Kelly Perine is a legendary actor from shows like One on One and The Drew Carey Show. He's a veteran of the film industry for over 25 years and he has a lot more fuel left to keep him going.
Kelly's Website
Kelly's Instagram
Kelly Perine is a legendary actor from shows like One on One and The Drew Carey Show. He's a veteran of the film industry for over 25 years and he has a lot more fuel left to keep him going.
Kelly's Website
Kelly's Instagram
So Kelly Perine elcome to once upon a film ndustry. I'm Steven Bennett. A d this is Al Lopez for Kelz starting off man, where you from? And what is your first experience with acting, I'll tell you what, you know what I was born and raised in a place called State College, Pennsylvania, which is a college town my dad taught at Penn State, he, you know, was a professor of adolescent psychology and he was also in community theater. So I've been on the stage since I was 3,, 5 years old, doing diffe ent plays, doing musical thea er, doing all that, but because, you know, in Central Pennsylvani, I didn't necessarily ave Hollywood dreams at the tim, I just wanted to, you know, I was a kid who liked attention. A d I didn't care if it was nega ive attention, or posi ive attention. I just ne ded attention. And so when I wen to the theater with my dad, and people were applauding and d ing all that, and my guess, le me let me let me get let me g t a little bit of that. And so ver since I was little, I was on the stage doing, you know, that ype of stuff I sang in choirs So musical theater came natur lly to me acting, you know, c z I was acting a fool in class. But I was also, you know, now hen acting on stage and singing So my, my childhoo in Pennsylvania, I was doing th t I went to high school outsid of Chicago, a place called ake Force Academy, where I conti ued doing theater, I got a li tle dabble in film, because bac at that time, Chicago, was w ere the Chicago Film market was actually, you know, up and coming. JOHN Hughes was doi g a lot of his stuff. And so, you know, I did a little bi of background work for some of ome of their stuff. I was in a m vie called Lucas, with Martin Sh en, or with with Charlie Sheen, and some other folks. But again it wasn't until I came ou to California to g to undergraduate school at Po ona College, or I got a bachel r's degree in film studies th t I went to Universit of California, Irvine, where I got my master's in drama th t I said, you know, what, thi is what I want to do, I want to get better. I want to know my cr ft, I want to be great at what do that I started to th nk, Alright, you know wh t I Hollywood, here I am. I m a central Pennsylvania kid ith humble roots, and a eight ho r a day work ethic. And now you know, 26 years after ha ing graduated, people still d n't know who I am. Even th ugh people like us. But I'll ell you what, man, you know, Ban of America knows who I am. Beca se, you know, I can scrape by hat mortgage every now you go. S so that's like a quick li tle journey through you know, w ere I'm from, from siz le, Pennsylvania, to coming ou to come out to Hollywood and and again, trying to not necessa ily trying to make it become a s ar. But you know, I enj yed performing. And this was the big pond and this is where I kn w I wanted and needed to be, you know, when it was decided wh n I decided that this is what I was going to Nice. So what do you what do you think is actually that work ethic is a I gleaned from you a little bit because I we've worked together and we've hung out together and I always feel that you always drop a gym. And one of the gems you've given me is always have an eight hour workday. The thing about it is where I grew up, you know, I went to school with kids who would they would get up in the morning, they would do chores, they would go to school, they would do the whole day of school, they would go home, they would do chores, then they would do homework, they would they will go to sleep until they got up and did it again the next day. So when I'm in Starbucks and I talk to my writer friends are like, I had to write for a whole two hours. Talk my latte got cold and I like motherfuck shut up to two hours of writing and Starbucks looking at these little girls in a yoga pants and Lululemon. That's, that's not work my friend. You haven't made yet. Yeah, so so for me it is no matter what it is I decided to do as my my vocation my job because for me acting is my passion, but it's also my job. So I look at it as if I would look at if I was a doctor or lawyer, a chiropractor anything. I put eight hours a day into my vocation. my vocation is a professional actor. That means that I can decide what my eight hours consist of it could be going to the gym, it can be reading the trades, it could be watching the new shows, it could be putting down the self tape, it could be taping some stuff for voiceovers, it could be whatever it is, I decided I wanted to be but I have to put in eight hours a day because that's that's just my job. My job is to put eight hours in towards my vocation. I don't believe that I deserve anything more or less than anybody else. But I think that eight hours times, you know, five days a week, times 40 weeks a year times, however many years means that you can help us succeed. I think I'm, I'm blessed, and I'm glad I've done as well as I have, but it's not, it's