Matthew Willson

Matthew Willson is an Canadian actor who does stage and screen. This is what he had to say about it all.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1079740/

1. What inspired you to become an actor?

When I was a boy, I LOOOOVED to dress up and pretend to be characters for the day; I really convinced myself that I WAS the character that I was playing. (cowboy, policeman, mountain climber, the incredible hulk, rock star, an old women, mechanic etc.,) I also had a moment when my Mum took me to see a play and I saw adults making people laugh (on stage) and they didn’t get in trouble for it. I figured, “thats what I want to do. Make people laugh and get paid for it.”

2. What do you love about acting?

I LOVE the theatre. It’s my temple. It’s my safe place. There, I can work on spoken word art and collaborate with other people with the exact same devotion. I love working on projects. I love learning about different subjects. I love to really get down deep into a character. I love to entertain. Most of all? I really and truly still love to pretend to be someone else.

3. How do you prepare for a role?

I prepare for each role the same, but normally quite different. If it’s a theatre role, normally I’ll have a long time to think about the character/role. I’ll bug the director and I research the play/role/character as much as I can. I read reviews, I read books, the internet, ask other actors and directors and I read the script a LOT!

4. Do you have any tricks to memorizing lines?

I. Hate. Learning. Lines. It’s without doubt, the thing that still scares me most. In fact, its about the ONLY thing that scares me. I dream all the time that I’m on stage and lose where I am. (it’s actually called “the actors nightmare”.) After many years I’ve come to know these things work for me: the better the writing, the easier it is. Don’t procrastinate. And for me, repetition. Repetition. Repetition! And, I sleep with my script under my pillow. For real.

5. What has been your favorite role to date?

This is tough and I get asked this often. Not sure if I have a favourite but some that I’d do again in a heartbeat are: Lucky in Waiting for Gadot. Juror # 8 in 12 Angry Men, Ernest in Hemingway and His Women, Rosenburg in Amadeus, Cuirette in Hossana and Ethan in The Full Monty.

6. How is stage different to you to film and tv work?

Stage work I find is much more organic. There’s time to work up bits and try things. Film and telvision work is very fast, but at the same time, I think that sometimes the quality is compromised.

7. Is preparing for a stage role the same to as screen work or is preparation different?

Prep work is all the same. For me, its learning lines like crazy!

8. What kind of work wouldn’t you do?

Hmmmm, well, nothing that would get me arrested… No, actually, that would be great press, so I’d get arrested for sure! Now that I’m a parent, I wouldn’t want to embarrass my boy. Or anything that I feel could physically hurt me.

9. What does 2016 have in store for you?

I’ve been directing a lot lately; for both theatre and film. I’ve also been financing and producing film and theatre. The last few years have been getting quite busy.