met was through our mutual friend. Levi and when I moved out to L. A., I want to say 2012, I moved to L. A. and I was directing several episodes of a web series that, that you and Levi were working on.
Romel: Oh, it's probably been so long, I just, I've. I've completely thunk that out of my brain. Um, yeah, we were doing part time fame, which is when in times of turmoil, just like now, actors get a little creative and we're like, let's try to make a thing.And it was actually one of the first, everyone was kind of starting to do web series and we're just like, let's do a web series. So we decided to make one about five roommates who lived in the same place who just wanted to get rich. And that was the kind of episodic deal of it is that. Every single episode was a new way for them to get rich.And, honestly, it was born out of us trying to make a web series to get rich. So there was a little bit of craziness there. How meta? It was very meta. It was community meta. It was Dan Harmon meta.
Joe: Yeah, no, it was fun. And the really fun thing about it was that there's been so many lasting friendships. From that show as well. A lot of you guys actually are like I'm counting all the roommates I'm like you guys all still see each other and it's so great that you could go through something like that and still be friends Because yeah working with friends can be amazing and it can also be really stressful and it can really yeah Friendships as well.
Romel: Absolutely. I see Levi regularly see certain cast members more regularly, but some cast members I haven't seen and I just catch up with them on Instagram or social media, which is how we all kind of stay in touch now.
Joe: Yeah. Well, the next time I'm in LA, we'll do a reunion. We'll all get together at IRL and catch up.Yeah. Yeah. We'll do a podcast episode. We'd love an IRL meeting. Alright, I want to go back, I want to go back to the beginning. I want to talk about, a little bit about your upbringing. Were you born in West Covina, California?
Romel: No, I was actually born in Los Angeles. Do you know where the Dream Center is? Like where everybody was kind of evacuated? So that used to be a hospital, at least I think so. And I was born there, and yes, West Covina is primarily where I was raised. West Covina, California, one of the most boring places in the world, I was happy to be part of it.
Joe: Yeah, tell me a little bit about what it's like growing up in and around Los Angeles, around the film industry, and when exactly did it click with you that you wanted to pursue a career in the arts, a career as an actor?
Romel: It was a friend who brought me to a musical, and that's kind of my in for musical theater. And I actually, so I grew up kind of in my own little bubble. I love TV. I always wanted to be on TV. I always wanted to perform. Um, I was Filipino, so I already by default already sang. So that was something that was ingrained in me through karaoke.And I decided that it was sometime during middle school that I was. invited to Center Stage, which is the company I work at now that I teach acting and improv and musical theater over at now. That was my first foray into the world of performing and I fell in love with it. And I went to college for, for musical theater.And then now I rarely do musical theater. I teach it, but I am mostly doing TV and film now.
Joe: Yeah, well, it makes sense being in Los Angeles. That is the film and TV center.
Romel: That is the place to be. Honestly, I was very, I was kind of in my own bubble. Like I didn't really think about the industry as like a business yet. I think it wasn't until I was probably in college that I realized. Oh, wait, people are making money from this because you know, you start out theater and you realize that, Oh yeah, I could do this forever. I could do this for the rest of my life. And then you're like, wait a minute, hold on. People make money from this. I, you mean, I don't have to do your free show or do meal copy credit. I can actually make money. So that was something that happened to me sometime during college where I was just like, Oh, hey, there's a business side of this. And that's, and that's where it was ingrained to me that I've got to be a little bit more business savvy with my talent as well.
Joe: It is so helpful growing up in, in Los Angeles where you can acclimate yourself to the business side because what I talk so much about with actors is it's like you, you need to balance it. You need to figure out the talent side of it, the artistic side of it, but you also have to be a hustler and you have to understand the business and understand. The craft of auditioning and ways to agents, managers. There's a whole other side of it that, that a lot of people don't have exposure to, and you need to balance it.
Romel: You need to find a little bit of both. Yeah, I tell my students all the time that like, this town is lousy with talent. Everyone, you could throw a stone and hit a talented person in this town. But the thing is that really brings you into the forefront is, is the business side of it. The research side of it. Being a, being smart with your money. Being smart with, The roles that you take, the people that you connect with, that's the other side of it because everyone was the lead in their show. Everyone was Danny Zuko in Greece, but the people who make it are the people who really research and stay on the business side of it.
Joe: Yeah, and have you learned to love the business side of it? Because I feel like that's a part of it as well. A lot of people really hate the business of show business.They want the show, not the business. Have you learned to love it? Are there still aspects of it that frustrate you?
