WEBVTT - From Warzone To Gotham Con J.W. CORTES 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.840 Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey German. 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:13.920 We get right into it. J W. Cortees, Yes, how 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:14.720 are you feeling today? 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:16.840 I feel great. Thank you for having me. I'm looking 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:17.560 forward to this one. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.919 Ah where do we start? It was like marine first 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:26.440 responder actor father. I'm like, you were's marathon runner. I'm like, wait, wait, 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:27.639 where do I even start with? 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:28.200 J W. 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:30.840 Born and raised in New York. 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.920 Born and raised in Brooklyn to two amazing parents who 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.360 who indoctrinated me in all things of Puerto Rico and 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:38.000 being Latino. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.479 Was Mammy Pappy Mammy born and raised on the island. 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:44.320 So and then they migrated to Brooklyn. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:46.519 They did their bodies there, but not their hearts in 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.480 their minds, you know, to them, they're still in Puerto 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:49.800 Rico mode, which I love. 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:50.800 Are they still with us? 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.319 They are God blessed, bless is right? 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:54.520 Are they still in Brooklyn? 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.000 No? No, so they're my They're my neighbors. We lived 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.680 together in the sixth Borough of New York City, Jersey City, 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:03.480 so beautiful. 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.160 I love that. I love that for you. Now, when 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.880 you do your acting, is that the West Coast? 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.560 No, you know, it's It's interesting. When I first started out, 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:14.360 you know, many moons ago. Yeah, that was always like 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.320 the kind of like the urban myth, right, like, if 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:17.840 you want to make it in this business, you got 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:19.679 to move to la that's where all the action is. 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.880 But that's just not true. I mean, I starting theater, 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:26.440 I started singing in this business. I wanted to be 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:28.040 the Boutiqua Luther v Andros. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:29.080 I could see it. 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.880 Thank you. I think that's good, right, yeah, yeah, fat Luther, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:33.400 fat Looth. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.800 No no no no no no no no no no, I'm 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:36.919 thinking just an artist. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.759 I'm not thinking yes, yes, yes, yes, So that's kind 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:42.760 of how it started for me. But you know, staying 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.520 here in New York, you know you just mentioned right, theater, theater, 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.520 this is the mecca for that. So what what came 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.400 from that is is that here you also have the 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.200 best acting schools. In my opinion, we do London, you know. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.080 So yeah, so you started singing, started out singing. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.560 It didn't really work out for me. I couldn't find 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.520 the right users. But I also had this acting bug 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.400 in me that I got from doing high school musicals. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.000 So this started early for you, super early. Yes, what 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:11.120 was your musical that you did? 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.000 Like the first one that kind of got me in. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.440 I did The Wiz, and I'll tell you that. So 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.480 I went to school in Coney Island, benson Hurst, really Lafayette, 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.519 and I went out for this new thing called The Whiz. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:25.760 I had only seen the movie, but there was a 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.120 part for the Tin Man and he had a song 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:29.280 called if I Could Feel. 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:31.440 And I saw The Wiz on Broadway. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.200 Reason I saw on your I g yes. 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.560 So I know exactly you know you no, But that's 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:39.800 that's that's that was like the first taste of like, Okay, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:41.440 I gotta go out there and I gotta win this part. 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.480 I wanted up being casted as the Wiz, but I 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.640 just said, man, if I could ever get to play 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.800 the tin Man, I'll be complete here right. But I 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:52.040 was kind of the precipice of that. 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.480 That's amazing. I love it because I was talking your 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:56.880 social media also, and I saw that your son is 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:57.480 on Broadway. 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.960 He is doing off Broadway. He's in now. Shout out 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.520 to marry me. Shout out to my son Jaden, who's 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.959 now done about ten musicals in his eight nineteen years 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.959 of life. This kid is phenomenal. Yeah, no's he's he's 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:11.560 on his way. 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.200 You had a lot to do with that or was 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:14.000 he born with that? 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:18.359 I think it's interesting my son is so he's so 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:20.760 assured of who he is, right, and I didn't have 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:22.200 that at that age. I was still trying to figure 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.600 myself out. Sometimes I still am right. But he at nineteen, 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.079 he knows who he is. He knows what he wants, 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:28.560 what he wants to do, but he also knows what 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.919 he doesn't want to do. And theater, I think gave 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.880 him a lot more of that, that comfortable space to 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.280 kind of explore that. So he knows who he is, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.080 he knows the kind of artist he wants to be. 