Setting Goals & Staying Positive With Michael Pizzuto

In this episode, Maria has a chat with Michael Pizzuto, an actor who currently has 5 shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime. You can also see him in McMillions on HBO. He speaks about the hardships of making it in the industry and how motivating yourself is the only way to achieve your goals.

Transcript

Today on the show,

I have Michael Pazuto.

Michael is a working actor,

Emphasis on the working part.

He has been in a ton of stuff since he was 16 years old.

He's done cartoons,

He's done TV,

He's done film.

Most recently you can see him on HBO's McMillions.

He plays crime boss Jerry Colombo.

He also has three cartoons on Netflix,

Three shows on Netflix,

Yeah,

And two on Amazon Prime.

But I think his most,

I think his most challenging yet rewarding role of his life was playing my childhood friend back in Detroit in the 80s and 90s.

Pazuto,

What do you have to say about that?

Thoughts?

That's true.

We've known each other since kindergarten,

Huh?

Yeah.

Yeah,

You used to chase me around and try to kiss me,

But I feel like I wasn't the only girl that you did that to.

Oh no,

No,

I was slowly.

You were quite the player back then.

The other kids that I chased,

The other girls,

Those didn't mean anything.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

Yeah,

I've heard that one before,

Yeah.

So tell me about you,

Like what's going on in your world?

So you've got three shows out on Netflix.

You've got two shows out on Amazon.

You just did the show on HBO.

What's next for you?

So yeah,

So I live here out in Los Angeles and I have moved out here just under two years ago because prior to that I was living in Hong Kong and I was there for almost 13 years in Hong Kong.

And it was over there that I started to do the majority of the voice acting.

So I started doing things with Cartoon Network Asia,

Disney Asia,

Animax,

And it was the idea to come out here and conquer Hollywood.

So that's why I came out here and things have been going well so far.

Can't complain.

Tell me about like how you got started because the road to being an actor,

As we both know,

Is not an easy road.

It's pretty challenging.

I mean,

How did you,

I remember,

I remember you and all your drama club in high school.

But I remember you were doing all your drama.

Yes.

No,

That was true.

I started off pretty young when I was a teenager because my mom was involved with community theater and she got involved through the musicals.

And I would sometimes go to the rehearsals and just do my homework,

You know,

Or so watch.

And she,

I remember that she said something to me.

I was 14 years old at the time.

And she said,

You know,

Mike,

I get you involved in these shows,

But these kids that are in the show,

I mean,

They sing,

They dance,

They act,

And they're just good.

And I just,

I don't think that,

I don't think that you would fit in really,

Or that you would feel comfortable.

So I,

Of course,

Saw that as,

Oh yeah,

Well moments.

And so I'll show you,

I'm going to be on TV.

I'm going to make it big mama.

I'll show you.

So yeah.

So I started biting my mother.

No.

You're like,

I didn't even want to be an actor.

I wanted to be an accountant,

But I had to go straight my mother.

So this day I'm still proving wrong.

Things have changed over the years.

Look at me now.

Yeah.

Look at me now.

So yeah.

And I started doing bits and pieces of theater and then community theater.

And then all of a sudden I started getting my first paycheck for a job at age 16.

And I thought to myself,

Wow,

Maybe I might be able to do this for a living.

What was your first job?

It was in Detroit.

There was a show.

There was a,

It was a paid dinner theater show called of Babes in Toyland.

And it was just historic theater,

Downtown Detroit.

I wish I could remember the name of the theater,

But I think it was something,

I think it might've been the Friars Club was there,

But it was,

It was,

It was a lot of fun.

And I just remember,

I probably didn't get paid much.

I think,

You know,

Maybe like 20,

25 bucks performance or something like that.

But at that time,

You know,

When you're like,

I'm in the money.

Hey,

Bubble gum for everyone.

And $20 back in,

You know,

2016 when we were kids.

Right.

I mean,

That was 2016.

Right.

Sure.

But yes,

That was,

That was my first paying gig.

And then I thought,

Yeah.

And how long did you do that for?

So yeah,

But so I just ended up from my entire high school career,

Just every day after school,

I would attend a rehearsal of some sort,

Some sort of theater performance.

And it wasn't really at our school as you know,

Our theater program,

We didn't really have anything at our high school.

