Meet Joe Pistone | Actor & Acting Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joe Pistone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
CONSISTENCY: As an actor, it would be consistent practice when it comes to my craft. Pushing myself, even if I’m not in the mood on a given day, to do at least one activity that will better my skill set. It ranges from learning dialogue, breaking down a set of audition sides, working on dialects, growing my Rolodex of emotions I’m able to access at any given moment.

In regards to the business end, consistency in the form of sending off update emails when I book a job to industry professional who I’d like to work with in the future — be it a casting director, writer, director. Or if things are moving slowly I may send off an email to my representation asking if there is anything I can do on my end to help. It’s always better to ask if there’s anything you can do to improve a situation rather than criticize your teammates.

As for consistency in growing my business as an acting teacher, I like to post one piece of helpful content to my social media daily.

HUMBLENESS: Being humble enough to go back to the drawing board when things are not working instead of giving up. When we give up it’s typically because our ego has been hurt. It’s a humbling experience to say I was wrong and need to start over but it helps us grow. Our goals usually don’t go exactly as planned. So it’s best to see what’s not working and adjust based on the data our failures give us.

SETTING PROCESS GOALS, NOT RESULT GOALS: Setting process goals that are based on growing toward mastery at my craft rather than result oriented goals such as “I need to book a job by such and such date.” I set goals that will ultimately lead to a result in the world but at their core they are based on improving my craft. For example, if I set a goal to broaden the range of emotions I’m able to access as an actor, choosing a particularly difficult one for me, I will be better equipped to handle auditions in the future requiring me to access said emotion and this will lead to more job bookings.

CONTINUED STUDY: Continue to learn and grow in my craft even though I’ve been practicing my art for 23 years. I’m currently teaching but I do not feel I am at a level of mastery in the art form I teach. So I continue study with my acting coach. I work with him on nearly all my auditions. And, in the down times like this strike period, I like to meet with him and his other clients, who are at all different levels, to go over the rudimentary exercises and practices of acting so I do not get stale in my craft.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I began my pursuit of acting in earnest at age 17 when my college roommates convinced me to come along to a play audition with them. I had dreams of being a screenwriter and director but that pivoted to acting once I stepped on stage in a black box theater at UNCW.

With 23 years under my belt I am proud to say I’ve done well over 50 jobs across television, film, commercial and voice-over ranging from Guest Stars on Mad Men, Criminal Minds, SEAL Team to recurring roles on 9-1-1, General Hospital, NCIS: NOLA.

Now I am blessed to be able to pass on wisdom gained from experience and training to the next generation of actors as a teacher at Door D Creative Acting Studio.

The journey has not been an easy one. And I am still on it. There has been many setbacks along the way but perseverance through the hard times — picking myself back up and forcing myself to take one more step forward during the bleakest moments — is how I ultimately arrived at a more consistent form of success.

You must force yourself to practice on the days that you just want to lay on your couch and do nothing. You must sacrifice long planned vacations to do a small role here or there. That small role keeps you in the minds of the creatives. Look how many supporting roles in Christopher Nolan films Cillian Murphy did before Nolan cast him as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

A major lesson I learned after years of floundering in the business was that you’re going to have a hundred different people tell you a hundred different actors they remind you of but you cannot mold yourself to be more like someone else. Your unique quality and authenticity is what we (the audience) want in you as an actor. Don’t try to “find your type or brand or casting” when you’re starting out. Just be really, really good at what you do and the smart people in the industry will see your high quality work and they will start bringing you in for all different roles. Most of those roles won’t be a fit for you. But you’ll begin to see patterns in the work you do book. Those patterns will be your niches (some call it type or brand or casting) — mine were cop and detective roles for a while. Then from there you can begin marketing yourself based on your newfound niche. Long story short, don’t be so focused on the business end early on. Get good and stay committed and the business stuff will be easier to tackle if you have that base to stand on.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am blessed with having Piedmont Park be my backyard. During the spring and fall I am there nearly every day. It is my place to decompress, to sit on a bench and watch the ducks in the water. I usually start off there when showing my friends around.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Door D Creative Acting Studio ran by Josh & Ashley Daugherty. I want to thank them for trusting in me as an acting teacher to join their roster of professionals teaching at their studio. I’ve known them both for over a decade between Los Angeles and Atlanta and they are lovely people who support the arts like none other. They saw in me my passion not only for the craft of acting but also for passing on my knowledge to the next generations of actors. I never thought something could fill me with as much joy as acting until I began teaching. I could not have become the teacher I am today without their support.

Website: www.joepistone.com / www.doordcreative.com

Instagram: @joepistoneofficial