Romel: Yeah, some of it does seem transactional. You know what I mean? You go into a party and it's like, instead of hitting on people and trying to get their number, you're trying to get their business card, right? So it's a little bit of that kind of analogy where everyone's just trying to court each other for the most part. But I think that I've learned to take the people in the business and talk to the people in the business, and I'm not. at the level where I'm talking to executives who have way more power than I do, but I'm talking to creatives where I'm talking to directors, such as yourself, who is creating this incredible groundbreaking type of project or people who just want to make amazing things happen.
Joe: I've met so many people in LA like myself that were transplants. And that is so much of what the industry is there. Not a lot of people are born and raised and then they also go into the, the industry in Los Angeles. And I know you as a very LA person, you have a lot of pride in Los Angeles. I see on Instagram, you post a picture of a mural of Kobe. You're posting stuff about the Lakers. You're posting things about the Dodgers.
Romel: Yeah. And during the fires, I was going really hard on.
Joe: Yeah, I would love if you have a second to just wax poetic a little bit about what you love about the city of yours.
Romel: Los Angeles is one of the craziest melting pots that you can ever have and it's not so crammed together like New York. I think it's one of those things that Los Angeles just has its own kind of vibe that's so chill and that you get to meet someone everywhere you go and I think that it's the culture. Los Angeles is primarily made up of Latin culture and also Filipino culture, Asian culture. There are a lot of Filipinos in California. Finding a community within not just Being a Filipino and finding that culture, but also finding a community of pretty much every theater nerd from all around the state, right? You're meeting all of the theater nerds who have decided, you know what? I love being a theater nerd. I'm gonna be a theater nerd. In the biggest theater nerd capital in the world, and that is Los Angeles. And that's what I love about it, because you get the weird. And I think that Los Angeles staying weird is one of my favorite things, right? You get a little bit of, a little bit of nutso, every single, everywhere you go. You, y I bet you you can stand in the middle of of the grove and start singing a musical tune and like 10 people will join in with you just because theater nerds are theater nerds run this town. So yeah, I kind of love that. Yeah.
Joe: And, and speaking a little bit about That community, particularly within in the acting community, I want to hear a little bit about the experiences that you had during the SAG after strike. You're wearing your your SAG after a captain hat right now. What was it like going through the experiences of the SAG after strike? in LA and talk about some of the bonds, some of the connections you made with fellow actors along the way.
Romel: Right. So we were on strike for 118 days and it was very traumatic. We all kind of trauma bonded very quickly. We trauma bonded very quickly. It was a very incredible experience because I creatives, not just actors, but I also got to meet writers, directors, showrunners, and celebrities themselves who are not even fighting for this contract. They were just really just in support of their union, which was incredible. Because I saw some people who were some A listers. I saw, I saw Jack Black, who will never work a minimum contract out there almost every day. And Chris Barnell, who was almost there every single day. And they were very kind, and they were very sweet, and they're very supportive. And I think that it really kind of inspired me to To believe in the union that we have, the, and fighting for labor laws and being a, an activist for labor laws and everything like that. Every single day we would go there and we would yell at executives coming into Paramount Studios and, A lot of the times no one would stop for us. No one would break for us. The, I was in charge as a SAG AFTRA member. One of my big things was to make sure that everyone was safe and a few people almost got run over by executives who were just trying to get through the picket line and we were trying to keep the peace, you know what I mean? It's SAG AFTRA captains. We had to keep the peace and we were involved with the negotiating committee with what we almost directly in, in what our concerns were, what was happening in our negotiating committee and our president and Duncan, everyone was very kind to us and very, and was in the fight with us. Most of the time, there is a hierarchy. in Los Angeles, right? How, oh yeah, this person's a showrunner. They're way above me. Like, I, they're so much bigger. This person's a writer for NCIS. So they are way more than me who makes, who does guest star showings and stuff like that. But on the picket line, it was all the same. There was no hierarchy There was no rank. And it was kind of wonderful to be part of that. I see background actors. sharing a sandwich with a showrunner with an Oscar winner, you know what I mean? Honestly, it makes me miss it a little bit because the camaraderie was important. You know what I mean? It was a terrible time, but the camaraderie was incredible and dancing on the line and making up chants and stuff. That was fantastic. But I think that one of the biggest things that coalesced out of all of it was one of my favorite things was the final day when we all Won when we all won, when we all won that contract and we all gathered over at the All Seasons bar in Los Angeles and we were screaming every single time somebody came in because it was kind of our, yeah, somebody, some of us would meet there, but every single time, like.Any SAG AFTRA captain would come in, we would scream like they were, like, NBA stars. We'd just be like, Yeah! That's them! You know what I mean? That's Duncan! We all, it was such a, it was such an amazing moment that I will never forget for the rest of my life. And I really, I really loved my time with it. And I'm still close with a lot of my SAG AFTRA captains. I've been involved with the union as much as I can. It makes me
Joe: happy to hear that you've Found some light in it and you've found some positivity with the connections that you've made, because my guess is that these strikes are going to become more and more common as Bye! Especially AI continues to be integrated into our lives, streaming platforms are continually evolving and changing and reshaping the industry. And I'm assuming SAG AFTRA is similar to the Director's Guild where your negotiations are every three years. So, yeah, it's something you might not have to wait very long for before you guys are saying, Okay, we gotta get back out there and we got, we got something else to fight for all of a sudden.