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.480 I think I may have had some influence, but I 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.839 can't take full ownership because he has yet to ask 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.920 me for any help. I've tried. I've tried to be 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.680 that dad without being overbearing and just be there for 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:52.680 him and kind of like kind of guide him into 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.360 business because it is a tough business, it is, but no, 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.600 it like, no, I got this, dad. 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:00.920 What are the biggest differences you see between your son 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.480 and yourself? Like when you started in this business, fear 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:07.600 you were fearful, oh god it and he's fearless. 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:11.360 He's fearless. Yeah, and it's ironic because I'm the marine, 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.160 I'm the combat veteran. I'm the guy that would strap 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.920 on the gum belt, go out there, work midnights in Harlem, 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:18.640 and do all these other things that people would say, Wow, 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.560 you must have no fear. But the one thing I 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.080 learned in my acting training is the one person that 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.200 you have to deal with the most can be sometimes 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:27.520 the scariest, and that's yourself. 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.919 That's very, very, very true. Now I want to go 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.080 back because I feel like we skipped over a lot 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.440 of things because I was wondering. I said, how did 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:41.400 he end up a marine and an actor simultaneously? When 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:42.040 did you enlist? 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.920 Yeah, so I knew. So. I grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.279 on the block that the NYPD had nicknamed Little Vietnam. Right, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.000 So the block was hot, right, I'm talking about the 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.640 early eighties, right, mid eighties, so the height of the 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.760 crack and Aids epidemic. My older brothers one of the 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.680 leaders of one of the worst street gangs out there. 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.159 He had a huge influence on me. But in Gosa, 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.680 Mommy and Poppy were like, you're game more than I 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.200 play any game. So you got to figure something out. 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:12.880 So at eighteen, I enlisted. But it was more, I 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:14.800 used the other E word. It was more of an 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.080 escape right from a really bad situation. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.359 That was and maybe still is, you know, for a 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.760 lot of black and brown young men who don't have 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:25.800 another outlet or absolutely don't want to go to college. 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.560 Yes, yeah, so it isn't for everyone, But for me, 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.159 it kind of gave me the structure of discipline. It 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.640 just got me out of a really bad situation. So 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.320 I wound up serving, and I wound up staying in 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.960 a lot longer than I thought. I saw fast forward. 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.480 In two thousand and three, America was first starting out 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.760 in this new war called Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.359 and my unit was tagged with being part of the 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.680 invading force of Iraq. And out of all places in 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.720 the world, I'm in Kuwait. The war is literally about 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.680 twenty hours old. It's super brand new. We come under 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.840 a very we have the scud missile attack. They said, 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.159 your life flashes before your eyes, and it did for me. 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:07.880 I had this out of body thing, I called it 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:12.680 like an epiphany, where I vividly saw at Ortiz's funeral 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.960 home on Fourth Avenue fifty thirsty. I saw it packed. 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.880 I saw my mother and father crying over my my, 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.240 my casket. It this is kind of grim, but it's 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.160 the truth you visualize. I visualized it so clearly. And 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:27.400 then I came back to the moment as the scud 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:31.200 missiles were landing around our position, I said, Wow, I'm 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:35.360 an idiot. I have squandered these twenty seven years of 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.160 my life, always saying that tomorrow Maniana Mayana. Always I said, 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.200 I'm gonna start pursuing these dreams and I'm gonna explore 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.160 these gifts, you know what, Tomorrow, next week, I'll start Monday. 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:46.240 I feel like that's a lot of us. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:47.880 That's a lot of us, you know. So for me, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.440 of all places, I had that awakening and I just 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.240 prayed hard and I saip up my the oh please 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:54.440 not here, not like this. 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.800 I'm not ready. You know. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.839 It's interesting, you know, when you so close to death, 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.320 whether it be an accident or an illness of some sort, 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:08.560 you're forced to kind of come to that realization like 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.880 you did this. You had a hand in this moment somehow, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:15.120 some way, you know, And so that's what that's what 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.360 ignited that thing in me, and it's been burning ever 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.480 since two thousand and three. So to answer your question, 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.360 that's where the acting kind of finally started to get 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.760 some sort of form, became malleable for me, was coming 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:28.480 out of Iraq. 