We didn't really have anything in terms of anything.

There was like,

You know,

It was like the cafeteria,

There was like an old sock and they were just like,

Throw it in there and be like,

Ah,

The sock club,

Join the sock club kids.

We put buttons on it and make it eyes.

It was so we,

Hours of fun with those socks until the holes came.

And it was all down to that club.

I really,

I learned a lot.

So I would join other high schools actually in the area,

Like Warren Mott or Clinton Dale high school or Sterling Heights.

So I'd go to these other places where they would be in desperate need of having men in,

Well,

Not men,

Teenage boys and their high school musicals,

Because it was,

You know,

Of course,

90% females that would show up to these auditions.

And so I just basically kept busy.

You could audition back then when we were in high school,

You could audition at other high schools.

I didn't know.

Yeah,

Yeah.

They had the,

The caveat of they would choose the leads from the high school first.

And then,

You know,

So I was like,

You know,

In the West Side Story,

Third shark on the left or the 14th apostle and Jesus Christ superstar or something like that,

You know,

But I didn't mind so much because it was just a community that I had never experienced before and having that theater crowd.

And all of a sudden I had friends who were not going to school with me really.

But people from all over the,

You know,

The Metro Detroit area.

And we just kind of became these traveling,

Wandering this group that went from school to school and following the director basically.

And each year through my high school career.

So that's how I got into it.

And then I thought,

Well,

Maybe I could possibly do this for college because,

You know,

Then there's the question of what are you going to do for college and what,

What do you want to major in?

And I wasn't really a hundred percent sure,

But I had a friend.

Did you think,

Sorry to interrupt,

But did you think when you were in high school and you were doing these and even though they were,

You know,

In your own words,

Like you were playing the 16th apostle or the 11th apostle,

Whatever,

Like did you know the 14th apostle?

Thank you.

The 16th,

That was a kid who was not so good.

Right.

Yeah.

You're like,

That was safe for the kids who didn't have talent.

Okay.

But like,

Did you,

Did you sort of like envision that back then,

You know,

Did you like sort of have that in your fantasy world of like one day I'm going to be on TV,

Like this is it like,

Did you be honest?

Not really.

In those early days,

I was fascinated by the show Cops.

I was like bad boys,

Bad boys.

I'm like,

Maybe I'm going to be a cop and I'm going to like bust down doors and like come in and guns a blazing and save the day.

And that was going to be my,

Like,

That was going to be my cool.

And then I could maybe go to college for that someday and criminal justice or whatever.

So I,

Even though I was doing the plays and I was enjoying it,

I really didn't think of it as a lifetime career.

Even when I started getting paid at age 16,

I thought,

Well,

That's just so far out of reach for somebody who was living in the middle of,

You know,

Roseville,

Michigan.

So it wasn't really even a possibility in my eyes at that time.

And I was in a,

At a friend's place and we were listening to a musical,

Chess the Musical,

Which is written by the guys from ABBA,

The same people who wrote Mamma Mia.

Oh yeah,

Yeah,

Yeah.

And lyrics by Tim Rice and the one song,

One Night in Bangkok that became famous in the eighties from Murray Head,

That was the most famous song from it.

And I was like,

Oh my God,

This music is awesome.

This is incredible.

And you know what,

There's a school in the upper peninsula way far away that's doing this.

I have no idea how he found out.

This is way pre internet days.

So I have no idea how someone in Detroit found out about this upper peninsula production.

But I said,

You know,

Have you ever been up to the upper,

No,

Let's go on a road trip.

We went up there on a road trip and saw the show and in order,

And I was 17,

I was,

Sorry,

I just turned 17,

But I hadn't decided on where to go to school or anything like that.

But they said in order to give us free tickets and a super discount rate on the dorms of where we were going to stay.

You had to sign up on the spot for school there.

I had to,

No,

I just basically had to sign my life away.

Whatever I can do for a free ticket.

I just want to see the show,

Whatever it takes.

I'm going to give blood for free pizza later too.

So I show up and they're like,

Well,

You know,

If you show up as a potential student and take a tour of the campus and,

You know,

Sign up for this and that you can stay in the dorms.

I think it was like $7 a night or something.

Really?

Yeah,

It was,

It was not too bad.