Romel: Yes, we've talked in length about this. There is actually a committee within SAG AFTRA called the Strike Preparedness Committee because we are ready to strike. And, and this last one kind of took us by storm. So this next time we have protocols in place and people in place. And we also have a community that we can already draw back on because the SAG AFTRA captains were very, we're very organized once we got into, once we got into the groove of it, when our contract is up again, for them to strike again would be such a mistake because we've shown that we have staying power and we can strike for 118 days. And that we will strike even longer. Every single one of us were just like, we, we could do this all day. We were Captain America at the end of Avengers and we like, we could do this all day. And I know it was a little polarizing when the SAG AFTRA contract came out because there was a lot of, there was a lot of disagreements with it. But. I think for right now that, especially because things are rapidly changing, it probably was the best contract for us at the moment because we don't know what AI is going to do. We have no idea. And we have no idea. How it's going to be used in the future. So it's all up in the air. And
Joe: And with this rapidly changing industry, our roles all change. My, my role as a headshot photographer is even affected by AI at this point. And then the means of distribution is so much different. You and I were both born in 88, right? You were 88, baby. We grew up with blockbuster video. That smell of a blockbuster is permanently ingrained into my mind.
Romel: The physical aspect of going to a place and talking with people, um, rather than, everything's kind of instant and algorithmic, but like, running into somebody who's just, Hey, I love this TV show. No one else has ever heard of it. Here's a box set. You know what I mean? That is a completely different thing, so.
Joe: How do you feel about The evolution of the industry is a broad question, but how do you feel about where we are right now? The direction it might be going sometimes people can live in fear because of that. Sometimes people can turn it on the positive. Where are you falling right now? Just on your general feeling, especially being in the heart of L. A. How do you feel about where the film and TV industry is headed?
Romel: Yeah. In, in many ways, I'm a little mortified with how it's going to be used, but also at the same time, I'm a little bit excited as far as if we can figure out ways for a person using AI to make it into, a tool rather than a replacement.So AI can be a very powerful tool, but it's, it's Los Angeles's equivalent of discovering gunpowder, right? That is what I think AI is. It's revolutionary. Also, it's very dangerous. Right. So how can we find ways to regulate it? How can we find ways to make sure that it is used for our protection rather than being harmful to us and replacing us and destroying our industry as a whole and destroying art as a whole.
Right. Because they're like, well, I can write a TV show in a minute by. Pressing write a TV show about this right, but then you have to have a writer or a comedian go through it and actually make sure that it's not just garbage, right? Because I've seen things that are just plain AI written and they are garbage. Will they get better? Probably. So we're always using this tool, but how can we use this tool and regulate it as we do a weapon?
Joe: Right. And I, I think we all have a right to be concerned about it because at the end of the day, it's about money and it's about how can corners be cut in film production to save money. But I love hearing you say that you want to see it used as a tool. That's how I use it currently. There's actually a lot of ways that I implement AI into my workflow, whether it's my photography, my YouTube page, even with the podcast. Do you use Any AI in your, in the acting realm or just in general?
Romel: I, I'm not ashamed to be like, Oh, Hey, this is how I use a little bit of AI to edit my head shots and stuff like that, because it's easier to be like, okay, well, where are all my blemishes?
Boom. Gone. Right. The fact that I have agency to edit my own shots is as an actor, as a consumer is something that I've never had before. As far as. So, it's helped me a lot through teaching acting because I am an acting coach. I think using AI as a search tool is way more efficient because it scours all of the internet to be like, Okay, here are the best stuff.
Okay, help me find monologues for a female teen that is 13 going on to 14. You know what I mean? For me to give to my student who is 13 going on to 14. And I get. A list of pretty much everything in the internet. Or if I need to write like a piece of copy, I will look at it, I'll maybe edit it, and then send it out.
