From the unwanted old philosopher in Triumph of Love to the much sought-after romantic hero Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, graduating BFA student Matt Kennedy has walked lives of gloom and glory onstage. Offstage, Kennedy is a co-owner of a film company, educator at improv camps, judge at film festivals and producer of a feature film. The magic seed that inspires these achievements is a love for stories and storytelling.
After graduating from high school, Kennedy embarked on a trip to Ghana, where he experienced a culture shock that paved the way to his life philosophy to seize the day. “Acting is … the way for me to continue [to] explore … different people and different cultures…. Acting is kind of a branch of [travelling that] really highlights humanity.”
Unlike directors, who maintain a distance from the individual characters in order to oversee the entire production, actors indulge in self-exploration. “It’s really about [whom] you are … not so much about creating a character…. It’s like you’re finding yourself within a character…. It’s a very selfish thing, but you’re doing it for someone else,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy’s life offstage has been enriched by his fruitful experience onstage. There are times when he disagrees with his roles, yet he learns to appreciate or at least be non-judgemental of the world as seen from his characters’ perspectives.
“Logic and reason are ruled by the heart,” Kennedy quoted the musical Triumph of Love. “It’s all about finding a balance.”
With grandparents who hold musical aesthetics in a high regard and parents who are ever-supportive and diligently attend his shows, Kennedy has no reserves about launching a life-long journey to the realm of entertainment. Yet he is not oblivious to the cutthroat nature of this industry, and constantly exerts himself to break his own limit.
“You can’t be good at everything, but you can always be better at everything…. I’ll always continue to develop learning how to let it go when the time comes … [and] to be vulnerable, open and flexible,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy values the experience that he learned from past roles while always focusing on the present. “It’s always the show that I’m doing right now that I seem to love the most…. I don’t really have any dream roles; they just seem to pop in and present themselves to me, and then I fall in love with them.”
Kennedy spoke fondly of UBC as well.
“[It] is an amazing school in the sense that it has everything that you could need to develop as an actor in regards to providing you with spaces to rehearse and perform; they provide you with support and they introduce you to all the people that you would need to know to make a career. But at the same time, it’s up to you to take advantage of those things," he said.
"My advice is to take every opportunity that comes along, and to take every experience and realize that how can you be better next time -- to be a little selfish about your work and realize the whole three years in the BFA acting program is about how to be you. There’s no one way to be an actor; there’s only your way to be an actor.”
Be it entrepreneur, traveller or storyteller, Kennedy proudly owns his identity and is using his own way to navigate in the sea of acting dreams.