Back in the olden days,

$7.

I made $25 in dinner theater,

So I'll take three rooms.

All three of my personalities.

Me and the,

Three back then?

They've really grown since then.

So I went up there and I went as a student,

You know,

And I'm with my friends and we're taking a tour of campus and I'm thinking to myself,

Well,

This is actually really beautiful up here.

And I see the production and I,

And I just,

I think to myself,

Well,

What if I did theater for,

You know,

My,

My career at Northern Michigan University,

Going into police,

You know,

As a being a police officer and they said,

Well,

While you're here,

Would you know,

Maybe you can audition for scholarship.

I auditioned and I got a scholarship and I ended up getting a free ride to Northern Michigan University.

Actually,

I was a very lucky boy.

Wait,

You auditioned and they gave you a scholarship like based on,

Wow.

It wasn't a full,

Yes,

But that was only a partial.

The one that I auditioned for,

The free ride was something else,

But I ended up,

Ended up going to school for free there,

Which was amazing.

And then just becoming a theater scholarship full-time,

A major theater major there.

And that was when I,

Of course,

Started thinking of it as a possible career.

And at that time I only had experience with onstage theater.

And it wasn't until later on afterwards that I would start to do commercials and the occasional TV shows.

What was your first commercial?

First commercial,

I think my my first commercial might've been for an insurance company.

Yeah.

And it was like a safe auto commercial or something where I had to,

I played some,

Yeah,

Some goofy character talking to himself in the mirror.

And Was this back in Michigan?

No,

This was just after I graduated college.

I went to a theater company in Ohio.

So then I,

So do you feel like that process of going to college and like,

Do you feel like the minute you got there,

You were like,

Okay,

This is it.

I guess I'm on track to be an actor.

Like were you determined at that point to sort of make that work?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I knew that at that point in my career,

At that point in,

In college,

I realized that there was absolutely nothing else that I could possibly do that would make me as happy and as fulfilled as being a full-time performer.

And it's tough because I mean,

The reality is,

Is that of course it is like horribly very tough biz and the statistics are out of this world difficult and downright near impossible,

But only if you feel that you could possibly do anything else,

Nothing.

I mean,

If you can do nothing else,

I mean,

If you,

I tell,

I used to have nieces and nephews who were like,

You know,

Talking about,

Oh,

You,

You do acting and I would love to do it too someday and I think I might become an actress.

And I say,

You know,

There's,

If you could possibly do anything else in this world,

Whether it be writing or flipping burgers and be happy about it and do acting as a hobby on the side,

Then go for it because the mental anguish that a performer has to go through,

Not just actors,

But dancers,

Models,

You know,

All kinds of performers.

They have to go through rejection all the time,

Constantly.

And it's,

It can be,

It's tough if you don't have the right mindset for it.

So if you could go back now,

Having given that advice to your nephews and nieces,

And you could go back to Northern and say,

You know what,

Instead I'm going to become a cop.

Would you have done that and done acting on the side?

No,

Definitely not.

Because I wouldn't have been happy.

I wouldn't have felt a hundred percent fulfilled and you know,

And that's,

That's why I stuck with it all this time,

You know,

Because it's the one thing that I feel,

I know it sounds,

You know,

Self-deprecating,

But it's the one thing I think that I'm actually good at.

I mean,

Aside from you know,

Other,

You know,

I mean,

I can of course learn skills and everything like that,

But I could not imagine myself in an office nine to five.

I could not imagine myself having to sell something.

There was a short period of time where I,

For like a month and a half that I sold used cars as an adult.

And it was like horrible time of my life.

It was just God awful.

But you know,

To those who can do it that I say,

Congratulations,

You know,

I mean,

I tried teaching for a short time before and those people who are teachers,

I mean,

I bow down to them.

They have skills that I wish I had,

Whether it be patience or just the,

You know,

But I,

It just wasn't for me.

I couldn't do it.

The only thing that possibly makes me happy is,

Is to perform to some degree.

And that could be on television or that could also be in animation,

Cartoons or video games.

I still feel that,

Or even live on stage,

I still kind of get that same type of,

You know,

That,

That rush just in different ways.

Well,

I think a lot of people are like you.

I think a lot of people kind of hate their jobs,

You know,

Like working in an office or selling insurance or,

You know,

Doing whatever.