Just recently, I taught a commercial workshop for the students at my school, and I had to create commercial copy, and I've never written commercial copy before. So I went on Gemini and I said, Help me write commercial copy for these following brands. And so it wrote all these commercial copies for these following brands and I just went in and I tweaked it to my kind of specificity of teaching and what I want them to convey in the commercial and I think it was very helpful for me.
Joe: Especially with the headshot retouching, that's not something that really affects me quite so much because I actually outsource a lot of my retouching. I don't have time to do all of my retouching. So I was already outsourcing a lot of my retouching to a company in India, but when AI software came around, they did reach out to me and say, We're going out of business because nobody's using us anymore because so there are going to unfortunately be a lot of people that are going to be losing some work because of it. And I think it's about finding a more human. Part of your artistry, something that AI can't replicate because it can't do everything. I think it's a great spark. It's a great tool. I have an idea, but I don't know how to launch this. Let's bounce some ideas off of each other. AI bot, but it can't replace a human voice. I think there will be a pushback in the opposite direction where people are like, okay, we're kind of used to this AI stuff and we're getting a little numb to it. I want to hear. unfiltered. I want to hear somebody talk. Imagine just listening to real humans talk. That's what I want. I want to put that on in the background.
Romel: Yes, because as far as I know, I don't think anyone's in the market for let me hear AI talk to each other. It can be duplicated, but it can be replicated. A lot of people are going into, it's not just Trying to figure out that, but also trying to pivot, right? Just like with Netflix, with how DVDs were being obsolete.
And so they pivoted to streaming. Right. I think that we have to figure out a way to pivot. Right. And I don't know what that means just yet, but I think that is the smart play with all of this stuff, because we're slowly realizing that. Some analog things are going away, which I say that now, but also analog, there has been a rise in analog lately with actually heard up another podcast the other day, say that yahoo.com is shooting up because a lot of people are nostalgic for that kind of analog kind of email, which I think is so random, right? Like having a, if somebody says, Hey, email me at yahoo. com. I'd be like yahoo. com. Who are you? Okay. Boomer.
Joe: Bring back ask Jeeves. That's what I like.
Romel: Bring back at AOL. com. And I do wonder how we're going to look back at even this conversation.
We got to revisit this in 15 years. Come back to this podcast, because I remember growing up in the nineties and hearing a lot of conversations about. The ascension of the internet and email and there's so many people who are saying this is a fad. We're still gonna be sending physical letters guys. This is not gonna overtake the United States Postal Service.
Romel: You and I are currently in that part of the movie where they're just like, Apple, that'll never work. I know, I know. I think that's exactly
Joe: it. We're gonna look back at this and be like, well, we were way off. We were wrong because there are so many people saying now This is the tip of the iceberg of what AI is going to be.
And you got to embrace it because we're not going back the other direction. It's only getting better from here. So we got to embrace it. We got it.
Romel: We got to go with the flow, man. Yes, and also the thing is that it starts from the bottom and it also start like at the top, right? You have your executives who are trying to find the easiest way, right
What if we get people from the bottom and people who are creatives up to those executive spots who really care about the art? Who is not going to be like, okay Well, I need to find the easiest way to make this TV show But rather the best way to make this TV show, right? And that's really where we need to be with AI, right?
Is that If you're lazy, if you are creative, who wants to make the easiest thing that will make the most money, then that's the problem with AI, right? And then, if you find a creative who decides that this is worth us taking a little bit more time, John Chu in Wicked, for him to create these sets, right?
For him to have live singing, for him to have those things. He could AI the whole thing. He could CGI the whole thing, right? But people are nostalgic for that, not just nostalgic for that, people prefer that, people want to see the work that is put into their things. Honestly, most of Wicked was practical, and now I'm on a Wicked binge, I've seen it 13 times in theaters.
I've seen it, I've seen it 13 times in theaters, yes, in theaters. Holy smokes. I don't know why, it's just one of my favorite movies, but I also, I used to work at the Pantages with your wife. And we watched Wicked 72 times, and we never got tired of it. And people are like, aren't you tired of the movie? I was like, never.
I will never be tired of Wicked. I love Wicked so much. No, it was fantastic. And I think that people want to see that human quality to it. Right. Because you get superhero films that are so overly CGI that are so overly, overly produced. Right. It kind of reminds you of the Spielberg days where he was making things from puppets.
He was making things from Jim Henson's company and using real practical things. And people love that. People want to see that. People want to, and people, and not only that, but people want to visit these places. Like I know that tourism, um, is going to be up the second they release the studio tour or the walking tour of the Wicked sets in London. I think that's going to be a huge thing.
