My mom is a very strong woman and taught me so much about believing in myself. She is a lifelong educator and truly passionate about helping young people achieve their goals. I was able to watch her with her students and uplift them every single day…. And then come home to her providing me with the tools to trust myself and follow my instincts. Having a role model such as her as a young person allowed me to drown out the negative noise and focus on the goal.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Zach Avery. Gaining momentum over the last few years for his notable plot twisting roles, Zach Avery is taking his career to the next level with the May 19th streaming and DVD release of Lionsgate’s Hitchcockian thriller, LAST MOMENT OF CLARITY. Featuring Netflix’s breakout star of “Hollywood” Samara Weaving, Carly Chaiken (“Mr. Robot”) and “Successions’” legendary patriarch Brian Cox, Zach plays Sam, a husband on the run after his wife is murdered by the Bulgarian mob and resurfaces years later as a movie star in Los Angeles. Ahead of the COVID lockdown, Zach had also wrapped filming on GATEWAY opposite Olivia Munn, Bruce Dern and Frank Grillo.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?
Thank you for having me! I grew up in Tampa, FL and moved to Indiana after my freshman year of high school… so I definitely had 2 very different environments to now draw from for creative inspiration. I ended up starting a doctorate program for Psychology in Chicago after college but dropped out after 3 months to follow my dreams and dive into acting full time. My girlfriend and I drove across the country with our Rottweiler from Chicago to LA and started making it happen.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Due to Covid — all production has been shut down so it’s certainly an interesting time to try and stay inspired and creative. My friends and I are still writing and shooting, whatever we can remotely, but most projects are on hold for the time being.
In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?
I always try to bring my own unique thing to every role that I take… you never want to copy or just replicate another performer or performance… and I definitely pride myself on always bringing something new to the table.
Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?
All the time. When your career path is acting (or anything creative) — there is not much stability and the odds of actually “making it” are not in your favor. Everyone around me told me that I was crazy when I said that I wanted to be an actor. “Get a real job” / “Make money and then chase the dream” / “There are thousands of people trying to act — it’s impossible to make it.” — — At the end of the day — you have to fully believe in YOU. No one is going to do it for you… no one is going to put in the work, take the rejection, keep your head down and grind because it isn’t easy — it’s really hard. But at the end of the day — if you put the work in and stay the course… it will work out.
In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂
They can see me in movie theatres now ϑ
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My wife, Mallory, has always been my rock. She has been there from the very beginning and supportive along the way. When you are starting out — you are constantly getting rejected — thousands of auditions… thousands of “no”s — and she was always there to remind me why I started this in the first place, push me to follow my heart and dreams and really has been the backbone to my career.
It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?
My mom is a very strong woman and taught me so much about believing in myself. She is a lifelong educator and truly passionate about helping young people achieve their goals. I was able to watch her with her students and uplift them every single day…. And then come home to her providing me with the tools to trust myself and follow my instincts. Having a role model such as her as a young person allowed me to drown out the negative noise and focus on the goal.
Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)
Trust your gut. Surround yourself with positive people. Always be over prepared. Under promise — Over deliver. Persevere… no matter what — keep grinding.
What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?
Don’t wait for the storm to pass …. Learn how to dance in the rain.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Right now it would be to educate the younger generations on racial equality, systemic racism and how we all can actively work toward equality and eradicate the racist ideologies in this country.
Can our readers follow you on social media?
Instagram and Twitter — @zachavery & @_zachavery
Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!
Rising Star Zach Avery: They Told Me It Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.