Acting, Writing, And Everything in Between - Michael Patric Talks About The Acting Life

Michael Patric’s impressive IMDB line-up cannot be exaggerated - from the Oscar nominated An Cáilín Ciúin to Frontier to Lego: Legends of Chima, Michael is a force to be reckoned with. Now his own project - Seán Moylan, Irish Revolutionary - is in the mix and spreading like wildfire. He gives us a little look into his life.

Who/What inspired you to go into acting?

I discovered in my mid teens that I could do impressions of people. Mostly the teachers I had in school. I ended up writing and performing a bit in a school concert in which I impersonated teachers. It was the first time that I felt like I was really good at something. Michael O’Halloran then asked me to join the local drama group. Michael has a wealth of knowledge and I enjoyed learning and getting better. Prior to that, I didn’t have the first clue about acting and I certainly didn’t ever think that it could be my profession/vocation. So it’s safe to say that Michael was the earliest inspiration.

Were there any hurdles being from a rural place?

I think the biggest hurdle was convincing myself that I needn’t be intimidated by people from affluent Dublin post codes. There is a daft perception amongst the urbanites that rural people are somehow inferior. It’s changing, albeit slowly. It’s nonsense but it did cause me some self doubt.

Do you have a favourite role or scene that you love/loved performing?

It’s always the current one or the next one. Once the job is done, it’s done. I can’t look back and rate one over the other. I’ve enjoyed the vast majority of them.

What does a day in your life look like?

That really depends on what I’m doing. If It’s a film or TV job I might be up at 5, get picked up to travel to set, have breakfast, change into whatever the character wears, go to hair and make up, rehearse the first scene then shoot it, then repeat until the day is done. Then I’ll be dropped back to wherever I’m staying at 8 or 9.

If I’m writing something, I spend a lot of time doing research and taking notes etc.

If I’m rehearsing a play, it starts at 10am and finishes at 5. Then I’ll spend time before bed just going over the day’s work. If I’m performing on stage I’ll rest as much as possible during the day to be fresh at 8 o’clock.

If I have nothing to work on, I spend the day wondering why.

What advice do you have for people looking to go into your field from smaller areas?

Whether you’re from smaller areas or not I would say, only pursue a career in acting if you can’t imagine yourself doing anything else. If you pursue it for fame, it will make you unhappy. If you pursue it for wealth, it will make you unhappy. It’s one of the toughest professions there is, so only the fully dedicated should consider it. But if that’s you;some of the greatest stories ever told on stage and screen are about people from smaller areas.

Seán Moylan, Irish Revolutionary is spreading country wide - you’ve spoken about the inspirations and your passion for history as well as the Irish language and history. Where did your inspiration to create stories come from?

Having worked for years helping to tell other people’s stories, I reached a point where I decided that I’d like to tell some stories of my own creating. I love the process. Getting them seen and heard is the harder part but I’m starting to like that too.