not necessarily, you know, I hit the lottery or I did anything special. I just, I just, I just did the work. It's like if somebody wants to, you know, go to the gym and get ripped, or do all that you can go to the gym for one day, do you know 100 push ups, and you think you know, the pet, you're gonna just do pet pet pet pet, pow, no, it's it's a series of positive affirmations positive things day after day after day that that build up to your success. And so I always believe I wanted to be a lawyer, I'd be I'd be a great lawyer, I do the work, I agreed I do the you know, I look at case study, I will do whatever it takes in order to be a great lawyer, I chose this. So whoever's out there that wants to be, you know, a fantastic performer or a writer or anything that has to do with the arts, you have to find whatever it is, you believe you're eight hours a day towards your artistic vocation is and do that. And I promise you, you do that eight hours a day, you know, times 40 weeks a year. I know, there's 52. But But everybody, everybody takes, you know, weekends out. Everybody gets, you know, vacation time, you can't help but get that much further by putting your work. It's just, it's just that simple. Right? I think that's extremely powerful, especially for young filmmakers, actors, writers, anybody coming up? It's like, okay, it basically organizes your time, and organizes your mindset in me, you know, I'm gonna flow a little bit if you're cool. Yeah. I will talk about you know, I think when you talk about mindset and time, one of the things that I think really kind of gets on, you know, creative people, is that they believe that they should succeed quicker than it actually takes. And one of the analogies I use is that if I was a senior in college, and I was sitting there in my room, and a freshman walked in and said, and they were crying. You're like, what's wrong? Well, I got all A's, and this was my first time away from home. And it was a tough adjustment. And I did everything right. And I'm not graduating, like my freshman year freshmen. I know, I know. But I got A's, and I was ready from home. And it is, and I should grab motherfucking, you are fresh, you will graduate in four years. Works. As a process engineer, you know, and you do great there to get into your sophomore year, and you kill it there. And then you go into your junior year as honors. And then you go into your senior year where you get to collide a medical mladih, all that. And then you're kicked out into the world where you ain't shit. You don't graduate after your freshman year. I know people that come here to Hollywood, and they believe that they should graduate, but they are actually freshmen who haven't put in the time or effort in order to graduate. And the thing about it is if you understand your timeframe, and all that, if you're a freshman in college, you do great, fantastic. Let your shoulders drop, go to the football games, have fun, do all your stuff, do your work, do your freshman work, and you will kill it in your sophomore year, you're not going to come and do this, this vocation acting. Because the second you get here, there are 30,000 people that have been here 20 times longer than you that are better than you that have, you know, patience and a work ethic that is stronger than you. So give yourself time to do hone your craft. Don't Don't. Don't put it on yourself to have to make it. You know, the unfortunate part is that a lot of people have their family it says Well, if you're not, if you haven't made it in six months, you got to come back. Six months, is it? Yeah. A year is ridiculous. Two years is ridiculous. And so and so all I say is to if anybody out there who's who wants to be an artist, give give yourself time, give yourself a break, take that pressure off of yourself. And if people are on you saying you have to succeed in six months, you might have to find a way to lose their number. You know, yeah, absolutely. What is the thing or moment had you not experienced you would not be where you are today, the early moments that I remember to this day, you know, in the situation, I went to school and stuff like that I was one of the few black kids and you know, and I was you I got a lot of parts. And I was you know, a standout one because I was one of the only black kids and so they wanted diversity and stuff like that. And so, you know, I did well through college and grad school and so I went out into Hollywood, I'm like, I'm gonna kill this. Right. So I went to my first audition and I walked in and there were 35 five foot six. Chubby black kids are sitting around waiting to audition. And I'm like, God, where'd all these and they go, Oh, this is just the morning session. We have another 60 coming in, in the afternoon. And I looked around and I said to myself, Oh, God, Jean, this is not going to be as easy as I thought it was gonna be. So at that moment, I said to myself, okay, I have to figure out how hard I'm going to work, how I'm going to separate myself from all these folks, I'm going to have to realize and accept the fact that I have something unique to offer. And it's not going to be as easy as I thought it was going to be. So after I left there and didn't get the part, because I saw around Oh, this cat gets calves on first page. Oh, oh, capital mo issue, oh, this cat was on this