Storytelling and Stardom by Matthew

Storytelling and Stardom by Matthew - February 2014 Scholarship Essay

"The difference between a leading movie actor and a movie star, is that when movie stars get a script they want to do, they change it to suit them. When leading movie actors get a script they want to do, they change themselves to suit the script." - Michael Caine

Ever since I was a child, I have had a dream of being a storyteller, and a storyteller comes in many different forms. For me, however, my love was acting. As a young child, I was introduced to theatre and hated it instantly, but my mother forced me to stay involved with it, a fact for which I am still thankful to this day. The older I grew, the more I fell in love with the art of imagination. To me, acting was simply stepping from this world into the next where I could become a completely different person, set apart and unrecognizable from who I truly was. I feel the most myself when I am someone else.

Most people want to become film actor for the fame and the publicity, but I wanted to become a film actor for the chance to do what I loved—storytelling. Film is only a process of storytelling made possible by people both in front and behind the camera, not a place where stars can strut their fame onto a million television sets, which is, unfortunately, what Hollywood has come today. My favorite part about actors is that they have to completely change themselves to suit their roles, but many film actors are too self-focused to tell a story about something other than themselves. Sometimes, I wish I lived in the time of Michael Caine’s prime where this idea needed not to be said, but maybe this only means that I can be unique in my craft when others are only stars. Maybe I can help change Hollywood’s stardom back to what it is supposed to be—a land dedicated to telling stories, not making money.

My dream is to leave who I am behind the camera as a different person walks in front of the camera to tell a story that will reach a majority of people in many different ways. I want to tell stories that will change people; I want to reach people with the stories by being a leading movie actor, and the quote by Michael Caine helped me realize that. Star status may come with the majority of movies in which I wish to be, but this will never change my mentality on being a leading actor. Michael Caine understood and still understands this. As for me, I have always been, and always will be, a storyteller.