I mean,

Not everybody.

I think some people are really blessed like you to sort of find their calling and to really like what they do.

But you know,

I think what's so incredible about your story is that we did come from Roseville,

Michigan,

Which is sort of like,

You know,

Not the most glamorous place on the planet,

Not someplace where you have hope of becoming an actor.

Like you said,

I mean,

You kind of like hit the nail on the head when you were like,

I mean,

I was in Roseville,

Like,

I didn't think that that was possible at the time,

You know,

And that's sort of the,

I think the thing that sort of a lot of people go through,

Like,

Unless you are born and raised in LA and your mom's a talent agent or whatever,

You don't really think that this is something that you can do.

People still go out and do it.

So I think,

It's amazing that you were just like,

Hey,

This is the only thing that's going to make me happy.

So I'm going to do it.

I mean,

Didn't you ever,

Weren't you ever scared?

Like were you ever like,

Well,

What if this doesn't work out or what if I failed?

Ever.

I mean,

That's a constant fear.

I mean,

Even today,

I think,

I mean,

I'm in my forties and I have a career already,

But I,

I,

You know,

As soon as I finish a job,

I'm unemployed.

You know,

That's the whole thing about being a freelance actor.

I mean,

I'm currently recording an animation this week and next week I finish up another one for Netflix,

Which is great.

And I'm grateful for,

But the moment that's done,

You know,

I I'm looking for another gig.

I mean,

I may have TV shows airing at the moment,

But like,

You know,

I'm still auditioning this week for other future gigs for other future things.

So that fear is always,

I think in the back of everybody's mind,

I think even,

You know,

Some of the famous stars that we see,

B list,

A list actors,

They have to continuously think about their career.

Like what's their next film.

Like you're only as good as the last film you were in and,

You know,

And think of all the people who were like really,

Really famous and then all of a sudden just disappeared for years and years and years.

I mean you know,

Some of the Oscar winners that we saw this year,

You know was that Renee from from Judy.

Is that I'm sorry.

Anyway,

She,

She had not done.

I'm going to insert a cricket soundtrack after that.

What?

I really,

I'm just so okay.

She had not done a movie for,

You know,

Six,

Seven years.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Renee Zellweger.

God,

I can't say her last name and I have a complicated last name and I can't say her last name.

Zellweger,

Right?

Renee Zellweger.

Whatever.

Good.

Close enough.

But my whole point is that there are some people who will just go years and years without another huge gig.

And so there is a little bit of pressure there and you know,

While you're waiting for the next gig,

You know,

The bills still have to be paid.

And so you just got to,

You know,

Just make sure that you,

You know,

Are prepared for that.

But yeah,

So there's always that fear,

But you can't let that fear get you down.

And that's,

That's the important thing is just to follow whatever,

Is it the sirens really coming after you there?

Oh yeah.

So I kind of live on a busy street and it's an ambulance.

It's not an ambulance.

It's not an ambulance.

It's not an ambulance.

It's not an ambulance.

I'm like,

You know what,

I'm just going to take this in the car with me.

We're just going to be going 90 miles an hour.

It's not a big deal.

That would be amazing.

Because there's shots getting fired through the,

But I think the big thing is,

Is that like you didn't let the fear paralyze you,

You know?

And so it's like your drive was bigger than your fear to do this because,

And what do you think that was?

Maybe it was like the fear of having to do something else or having to,

Like you said before,

In your own words,

You're like,

I didn't have the,

I didn't feel like I had the skill set to do anything else,

Even though you could have learned the skill set,

Was it maybe just,

You just couldn't imagine yourself doing anything else or it was the fear of having to learn something else to do,

Or what do you think it was?

Yeah.

I think you hit a couple of different things on the list.

Yeah.

There's the,

There's the fear that,

You know,

I can see friends of mine who will just build something,

They'll envision it in their head and they just all of a sudden have a playground in their backyard for their kids.

And I just think,

My God,

I think I can staple some headshots and res,

You know,

Resumes,

But that's about as much construction as I'm able to do.

Or I see somebody who's really skilled at anything or the end.

And so that,

That is a fear that like,

If I didn't do this,

What would I do?

So sure,

That whole skills thing.