section. And that I said to myself, okay, this is this is real, you know, whatever. illusions of grandeur I had, I'm going to have to go ahead and now fall back on my work ethic, my training all those things so as not to go crazy and to understand that I need to carve out my place here in this industry. So that was one of the moments I was like, oh, oh, okay, this, this is real man. And many of y'all don't really know what Kelly Purina is talking about when it comes to carving out your place in the industry. Just look at his IMDb for a second and scroll myself down. And I kept scrolling. It's a long it's a long scroll. Awesome, man. Yeah. But the hit but here's the crazy thing, man I've been I've been in this town for 26 years, and I feel knock on wood blessed that I you know, gotten as much successes as I've had. But I can walk down the street and people don't know my name. I call myself a that guy that go like, Oh, is that is that that guy from? It? Is? What is that? That cat? A lot of people like, What? How do I know? These are my church. So I don't feel that I've arrived, I still feel that I have places to go. I have scripts that I'm gonna get made. I have parts that I want. I have Emmys and Oscars and Tony's and those type of things to win. And it's, it's fantastic. Because I feel I'm still on on my come up. And I you know, and it's been 26 years and and I do well but until I walk down the street and go oh, Kelly perine that I'm still on my come up, right. Fine. I have a lot of people. They're like, Oh, you did that film with a Kelly marine. Right? Actually, it's funny. I was getting interviewed by Catalina Film Festival messenger the film I just did it got into Catalina so they were interviewing me and a producer and everything and and they were like, I was like, You know what? My other film played it at Catalina. They were just like, what film I said reservation for three there was like, Oh, the one with Kelly Purina in it. And I was like, yeah, you know, that guy. And that's part of the beautiful thing of of our industry is that I'm part of my eight hour day is is going to film festivals is meeting people is shaking hands, is you know, going to your premieres is having free cocktails, having free appetizers, doing all that networking is a huge part of everything, you know, that we do. If you're an artist is fantastic. You can paint but you also need to be able to know the curators, you need to go in be able to you know, send out stuff to folks who might come and buy your art, there's, there's a lot more to it than just to ply your trade, you have to go ahead and out there and go out there and let people know that you're here because there's not a bad sign that goes out to second you come into LA County to say Kelly Purina here, we can start making movies again. They're like, we make movies before, before you were born. We'll make them after you're done. Since you, you know, got out of school. So So yeah, so So part of my job and it's a beautiful part of my job is to make sure that I connect with people and I love people, man. And you know, that's because this industry is social like that. That's why I enjoy it so much. So when we go to Catalina and I say hey, I work with Stephen Bennett. And, you know, inevitably someone's like, oh, oh, I know Stephen from this. Oh, I know Kelly from that right? Oh, I'm awful. It's so and so kalila What would you say is for a young person who wants to get into the film industry or become a successful actor? What's what what kind of advice would you give them a work ethic is definitely you know, top of the list right? But what other what other advice can you give them my number one bit of advice is become good or become great at what it is you've decided to become the thing about the you know, entertainment industry, acting, writing, producing directing, is you don't need a credential in order to call yourself an actor. You don't need a credential from you know, the college You know, writer, you don't need a credential to call yourself a producer. So there's a lot of people that get off the plane train bus automobile that call themselves a writer that haven't taken a writing class that haven't written a script that haven't written something that has gotten torn down so they can break it back up. The fact that you want to do something is fantastic. You wouldn't think that a basketball player who wants to be a pro hasn't taken their 10,000 practice free throws, what are your 10,000 practice free throws as an actor, writer, producer director is that you writing 100 scripts and getting them broken, just writing every day isn't you acting every day is you putting out scenes every day, you have to become great at what it is you want to do. And you have to decide or figure out how you're going to become great. You can start your own Theatre Company, you can start your own writing circle, you could get into play if you're an actor Have you never done a play, get in a play. If you've never taken an acting class, take an acting class, you haven't done a part in your high school plate is fantastic. But you're in the big pond and you're going into people who have master's degrees who have associates degrees degrees from you know a number of these acting schools, so you have to go up against them. Your success should be a product of work, not of