In the Magazine | John Francis Daley

Words of Wisdom
John Francis Daley
August/September 2012

“It’s really easy, in any career, to be discouraged. You have to sort of evaluate how much you want whatever you’re doing. If it’s not enough to sacrifice almost everything pursuing it, then it’s not worth pursuing. So first take a look at the reasons why you want to do what you’re doing. A lot of aspiring actors go into it for the fame, and the money, and all the reasons why Scarface got into drug dealing. So take a look at if it really does make you happy, just the doing of it, as opposed to the all the perks that go along with it. Then, don’t be discouraged when you don’t get your 20th audition. Because I can say, for every 25 auditions I go on, I might get one thing. And that’s all you need, that one thing. I think of it like gambling, where you have an unlimited amount of chips. You just have to keep playing. If you’re playing the slots, and you keep losing, then just know that you’ve got a million more chips to play with, and it’s just you that’s going to stop and leave. But each time you play, your odds of actually getting something get greater and greater, because it’s simple math.”

Photography by Derek Wood

Interview by Francesca Nicol