Rising Star Adam Ratcliffe On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry
An Interview With Eden Gold
Pick up as many new skills as you can. If you can afford it and while you are young and have the energy buy rosetta stone and learn a language!
As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Adam Ratcliffe.
Adam Ratcliffe hails from the Philadelphia area, nurtured by a remarkable singer mother with a lineage steeped in show business from the 1940s. His grandfather, a veteran of off-Broadway shows, ignited a fervor for singing in his young grandson. At the tender age of five, Adam mesmerized his kindergarten peers with renditions of his grandfather’s cherished show tunes, notably “Red Red Robin,” in a school-wide performance — a moment that ignited his passion for the stage.
With a rich background in singing and stagecraft, Adam took to performing at an early age, gracing elementary school stages with his talent.
His breakthrough came in 2005 when he earned his SAG card portraying Jimmy, the vigilant tow truck driver who uncovers a bomb on an episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” Since then, Adam has been a fixture on prime-time network shows, predominantly in New York City.
His crowning achievement thus far is his portrayal of Ethan Rengepis in David Vincent Bob’s biopic “Right Before Your Eyes,” a role that earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the esteemed International Independent Christian Film & Music Festival in Orlando, Florida, in May 2019. He is the lead in the new crime drama St. Michael of the City, scheduled for release in early April of 2024 and will be premiered at the Garden State Film Festival.
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 middle class blue collar as the 4th son to my father who is a bar restaurant owner and my mother who is a school bus driver. My mom and dad split when I was 4 and my brothers and I had a lot of challenges along the way but we all got through them for the most part. Growing up in the 80’s was a different time and we had to be tough and we were. My mom was very instrumental in making sure I was always at my football and wrestling practices and games. I excelled at sports and that was key to overcoming a lot of the stresses of being from a semi broken home. Sports really helped me find a purpose and a family of friends who I created lifelong relationships with. By highschool I was one of the very best linebackers in the state of Pennsylvania & would go on to get a partial scholarship to play linebacker at West Chester University.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
My mom was a well above average singer as was her dad who had done a few broadway shows in New York City. He was from Canada and met my grandma (also from Canada) in NYC. He was a bit of a drifter and would come and go sometimes staying at our house for a couple of months only to disappear again. We sang together on our porch and he taught me a song called “red red robin” it became my favorite song and I taught it to my whole first grade class. We wound up performing it for the whole school as a group. That set off a confidence in me as a singer and it kind of remained that way throughout grade school. Even though my mom and dad were split we would still get hand me down juke boxes from my dad’s Tavern. So I knew all the popular songs ie. Michael Jackson springsteen as well as all the oldies- Motown etc.. So I was developing into a bit of a chameleon in grade school because in addition to sports building my confidence I was surrounded by colorful characters that my dads business brought in. I knew them all by name and we’d play pool together and I’d hear all of their stories and the way they talked was always extremely interesting. So it was kind of the perfect storm of assimilating to the world around me and always shifting to suit my environment. Fights were a norm and I definitely had my fair share and took and gave some beatings, it was the 80's! haha. To make a long story short, by the time 8th grade rolled around my junior highschool was doing a show called BYE BYE BIRDIE. I was the captain of the football team and was in the select choir and was known as a good singer. It wasn’t my idea but it was the principal’s idea to audition for the role of Conrad Birdie. I hadn’t done any real acting up to that point but he didn’t have many lines so if I pulled the singing part off I was pretty much guaranteed the role. Just needed to look good in the gold suit. It was a moment that added to my development in a massive way. Receiving the standing ovation for that created a new love in me for the arts and entertainment. It was the only thing I could liken to my experiences in athletics and it was indeed a high and a thrill I would continually chase for the next 30 plus years.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting thing about my story in acting I’d say is how it began. I was an intern at NBC 10 in Philadelphia logging highlights for the Phillies that would be shown on the 8 and 10 pm news segments. I was thinking about whether or not I actually wanted to stay at NBC when the internship was complete as my major was Communications Media and my minor was Theater. My advisor came to check on me as was the norm and asked me how it was going and I said it was ok but I got honest with her and told her that my real passion was acting and that I was just afraid to really commit to it. I pointed at the poster of the LAW AND ORDER show on the wall and said with conviction for the first time “that is what I want to actually do” and to my surprise she said “well thats what youre going to have to go do.” I finished my internship & got my degree and was so fortunate enough to have met a man in my hometown who was a student of an accelerated