Rising Star Adam Moryto On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

An Interview With Elana Cohen

A lot of people in this industry are going to promise you things in exchange for investing in a film, a script, etc. Don’t do it and don’t listen to them unless you’re already a seasoned producer or familiar with the business.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Adam Moryto.

Adam Thomas Moryto (born January 28, 1991) is a Canadian actor, producer and extreme fisherman. His big screen debut is as the role of Jimmy in David A. Armstrong's feature film Pawn. He attended high school at St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario before pursuing a degree in Sociology at the University of Western Ontario. Adam is avidly involved in college theatre and is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in Theatre Western's production of Spring Awakening. Adam is also an avid traveler. He has backpacked places such as France, Italy, Dubai, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Upcoming film projects include "The Baker" also starring Ron Perlman and Harvey Keitel, "The Retirement Plan," with Nicolas Cage, which was shot during the Pandemic and "Littlemouth" along with Isabelle Fuhrman, Dennis Quaid and Josh Hutcherson.

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

I grew up in a small town called Aurora in Ontario about 45 minutes north of Toronto. My grandfather escaped communist Czechoslovakia with my grandmother and mother and came to Canada where he started a lumber corporation, and my whole family lived close by. My grandfather passed away from lung cancer when I was only 11 and that left a pretty big void in the family system. I grew up in the country on a street with only a handful of other houses. I spent lots of time playing in my backyard with my dogs, jumping on my trampoline, skateboarding, playing ball, hockey, dirt biking in the summer, and snowmobiling in the winter. Every weekend in the winter my parents would take me and my younger brother Justin up to Collingwood, ON where we would learn to ski. I got pretty good at skiing by the time I was at St. Andrew’s College. I started going out west to BC to freestyle ski on the Blackcomb Glacier every summer with my dad and brother. Then I started wake boarding in Muskoka in my teens and fell in love with that until I went to university. But my biggest love growing up was, and always will be, fishing. My grandfather got me into it when I was 5 in Barbados and I got hooked instantly. I spent a lot of summers up north in cottage country fishing for bass in ponds on golf courses and Pike in the lakes. I went to Holy Trinity School and then St. Andrew’s College before Western University. I found a real group of friends at SAC that I’m still tight with to this day. I think media, especially movies, had a big effect on how kids my age grew up and how they influenced our lives. I was around for pretty much every big blockbuster in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Movie theatres were where we would hang out on Friday and Saturdays. There was no streaming service. Jesus, I was around when HMV was still in malls. I burned CDs for my Walkman or whatever it was called before going to summer camp at Muskoka Woods. And I’m only 32. This is depressing now next question.

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

I remember watching the Oscars when I was around 9 years old and thinking about how amazing it was and how I could be like everyone I saw on the red carpet one day. Actors had a big influence on me when I was growing up. There weren’t any Instagram models or TikTok dancers. Movie stars were heroes. I loved watching guys like DiCaprio, DeNiro, Pitt, Clooney, etc. because acting was a true art form at that time and it could really trigger human emotion. I feel it’s lost some of that in the last decade because people are cast based on popularity rather than ability. My grade 11 drama teacher William Scoular also said this was something I should take seriously. We ended up actually filming a movie called Survival Box together. And I was good at doing impressions of other people and could make my mother laugh. When the first Harry Potter film was released, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

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

Yes. When Nicolas Cage and I were filming The Retirement Plan in the Cayman Islands, he asked me if I had a “spider guy” to help him import this purple Tarantula from South America. It was awesome.

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

Right now I’m getting ready to be a part of a film based on the true story of a dad who held up a CBC broadcasting station because they refused to show the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey game that his son was playing in. I’m also about to film an extreme angling show next month where I fish around the entire island of Barbados in one day in both the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Should be awesome.

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?

Don’t ever stop learning. And stay sharp. Get involved in acting classes and scene studies. Find them in your local city or work with coaches online. David Rotenberg in Toronto has a great scene study class that I still take to this day. Don’t take casting decisions personally if you don’t get picked. I promise you’re going to audition a ton before you get cast. Don’t give up. And remember there’s so many ways to be self-produced today. Don’t be afraid to make your own stuff and submit it to festivals or release it online. You don’t have to wait for a project to pick you.

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?

