On the 29th of October I sat down with Laurent Pitre, a Montreal based actor, filmmaker and producer. Featured in Hulu’s Future Man and appearing on CBC’s Detectives, Laurent is an established Canadian performer. He’s written plays performed at the Centaur Theater, shed a tear for Bell’s Let’s Talk initiative, and portrayed a goofy caveman in Goodfood’s latest ad campaign. We talked motivation, past acting experiences and delved into his more transformative years as a performer over a bottle of kombucha.
N.810 – When was the moment you realized you wanted to be an actor?
Laurent Pitre – When I was young I would live in my head and play lots of games with my imagination. To me those worlds were just as tangible as the real world, if not more. I felt more present there, so I was always kind of an actor and story teller without knowing that’s what I was doing. In high school I was cut off from all my friends and going through puberty, I went deep into this cocoon of sadness and loneliness. I felt so lost… The transformational moment for me was watching how much fun my cousin had on stage acting. I thought, ‘Huh? Why haven’t I been doing this?’ I had spent the past three years depressed and I thought to myself, ‘I miss that.’ So, I auditioned. If I hadn’t gotten the part I might have just given up on the dream. It was so new to me, what is an audition? How do I do it? Everything was riding on this line I’d prepared, and… I got the part. It was mind-blowing because I wasn’t sure if I was any good or not… I never looked back. Every period after that has been transformational, I’m peeling back the layers or peeling off the masks that I put up when I was really sad and confused and scared… trying to protect myself. That was the moment, that was the beginning of all the moments.
N.810 – Is there a year where you noticed a larger transformation than usual?
L.P. – 2019 was a very transformative year for me because, out of theatre school I thought theater was the thing and I thought I could change the world alone. See the thing is, you can’t change the world alone. I made my own theater company, I started helping people out, creating new plays, teaching, doing lots of things for little or no pay. I was pushing and really building a community, but I was trying to do a lot of things alone. I forgot why I got into the industry in the first place. When I was young I was fascinated with movies, I never saw plays, I didn’t even know you could be an actor in Montreal. I literally didn’t know that people acted in this city, I thought it was all in L.A and Hollywood. I revisited that state of mind in 2020 because in 2019 I did 5 plays back to back at the Centaur. But at the end of it, there was no, ‘Yes! This was it, this is what I was working towards!’ type of moment. At the end I realized, I worked so hard to be someone in theatre, but I’ve been going along this route because I thought that’s what I needed to do in order to succeed. But really, I’ve been running around like a decapitated chicken. I’d run really far, I’d make it off the ranch, but I would still die in the end. That’s when I realized if I wanted to work in other mediums than theater, I would have to challenge my beliefs around who I thought I was. I went from theatre, theatre, theatre, and shifted to voice, film and video games. Now I reap those benefits quicker because there’s a sharper intention. my reason why is clearer, I realized you need to do less but with more intention.
N.810 – So you mentioned a few mediums there, how did the transition from theater go for you?
L.P. – It’s so different, everything has its own medium and people forget that. Theater schools are slowly evolving, and hopefully they continue to do so and reflect the reality they’re living in. I feel so bad for the graduates because not only have they just been indoctrinated in theatre, theatre, theatre, but they’re going out there and theater is dying. It’s important for actors to adapt with the ages and not be too upset that theatres are closed, how do we as actors still make art?
N.810 – What can people out there struggling do about it though?
If you want to survive as an actor you can’t do 100% theatre unless you’re the artistic director or ‘the guy‘ who’s in everything. I was that guy and I was always an edge away from collapse, energetically it was so demanding. It’s an illusion that it can always be sustainable to be in one sort of thing. Don’t box yourself in as an artist, don’t believe that you have to be just one thing in your life. I discovered that by letting go of all the labels around what I do.
N.810 – Any advice for newer actors out there?
L.P. – As stupid as it sounds, ‘There are no small parts only small actors.’ It’s so cliché but it really rang true for me at my first show in theatre school. I came into the audition and I got the part of a chorus member and my heart hurt. But, I realized, ‘No, there’s no reason why the chorus member should be treated differently than the lead character.’ You should create as complex a human being for both parts, and I had an epiphany. Ever since then I treat every character like they’re the center of their own experience, and that gives the scene a sense of realism. You don’t always have to get the lead for people to pay attention to you. I watch so many shows where there’ll be a one-line character who’ll say, ‘Milk in your coffee?’ You know he’s never coming back, but he nailed it. There’s such tremendous value in realizing that success doesn’t mean you’re the star of the show all the time it really means that you deliver good work professionally and with your heart in the right place.
Laurent is currently crowdfunding a film titled, Give Time. If you’re interested in checking out or supporting the project click the link below:
gofundme.com/f/give-time-a-true-love-story
You can follow Laurent @
Numero810 