Joe: You'll be the first in line.
Romel: I want to see the hundred tulips that they, uh, that they planted.
Joe: I like to think that audiences can tell a difference when there's something real in front of them and there's something real for the actors to interact with, because I think it does affect the relationship that the actors have.
With their environment and with the characters going back to the late nineties, early two thousands when the Star Wars prequels were being made. And a lot of these actors were saying, I don't really know how to act or how to feel in this moment because all I all of that behind me is a blue or green wall.
Um, a massive blue or green wall. And then when Jay Abrams came along and was making the new trilogy and these actors were saying, this is great. Is it kind of nice to have a puppet to interact with? It's nice to have Chewbacca actually standing next to you and to sit in the seat in the Millennium Falcon, because it influences your performance. It changes the performance of the, the actor.
Romel: Oh, a hundred percent. I think we've been exposed to enough of that we can tell, but I don't think so much that we can tell that it's real, but we can. I think for the most part audiences can tell if it's fake. I think that is where we're at right now, is maybe some things might be real, but we can tell when something is fake, right?
Is that we can tell if, we can tell if that gigantic thing from Jurassic World flying up in the air is a practical thing that's hitting the water or if it's animation, right?
Joe: Yeah, the Jurassic World movies did not hit me the same way as seeing the Jurassic Park on VHS when I was a kid. I still, I look back and forth between those and I look at the original and I think This looks better, in my opinion, like that movie still holds up.
They were figuring out CGI graphics while they were making that movie and somehow it still works.
Romel: It's amazing. So there, so let me tell you a fun story about, a fun story about Disneyland. So I used to work at Disneyland and I used to work in the Tiki Room, which is, for those of you who've never been to Disneyland and, and have not had that joy in your life, the Tiki Room is a room of birds who are singing out loud.
And there was those flowers that would click every single time they would sing and they would click, they would make a sound that goes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? And so they found a way to take that out and, and made it more efficient. Made it feel like real flowers are singing, which makes no sense, but they found a way to take that out of the puppets.
And then there was such a surge of energy. anger because of them taking out those clicks because people were so nostalgic for it and really wanted it as restored to its original, original sound. So people wanted the clicks, which is crazy because you think it would take you out of the reality of the situation, but because sometimes people want the hokey, people want the old technology.
Yeah. I mean, people are nostalgic for it.
Joe: I think about that with a lot of. The attractions at Disneyland and I think about they always feel like they're on the edge of pushing it in more modern direction with the projections and the projection systems that they invented the technology they invented for some of these attractions, like the Haunted Mansion with the mirrors and the project projections of the ghosts.
I want that. I want a realistic Madame Leota instead of like a screen. I don't like screens at the beginning of the new Pirates ride and the the The tentacle man, what was that guy's name? Davey Jones? Davey Jones. Yeah, Davey Jones. When he pops up at the top of it, I'm just like, that doesn't feel right with the rest of the ride.
I don't need that. Cause that ride is hokey and it feels like almost untouched besides the Johnny Depp now pops up once or twice. It feels for the most part untouched.
Romel: Yeah, I think it needs to be like a really Good, subtle mix. There are animatronics out in Florida for the Snow White's Mine Ride, where it's a little bit of a projector, but also a little bit of practical of the animatronics moving around.
So I think that that's where you need to go with that. But as far as like technology is concerned, yes. Yes. AI may take over our industry, but it also may help us create some crazy art and I'm kind of here for it.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. I'm absolutely here for it too. We just spent like 20 minutes on AI. I want to talk a little bit more about you now.
I want to do a little bit of a left turn and talk about you, talk about your career. I have a few of your credits here. Some of your most recent credits, you've worked on some really big project. He's all that. Ghost writer, which I love the original ghost writer when I was a kid and talk about 90s cast. I love that show so much and Hawaii five.
Oh, you've worked on some awesome, amazing projects and worked with some amazing actors and directors through throughout that. Tell me, what is it like when you. Book these roles for the first time when you go from working at Disney, working on the Jungle Cruise to suddenly you're on film sets. What is that experience?