But it's just,

It's something I,

To be honest,

I don't dwell on it.

I can't dwell on it because it's kind of one of those things where if you add that level of anxiety or worry,

Then it's just gonna,

It's just gonna ruin your life in a way,

You know,

If you're just always worried about what the future is going to hold.

So and I just hope for the best and and you know,

Worst case scenarios,

If they come around and you know,

I,

All of a sudden the work dries up,

Then,

You know,

It's not like I'm completely incompetent.

I can,

I do have a college degree and I can get some sort of job doing something else.

But right now I have the luxury of just being a full time performer,

Actor,

So.

Which is amazing.

And that's a huge talent in itself,

You know,

Because as an actor,

You're more than just an actor.

You're more than just memorizing your lines and getting the feeling,

Getting in the head.

It's like,

You also have to be your own PR person.

You have to go out there.

I mean,

You have an agent,

But a lot of proactive actors that I know,

They go out and they try to get jobs themselves because sometimes agents are a little useless.

So it's like,

You sort of have to go out there and just kind of do your own stuff too.

So you're constantly like a media machine for yourself.

Like you're constantly marketing yourself.

And in LA,

Actually,

It's just a huge networking town.

Like every time you go out,

You're working essentially.

It's true.

And you know,

It took me a long time to get used to the whole networking thing and being,

Cause it's really hard for me to go out and say,

Hey,

How you doing stranger?

My name is Michael.

And,

Uh,

Some of the projects I'm working on are this,

This,

And this,

And this,

And this,

This,

What do you do?

And how can we work together?

And I loathe it with a passion.

Um,

But you know,

In this business,

It's part of the prerequisite.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Of needing to go out and meet people and to be proactive.

Like you said,

I have friends who are so,

So talented and I see them,

Um,

Just unfortunately not being proactive enough and not getting out there and pushing,

Uh,

And finding jobs.

I mean,

I definitely have to find things and,

Um,

You know,

I,

I do have agents,

Um,

That helped me theatrically and,

You know,

With commercials and also voiceover.

But that still every single day of my life,

I am looking online with different,

Uh,

You know,

Sources to find auditions.

Um,

And I am proactively trying to get out there and,

And finding gigs on my own as well,

Because you have to in this business.

Yeah,

You absolutely do.

And it's a business of like,

When I was in the business,

I was like,

This is a business where you have to learn to love rejection because you have to put your yourself in a position to be rejected all the time.

And it's really tough,

Like just the process of getting yourself.

And I'm not saying like getting a job in any other field as well.

It's the same thing.

Right.

But it's just on a,

I feel like with the acting thing,

It's a more intense level because if you're going into in for a job as a graphic designer or a plumber or a doctor or whatever,

They're not looking at you and they're like,

Well,

You know what,

We were,

We were hoping for somebody shorter or taller.

You're a little bit too many or you're too,

But you know,

Like they kind of pick you apart.

So it's sort of this,

You know,

But you have to have the opportunity to do it.

Yeah.

I mean,

You have to know,

I mean,

I would say that I audition for different things,

Whether it be voiceover or commercial or whatever,

At least,

At least six or seven different things per week.

Okay.

So out of that,

I might get a gig confirming twice a month,

You know?

So if you didn't do the math,

That's so much,

So many,

So much rejection that you can't even imagine.

I mean and again,

Like you said,

Yeah.

Too skinny,

Too big,

Too tall,

Too short,

Too young,

Too old.

A lot of these things you can't even control,

But you just got to tell yourself that the right stuff will come along eventually and you'll get the part,

You know?

So it's all about really what I'm hearing from you is like staying in a positive frame of mind because I feel like that's really what got you to this point,

Right?

Like all the way from Northern where you were doing plays in college,

Right,

To like this point where you're at right now where you're on HBO and you're doing Netflix and you're doing Amazon and you're doing all these things.

It's like really like I love everything about like you can't really dwell on the anxiety of it.

You can't because if you dwell there,

You're not living and it's really just letting the bad stuff roll off your back and saying,

Hey,

This is what I love to do.

This is what I'm going to do and this is what I'm going to commit to doing.

And I think that,

You know,

For me,

The reason I wanted to do this podcast was because I do know so many people who are in a position who are not going after what they want.

And I think that that's a really human thing to do.

