Adrian Glynn McMorran shares what keeps him creatively inspired, and it's about to get intentional

"Whether it’s creative outlets or something else that you do, the arts give you a fuller life." In this week's You've Got This, while unfortunately Yolanda Lee Conyers wasn't able to join us in conversation this week (we'll be sharing her answers soon), I was able to catch up with multifaceted actor and singer-songwriter Adrian Glynn McMorran. We discussed his approach to his unique creative career, some unexpected connections you might not know that inspired him to get involved with the recent film Volition, and advice he would have for others who'd aspire to work in a similar space. Read on for his answers - and be sure to join us for Yolanda's insights next week!

Victoria: "What are some unique aspects around what you do professionally that people might not know about?"

Adrian: "People may not realize that I do a few different things equally. I balance TV and film acting with music (both as a solo artist and as a member of a folk band called The Fugitives) and I also work as a theater actor. So I balance those 3 things equally. There’s people in the music world who don’t know that I act. For music, I go by my first and middle name Adrian Glynn, and for acting I go by my full name, so sometimes people don’t put that together. They’re different worlds." 

Victoria: "What was it like to work with brothers and co-writers Tony Dean Smith and Ryan W. Smith on Volition?"

Adrian: "Well, they’re old friends of mine, going all the way back to high school. Tony was a few years older than me, about 3 years ahead of us, and he was the cool guy everyone wanted to be, like James Dean. And Ryan, his brother, was a few years younger than me. We were on an improv team together.

"Actually, it’s kind of weird, our improv team had eight people, and two of those were Seth Rogen and Nathan Fielder! So I’ve known Ryan and Tony for a long time."

I got to know Tony a few years later - my first-ever film was a student feature film that Tony made when he was 22, I was the lead. No one will ever see that, because it was a student film, but when I got to know him, he wasn’t as scary. We’ve done a few projects together. Tony shot a music video for me, which actually is weirdly almost a precursor to Volition - it wasn’t intended that way, but it was for a solo song of mine called “Seven or Eight Days.” It’s almost like this was the first iteration of the James character I play in Volition - the exact same look, facial hair, wardrobe, and attitude - and it’s a very similar character that I played in this music video that ended up being what James in Volition ended up looking like. So we did that together, and Tony’s been conceptualizing this film for a decade or so before it happened. We started production in June of 2017. It was almost all shot in or around Vancouver, with some of the countryside being in Pitt Meadows or areas around Vancouver."

 Victoria: "What excited you about Volition as a project?"

Adrian: "It was so psychological. Tony and I went for coffee a few times over the years and he’d outline it for me, and I’d be fully intrigued, but also fully confused, because it’s such a complex story. I knew I’d have to read the script many times to fully get it. But I knew it was going to work. It was ambitious, psychological, but Tony was so confident and could answer the questions I had so quickly that I knew it would work because he had a vision. So that inspired a lot of confidence from me. It’s a mind-bender. It’s the kind of thing where I already know people who’ve seen it three times already and they’re still watching for little things they miss. And I think sci-fi fans like a lot of layers and questions. The whole story makes sense - it’s all very understandable - but there’s layers. So you’ll get the full plot on the first viewing, but you’ll start to see new things in subsequent viewings." 

Victoria: "What words of advice and inspiration would you have for those who are interested in becoming professional actors?"

Adrian: "I think it’s important to get some kind of training. And I think it’s good to - a lot of times, people haven’t gone into theater, and will want to take their local on-camera acting classes, but I think having some kind of theatrical basis is important. Even if that’s just classes that work from theater texts and that aren't worrying about the camera yet - because it’s better to learn how to act from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. When you start on camera, it teaches you to be very aware of your facial expressions, what things look like, rather than what comes from the inside.

"I always feel fortunate that I have a few other artistic endeavors that I do, because I think as an art form, acting can be frustrating because you don’t have control over what you say in the scenes, where you stand on-set, when you’re going to work, whereas when I write songs, whenever there’s a downtime or pandemic, for example, I have other creative outlets that keep me going. So whether it’s creative outlets or something else that you do, the arts give you a fuller life."

Actors don’t have anything to pull on except life experiences, so I think it’s important to do things besides acting and the acting scene."

Follow Adrian on LinkedIn.

___________________________________________________________

Be sure to join us next week to hear from President of the Lenovo Foundation, author, engineer and Vice President of HR Operations and Chief Diversity Officer at Lenovo Yolanda Lee Conyers and to find out who will be joining us as the following You've Got This guest - and as always, thank you for reading!