Authority Magazine

Shaw Jones On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career in TV and Film

[as originally published on medium.com]

As part of our series about creating a successful career in TV and Film, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Shaw Jones.

Shaw Jones is a stage and screen actor known for his captivating performances. He can be seen on Amazon Prime with leading roles in the feature films Proximity — praised by Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers — and Blue, for which he has earned two Best Actor awards. On television, Shaw has built an impressive resume with appearances on Your Honor, Star Trek: Picard, The Upshaws, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Snowfall, Grace and Frankie, The Affair, 911, The Cool Kids, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, For All Mankind, and a recurring role on Jimmy Kimmel Live, among many others. In theater, Shaw is preparing to star in the explosive Off-Broadway drama Wounded at the renowned SoHo Playhouse, opening in March 2025. His previous stage credits include No Place to Be Somebody at the WACO Theater and portraying Lee Harvey Oswald in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. For more information, please visit: shawjonesactor.com.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Igrew up in Memphis, Tennessee as one of four siblings. I had an older brother, an older sister and a younger sister who were all very different. Growing up, I was sort of a jack of all trades; good at many things, but not great at any one thing. I think I lacked the self-confidence to take me to the next level, especially in sports.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I really loved Elvis Presley growing up, especially being from Memphis. I would lip sync Presley’s hits with my dad’s old acoustic guitar hanging from my shoulder in what I would like to think were memorable performances in my family’s living room.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

One of the more interesting moments in my career occurred when I was doing an intense scene with Bryan Cranston on the show, Your Honor. As I’m shooting the scene, I organically added in a few moments and lines that were not in the script. When the scene was over, Bryan applauded me on my bold character choices. He advised me to always follow and trust my instincts. Due to Bryan’s approval, the pieces I added were kept in the final cut.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I was a new actor, I was auditioning for a scene in a casting director’s office. At one point in the scene, the character picks up the phone, screams in it, and slams it down. Unplanned, I rushed over to the casting director’s desk and used their private phone. It did not go over well. The lesson I learned was to never touch anything on anybody’s desk.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I have three projects right now that are very exciting to me. The first is an original play, Wounded, which I’m doing in New York at the Soho Playhouse this coming February and March. It’s emotionally demanding and I’m looking forward to the longer run of this production. I’m also finishing pre-production on a short film project I co-wrote with a friend. It’s a true story based on an experience I had as a young boxer who has a match at a maximum-security prison.
I’m also writing a one-man show about parenting my son during his cancer battle.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

My advice to new actors is to take the word ‘failure’ out of your vocabulary. If you follow your heart, work as hard as you can and persist, there is no failure. There will be struggles and challenges, but no failure.

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

I think diversity is extremely important in art. Seeing life and the world through other people’s perspectives is how we learn about our own. art, with regard to film and television, gives us the ability to experience other people’s lives and emotions — showing us what it means to be human. Seeing other’s overcome adversity, or situations we cannot imagine, is moving. It imbues humanity in anyone who sees such art… READ MORE