A sitcom, you rehearse for four days of the week and then you shoot it all in one night in front of a studio audience. It's like a play every week, you just shoot it over a seven or eight-day period with a single camera. I enjoy this format of show much more. I'm a feature guy. I like making movies. So the four camera thing I didn't love it that much. I found myself slightly out of my element.
Paulo CostanzoI grew up as a fairly poor kid in, you know, Toronto, Canada. I don't think I owned any new clothes until I was, like, 15 or something. They were all second-hand and forged from paper.
Paulo CostanzoI know it sounds cliche, but you have to believe in yourself because there's going to be moments that no one else does.
Paulo CostanzoIn high school, my first thing ever was I played Tony in West Side Story when I was about 17. I was a really shy kid and I just like forced myself to learn how to sing this one month because I loved West Side Story so much and I somehow managed to get the role. I had an afro and glasses, and the guy who cast me goes, "All right, the first thing to go is the afro and the next thing, I'm going to buy you contacts and we're going to get you..." So he kind of molded me into what it had to - that's still probably the hardest role I've every played in anything, the most taxing role.
Paulo CostanzoThe only thing I would advise young actors to do is prepare for the amount of adversity that you're going to come in contact with by choosing to be an actor because before you actually "made it" or get the skills, people are all not going to take you seriously, and many people will try to discourage you from it. Don't take any of their advice. Do it, and do it and do it. Remember the compliments. Forget the insults.
Paulo Costanzo