The Monthly interviews actor Paul Garrett – Part 1 – I was always interested in the movies

How did you get attracted to the arts generally, and acting in particular?

I was in one school play, which was Oliver, in Glengormley High School, in 1982 or 1983. I was a Bow Street Runner, a 17th century policeman, and I had to shoot Bill Sikes (the arch criminal in the play). I had one line, “Stop or I’ll shoot!” and I had a gun, a cap gun, and the gun would notoriously not work. So they put a drummer near the stage and he would hit the snare drum to make the sound of a gun going off when the shot was fired. One night the drummer hit the snare drum twice and I milked it and the audience loved it. That was certainly the start of something within me that suggested I wanted to be an actor.

Did you get support at home?

My dad was a musician and he came up through the showbands and it wasn’t that he wasn’t keen on me acting, he just wanted me, like most fathers, to have a proper job, whatever that was going to be. My mother was the exact opposite and she really nudged me towards it. I don’t think there was any moment where I fell towards acting. I used to love old movies and I would watch all the Bogart movies with my grandfather. I don’t think I was a natural show-off, or anything like that but my grandfather said to me once, that I was a bit like Al Jolson, and he meant that I was an applause junkie and I kinda was to be honest. So there might have been something in that part of my character that was obvious to people that would lead in me in the direction of acting.

What about school. Any support there?

Not really. There was a Drama Department and, as I said, they put on the school play every year and I was in one of those plays. There were some teachers who could see I had some
ability. I was a very good mimic and I could quote lines from films at the drop of a hat. I used  to impress my friends by quoting lines from Monty Python movies and things like that.
I do remember having a conversation with my mum about Steven Boyd, an actor from Glengormley, who was in Ben Hur, and I thought if he could do it then I could do it. And I remember a teacher at my school, Mrs Gordon saying to me that if I wanted to become an actor I needed to develop a tough skin because acting was a “rejection” business.

Stephen Boyd

You left school and end up at Rupert Stanley College?

When I was going to leave school I could have gone and got a job at Shorts or Bombardier as it is now; I had a couple of uncles who worked there, so I could have got in there. I did go to an interview but I knew that would never have worked for me, apart from the fact that at the interview I was the only one wearing a tie. I just know I would have been useless at that
kind of job and I don’t think I would have fitted in. I have friends who do that type of work so I’m not knocking it, but I know I wouldn’t have been any good at it.

After I left school I went straight to Rupert Stanley College to study drama, and I loved it. I met actors there I still know today, people like Christina Nelson who is still doing great work,
and when I went there it was just brilliant. I went to the campus off the Castlereagh Road and at that time the course was called “Personal Development through Drama.” I loved that and after that I got some TV work and then I went to Newtownabbey Tech and then much later I got into East 15 Acting School in London and I did my Masters.

You kept on going towards acting as a career?

I got into East 15 Acting School and I was helped with all the pieces, three moderns, a song and a Shakespearian piece, by Lisa May from Bruiser Theatre. She really helped me prepare for that audition; she was instrumental in getting me over the line. When I auditioned, John Baraldi, the Dean of that school, he was an American guy, came over to me and he offered me a place and he said they had money for Irish actors and they wanted to help me. So I was pretty lucky there and again I loved it.

How did you develop the craft after you come out of the acting school?

I just kept watching and learning and even when acting wasn’t the priority, even when I had to take other jobs because I had to look after my family, I sing as well so I always had a band and I was able to make money that way, and I did take some work during Covid, I was a Care Assistant in a Mental Health Unit, and I was happy enough doing that, but I knew deep down that at some point, something would come my way. I always felt that I would get a part that suited me and would work for me.

If you want to see more of the work of Paul Garrett contact Paul’s agent – Shelly Lowry – shelley@shelleylowry.com

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