Like,

You know,

You want to be safe,

You want to be secure,

But nothing's ever really secure or safe.

So how do you get to the point where you jump start yourself and you say,

Hey,

I'm going to go after what I'm really passionate about,

You know?

And I think that for you is like,

As you said,

Just,

You just can't imagine doing anything else.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of tricks to the trade too.

For example,

Just being realistic about,

Um,

About things that you,

You're right about being positive and knowing that you're going to succeed.

So that's what kind of gets you through.

But at the same time,

The sense of realism is important as well,

Not only to keep your ego in check.

So you're like,

I'm the best,

I'm going to succeed at everything.

Stand back world.

Here I come.

You know,

It's not always like that or else.

That's how I wake up in the morning.

What are you talking about?

Everybody besides you though,

Maria,

Has to,

You know,

Keep themselves in check and to say,

Um,

You know,

There's a lot of times where I'll see an audition that is emailed to me and I need,

And I know that I personally,

That I may not be right for that,

You know,

Whether it be because of a certain look that I have or a certain skill it's asking for.

And will you go after it anyway?

No,

Because I know that I have to pick and choose the ones that are right for me.

Otherwise you're wasting your time.

And also you're also generating,

Um,

Uh,

Some bits of,

Uh,

Rejection that you don't need because it's,

I mean,

I,

When I,

When I mean that,

I mean like,

Uh,

For example,

If they were looking for,

Um,

A guy who is in a,

In a bike race,

You know,

And I show up this big guy,

I'm not going to be right for that.

And I know that going ahead of time,

But there are plenty of people and people that I know who are like,

Well,

I could ride a bike.

I could be like in a bike race,

You know,

And then you just,

You have to have that mindset of the realism as well.

And so that you're not,

Um,

Setting yourself up for disaster,

Setting yourself up for rejection,

Because there's plenty of that to go around,

Uh,

For the,

For the stuff that you are right for.

Well,

And it's also,

Right.

And it's also keeping your focus and your energy on the things that you could possibly get to.

I have a friend and the best advice he gave me when I was doing it was he said,

You know,

He said,

You have to build your brand.

You have to figure out what's quintessentially you.

And you have to go out for those roles where you think that that's what they're looking for because eventually that's,

What's going to sell you on people.

It's not trying to be something else or someone else.

It's going to be like,

What do you have?

Okay.

You're like funny,

Sassy or whatever it is like,

That's your thing.

That's your brand.

And that's what you put out there.

So if somebody is looking for a gymnast who does cartwheels and you don't do cartwheels,

You're not going to go out for that role.

Right.

But I know plenty of people who are like,

Well,

I can learn how to cartwheel.

I could do that.

And you know,

And that's how you burn bridges with casting people as well,

Because they find out that,

You know,

You're not right for it and that you're wasting their time.

And,

You know,

So it's a matter of just time is precious and there's a lot of things that you just need to focus on whatever your,

Yeah.

Well,

You said your brand,

That sense of realism is important though.

So what's your big,

Go ahead.

Sorry.

I'm just saying staying positive,

But also realistic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's important in anything.

Absolutely.

I mean,

But definitely having like a vision of where you want to go.

Cause I think too,

That that tends to be a big problem with a lot of people where people will say,

Well,

I'm unhappy.

And then you say,

Well,

What do you want to do?

And they're like,

I don't know.

You know?

And it's really important to sort of have that vision of like,

What is your ultimate goal?

Where do you want to get to?

And then you can map out how to get there and you can still be realistic about it,

But you know,

At least then you have sort of a map because a lot of people don't have that.

So what was your biggest challenge doing this?

Biggest challenge in my career so far,

I mean.

Yeah.

Oh boy.

I guess biggest challenge is just well,

What,

What we mentioned before,

And that was when you first start off,

When I first started off as a,

As a kid,

Like I said,

I was involved with every show.

I went off to college,

I was getting a scholarship.

I was involved with every show.

I was on stage basically whenever I wanted to be.

Then all of a sudden you hit the real world and you become a grownup and especially in this business and,

And all of a sudden the jobs are not flying at you anymore and you have to really fight hard for them.

So I would say when I was younger,

Fresh out of college and you know,

Not doing the,

The theater stuff,

But just trying to,

To find,

Find jobs when they weren't finding me anymore.

