Graham Taylor struggles to balance his busy academic life with his blossoming career in acting. The junior is often commuting to L.A. for auditions. However, he believes the travel time is worth it, as he pursue his future in comedic acting and his passion for making others laugh.
With only a couple of years of acting classes under his belt, focusing mainly on film and TV acting, Taylor has already been recruited by industry talent agencies, including Shula Talent Management, home of Anna Kendrick.
“I am signed with Scout Talent and Modeling Industry up here and another agency down in L.A. called Harvey Grimes Talent Agency,” Taylor said. He has been with his two Los Angeles agencies for around three months, but has had multiple acting gigs so far.
Taylor hopes to sign with Abrams Artists Agency, also known as AAA. “They’re one of the leading representatives of child talent. They’re professional, and that’s what you want from an agency, you want nice people that you can communicate with but also people that pull in the gigs,” he said.
For Taylor, acting came naturally. “I really liked making people laugh, namely from my sister. I always tried to make people laugh, and that kind of evolved into making characters and it kind of sprung from there,” he said. When Taylor is acting, he prefers sketch comedy and impersonations. “I like pushing the boundaries. Improv is really fun too, it’s quick thinking. You come up with stuff you never would have though of because it’s just on your feet and you can get some really funny stuff.”
Taylor’s experience with auditions has helped in control the anxiety many feel when they perform for an audience. “The more often you do it, the more you get used to it and you become more confident with yourself and your work and it just becomes fun,” Taylor said.
“There is no real formula to getting the gig. You go in there and you do your understanding of the character or the scene,” Taylor explained.
“Everyone has their own comedic tastes and so it’s fun trying to figure out what makes them laugh and making jokes around that,” Taylor continued.
“The coach that I take lessons from is pretty big in the business and has lots of connections and she tries to help with hooking up her students with open calls and to get you noticed. If any of her friends need people for certain projects, she’ll let you know about them,” Taylor said.
Besides his managers, Taylor’s family backed his pursuit of acting, though they still have high academic expectations for him as well. “They are very supportive, but they are also very adamant about me going to college and getting a good education,” he said.
Taylor’s parents have driven him to auditions, before he could drive, and paid for various plane tickets. His sister has also played an important role in his acting career. “She is somebody who I can open up to fully and really make a fool of myself and not care, which is one of the most important aspects of acting.”