Romel: It's never lost on me. I love being on set. I love acting and I love the community of the film set, right? It's one of those things where if we were to go back to our Disneyland conversation, everyone's there to have a good time, right? Everyone, when you go to Disneyland, everyone has decided that it's going to be the best day of their life. When I'm on a film set, everyone's there and being like, let's make something together, right? And I think that's something that is so, so infectious when you get to a film set and we're like, we're making this thing and we're so excited to make it. Whenever I'm on set, I'm, I'm super happy. I love talking to the crew. I love talking to the director. I love talking to all my fellow actors. It's been, it's, I've been so blessed in working. on these sets and meeting these people and being able to create art together because I, we all can complain as actors that we're like, Oh, I'm not the lead. I'm not this part or where my next part is going to come from. I'm scared and stuff like this, but also at the same time that you should take the time to realize that this is something that I've wanted since I was a little kid. And I am living it, and I am loving it, and I am able to be here, and create this art, and be, I hate this LA term, and be a storyteller. I just, I love acting. I love being part of something that's bigger than me in this. And it's never lost on me, and meeting celebrities on set, I'm still just as starstruck. I do try to play it cool, right? Because these are my co workers, I'm trying to play it cool. But sometimes you just can't help it. You and I are both fans of How I Met Your Mother. And I did a show called Stumptown with Robin Scherbatsky, Colby Smulders. And the first day, played it cool. You'd been so proud of me. Been like, hi, Colby. Nice to meet you. I'm such a, I'm a big fan. Thank you so much for having me on set. It's her show, having a great time. Second day, both of us are sitting in the chair and I go, do you want to see my finale party for how I met your mother?
And she goes, sure. And I geek out on her for a good 20 minutes, show her all our photos of like that, that crazy finale party. It was dumb. But yeah, honestly, like I am a fan and I love being able to work with these people that I completely adore, that I love, that I've watched growing up. I just worked on a movie with Rita Moreno. Which was, that's, she's a legend. She's, she's incredible. And she was so kind and so giving in her, not just on set, but also behind the scenes, she's just, it's, it makes me realize that we do this because we love it. And if you don't love it, then it's a lot of hardship for, uh, it's a lot of hardship for it.
Joe: You also have to understand that not everybody is going to. Come in with the same enthusiasm that you are. Some people really view certain jobs as a job and it's a paycheck. It's, they have the one for them, one for one for me mentality about it. So not everybody's going to have that excitement. You always hear those stories.
It's about actors that are disappointed when they get on set to perform a scene with their partner and their partner's like, I'm going to be in my trailer. This is a single. This isn't a two shot. I'll be in my trailer and they'll bring someone else to read the lines flatly for you and hopefully you can bring the same energy.
So I don't know if you've had that experience, but you hear those stories all the time and you just, you can't be disappointed in it because everybody has a different perspective coming into these projects.
Romel: Yeah, as far as those experience, they have been very limited, not naming any names, but there have been moments where, um, you were not quite treated as well with your co star, but the thing is that, like, at the end of the day, it's not on you, right?
Uh, it's one of those things where, like, you come in there with your kind of thing, you set the bar for how you should be treated. Right? You set, you set the bar of how others should be treated, right? And you should be kind in all your dealings, right? Because you never know what someone's going through.
And sure, some people can be terrible on set. And there are, like, I think because there is a little bit more monitoring. Nowadays, right? With all the social media, all the gadgets that we have, right? That people are being less and less monsters in public and being less monsters like behind the scenes. But yeah, some people can just have bad days and I understand that as well.
I will still come in and think that this is the best day on earth, right? Because I get to be on set, because I get to do what I love. Right. So I think it really just comes down to personal responsibility at that moment.
Joe: Yeah. And finding other ways to continue to stay in love with the craft of acting. You hear about so many film and TV actors that take a bit of a break and go back to the stage. They go back to theater, they go to New York, they do off Broadway, and they, they reconnect with the love of it because Film acting and stage acting are very different. And the emotions and the energy that you have while you're performing are very different. Do you have a medium that you prefer more? The stage, the screen?
Romel: it's a weird time to ask me because I feel so fulfilled in both sets, right? Well, not so much the film, the film aspect right now, because of the strikes and all the, all the craziness that's going on. But as far as I get to be able to teach the theater that I love. and be involved in the theater that I love. I just did Avenue Q over at Center Stage Monrovia, which is the com which, it was a staff show, but all of us are professional actors. I love, love teaching theater, and I love theater. I do love the artistry of film because of the collaboration of it, right?
Because most of the time when you're in theater, yes, it is a collaboration between you, the director, and lights, and the audience, and stuff like that. But, there's just an army of people behind a film set, right, to create this incredible thing. So I love that. And I also love the type of stories you get to tell with theater.
I don't find a lot of it so diverse. Not saying that there isn't incredible plays out there, but I find that there is more of a market. There's more of a market for diverse storytelling in film and TV. When I do get on set, it, it, it is always a good time, but the rush and thrill of theatre is beyond anything.