You know it,

The biggest challenge for me was,

Was realizing how I had that ego as a youth,

As a kid and overcoming that and become in humbling myself and just say,

Okay,

Well,

Here's the reality.

You know,

You might've been big in small town Michigan,

But you ain't nothing now kid until you prove yourself.

You know,

So so it was,

You know,

Losing that ego that was difficult.

So how did you do that?

How did you,

How did you find jobs when they weren't looking for you?

Like what was your,

Like,

Because like,

How did you just not sort of give up at that point and go,

I don't,

I don't know what's going on.

I can't find a job,

You know?

Right.

I mean,

You could just sit on your thumb and,

You know,

Just say,

Oh,

How's this wait tables and wait to be discovered someday.

But that's never going to happen.

I mean,

There are different avenues to take.

If it's theater,

There are different theater conferences that you can go to where you're performing in front of you know,

10,

20,

100 different theater companies and they may or may not call you back or,

Or there's also,

You know,

Proactive workshops or industry intensive evenings where you perform in front of managers or perform in front of agents,

You know,

Or websites that you can join nowadays in 2020 it's a whole nother world.

Then,

You know,

When I first started off,

But you know,

You just,

You join these websites and you pay a yearly fee and all of a sudden every day your inbox on your email is filled with different auditions that are maybe appropriate for you,

Maybe not.

So,

But you have to proactively join these sites,

Go to these gatherings,

These auditions or you know,

These intensives,

Join classes,

Go to these networking events.

You have to put a fire under your butt and motivate yourself to do it because if you don't motivate yourself,

Nobody will.

And I think too many people unfortunately rely on others to motivate them for them,

Whether that's because of their upbringing or because of their insecurities as an adult or whatever the,

Whatever their reason may be.

But being proactive and lighting your own fire under your butt,

That's what,

That's what it takes.

So,

I got a fiery butt,

Let me tell you.

I remember.

I'm going to clear a room,

That's for sure.

So that's really like sage advice.

Do you have any other sort of advice for anybody who's doing this or doing anything that they feel like is hard and they want to like follow their passion somehow?

What do you got to say?

Well if it's acting that you're going into,

One of the things that really helped for me is that I was with a theater company in Ohio for seven years and I got to do a lot of film and television commercials and a few voice things being in small town and being Columbus,

Ohio of all places.

Why did you go to Ohio?

Sorry.

Well,

I was at,

Yeah,

It was a theater company that I was working for.

I was at a theater company in Columbus and I got another job in Cincinnati.

And so,

You know,

These are full time on stage theater performance venues.

So I would just,

But while I was there,

I had the opportunity to do other things like commercials and such,

But I got to be big fish in a little pond and get a nice resume together and a reel.

And even going to Hong Kong where I was doing quite a bit of voice acting,

I did over 60 different series,

Animation series in the years that I was there.

And that was because they used a core group of about 12 of us full time as voice actors and because you're big fish in a little pond.

And so when you're asking for advice,

I would say that one of the great things that I did was I became big fish in a little pond,

Not only in Columbus and Cincinnati and Hong Kong,

But I gained all of this experience,

Demo reel material,

Films,

Commercials.

Then when I came to LA,

I had something more than just a dream and a hope because so many people will do that.

You know,

They're like,

I'm going to California and make it big,

You know,

And unfortunately you're.

.

.

And what's wrong with that?

Nothing,

Nothing,

Nothing at all.

I'm like,

That sounds a little familiar.

Okay.

But I mean,

That's,

And I came actually very close to coming out to California too soon in a way.

I remember,

I actually remember you and I had a conversation,

This was years ago and I think we messaged on Facebook and you said,

I think you were leaving Ohio and you were trying to choose between Vegas,

LA and Hong Kong.

And I said,

You need to go to LA.

This would have been MySpace days,

By the way.

Was that MySpace?

But I remember saying,

Oh,

You need to go to LA and you're like,

Yeah,

I'll think about it.

And then the next thing I see,

You're like on a plane to Hong Kong.

Bye.

Yeah.

So how did you get out?

Yeah,

Well,

Because that was just,

Cause I was with that theater company in Cincinnati at the time and I was about to come out to Los Angeles and I was thinking like,

You know,

Los Angeles,

Like you said,

Vegas,

There's a lot of entertainment things going on there.

