The big question we are always asked is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some people know at a very young age exactly what they want to do for a career, and some people struggle for years, unsure of which path they want to take. A career is an integral phase of one’s life. It’s important to not push yourself into a career without interest because it could lead to frustration and a lack of motivation. They say to do what you love and find a way to make money doing it. Today I am speaking with James Ciccone, who is living out his dream as an actor. His journey in the entertainment industry is inspirational, and his message to follow your dreams is impactful. Here is the man of the hour, James Ciccone!
David Rabadi:
Hello James, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with me. Tell me what inspired you to become an actor?
James Ciccone:
After high school, I walked away from the arts. Later, after college and searching for a personal path toward wholeness, I enrolled in seminary. After graduating from the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry program, I embarked on some personal soul searching and found myself continuously asking, “What is it that I should be doing to feel whole and complete?” At the time, I was preaching for pastors when they went on vacation at the church I was affiliated with. I realized that writing a sermon, getting off the book, and preaching from the pulpit were reminiscent of performing on stage. Which, in short, motivated me to fill the childhood void I abandoned from performing.
David:
You have worked with Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Joaquin Phoenix, and Robert De Niro. What were those experiences like?
James:
Anytime you’re on set working, you have to consider yourself fortunate because luck plays a big part in this industry. I’m sure that any of the performers you mentioned—the famous actors you mentioned—would agree. Regardless of their fame, they are just people working in a professional capacity. Likewise, I am there to do a task and perform my job, so it’s not like you’re in some sort of fan/celebrity capacity. It’s just work; you approach it with a professional lens to accomplish the goal and vision of the director and filmmaker. Interestingly enough, when I worked with Melissa McCarthy, she came over to me and asked, “Can I have a picture of you?” It was a period piece, and the costumes were very interesting. She just really loved the costumes and the pictures. I can only recall one moment in my acting career when I was actually awestruck and felt like a fan in front of a celebrity. It sort of caught me off guard. That was when I worked on Shades of Blue. I had a couple of episodes opposite Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo). I didn’t think anything of it; it was just another day at work. Until she walked over to me and said, “Hi, I’m Jennifer. Do you want to rehearse?” I was stunned! It took my breath away. Working with Rob DeNiro—actually, I worked on three projects with him, the most recent in a larger capacity. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, will be coming out this November, Allto Nights (the initial title was Wiseguys). I got to chemistry read With Bob a couple of times before being cast (in person audition opposite DeNiro). He’s laid-back, very humble and a really, really nice guy. Easy to work with. One of the most interesting things I noticed about him is that he always gives the work over to the other actor. What do you think? How do you feel? What do you want to do? That sort of thing. You would think that someone who’s at it as long as he is and is as successful as he is would have a very controlling and deliberate vision, but it’s actually the opposite. He’s always very open to listening and learning from everyone around him, which is something I aspire to do.
David:
Many actors dream to work with director Martin Scorsese, and you have had that opportunity. What did you learn about yourself working with Mr. Scorsese?
James:
Again, Marty is just Marty; he’s just a great, fun guy with a great sense of humor. He’s extremely smart and brilliant. Of course, we see this in his work, but he’s just a regular guy. I actually got to work with Marty twice, once on the Rolling Stone documentary “Shine a Light” (I think it was 2007) and then later on in The Irishman, when he directed me opposite Joe Pesci. He loves to get authenticity out of the actors. He loves to improvise and keep the camera rolling to see what he can find in the organic moments of the actors’ live experience.
David:
Is there a role that you would like to play that you haven’t already?
James:
Like most actors, we kind of get somewhat stereotyped, and that’s just casting doing their job. They really look to cast authenticity—individuals from the world the project is in. Unless you are a celebrity and you’re spending months and months on character development to revamp yourself into some sort of biopic-type character, for the most part, you want to bring yourself to the role; you want to bring authenticity but also a combination of truthfulness and self-awareness. For the most part, I get to play the New York guy, and that’s who I am. It’s hard for me to shed. The detective, the cop, the mobster, and the blue-collar guy. I’ve even played a priest a couple of times. Once on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and then again on Power Book II, largely because I had graduated from seminary. So again, casting is looking for the authenticity of people who really do certain vocations, coupled with a solid acting skillset. I would love to be trusted with more genuine, polished roles—the dad or the sincere guy with bigger emotional arcs. There are many projects up ahead, and we will see. I’m always open and excited for the next opportunity.
David:
What do you think the entertainment industry lacks?
James:
I think we’re in a very different place with streaming and the way in which we watch content. Years ago, it was one theater. You went to the theater and watched the movie, and then on television, you had a couple of channels—you know, four channels, maybe five channels—and that was it. Today, there is an overabundance of content; we don’t really watch content the way we used to. Most of the big, major films and big-budget films are made for Netflix. Maestro, the Irishman, was made for Netflix. You don’t see big studio movies as often. What does that mean? Well, it means that there’s going to be a limited screening in theaters for a couple of weeks, so a Netflix film is eligible for Academy Awards, and then it’s going to go right to the streaming platform. We’re going to watch these films for the most part in our living room, and that’s just how it is. How does that change things? It changes things for the actor’s residual base, which is why, in part, we had the strike this year. I don’t want to go into that heavily because I do have some of my own personal and political views on that, which I’ll refrain from sharing, but in order for an actor to be an actor, they need to sustain themselves financially. A solid residual base is essential because not all actors work all the time. All actors will have hot streaks and cold streaks. Residuals allow for a passive income stream to sustain you in between jobs and help you make your pension and your medical earnings threshold. This is extremely important so that one can actually have a career as an actor, not an acting hobby. Nowadays, residuals for streaming are almost nonexistent, and even with the new deal, I don’t really see anything changing, so if more and more shows are going to stream, it means less network and less studio films (studio films usually pay the biggest residual, network television next).