luck. And you will be found out very quickly. If you have not done the work and you have time and you have you know people around you who want to help you who want to be in your short films who want to read your script. Everything I'm talking about is not impossible. There's people around here around you that right now want to help you. If you're a writer, write 10 pages of something, do a socially distant read 10 feet apart, yell out their parts. But yeah, five people out in the backyard and hear your stuff out loud. hear your character's voices, you will become a better writer. When you were coming up in in the industry even before who if anyone Did you look up to it's funny because I didn't necessarily think of myself as okay I want to get into this industry till I was 2223 but I mean I look the same cast me I love Dinsdale. I'm a huge I'm a huge spike lee fan. While I was looking at spike, you know Spike Lee's work because I was looking at cats who are just taking bold choices. You know, Spielberg, I love I love, love, love cats like Spielberg. I also love Woody Allen, regardless of what he's doing with his personal stuff. You know, I liked his stuff because I loved his dialogue and his interpersonal connections like now, you know, people like you know, Sophia Coppola. I'm looking forward to seeing her next next piece, right. I'm loving the fact that you know, Ava DuVernay is doing her thing. I love getting different perspectives. I love female perspectives, you know, male perspective straight, gay, you know, LGBTQ, Asian, I love. I love hearing people telling their truth. You know, I'm saying not necessarily saying, Okay, this is what's going to sell in Hollywood. But people saying this is this is my truth. And I'm going to put it either on on tape and a song or on a piece of canvas is a film or, you know, on on screen as a, you know, as a writer, producer, director, if you want to be an artist, you have to make sure that you are ready to tell your truth, right. And you have to be ready to have people pick at what you've done. And you have to be ready to say fuck you. This is my truth, not yours. You don't have to go see this. But there's an audience for people that want to hear my truth. And so I say to like up and coming artists, one thing I think you need to have is you need to have a superhuman indifference to both reject and praise. Oh, man, say it again. You need to have a superhuman indifference to both reject and praise because of me, if they praise you on Monday. Oh, this is the greatest things you like. And they reject you on Tuesday. You're like, huh, yeah, yeah, let it go. Because your truth is your truth. And all you need is shit. A million people paying six bucks. What were ticket prices? 22 7 billion in the world. All you need is 1,000,001 million. Love you. You're fine. Right. Right. So So Kelly, what was like the biggest challenge that you faced coming here? I think one of the biggest challenges for folks is believing that they don't belong, or that they're going to be found out. But they call it imposter syndrome. Right? Well, it may be Yeah, because the thing is, you know, in anything, if you haven't put in the time or the effort, you're going to be looking around and you see it on set. Sometimes when people have an opportunity that they're ill prepared for, or they're not ready for, and they're like, either, like little like, you know, you know, woodland animals, like, they're hoping the director doesn't find it out. Yeah, the casting director, but the hope that the first ad doesn't find them out. A challenge for all artists, for all actors is continually believing that you're worth being in this industry. And there are days that I go, oh, god dammit, I had 10 auditions and I ain't got shit. And so the challenge is believing, okay, either wasn't right, right for that part, or, you know, there was something going on the day one audition, but I'm here is, it doesn't matter. If you have a, you know, 50 bad auditions, there's one or two that will make it all all good, right? You need one audition to make you a series regular, that will pay your mortgage, you know, but if you're always worried that you're going to be found out because you're not sure of your abilities, that's a whole different thing. So one of the challenges is to keep your knives sharp, everything gets dull when it's sitting on the shelf. So you have to stay active. And so as that happens, the demons in your head that say, I'm not worthy, those those quiet down, and you can get rid of them very quickly. So we all have the challenge of thinking I'll never work again, I'm not good enough. But there are ways to get beyond it. And there are ways to go. You know what that thought is stinking thinking or some bullshit. Because I am good. I've worked. Go look at you know, some tape of you doing a play. Are you doing a thing? Are you being on a sitcom where people laughing? And you're like, you know what, God dammit. I, I guess, you know, or you know, you know, you after that you worked out for you know, for months for thing you either McCain or you like god damn, I look good. Right, right, right. So what are you working on? Now? I know you, I know you I'm sure you got like a billion things you working on? Now? What are you working on now? Well, you know, you know, I'm working on a couple things. The