acting program in NYC that was being run by a guy named Thomas G Waites best known “The Thing” and “Warriors” The man who took me to NYC had a daughter who was on Broadway at the time as baby Louis in “Gypsy.” Jack Nicholson was sitting in the seat in front of me and I was able to meet and take a picture with him after the show. Up until that time I was saving money working at a car wash in hometown to move to Los Angeles kind of blind and aimless but my plans that night changed. I jumped into the acting class with my friend and quickly learned that Vincent D’Onofrio was the assistant teacher in the class which made it even more unbelievable. Vincent became the biggest blessing in my acting career and in my life because he took me from being a theater actor to a Film and TV actor. He broke me down and taught me to be vulnerable and to speak in my own voice and to simply place myself in the character’s circumstances and to not “act” as opposed to pretending which many actors do. He was a blessing and I was lucky to have studied with him for over 2 years. Another interesting part of that story is the little girl who was in Gypsy went on to marry Jeremy Allen White who just won his second Golden Globe for “The Bear”
It has been said that 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?
I don’t know if it was funny then but it is now. I used to dwell on not closing the deal on one agency that didn’t want to take me on as a new actor in the beginning. I remember there was a showcase we did in our acting class in NYC for managers and Talent Agencies and only one really came and they were in the mid 80’s. It was a husband and wife and their office was in Times Square which I thought was the end all be all to what legitimacy was. If I could only get these two to sign me I’d be on my way to stardom. They did sign only one of our classmates who was a model for gucci versace and others and had little experience as a working actor either. It devastated me back then. I rode a rickshaw back then in the early 2000’s also known as a pedicab or a Bike Taxi nowadays and I saw them after the Broadway shows let out and offered them a free ride all the way from 42nd street to their luxury estate on 89th and Broadway FOR FREE? They were gracious and declined and I was once again dejected. I was in shape and talented and thought how dare these old timers not just give me a shot? Luckily I had mentors back then and one of them said, hey man, they may not be good enough for YOU? Have you ever thought of that? Of course I hadn’t but it offered me a new perspective at the time. I decided to bury the idea that there is only one agency worth pursuing and I kept studying and submitting pictures and resumes until one day another younger and fresher agency called me to do an audition for them. I had been through enough training at that point and rejection in my life that I was able to focus on the work and I did a monologue from Death of a Salesman and was able to impress the agent enough that day for her to sign me and the rest is history. My life changed that day as did the way I thought of people and their subjective tastes in what they perceive to be marketable. The other actor who was signed by the elderly agents never worked a day in the industry. Lesson learned.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I just worked on a Ridley Scott series that is shooting in my home city of Philadelphia called “Sinking Springs.” I also am doing a ton of auditioning and just completed my very first movie as a voice actor and a character for a cartoon. That was so fun!
As a rising star, you’ve likely faced challenges along the way. How do you stay motivated and overcome obstacles in your career?
As with anything in life there is power in numbers. I really try to lean on certain people in my life who I respect and can learn from. People who I know have been through really complex and even traumatic things and have overcome them in a productive way, those are the people I seek out, anytime I have dealt with anything heavy. One of the reasons I committed to this career is because at the age of 21 I was able to surrender my own demons and put down alcohol and any and all illegal substances. My problem was alcohol and it hindered me from doing the things I was capable of doing and achieving in this life. I made the decision in the summer of 2002 that if a kid like me could do that coming from where I came from then I could do anything. Yes it is an extremely difficult career and it is so so challenging and there are times when you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. I have had to apply certain principles that I learned a sober member of society to all my daily endeavors and goals. One day at a time one foot in front of the other, what’s meant for you will be yours and what’s not won’t. There have been auditions that I’ve done where I have had 4 or 5 callbacks, early on it was Broadway shows and now it is for network TV and I will always be in the top 5. After years of doing this a seasoned actor realizes callbacks mean a lot! It means you are in the game. I just keep working and keep the faith that I will get the job that I am supposed to get as long as I do the next right thing and try to help the next person who needs it. In the last two years I have actually developed an online acting course for advanced, beginners and intermediate actors on zoom. We meet once and sometimes twice a week. All things that 21 years of hustling for a career in acting has taught me I am now able to pass onto them. Many of them have already worked and have been able to attain a legit talent agency. So there is so much truth to when one feels bogged down with stress and anxieties and failures, the best way to get through any of it is to help someone else.