So, I could not tell you which one's best. I love them both in certain ways, in certain things. But it's also what movie's better, Back to the Future or, like, Citizen Kane, you know what I mean? Yeah, they're both incredible, you know what I mean? But one, one will excite me. One, one, one will, will give me thought provoking I don't know.
I haven't seen Citizen Kane in so long, but yes.
Joe: It's almost nice to have both of those tools in your tool belt and be able to bounce back and forth between them because you will have times like now where things are really slow on the film and TV side and you can jump back and do theater. I have a lot of friends that are doing that, that Well, I'm not having a lot of those auditions right now.
Let me go back to the stage. Let me do some of that. And then when the opportunity arises, I'll start auditioning. I'll start self taping and get back into that again. So it's good to bounce back and forth. It's kind of punk rock.
Romel: It is. It's a little punk rock. You know what I mean? Let's go create art while we're, while turmoil's happening.
You know what I mean? Theater was my first love. Right. I was a theater kid growing up and I graduated with a BFA in musical theater and I love musical theater and it's one of my favorite things because it brought me to this career and I just kind of found my own voice in film and TV. So I think that the theater side of me will never Fully say that like I'm just filming TV, right?
Yeah, I will always find a kind of gravitate towards theater
Joe: Yeah And it sounds like you're also Starting to find your own voice in the realm of the teaching that you're doing at Center Stage Monrovia Talk to me a little bit about what it's like teaching improv acting on camera musical theater What's it like working with the kids and what kind of joy does it bring you to be into this stage of your career?
Romel: I used to do this program when I was a kid, so I was that 11 year old who had no idea what a script was, had no idea what blocking was, and it's incredible to start to give these kids the building blocks to having this part of their, their career, part of their lives, and some of them won't go on to school to tv and film or theater but have these tools for the rest of their lives of these personal skills right and i love being part of the community of introducing people to theater right that feeling of when you introduce somebody to your favorite movie right it's kind of like Opening up the box and being like, at Blockbuster and being like, Hey, have you seen this musical?
And people are like, wait, hold on. And that's how I feel about, That's how I feel about theatre and introducing theatre to these kids. I think that I've booked the biggest parts. In my career while teaching these students and I think one of the reasons is because I'm more focused on my process of my own process, right?
How do I get into a character? How do I break down a script? Because I'm giving them my own personal things as well as like the typical, Here's Meisner, here's, here's Viola Spolin, here's all that stuff, right? But I'm also giving my own processes and my own experiences to them. And it's really giving me time to kind of really evaluate all of the things that are happening with me and my process with me and my journey.
As far as an actor, I'm being able to be like, Oh, okay, well, this. When I break down a script for this drama, what do I do, right? So it's me consciously being like, okay, well, this is how I break down a character. This is how I connect to it emotionally. This is how, um, I get to a physical place where I can cry.
I get to a physical place where I can yell, right? A physical place where I can die, you know what I mean? And so it's really Strengthening my resolve in acting and choosing this as a passion is understanding it a little bit deeper. And I think I've booked some of the bigger roles that I've ever booked in my career while teaching these kids because of that kind of attention to detail.
I love the kids I work with. They inspire me and I hope I'm there to inspire them as well.
Joe: I love all of that. It does my heart good to hear how much you're enjoying it and how much you're thriving off of it, because you have such a wonderful personality for it. You're a wonderful teacher, I'm sure, and these kids must love you. I see the videos you post. I know they love you, and it makes me so happy that you're getting that out of it.
Romel: So cringe, Mr. Romel...
Joe: I'm sure there's some of that too, but I'm so happy to hear you're thriving with that. That's so good. I have just a few more questions for you. We're going to go with a few.
Three heavy hitters to end today.
Romel: Oh, I love it!
Joe: First one is. Are there any dream roles or projects you're aspiring to in the future? And how do you envision the next phase of your career unfolding?
Romel: One of my big white whales is to work with Mike Schur. I think he's creating these incredible television programs that are really thought provoking and that are my style of comedy and that are my style of Storytelling, and I really do want to work with Mike Schur.
I'm a fan. I'm a nerd. I'm a huge Joe, you know this. I'm a huge nerd in TV and film. So, I can tell you a million shows that I would love to be on. Any kind of nerdy thing. I The Boys. I would love to be part of any of these universes because I love telling these things. As far as dream roles, I just want to I want to create something that is memorable, that people love, maybe is thought provoking, and As an added bonus, I would love to create something that kind of represents my culture, right?