beauty of this situation is I've written, you know, a number of sitcoms, and a number of full length features that right now. Because everybody's sitting home and looking for stuff. I can actually reach out to folks and be like, Hey, will you read my script? Hey, will you read my sitcom? Will you look at my tape we have, you know, now's the perfect time for you to get in touch with folks who were too busy to look at your stuff, you know. So I'm also have a writing project, I have a thing, a book that I'm writing. So every day, I've been doing something for 150 days during the pandemic, I'm writing a book I'm writing I've been putting up a, you know, a blog or a rant on Facebook and Instagram every day. Oh, yeah, you do. It's pretty. It's pretty potent. Yeah. And I have opinions and I'm getting them out there. And, and so in the truth you asked me, at the end of this, I'm going to turn it into a coffee table book with my with my thoughts and my photos, and my rants. And so every day, so I'm writing a book. So what am I doing? I'm writing a book. And I'm also getting my scripts out there and getting other stuff out there. And this is a beautiful time like like, cuz, you know, because Steven and I worked on a project called reservations for three. And that's one of three, one of three short films that we put together, and now we have a sitcom pilot for it. So just the other day, I sent those three short films along with the pilot to a producer who wanted to you know who wanted to look at some stuff. This too shall pass Hollywood will need to shoot some shit. And they might as well shoot my shit. What's your I know you're a talented actor, comedic and dramatic. What's your favorite? Oh, God, God bless the comedy. I'm a knock on. Wood is on here because comedy bought the wood. comedy. is one on one. Yeah. To carry so. Nice squad. Yeah. But you know, when you do that much comedy, you know, when I was going to grad school, I did a lot of Shakespeare and food guard and Brecht and that type of stuff. So you always think, you know, I'd love to do more drama. And I do believe that one of my next breakout roles will be in like an hour long drama, because so many people know me from the comedy world that you know, if I get into something that's more dramatic and be like, Oh, I ain't know he could do that. Right. You know, and so you know, But for both comedy and drama, I think it's, it's about a through line of the character, what is the character trying to express or, you know, display, there's dry humor, there's their sitcom human rehab, boom, boom. At the end of the day, the characters, you know, both in comedy and drama are trying to get across their perspectives. And so people like is a different acting and drama is a different act in comedy. Some of the rhythms can be different, but you go see your favorite band, and you will see them tear up, you know, a fast song and then break it down for a slow jam because the intention is to tell the audience what the song's meaning is, and sometimes you need to say it slower in order for them to get it, and sometimes you never know right away. So, you know, so I love doing them both. What do you think is your greatest motivator right now? Like, what keeps the hustle going? Because you're a hustler? You know, what keeps the hustle going? Is that I love what I love what I do. The beauty of being an actor is that you I have never once you know, in my life thought, Oh, I can't wait till I get to retire. I've never thought that I because I'm enjoying what I'm doing. You know, like musicians I eat? How does Keith Richards how 99 because you see the musicians who play tiller 100 because they enjoy it. My motivation is that I think I have stories to tell. You know, if I enjoyed sitting on a porch more than I enjoyed being on stage, I've sit on a porch. I enjoy being in front of people I enjoy making people feel an emotion, I enjoy telling my story or telling my character's story. What motivates me is that I'm not dead and I have shit to say, I enjoy the challenge of creating a character of taking a blank sheet of paper and typing words on it. I enjoy seeing, you know, a page that has character dialogue on it and going I'm going to bring this character up off of this page. I enjoy the challenge of this life and of this of this creative creative endeavor. So that's what keeps me motivated. You know, I don't necessarily have wife or kids. I know you you're proud new papa. God bless you. I am he's actually crying upstairs right now. Wow. Okay, yeah. Hello. And so so what keeps me motivated is that I love what I do. And if I stop loving what I do, I'll start I'll go to something else that I love. But this is this is where I'm supposed to be. