How To Start Acting In Toronto

Kim's Convenience actor Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll on getting a foot in the door as a PA, working construction to pay the bills and the moment he became a total-fourth dimension creative person.

Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll equally Enrique in Kim'south Convenience. (CBC)

Toronto-based actor/comedian Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll is what you'd call a "working actor." He's not famous, but he does make a full-fourth dimension living from his art. You lot don't know his name, but you might recognize his face, whether it'southward from Canadian shows like Kim's Convenience, made-in-Canada American shows like Ginny & Georgia, or trying to sell you a Subaru during the one-half-time of a Raptors game.

Art, Death & Taxes
viii honest conversations nearly art and coin

In Making a Living, we're going to talk to artists and creatives nigh all things money — how they make information technology, how to support an creative practice when yous all the same have a day job, and how to handle things like taxes and slow periods when y'all're doing it full-time.

In the starting time edition, Fernandez-Stoll talks virtually making acting a career in a competitive industry, in an expensive city, where a lot of your boyfriend would-be actors are "just very wealthy... a lot of people just got rich parents."

What exercise you do for a living?

I work in film full-time. I also do live shows which, you know, pay a little flake, but I really don't think they pay that much unless y'all're doing information technology all the time, putting together some tours or headlining shows at Yuk Yuks or something. But I by and large make a living off motion picture and tv, which is something that took a while to exercise.

What were you doing to support yourself before you were acting total-time?

I worked construction jobs, I worked at restaurants, and then I started working in motion picture as a PA. Through that, I met a lot of producers, met a lot of directors. I met a lot of casting agents like that. That's how I got an agent. When yous're a PA, they give you a list of addresses to drop off contracts, then one of those places was a talent amanuensis. And then I just happened to drop off a contract to her, and I just slipped it in there and I said, "Oh, you lot know, I want to exist an actor." And so they were nice plenty to say, "Oh, really? Well, do you have headshots? Exercise you want to come by one day and talk?" And that'due south how I ended up getting an agent.

When did you realize this was going to be your full-time job?

It but kind of slowly happened, where I was but acting. I was working at casting offices; they were hooking me upward with session jobs, running [audition] sessions on camera. I was besides doing structure jobs for friends, and then all of a sudden I was like, "Look, I don't have whatsoever time for that other stuff. I'one thousand doing this."

And and so yous realize, "Oh, I'm able to pay my rent." I was able to get a car. I was able to do all this stuff, and I'chiliad like, "Oh, I'grand doing this past being a goofball." Information technology never got to a bespeak where I was like, "Oh, I tin exercise this at present." It but got to the betoken where I was similar, "Let's see how long I can do this for."

And then you realize, 'Oh, I'yard able to pay my rent.' I was able to get a car. I was able to do all this stuff, and I'm like, 'Oh, I'k doing this by beingness a goofball.' - Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll

How much do you make in a typical year?

There is no real number when you lot're an artist. It's low ane month and then it's high. Sometimes yous can brand, I don't know, $25,000 in a year, and the next year you lot're making $125,000. I've been lucky enough to go through both of those to kind of humble myself.

What are your big work expenses?

Now, I would say self-taping equipment for at-home auditions. Because we don't go to casting offices anymore, right? So there's no transportation costs; there'south no, you know, sometimes you'll consume somewhere before an audience. But now everything's at home. They say get a skillful camera, but everyone uses their phones. Accept a good computer for editing. We ordered a ring light — it was like $200. A backdrop is probably $forty bucks. So it's really a minimal amount of cash when you're thinking nigh what you're using it for for the side by side ii years.

And so has the pandemic made auditioning cheaper then?

I call back it'south made it less expensive. But also information technology'south made information technology less heady. Nosotros're at home the whole time, so it's not very skillful for our mental wellness. I miss going to the [casting] function. I miss sitting down and having a time frame to go into that room and saying, "I have 10 minutes to bear witness them what I have." Correct now, in that location'southward a lot of room for procrastination.

How much of a absorber do yous need for when things go slow?

I don't know, as long equally you give yourself rent and nutrient? And then, what, like $2,500 bucks or something or something to live off? Merely Toronto is likewise an expensive urban center, so it really does range. And also I lived an creative person lifestyle for a long time. You can give me food, a roof, and a drum auto, and I'll be happy for, like, three months.

Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll in the Baroness von Sketch Evidence. (Jackie Brownish)

Have whatsoever advice on doing your taxes?

Go on all your receipts and stay on top of it. Especially equally an creative person, everybody's been backside a couple times, only luckily I have people in my life that are able to assist me — accountants, family, friends. That's pretty much what you lot need to use because, doing it on your ain, admittedly, you're going to mess your entire life up.

Whatsoever advice for young artists?

To any young actor or young person in their 20s, doing it, merely, I don't know, only don't get frustrated. Everybody has different routes. And non everybody has super wealthy parents, right? So just fucking arctic.

Answers take been edited for length and clarity. If you're an artist who wants to talk coin for Making a Living, email christopher.sprint@cbc.ca.

Near THE Writer

Chris Dart is a author, editor, jiu-jitsu enthusiast, transit nerd, comic book lover, and some other stuff from Scarborough, Ont. In addition to CBC, he's had bylines in The Globe and Mail, Vice, The AV Club, the National Post, Atlas Obscura, Toronto Life, Canadian Grocer, and more than.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/how-to-pay-rent-while-making-it-as-an-actor-in-canada-1.6396613