Because a lot of the times Filipino culture is not really too represented in the industry, which is crazy because Filipino culture is so big. Olivia Rodrigo is one of the biggest pop stars out there. And she's Filipina. You know what I mean? Vanessa Hudgens, they're so, and Dave Bautista is also Filipino.
There are so many Filipinos in our industry. So the added bonus of a dream role being somebody who represents a little bit of Filipino culture would be fantastic to me.
Joe: Right. Talking about you. You're a Filipino American actor and it's talking about the current state of diversity and representation in Hollywood. Have you noticed any significant changes when it comes to diversity representation throughout your career?
Romel: Oh, absolutely. So at first, it was a blanket Asian, right? I could play Korean, I could play Japanese, I could play, I could play Thai, I could play whatever it is. And there were more roles available to me, actually, back then. And it has gotten a little bit more, a little bit more specific, right? Now we need a melee person from a certain part of the island. We need a We need a South East Asian Chinese person, you know what I mean? Like there, it's gotten so specific where it's a little constraining. It's bad for the actor, right? It's not that great because the actor won't be able to play as many different diverse roles. But it's good for the consumer because then we have that real life representation, right? You can be like, oh my gosh, that person speaks exactly like me and is from the same province as me from the same small tiny island as me, right? So I think that being specific is great as a consumer, as somebody who loves art, who loves representation, but as an actor, I miss playing Blanket Asians a little bit, you know what I mean? Like I miss playing that, that weird like the Korean nerd kid, you know what I mean? Like I miss playing that, but however.
I do, I do respect the fact that it's being more specific. And I, I get that. I
Joe: And I, I get that. The good and the bad that, that comes with that. That is so interesting. Yeah. Very interesting. Final question for you today, sir. If you could look back at a younger version of yourself, a younger actor getting into the industry, what is the one piece of advice that you would give yourself?
What lesson have you learned that you'd like to impart on a younger version of yourself or any young actor getting into the industry?
Romel: I love a quote from Steve Martin that I read. It was be so good that they can't ignore you. And I love that kind of concept of being able to, to put so much work into something that they can't ignore your talent, your hard work, your, your light, your bright star.
Because the thing is that, and as we were talking about diversity and we're talking about being of a different race, is that it still is true that I have to work 10 times harder to be seen in certain rooms, in certain, in certain aspects of the industry. And not only that, but I'm not just Filipino. I'm a chubby
American. I look like I am 20 when I'm actually 36, right? I, I am a weird looking dude, but I just have to keep saying to myself, to my little version of myself, that be so good that they can't ignore you. And I think that is something that I will take to myself. And then I would also tell myself, I would also tell my little self that whatever you do, it will be worth it.
No one said it would be easy, but it will be absolutely worth it. for being where you are, for getting to do what you do, for getting to talk to the people that you talk to, and for getting to make this industry part of your community.
Joe: It'd be so good they can't ignore you, is Also, just a great way to continually be focusing on your own craft. You can't be waiting for the dream role to fall in front of you all of the time. You might need to create it yourself. You might need to write that script and shoot that short film or do a funny by association and work with your friends to create the roles that you want. That might be what people want. That might be what people like. That's what they've been craving. That's what they've been missing. Oh, I knew it. Oh, that's it. That's We figured it out. We, like, why go on with the podcast? This is the final episode. We figured it out. This was so wonderful getting to chat with you, getting to catch up with you. Thank you so much for taking the time. I can't wait to see you the next time I'm in Los Angeles. It's gonna be awesome. And we can finally catch up. There was a place I went, now that you lived in North Hollywood, there's a place I went for ramen the last time I was in. I'm 100 percent down,
Romel: you know me, it was ramen, I'm just And don't tell me what it is. Okay. I just want to know when you're here and we will go get it. Let's do it. That's what it is. Let's do it.
Joe: I can't wait. Now that we're getting towards the end, where can people find out more about you? Where can we follow you and your journey?
Romel: If you want to follow my journey and you want to see all the dumb things or just watch dumb cat videos, I am at Romel De Silva on all platforms, but I'm mostly active on Instagram. So follow me on. @RomeldeSilva and message me there.
Joe: Thank you so much. This was a wonderful conversation, great insights that you passed along to everybody listening, and we'll keep in touch. We'll come back to this episode in 10 years and we'll reflect on how wrong we were about ai.
Romel: Yeah, we'll be those 90s people in the movie who are just like, There's no way that this CD thing will take off!
Right, right,
Joe: right. Alright, well, I'll let you get to the rest of your day. Thank you so much for chatting, Rommel, and I can't wait to see you the next time I'm out there.
Romel: Thank you, Joe. Alright, buddy. Thank you for having me on.