David:
What advice do you have for people struggling to make it in the entertainment industry?
James:
The advice I have for actors who are struggling to try and make it in the entertainment industry is this: Do you love and appreciate what you have? If you have a passion for creativity, be grateful for that and embrace it. Keep doing what you love. It is either part of you or it is not. Indeed, it is a business of luck, but I think there are a lot of people who are kind of running about with blinders on and don’t understand how the professional end of the business works. I do have an acting program that helps actors get on TV, and that has been very successful. It’s called Show Up to Book the Role or Actors Axiom. It’s largely a relationship-based business. That doesn’t mean you need to be friends with Steven Spielberg, but if you’re an actor, the people who present you to show runners, producers, and directors need to know that you exist. The casting directors are the gatekeepers, so if you’re not getting in front of the casting directors, no one‘s ever going to know you exist. Also, unless some sort of lightning in a bottle happens, it’s likely you will never work on a professional project. You need to get your work in front of these people, and there are a couple ways that can happen: good representation, agents, and managers who believe in you and are pushing you in front of these people. Or even taking classes and workshops to get in front of casting directors. An advocate or someone to campaign for your cause. Indeed, there is an oversaturation of people wanting this, and there is a huge amateur market with tons of misinformation, almost where it’s designed for the actor to fail so that you stay in the trenches of gimmicks. You have to have a good bullshit detector to be able to navigate between what is real and what is not. Once I figured that out, I started to have an acting career, and it’s continued on from there. Much more to go…
David:
In my research on you, I discovered that your father died when you were two years old. Sorry to hear that. I know that there are some readers who have had the same thing happen in their lives. What has helped you get by with the void of not having your father around?
James:
Well, the unfortunate thing is that I didn’t know my father, so I did not know any other way. That’s all I knew growing up, so I had nothing to compare it to. I was too young to know the difference between having a father and then not having one. So yeah,I was tough. There were a lot of us (10 kids), and we didn’t have much. Having some positive mentors and staying focused on good things is definitely a way to throw yourself into the arts, which is what I did at a young age. I was a musician. I played the trumpet. I kind of threw myself into that, which will take me into the next question.
David:
You are also the youngest of the ten children your parents have. Do any of your siblings also act or have artistic talent?
James:
Of my siblings, two of them were talented. My brother Anthony was an artist and a talented painter. Unfortunately, he died young, but he was extremely talented. My sister, Patricia, was a flutist. Both of them inspired me to be interested in the arts. I played the trumpet at a young age, so yeah, they had a stronger influence on me as to being involved with the arts. I started playing trumpet in fifth or sixth grade and then wound up performing in high school, which was the school where they made the FAME movie, a little tiny NYC school. The school has moved to a bigger campus, but back then, there were just a couple students and some pretty interesting people that had come out before me: Al Pacino, Liza Minnelli, and so on.
David:
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your teenage self?
James:
If I could go back in time, I kind of abandoned the arts after high school and then found my way back to much later in life, in – mid-40s, so I think that I would’ve not abandoned that. I would’ve continued on, and I think that may have made a big difference. I went after an acting career in my mid-forties’ because I felt I had abandoned the arts and wanted to fill that void. Sometimes it takes decades to get a break. You have to keep putting your name in the hat, and I kind of missed out on a lot of time, but yeah, I’m grateful to at least be able to be a utility actor and work on great projects with great people.
David:
What are some new projects you are working on?
James:
Well, as they mentioned before, last year I worked on a film with DeNIro for a few months, with Barry Levinson directing. It’s now called Alto Knights (it was initially called Wise Guys). We shot that in Ohio, from the end of 2022 into the beginning of 2023. It’s a mob movie. It’s written by Nicolas Pelligi, who also wrote the book Wiseguys which was made into the film Goodfellas. I’m excited to see the release in November. I did a piece in the Power Book II, Raising Kanan, and with the strike, two Interim Agreements films, both of which I’m a lead, The Cafone and Intention. We are also in the editing stages of a pilot I wrote and directed. I’ve been writing for about 15 years, and the strike gave me the opportunity to put all my effort into this project. I was also just cast in another film called Lost Love, Long Island, which will hopefully be shooting in January. I’ve also been cast right before the strike in a biopic about Bob Dylan, starring Timothée Chalamet. It’s a small part, but an interesting project. There are also two other potential projects I cannot discuss.
David:
Thank you for your time. Any words of wisdom to all the readers?
James:
Well, if you’re young or old, or whatever age you are and want to do this, go after it. Express your art. Don’t live out your life, saying I always wanted to try. At least give it a shot. Maybe it’s for you, or maybe it’s not. But you will not know unless you try.I lead an acting school out of NYC, and we offer both in-studio and Zoom classes. It’s a community of actors, many of whom are on TV. Some are there for personal reasons and simply enjoy being part of a community. From series regular to guest star, coast, stars. No one does this in isolation. If you’re interested in testing the waters as an actor, I encourage you to be part of a community. There you will find people to lean on, and those are the people who will give you references for agents and managers. Stay dedicated and committed. Always believe in yourself and feel good about what you’re doing.