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 wrote a screenplay 9 years ago about street buskers and subway performers and the characters are extremely diverse. Inclusion isn’t about shifting from one culture to the next because that automatically just swaps out what we were doing for decades only now we”ll be excluding anyone who isn’t ethnic which if we think about it doesn’t really make sense. I love all people. I love urban films, westerns and period pieces, even sci fi. It doesn’t matter to me if the whole cast is a minority or not. I focus on the story and whether or not it is compelling. It’s clear there are only so many roles to go around and I am very well aware that in the present time I may not be considered for certain roles as inclusion is assuredly important. I understand that and I have for a very long time. I write scripts and have produced them with that in mind as well. I think the future of TV and Film as long as we maintain actual inclusion and don’t just cancel one group for another will be headed in a very strong direction and it is exciting.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
1 . The sooner you shed your expectations in regards to landing the job and simply do the work to the very best of your abilities the sooner you will manifest a career.
2 . Learn to not second guess your initial instincts.
3 . For certain actors getting the lines down cold is THE most important part, only when we do that can we do our best work!
4 . Pick up as many new skills as you can. If you can afford it and while you are young and have the energy buy rosetta stone and learn a language!
5 . The less you put stock in what people think of you the more you will thrive as long as you are doing right by others.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I picked up the guitar at 28 years of age. I honestly wish I would’ve done it sooner. I was already an experienced singer. By 32 in addition to being a working actor I was now playing gigs in bars and restaurants all over the Delaware valley by myself and making decent money at it. Had I started earlier and even taken lessons I could’ve had even more balance. In addition to my wife and son playing and listening to music is the one thing that brings me to my center. So the moral of the story is find your balance and find as many hobbies as you can and as always when you can help people who need it and may be less fortunate as you! What you give you get ten fold.
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 believe we need to as a society get back to the basics of patience and tolerance accompanied with the single most important attribute: kindness. There are movements everywhere we look right now and having taught at a university for a semester in the fall I realized that I don’t think that is necessarily an overall good thing. We are not obligated to behave constantly in a manner that doesn’t rock the boat and we are also not obligated to walk the fine line of trying not to upset our neighbors pet peeves constantly at every turn either.. Humans and life are paradoxical in nature. Many of life’s scenarios, truths and complicated situations are meant to be complicated. We are supposed to be imperfect and to learn to live in the ying and yang of life. People absolutely hate the gray areas nowadays and everything in our society can’t be solved with a massive movement but a deliberate individual inventory taking of making sure we individually are doing the very best we can to treat all of our neighbors as we would treat ourselves, period. If there is egregious and overt tyranny and or injustices done to our fellow man of course a movement is necessary but I believe that we as a society have become way too sensitive to varying opinions and beliefs at this time, and I say that as a border line liberal the son of a liber mom and a marine republican father. We need to get back to civility and to be able to engage and maintain peaceful conversations.
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?
I mentioned two of them in my earlier segments. One being RJ Timlin, Addison TImlin’s father who gave me the courage and brought me to 21st and lexington in NYC to learn from my mentor Vincent D”Onofrio. The other was the man who told me that the two agents that passed up on me weren’t suited for me and that they didn’t have enough clout to be my agency. His name was Steven Beach, a retired professional working actor and he is a member of the renowned Actors Studio in NYC. The third and MOST important would be my wife. She has stuck with me through so much. Through the loss of a child even. When we met she was told this is what I am, this is what I am doing and will continue to do and she has stuck with me. She’s my very best friend and the love of my life without her none of this would mean as much.
How can our readers follow you online?
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.
Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold
