“I don’t want to be an actor, I need to be an actor because I can’t find my place in this world without it,” says 28-year-old Ryan Hayden. He picks up his beer in one hand, takes a few sips and sets it down as the foam dissolves on his lips. His girlfriend and artistic buds are around him outside in the courtyard of the Ginger Man bar in the downtown Dallas area. Hayden comes here to practice lines for his friends and likes to look at what they have been up to in terms of their artistic work. “People are my favorite subjects. It’s their idiosyncrasies that I am really drawn to,” says Hayden.
His professional career started out in a blink of an eye when Hayden was acting in a school play with a casting director’s son. Sitting in the audience, she saw talent in Hayden, and called him in for a Borden’s Milk television commercial audition. “I got booked right away,” said Hayden. The second time around, the casting director called him in again for a soymilk print commercial. He was referred to the Kim Dawson Agency. “They Liked my look and I tricked them into thinking I was talented enough” he chuckled.
Over the years since Hayden’s dive into acting, it has been the best channel and the best conduit to express himself. Hayden feels that others pursue acting for the wrong reasons: Fame and wealth. “Unfortunately it is not so much about being talented anymore as it is about being famous,” says Hayden. He sees it as a very competitive world especially with America’s emphasis on reality TV. “It is the new American dream to find your riches through minimal work and maximum reward is the pay,” says Hayden. It has been hard for Hayden to compete with these individuals who are so hung up on being famous when he just has a passion for what he does best. “The reality shows fill America’s need for cheap entertainment, and it is almost a new machine to dumb down the masses,” he says. Hayden still cannot believe that a show like “The Real Housewives” is still succeeding when a phenomenal show like “Arrested Development” played by talented individuals, only lasted for three years. Although he has never wanted to quit the industry, Hayden has thought of other means where he could support himself without acting, but still put himself in a place of presentation where he is still giving people his product, and being judged by it. “I’ve been a yoga instructor, a chef, painter, mime-you name it! As long as there are people being entertained, I’ve done it,” says Hayden. No matter what, even if he takes little breaks from time to time, Hayden always goes back to his number one love-acting.
Although Hayden has been booked consistently, acting is not something he has been able to make a living out of. Right now, acting is his passion, and he is working on trying to make it the inverse, so that acting is a way of life for him. “It is hard, and at times it has sucked the life out of me, but I can’t imagine living any other way.” he says. Acting has been quite the transition for Hayden when it comes to his looks. “I’ve always looked younger than I am,” says Hayden. He has always played younger roles, which is pretty standard for the acting world. “Once when I was 26 years old I played a high school student,” says Hayden. Recently, he stopped shaving in order to accumulate a bevy of different roles. As an actor, Hayden believes his body is his temple-a sacred thing, and he tries to honor it as best as he possibly can. “Let’s face it, I am only human. I have lost many roles because my hair was too long, or I had a beard,” says Hayden. Recently, Hayden drove down to Austin for a call back for a movie role in which he would be playing a lead. He drove down for the call back and had a great reading with the director. “I ended up losing out because they said I gave off an air of too much confidence which would have been brilliant for the last half of the role,” says Hayden. It frustrates him because there are so many actors, and there is always someone else that will be better for the role. Although Hayden struggles at times, he feels that the business is worth it. Genesis Alana, a friend of Hayden’s who is also in the acting world feels the same way. “You can never be good enough and you can always learn to hone your craft right up until you retire” says Genesis.
Hayden still lives with his parents, but he finds himself to be very lucky. “I would not be able to be alive in this industry if it were not for my family and friends,” says Hayden. He does feel that if something tragic happened to his parents, he would never give up. “True actors never quit, just like a true artist never thinks his painting is finished” says Hayden. He is still signed to The Kim Dawson Agency, and recently Hayden became the face of JCPenny. “My agents called me in and said that JCPenny was looking for a new look. I walked in and luckily the stars aligned” says Hayden. He never thought of himself as a good looking guy. “I use my personality, my presence, and my overwhelming charisma for proof to show that I belong.” His girlfriend Brooke Brockman feels as though Hayden can make it in this industry. “He is a very influential person. He is so positive that it rubs off on everyone else.” Everywhere Hayden goes, his personality is contagious and confidence is crucial.
“Acting is the medium for the presentation of my soul,” says Hayden.