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna run with it to the wheels come off my, my, how do you prepare for a role that you feel you really have to stretch yourself for? Like on the paper? You're like, ooh, man, I gotta work for this one. How do you prepare for it as an artist and a human being I go that which is human is not foreign to me. Oh, I've never had I've never killed Bobby. But you know, I could play a murder. I'm not necessarily Jehovah's Witness, but I could play a Jehovah's Witness. You know, you can go right down the line on I'm not this. I'm not that that or that. But I could play that because I can find the inter human connection to you know, it sounds cliche. What is this character's motivation? It was it wasn't my motivation to get paid, get paid. So hit your mark. But you can prepare, I think for any for any part by going what is the humanity of this character. You don't necessarily have to agree with what the character did. And I think it's not the artists job to go I'm going to play this character in such a way that the audience understands that I didn't agree with him killing these four people. That's not that's not your job. Your job is to play the person that found himself in a situation where they killed four people, and you have to find their their humanity, or what they were feeling in the moment. Or after they did it and they felt remorse. What are they doing after that? How are they? So there's no character per se? That I don't feel it? Look, obviously I'm not gonna play Larry Bird. No. Put me on stilts you know, what I'm sure the characters that I do play there's there's there's no character that I can't play that is within not even my reign, but within the human humanity of them giving me the part that I can't find the human through line. Two, because in in every moment, the character believes that, you know, they get caught up or they have to do it or there's something going on that you can relate to. Because there's situations we've all been put in where like we've gone, man, I don't know a pop up house yet. Yeah, you know, and so when I prepare for any role, I try to look for where do myself as a human being in this person's humanity line up? Do they love their mama? Do they love their daddy? Do they love their children? Do they find themselves backed into a corner? You know, do are they trying, you know, whatever it is, I can find at least a thread of something that I can relate to that I can in that scene, you know, play upon. And even if it's even if it's anger, or something like that, you know, we've all been in situations where, where we've wanted to hurt somebody, but we've decided not to, but you just kind of played through line of you want to hurt somebody, and that person did. So just, you know, continue that through line. And I think a lot of times, that's where that's where acting training comes in. And you know, I'm a big proponent of I, like I said, I went to University of California, Irvine to get my master's degree. And I spent three years getting my voice to come from center and rolling on the ground and breaking down scripts and doing all that and then as I bullshit, but it's not, there's some things that you think you know, that you don't, what's the character's backstory? What does your mama do? Where are they from? What's their accent? What's the regional dialect from it, you know, who were their friends who are their friends, and all that will come in subliminally, when it's you and them talking about, you know, a one on one scene talking about, you know, how you hate this town, right? Or how you love this town, right? Or how you, you know, want to hurt that person, right? Or how you need to get that person to love you. It all comes in the character work at this point, I feel like, you know, I have building blocks to go after any character you give me, you know, the challenge would be, you know, again, feeling that I'm going to be found out because I don't have the tools in order to get to know the character also comes with your extensive experience, right? Like, you've been doing this so long. You're such a veteran. I mean, when we were doing reservations, what, five, six years ago now? Yes, about that. I was I wasn't new, but I was still fairly new. As a director, as a film director, I directed plays a bunch, but your professionalism, I was like, Oh, this guy's this guy is a freakin veteran. He knows the hell he's doing. And then when I would, you know, work with other actors. After that. Sometimes I was like, Okay, I know what a professional is. Now I know what a professional is not again, as a professional, I believe my job is to, you know, to be a problem solver. Right. And I don't care if I've been in this industry for, you know, for two years, six years, or 26 years, my job is to make sure everybody on the set shines. And so I didn't, I didn't necessarily think that you were either newbie or not a newbie, or whatever my job was to since you were the director, make sure that you understood that I'm going to do everything I can to make sure your vision and the vision of the piece because I was a co writer was going to come out. And and I never felt that I couldn't express to you, Hey, you know, hey, Steven, man, what if we do this? What if the character does this? How about that? And I'm always a believer in going, Hey, let me try this one way. And then if you have something different, let's try your way because you know what, it's on film. And then the editor can do their magic. Right? You know, they can do their their thing. And again, part of that came out of the fact that I think I could do it two or three different ways that would be fine, regardless of what the editor chose. And I think that came again, out of me not worrying about do you want to lay up? Do you want a free throw? Do you want me to drive and then gotten hit in three is that I've trained so that I can hit the three drive to a black everything. And