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.360 So while you were in the service, were you doing 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.520 anything acting related or you were just focused on serving? 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.760 You know what I was doing. I was protecting American 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.320 embassies and I loved it. I got to live and 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:40.880 thank you. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.160 Listen. I was, I was stalking your career and I 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.400 was like, wow, he's put in some serious work. 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:45.880 Thank you. 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:47.640 I was like, I gotta thank him. I said, you know, 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.800 all of our veterans and you know, shout out to me. 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:51.760 The second man that has sat here, you know and 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:53.720 told me, you know, he's risked his life and gone 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.360 to war for our country, and then he also ended 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.120 up an actor. And I'm like, what am I doing 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:03.600 my life? These men go to war a country, then 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.200 they come home and then become actors, and you. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.360 Know, but that's not it's interesting you say that. So 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:13.440 you know, I'm giving you like the ways version, right listen. 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.560 I already don't I got your whole life. Yeah, I know, wait, 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.240 hold on, hold on. I was already acting. What's happening there? 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.960 What happened to the thirteen years? What's going on here? 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.960 But acting? What was your first once you left the service? Yes, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.160 what was the first moment that you booked a role 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:31.640 or you auditioned for a role. 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:35.360 So this is a true story. I come home and 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.280 I had this burning desire to explore it. I need 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.199 no actors. I had heard that a long time ago 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.079 Rosie Perez was also from Sunset Park, but that's like 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.520 an urban legend to me. I don't even know this chick, right, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.560 And so I didn't know where to begin. So I 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.679 started my new career. I was a beat cop and 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:57.200 there was a Hudson you stand on my beat. I 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.360 would sit there and I'd look at these newspapers and 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.600 there was one that they used to print called Backstage, 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.400 And so I didn't want nobody to know that I 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:06.360 was looking at it because I'm, you know, doing this thing, 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.600 And so I grabbed it. I paid, and I remember 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.120 the guy behind the count and was like, officer, you 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.440 realize what it's not The New York Post's I go, 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.199 you know, like, just give me the damn paper so 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.360 I can get out of here, right right, and so 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:22.720 I very quietly went to the back and I started 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:24.480 to circle what I thought was like this help wanted 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.800 to ask for these actors. And I remember my first audition, honey, 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.480 I literally it was. It was it was I show 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.440 up and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:35.079 happy to be I'm not a kid in the candy. 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:36.599 What did you audition for? I want to know it 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:37.360 some really. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.360 Bad short film that hopefully no one will ever see. 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.280 But that's not the point. The point is is that 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.720 I show up at this office somewhere in midtime Manhattan. 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:45.559 I put my name on a piece of paper. I'm 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:47.760 sitting in a room and I'm just like I'm I 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.680 am now mimicking what everyone else is doing. Everybody's very short, 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.160 so I'm like, fuck, I gotta be serious too. I 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.280 got to like fun because I got just some acting stuff, right. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:56.440 So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.000 pretending like I know what I'm doing. And no one's talking. 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.120 And finally the door opens up and the lady looks 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:02.839 at the paper she's crowsing off a bunch of names. 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:03.920 She goes, Okay, who's next? 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:04.800 This sounds like a movie. 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.960 She's like J W. Cortez and I'm like, right here, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.520 how you doing? What's going on? Right? And so I'm 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.360 all old cheery and she goes, okay, headshot And for 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:16.000 a moment I looked at her and I'm like, does 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.679 she know that I'm a marine combat veteran and that 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.600 a headshot for a marine means that I get down 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.360 in the prone position? And like, does she want me 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.520 to simulate what that would look like? And she looked 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.240 at me and she says, you don't know what I'm 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.680 talking about. I said, this is my first time. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:31.920 Man, you didn't have a headshot. