People are very uncomfortable when you call actors artists because there are a lot of actors out there that aren't artists - there are a lot of actors that are hired for very specific reasons that are shallow and have to do with sexual currency and what the industry thinks sells. Real actors are artists, they're expressionists.

Jordan Gavaris

Categorized in : Thinking Real Artist

I love acting and will take all the time to continue to act. But sometimes I'd like to try my hand at directing.

Jordan Gavaris

acting trying hands

I actually love woodworking. I'm just getting into it. And I love playing guitar, I'm a big movie aficionado, and I like hiking.

Jordan Gavaris

woodworking guitar hiking

I love Tom Wilkinson and Tommy Lee Jones as well as Jessica Chastain. But the person I look up to most, not because I identify with her roles but because of who she is as a person, is Sissy Spacek.

Jordan Gavaris

look-up roles looks

As an actor, you don't want to know the beginning and end to your character's arc. It makes it more fun. You're not playing the end. You're playing it realistically. You don't know where this character is going to go and what's going to happen to him, which just makes it more interesting for the viewers to watch. They're going on the journey with you, as the actor and the character.

Jordan Gavaris

journey fun character

I think the narcissism comes from the industry side of things. The artistic side of a person is never narcissist; it's always empathic, it's always kind and compassionate. It can be difficult to hold onto artistic principles when the business is so glaringly about the product. It's sad.

Jordan Gavaris

principles sides thinking

Playing what Hollywood determines is a hero, it immediately sets actors up to feel like they just can't explore the dark parts of themselves - the character has to be likeable, has to be fuckable, has to be redemptive on all fronts. When you're playing a character that's just inherently destructive or messed up, you're given this beautiful permission to try things. There's a license to fail.

Jordan Gavaris

hero beautiful character

I think it's a mistake to say that to be a healthy, well-adjusted person you need a monogamous relationship.

Jordan Gavaris

healthy mistake thinking

Generally the things you get offered are never things you want to do. It's a continual fight for the good parts. As you climb the ladder and get to different benchmarks, enter new stratospheres, you're just competing against all the other people in that stratosphere.

Jordan Gavaris

different fighting people

Even in the face of tragedy, human beings need to find a way to laugh. It's normal. It's life.

Jordan Gavaris

laugh face life way

As I got into middle school, I was really an outcast. But everybody was an outcast in middle school. I don't know who got the idea to put all kids going through puberty together in a school and give them academic elitism and competition and pit them against each other.

Jordan Gavaris

know competition together school

I think that the worst thing as an actor is to fall into a monotony with characters.

Jordan Gavaris

actor think worst fall

Toronto is actually way more fast-paced than L.A. - I find the fast-paced nature of Toronto a bit obtrusive. In L.A., I love getting up and going hiking and going to the beach - that's L.A. culture and it's awesome and I miss it. Toronto culture is wonderful, but I miss L.A.

Jordan Gavaris

nature love beach culture

Sometimes animal exercises can help you get in touch with parts of yourself that you don't access day to day. In my day-to-day physicality, I'm a little bit like a terrier. I've always been described as a dog. I'm kind of goofy and a little dopey looking sometimes.

Jordan Gavaris

yourself day you dog

I hope that one day, the world gets to a place where you don't need to politicize your sexuality any more than someone needs to politicize their race - that we can just act and we can exist in this Zeitgeist, telling stories about one another.

Jordan Gavaris

day you hope world

I am full of optimism. The world hasn't beaten it out of me yet. And I'm going to work very hard to make sure that they don't.

Jordan Gavaris

i-am me work world

Women have always been incredible. They've always been amazing.

Jordan Gavaris

amazing been always women

There's a thrill in flying by the seat of your pants - trousers, actually: 'pants' in English means underwear - because most shows don't operate that way. Network shows are repetitive.

Jordan Gavaris

english your flying way

I'm a bit of a geek, and I really like 'Buffy.'

Jordan Gavaris

bit really like geek

One time, I was literally stopped on the street, literally and physically whipped around by this guy who looked at my face and was like, 'Are you Felix?' I looked very different then. I was like, 'Yah... Oh, yah!' I was stunned and slightly frightened.

Jordan Gavaris

street face you time

You cannot collectively, as a society, decide that you are only going to represent one part of a minority. It's like saying you've represented black people on television because you aired an episode of the 'Cosbys.'

Jordan Gavaris

you black society people