as an actor, you know, even now, who's been on a number of shows, sometimes I'm just the guest star, and I have four lines and my job is to come in, lay down the bunt, move the runners, and go the fuck back into the dugout. Right? And I'm like, bring my sandwich to the trailer, I'll eat it, you know. There's never not a situation where I don't feel like my job is to be a problem solver for how to make everything and everything that I'm around work. And sometimes, you know, me being a problem solver. It means me doing my thing and get out of the way because I know there are other fires that are going on. You know what I like to do a lot of times if I'm coming onto a set if I'm the you know the main actor or whatever I'd like to say to the the first ad or the second day or whoever I go, Hey, I'm Kelly my trailers right here. I know my lines. I'm in costume I got my makeup when you meet me you need only knock on the door one time. I'm gonna come right out. Right on my head. Cuz we hear too many stories of we couldn't get him out of his trailer he's in he won't come out of his trailer. won't come out of a trailer. I don't know what to do. I cannot get her out of there. That's not that's not gonna be me. I'm like, is that Check sign I'm right here. Yeah, that's where I'm is. I got a mortgage, you'd knock icon right here. You you put out those fires and sometimes like you see? Well, okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, we're good with Kelly, I gotta go put up. So yeah, man, there's no ego that I'm trying to bring into anything. You know, you know, there's pride in being able to do the job I've been tasked to do. But there's no ego in trying to have to prove anything to folks. I'll do my thing. I expect everybody to do their thing. And like with reservations for 3d, everybody stepped up. You know, the day was long, what we did was not possible. But we did it. We shot 1213 pages and in 12 hours, and they were moving up trucks and all that. But if everybody wasn't calm, it wouldn't have come off. And it did. And we won, how many awards? And we've spawned how many different things and so if there's, if there's anything that folks kind of take from what it is, I'm saying is that get yourself to a point where you have a calm confidence in what you're doing, right? Because that will permeate the entire set and also in permeate, that will permeate your own thinking, you become, because you're not trying to hide from anybody. You're not worried about you being found out. Your job is to be there and you know, that you will help to make the project you're part of or that you wrote, or that you directed or that you're in successful. That's good advice. Nice. Okay. storytime. Kela God tell the story of the most interesting onset experience. Oh, shit. Oh. If you have if you need names. This is water. Kelly got a whole bar in his house day in the water. Yeah. Okay, what what am I? Oh, God. Yeah, I will. I will. One of my most memorable experiences is when I was doing a show called under one roof. where me and flavor flavor played brothers. Yeah, I play. Yeah, boy. We shot it up in Vancouver. It mean played To this day, we're great friends, but I was like, flavors, like cool, you know, and flame. He was a he was a veteran of reality television, in that he could do whatever he wanted. And the camera would just follow him. You know, I'm saying, but when you're doing a sitcom, you got to do like five or six takes in the same thing. So we'd be in a scene and we do it once. And flavor would be like over here, like plate plate. Plate plate God big plate combat. We got to do this like two or three more times until he do one more time I play. You know, cuz he used he was used to like flavor of love when he was hitting on the cast. He was, you know, the, you know, the makeup artist was him. You know, I have to reel in flavor. You know, to get him to focus. So we did an episode where it was me. Flavor flavor. And Terrell Owens, the football player. Yeah. Oh, and so I mean, I was looking around, I'm like, hey, this some shit is me flames lame. And I'm a central Pennsylvania kid who did community theater. I got a cat who ended up in the Hall of Fame and fight the poWER. It's my it's my job to reel him in. Like you fucking get it. It's my job. I know we're talking about but if we can't anybody else can flame Can someone help to get stopped doing push ups and get over it? So I remember that, you know, we did the show up and it was great. And you know, and so after we shot that night, we went out you know, down into downtown Vancouver. And you know, we walk into the club and it was you know, flavor, flavor and flavor. Welcome people. Yeah, boy coming in. Hey everybody's Terrell Owens. Hey, everybody, y'all saw Flavin Terrell. I'm like, you know what, where's the VIP over there. I'm a I'm a to and slave. And they had bought a couple bottles. So guess what I I was happy to enjoy it. If you told me, you know, that I'd be working with to train. And you know, we'll come back here in 10 years. And you can you know, we'll talk about who I worked with from now to then and I still my mind will still be blown. Right? Why I still see myself as a central Pennsylvania kid who puts in there eight hours a day. Who is Blessed and highly favored to be here doing what I'm doing who you know, wants to wants to be a problem solver and feels lucky every day that people want to talk to me like this about about what I do, you know? So what am I gonna say? So what are your career like? What? What's one of the highlights that you've worked on? That you feel? You know, this is this is this was one of my best work that I've done to date. Let me think what like one on one was me. Yeah. Pratt flex Alexander. That's what I know you from? Yeah. Oh, Kelly Purina? Kelly prefer one on one. Yeah. And again, that was that was a show where, you know, I was I was a series regular on it the longest I'm not to get my age way. But I just I, you know, I'm early 50s. I went to the birthday party. 