Sam Vartholomeos, 18, is an aspiring actor from Astoria, Queens. Sam attends Pace University, but is unsure of how much longer he will continue his studies there due to his priorities in acting. The young actor attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where he thrived in leading roles in musicals and shows. In addition, he has been in a number of commercials, has been featured on The Colbert Report, and is currently awaiting for Christmas, but not for the same reasons as most people. Sam is featured in Ben Stiller’s, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, as young Walter Mitty. Luckily, I was able to meet with him and have a chat about his experience as a young actor in New York City, just trying to make it big like the rest of us.
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Long Island, then moved to Floral Park and lived there for a couple of years. After that, my family moved to Astoria and that’s where I was raised and I’ve lived there ever since.
So how did growing up in Astoria affect your involvement in the arts?
I’ve always felt blessed to live in Astoria because there’s such a large population of people in the arts. I know a lot of actors that were my tenants or my neighbors. Two of my closest friends were actors; they were my neighbors and lived next to me for ten years before moving to LA. One of them was an actor and her husband, also an actor, was known as a stunt coordinator. I was always pretty much surrounded by tenants who were actors and musicians. Astoria itself has a very large arts community, you know, we have Kaufman Studios. What is it on 36th avenue? So there are always trucks around. They’re actually shooting Elementary right by my house now so that’s pretty cool. They even closed the block down which is something they do in California, so it’s nice to see New York being taken on by the film industry as well, since it’s based in LA.
You’ve brought up LA a couple of times, but you’ve never thought of moving there?
No I’ve thought about moving to LA. It’s definitely possible… definitely in the future.
So how would you say you’ve gotten started?
I think you know, either consciously or subconsciously, when you’re born into the arts, whether it’s acting, dancing, singing, sculpting… There is definitely a nature vs. nurture aspect involved. When you realize it, I guess it’s up to you. I realized it when I was very young and started taking it up professionally a few years ago. For example, getting my headshots, taking more classes, and stuff. My mom is also a very theatrical person; she used to do plays when she was younger. So overall I was probably most influenced by the entire community.
I take it that your family is supportive?
Oh absolutely!
Do you have a favorite show that you’ve been in?
I was in a production of Cabaret in my senior year of high school. That was by far, my favorite.
Describe that experience.
It was just a really big learning experience and it was perfect timing too because I was about to go out into the real world and experience all these people… a whole new world of acting. It was nice to experience working with people you don’t necessarily connect with on a good amount of different levels, so overcoming that obstacle was a huge learning experience for me and to go through that at the age of 18… Man I was just lucky! And just to work with such a talented group of people that are the same age as me and that I’ve known for 4 years is pretty rare and I guess doesn’t happen much in the real world. But it was great to work with people who I wish I worked with in the past and to finally get that opportunity to connect with them.
What about an experience that wasn’t so great?
I think everyone can look back in their acting reel and say ‘what the hell did I do… what the fuck was I thinking?’ I definitely have those… I look back on some monologues and say ‘wow that was really horrible’. There’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to look at things I do now and ask myself what I was thinking, even things I think are fantastic right now. When you do something as an actor I think it shows courage and stride. You know, I’m not gonna say I wish I hadn’t done that… Everything is a learning experience. You have to fall to get back up.
Do you have a dream character?
I don’t feel like I know myself enough to pick that character. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of who I am, so to answer that question would be crazy, so I don’t have one.
How do you plan on scratching that surface?
Just like anything else… experience, practice, rehearsal rehearsal rehearsal. You do things that start revealing a lot about yourself. Even life experiences (namely anything to do with love, death or money) reveal a lot about ourselves. I think it’s important to bring that into your acting as well. You have to learn to think like the character and ask what the character would do not what Sammy would do.
What are you currently doing in the arts world?
I mean I’ve been going out to auditions just like every other actor. You can see me in December I’ll be in Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I play his character when he was 18… it’s a flashback scene. I hope I’ll be in it anyway! You never know till you see it on the screen.
Wow I didn’t know they just cut scenes out after shooting like that!
Yeah I mean you never know! You gotta start somewhere so I’m just grateful for the experience!
How did that compare to Cabaret?
I’m gonna say I enjoyed working on Cabaret more than I did on the movie because I really felt… it just felt… I didn’t wanna say it but it felt right. It felt fantastic to be on stage and it felt so organic. You have the vibe and the aura from the audience and you know the fellow actors on stage with you. I don’t know if you get the same feeling from film since I haven’t done it all that much. I’ve been in a few commercials but I’ve never experienced what I’ve experienced in theater.
So would you say theater is your favorite type of acting?
Yeah absolutely. And it brings us back in time – not 20, 30 years ago- but ancient times when that was thing to do. That was your Facebook… it was your Twitter. That’s how people used to learn, it’s so organic I love it. I love having that effect on people… being able to be that glue for them. It’s really a shame now that theater is so expensive to go to and people aren’t seeing these really great shows.
Right I totally agree. So I wanted to end by asking you where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully not dead! [Laughs] Well you know what they say… ‘Man makes plans and God laughs.’ I really just wanna be doing what I love and hopefully having an income that can sustain my lifestyle.
Great! Any last words?
Um… ‘A day without laughter is a day wasted’ Charlie Chaplin… that’s my motto. I try to laugh every day. It’s important!