And I had this opportunity where basically I saw all my friends coming out to Los Angeles and they had this going on,

That going,

Mike,

Come out here,

We got this,

We're doing this show and this,

And that sounds amazing.

So my whole idea was that I was going to pack up and move out to LA.

And but before the rich and famous part comes along,

I got to pay the bills.

So I was looking at monster.

Com and all these other things for how can I find a job that will pay the bills that I won't like hate my life.

So I'm looking at like theater management jobs or working in a box office of a theater company or something related to theater management,

Whatever I can.

And I see this thing for Hong Kong for a theater company there.

Well,

I'm never going to get that.

What the hell,

Send it off.

The next thing I know I'm getting a call at nighttime and they're wanting to fly me out and put me up for a one year contract to work with them in Hong Kong.

And I thought what an amazing opportunity.

I'd never been to Asia before.

So I put everything I own into storage in Cincinnati,

Go for one year to Hong Kong.

And then after that one year is over with,

I take everything and I head off to LA.

Skip ahead 13 years.

And you know,

So where's that storage unit now?

Is it still collecting dust in that storage unit?

I actually,

It was a couple of years into,

Um,

Cause after my first year,

I was like,

Okay,

Two years,

Two years in that.

And then after two years,

I got more opportunities to do voice acting full time and be the promo person for the true TV Asia and Cartoon Network Asian.

I was like,

Okay,

Well,

All right,

Three years.

And that's anyway,

That's when I came back and got rid of everything.

So I was going to say,

I kind of wish the story was,

And then one day I turn on storage wars and I'm like,

That's my dress.

I forgot about that.

And that was how I made it big.

And that's when I knew I got to make it big to replace my stuff now.

That's it.

My old Nintendo set made it to storage wars.

I'm going to make it to HBO.

I'll show that Nintendo who the star is.

That's right.

Just rolling my room for one.

And you did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

But yeah,

So it's been an interesting,

Interesting little career of how to get here,

But yeah,

Staying positive,

Staying realistic and knowing that this is the one thing that truly makes me happy in order to get by without having a grudge on my shoulder.

That's the most important thing,

Right?

Because you,

I mean,

You only have one life.

So it's really the most important thing to be is happy.

And so if you can do something that you're happy at and you succeed at,

I mean,

It's been a long road.

I'm not going to,

You know,

I'm not going to sugarcoat this and be like,

Well,

Michael Pizzuto got out of college and went immediately to Hong Kong and started doing all these shows.

Like,

I know it's been a really long road for you to get to this point,

But you stuck with it and that's amazing.

And now you're here.

So what's your next thing?

So well,

These blasted little NVA's,

They kind of get in the way of me getting to be able to chat about too many things.

But I do have an animation that I'm working on that's out of Japan,

But being done here in Los Angeles and that'll be on Netflix.

I'm guessing the end of the year.

And then I have a Domino's commercial I just did came out,

But I have a video game with the norm.

I have a video game for PlayStation two and Xbox or PlayStation two places are for an Xbox that will come out in may.

And then this week I'm flying to Sacramento to shoot a film there.

So that's right.

I'm up to really fabulous sunny Sacramento where dreams come true.

You know,

It's the tree capital of the world.

So don't knock it.

So tree capital.

So it's very sure to have you been to Sacramento before?

I've never been,

There'll be my first time they're flying me from LA to Sacramento.

And so you're going to go to LA,

Which is kind of a concrete wasteland to separate,

Which is like all trees.

So it's totally a different,

Totally different vibe.

I'm looking forward to that.

Definitely only make fun of LA.

If you've lived in LA,

I'm just kidding.

You can make fun of LA.

There's plenty to make fun of here.

Trust me.

Yeah.

Well,

Michael,

Thank you.

Thanks for doing this.

And it's good to see your face.

Yeah.

It's good to catch up after so long.

And hopefully you can get your butt down to LA some point or I'll come up there to the Bay area.

And we'll have you been to San Francisco?

I haven't been up there yet.

Really?

All right,

Hold on.

We're going to do this show and then we're going to catch up and that's it.

That's my outro.

Bye everybody.

Bye bye.

Bye.

Bye bye.