Diversity is important for so many reasons, but specifically in the entertainment industry it enhances creativity because you have the opportunity to experience a wide range of perspectives and experiences. Being inclusive and showing diversity on screen, allows audiences from all backgrounds to see themselves represented in characters and relate to the material in a more meaningful way. It also helps people to be more inclusive and empathetic by gaining an understanding of different cultures and values. Art and entertainment is intended to help bring people together and so it’s crucial that all people are included and represented.

What are your "5 things I wish someone told me when I first started" and why? Please share a story or example for each.

A lot of people in this industry are going to promise you things in exchange for investing in a film, a script, etc. Don’t do it and don’t listen to them unless you’re already a seasoned producer or familiar with the business. People will prey on actors desperate for a project or a big role because they need the money. I did this once in my early 20’s and ended up being cut out of the film anyways. You can’t buy success. I wish someone told me to manage my expectations better. People will get you so excited about the project being “the best movie ever made” and promise that it will go to all these festivals and theatres and will make you a star and then nothing ever comes of it. Remember that nothing is real until it's happening. And don’t skip leg day at the gym. There is a lot of physically demanding days on set. I also recommend eating properly before you get to set. Sometimes the food from catering can be criminally bad.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Don’t smoke and don’t vape. It really screws with your emotions and dopamine levels and it also ruins your skin. Workout every day. You need to be physically able to spend 12+ hours a day standing on set. You will need energy. Eat healthy. Sleep is your friend. Surround yourself with other actors and producers. Brainstorm ideas for scripts together. You won’t feel as isolated or lonely with a core group of people and that will motivate you to keep going. And don’t ever underestimate the support of your family. You’re going to be very happy that they’re around for you one day, I promise. I’m not into meditation myself because I think its bullshit (though if it works for you, that’s great) so I won’t say do that, but self-care is very important. Get IV vitamin drips done, get a massage, get plastic surgery if you don’t like something about yourself and you want to change it. Therapy is a luxury, but if you have the means to get a therapist, having an objective professional talk about what’s going on with you and what you want to achieve, can be very beneficial.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would want to end the stigma around addiction and mental health. I was so against drugs in high school and then years later I was battling an addiction that almost killed me several times. Education is part of the answer to ending stigma, but it’s not enough. There has to be something personal involved. Something that directly affects you. Sobriety and recovery shouldn’t be shunned or shamed. Even though addiction is classified as a disease, which it certainly is, it gets you judgement instead of a disease like cancer which gets you sympathy. That’s because people still believe the answer is so simple. Just say no. Just stop using. They don’t understand that when addiction takes over you’re literally a passenger in your body with no control. You’re on autopilot possessed by urges so powerful no human power or rational thought can stop them. It’s hell on earth. If you’re struggling, don’t ever be afraid to surrender and find a better life that you deserve. Don’t ever suffer in silence. Get help. It’s not easy. It’s worth it.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Mrs. Petra Talanipa, my nanny who helped raise me and my brother from the time we were born. She honestly was the living example of what a good person is and does. She taught me so much about the importance of love, compassion, and self-sacrifice. She was with me every day for almost sixteen years until she got run over by a car and was unable to work anymore. And Nicolas Tabarrok, a great film producer who took a chance on me during covid putting me in three films in the Cayman Islands. We were introduced through a mutual friend, I literally did an audition on FaceTime, and three days later I was on a plane.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Ya. I think “Life isn’t fair and it’s never going to be” is probably the most useful thing you should learn early on. To remember that we’re all born on the same planet, but into very different worlds. There’s a lot of things I wish I had, and I wish I could do, but I just can’t. Everyone has different circumstances, opportunities, challenges, hardships etc. That’s why I think being compassionate is so important. You never really know what’s going on with someone else. That being said you should always push your abilities to the limit. If you want something don’t wait for it to fall in your lap. Go out and work for it. Don’t settle for average. Dream big and do everything in your power to make it happen for yourself. It takes a lot of time and late nights and you can’t rely on anyone to do it for you. I never settled for average in any area of my life whether it’s in my acting career, my fishing, my relationships and now I’m starring in movies with some of my idols, fishing around the world and engaged to the love of my life. And five years ago I was on the verge of death from an opiate addiction. It’s never too late to create something for yourself.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

James Cameron. He’s my favorite film maker. I watched Avatar almost once a week in college. I want to hear his process on going from imagination to reality. He’s a true living, breathing creative genius.

How can our readers follow you online?

I’m on Instagram at @adammoryto

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!