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.439 I didn't have a headshot. I didn't know what a 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:37.400 headshot was. I didn't know where to get one. But 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.400 you know, ignorance is bliss. And because I was so ignorant, 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.240 I was unaware of how hard this thing would be. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.520 And so I went and that was my first time 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.720 ever auditioning. And I went from that and then finally 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.440 many bumps and bruises, and I found myself what was 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.360 probably the biggest blessing of my career. I met a 0:10:55.400 --> 0:11:13.480 guy named Jose. That's what I said. Jose is like 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.840 John Smith in the Latino community, right I'm like this, dude, 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.600 long story short. Josetveda is the first Puerto Rican ever 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.160 nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He wrote 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:28.440 a film called Motorcycle Diaries. I did a reading for him, 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.920 and after the reading was done of one of his plays, 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.280 he pulled me to the side. He says, you know, 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.200 I don't know you, you don't know me, but you've 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.599 got something in you. I think you really need to 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.160 think about exploring this thing. And then I ended up 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.560 in an acting school that wound up saving my life. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:47.000 It wasn't therapy, it was acting school and meeting Terry Nickerbocker, 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.719 who said, all this armor is hurting you. 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:52.640 Take it off and take it off. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.800 And I'm like, what that is such a dichotic statement. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.959 Body armor is supposed to protect you. How is mind 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.600 hurting me? He's like, you'll never get to the true 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.880 self that you need as an actor because everything that 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.679 you do is always being protected by this armor that 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.160 the Marine Corps gave you, that Sunset Park gave you, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:12.920 that being a Latino male figure and your family has 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.720 given you. And it gets in the way, it's blocking you. 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:18.760 And so that was a journey for me to learn 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.760 what does that mean? And how do I get rid 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.360 of this thing so I can be my true, authentic self, 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.520 so I can embarrass myself without any criticism, because that's 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.439 what you need, right You got to be able to say, 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.560 you know what, I'm going to do whatever it takes, 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:32.760 so that I can fully live out this character that 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.199 I'm trying to embody. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.000 How does one even take off all that armor, you know, 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.800 being inner City, being black and brown, being Latino, and 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.280 then on top of that fighting for our country for 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.280 so many years? How did you even peel back those layers? 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.600 I wish I could give you, like a a a 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:52.079 sick short answer. I will tell you that it is 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:57.199 through the grace of God. It is through family support. 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:02.480 It is you really seeing and and and just having 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:05.760 letting go of the parachute sometimes and go, I notice 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:08.480 it's going to be bad and I have to get 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.320 through the bat to get to the good. It's like 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:12.880 he would always say, You're trying to go from New 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.720 York to LA and along the way it starts to rain. 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:17.440 Do you stop driving? 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:18.080 No? 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.440 What do you do? You put on your windshield wipers? 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.280 The sun goes down? Do you stop driving? No, you 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:27.880 put on your headlights, you stop for gas. I'm full 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:29.520 of them. This is all lived my life. 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.840 You give me all the gems. I really really really 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:34.840 love that. Now, did you stop down and say I 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.240 need to start a family or how did your two boys? 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.480 My two sons? So I met a young lady when 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:43.880 I had come came back from from the war, and we, uh, 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.640 you know, I'll credit my ex wife with saying to 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:51.480 me and and and these exact words, what kind of 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.320 asshole wants to go back to war? 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.040 She's a Latina, she uses latina. 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.440 Yes, she says, straight up, straight up, because I was 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:01.920 volunteering to go back. Why, because I was suffering from 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.520 some severe PTSD I was unaware of. And I just 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.640 knew I don't really belong here. I'm not ready to 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:09.199 be back here. I think I want to go back. 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.240 Did you feel like out in the field is where 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:13.600 you belong. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.920 Anywhere with the Marines is where I felt I belonged. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:17.800 I was good at what I did. 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.640 To the point that being with your family no longer 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:21.280 felt normal. 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.920 It didn't feel normal because I think they didn't have 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:29.640 the tools and the vocabulary to understand how to communicate 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.880 with me. Without triggering something in me. So, for example, 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:36.600 one of my buddies who his book became a film 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.240 called American Sniper. He has since been he was murdered. 