5351 goddamnit. One. Damn it. But but that but that was a show where I was a series regular. I was on it for four years, pretty, pretty good show and hit show. And I got a chance to go into work every day and kind of ply my trade, I got a chance to work with the writers work with the directors. You know, I got a chance to act a fool I had a chance to, you know, to do all that. And it was over. It was over the course of four years. I've been on a number of other shows. But that was a longest I've been on the show and the longest I've had to, to craft a character. And so you know, now, when people come up to me or kids, kids, if they're 30, they come up to me and they go You know what? I grew up watching you grow up What? Oh, I guess I am 21. And I go I go You know what, I guess I am that old. And I guess more often than not, they have very positive, you know, things to say about how I impacted their childhood or they we're going through a tough time and they Dwayne Odell Knox made them laugh. And they, you know, look forward to, you know, seeing a strong, you know, you know, funny positive role model wasn't, you know, stabbing nobody. So, so for me, that was kind of one of my most cherished things, and that for that long without knowing it, I kind of affected people's lives positively. Right. like seven years, I, I didn't affect that. So yeah, I would have to say like one on one and being able to craft a character, I was part of people's childhoods, and I had to pay alimony that felt great. Oh, man. All right. Last question is, um, 20 years from now, or when you're when you're, you know, ready to hang up the cleats? What would make you pleased with the career you had? Well, again, in 20 years, you know, if I'm 71, I'm gonna be ready to I'll be bitching about the fact I can't get apart. Maybe, okay, maybe 50 years. Find the perfect pocket of No, again, I believe that if you come and find me in 25 years, and I'm still doing my thing, I'm so enthusiastic about being in career doing what I'm doing. people being able to go, Hey, I grew up with you, for two or three different times, because there'll be two or three different shows that are able to, you know, be a part of, I'll be proud of that. I never want to say, Well, what I really wanted to do was direct. Right, right, right after that, you know, what I really wanted to do was what I'm doing, right? And what I really wanted to do was go after what I believe that I deserved, and I'm doing that. And so I think if I live a life of integrity, in terms of my craft, but I will tell you this at some point, I do want to run for something in a political office. I can't really yeah, I you know, I I think I'm a proud American. And I think I've you know, things to say and so, maybe in my 60s, I'll run for dog catcher, and if I don't get it like Okay, I get it, I'm out. Back to making money. Now, but I mean, one day, I would like to I think I would like to run run for something like, you know, Senate or something like that. I think I have ideas that are that are, you know, both progressive but, but needed. I think I have a strong voice and I think I am a consensus builder. And I think I could, you know, bring people to the table and make this world a better place. Absolutely. You're one of the people who I feel like, as soon as you speak as soon as you walk into the room, people are like, what's this guy have to say? Yeah. You're that you're that kind of guy. Either that or he doesn't need only $7 I think it was. It was not$9 I think we brought it back. I love it. We've never had callbacks. callbacks. Love it, man, Kelly perine. My guy, man, appreciate you for doing this. Of course, a lot of fun man hanging out. Thank you for bestowing your wisdom. Thanks a lot, Kelly. I mean, like I said, I'm having been I'm the lucky one that you know that you want to talk to me. I'm happy. I can do this all day long. But I hope there's a few, you know, nuggets that your your folks can glean from this that? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like I said, if I if I can do it. Again, I'm a central Pennsylvania kid who decided to put in the work and here I am. And I'm no different than anybody else to decide to do the same. Absolutely. Nice. Nice. All right. Well, that's been Kelly perenial. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Kelly. Thank you, Kelly. Appreciate you. If you liked this episode, and you're listening on Apple podcasts, please leave us a review. And if you have a film project and you're short on resources, join our Facebook group the once upon a film industry film collective. This episode has been edited by Kelsey Coleman. Thanks for listening guys.