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.120 But Chris Kyle the American Snipers said to me, we 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.120 went to war in America, went to the mall, and 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.080 that could have a negative connotation for guys who went 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:53.280 multiple times over there, but he flipped it on me. 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.640 You know, he said, how great is that that our 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:00.240 children could still continue to thrive in America with out 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:04.480 fear of oppression or of something terroristic happening on a 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.000 daily basis like it does in these other countries. How 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.520 great is that? And he kind of began to kind 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.880 of start to shift in me on how my perspective 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.000 needed to kind of shift in that way. 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.480 So she said, what kind of asshole goes back to. 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.680 War volunteers, you know volunteers, And you know, I was like, 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.120 you know what, I think I'll stick around, but only 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:27.560 for a few more months. And then after I got 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:31.560 to go back right and I wound up, you know, 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.240 we wound up getting pregnant, and I wound up sticking around, 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.280 and and then I started to pursue these these careers 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.960 simultaneously as at the same time as trying to be 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.640 a dad and just trying to be a better person 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.320 and a better version of myself for her. For me, 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:48.040 it was a lot. It was a lot. 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:49.920 It was It sounds like a lot, you know what 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.000 I'm saying. But you got your two boys, and that 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:54.120 is an amazing blessing. 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.880 Yes, the best, the best, the best role I ever played. 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.160 Now, let's talk about Gotham. That is where I know 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.040 you from through and through. How did you land this role? 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.400 Like I remember when Gotham was it was just such 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.440 a big deal, like we were all so hype. How 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.840 did you end up getting up in there? Talk to me? 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:17.280 So like every other actor, you know, I'm I'm literally working, 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.880 I'm working a graveyard shift and literally go in midtime Manhattan. 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:24.240 Okay, because now you're a police officer. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.960 I'm active, I'm working every night. But I knew that 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:28.840 I had to get to acting school during the day. 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:30.720 I had to figure out when I was going to eat, 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:32.800 when I was going to sleep, like you name it. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:34.720 But everything was focused on I need to get off 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:36.280 this thing, and I want to do this because you. 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:37.880 Were like, I don't want to, I don't want to 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:38.960 want to do that more. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:39.880 I want to do this. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:40.600 You had a dream. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.680 I had a dream, right, and I wanted to honor that. 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:44.720 So the one thing the Marine Corps taught me is 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:49.880 if you slept, then you had time right sleep, my man, right, 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.880 like yeah, like let's get let's go, like you know, 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.800 like I can push past most of people's ring, you know, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.120 at least my own comfort level. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.200 Can I stop down for one second? Yes, I hate 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.639 when people sleep. I just do it because I feel 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.159 like that's time wasted and you can be if you 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.800 have a dream and you have a passion and you 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:11.920 can take a two to three hour nap. To me, 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:14.720 that equates to those are two three hours that you 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:15.760 didn't pursue your dream. 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:16.760 That's correct. 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:18.200 Is that what the Marines was talking about? 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.560 Absolutely? Absolutely. We don't stop when you're tired. You stop 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:26.320 when you're done. The job wasn't done. So I'm I'm 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:29.159 literally running up and down New York City, going from 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.760 casting office to casting office, getting lucky every so often, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.040 getting a lot of callbacks, so close a lot of times. 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:36.919 This is a career of many false starts, is what 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.919 I see, and the biggest lessons that I'm learning in 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.320 those like three four years that I'm grinding it out 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.040 doing really bad short films, really bad stage work, like 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.800 really bad. I'm learning that the hardest thing I have 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.560 to deal with is the silent no. I'm like, I 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.159 never learned about the silent no. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:57.159 That's when you know, that's when you don't get any callback. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:57.520 Is that what. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.520 Happens is you go out and you know you killed 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:02.879 the audition, and so you're just gonna wait now because 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.040 at any moment that email is gonna come through, and 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.439 so let me just check my wife I just in 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:08.960 case it's not strong enough. 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:11.680