Urban Bergsten - Karma Is Everything ( Actor )

Praise your collegues when you like something. Tell the author of that great book, that you loved it, that band and so on. Actually, tell everyone. What goes around comes around. Karma is everything. In these days more than ever.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I am a Swedish Actor based in beautiful Stockholm. I have been working professionally for more than 25 years. After having taken a basic Theatre Course in the City of Norrköping, close by my Hometown of Linköping, I moved to our Capitol Stockholm for another School that taught writing for Theatre and Film. When finished (1994) I immedately did two things. I started a Theatre Group with two of my former Classmates and a Football (Soccer) Team. Both alive and kicking (pun intended) to this day. This is something I am very proud of.

I also tried my wings as a Stand Up Comedian and since some of the members of the Theatre Group also experimented in that field, we started to run Comedy Venues together. Every Sunday for five years in a row, we performed brand new material. Both Stand up and a sort of tv-series live. We went on stage, with only the beginning, middle and end written. The rest we improvised. This is by far my most important schooling. After a while we put the best bits together to two Comedy plays and toured with them, off and on, all over Sweden, for three years. Great fun. Tv, radio and films in between and then of course I landed the biggest role of them all,

I became a father. Wonderful!

In 2006 I was headhunted to a High School which had a Course in Creative Writing. I started as a Teacher there and within a year I was made Artistic Director of it. I stayed on for nine years, while still working as an Actor, Director and Playwright, on the side. In 2015 I decided to go full time Freelance again, with focus on Films and tv-series. I made preparations and had everything lined up. And then nothing happened for a year. Nothing. Best laid plans and so on. But then it exploded. Since then I have been doing numerous Features, Tv-series and Shorts. I also work as a Voice Actor and do Case Plays with The Swedish Police Academy and MSB (The Swedish Continguency Agency) amongst others. Latest work are the Fantasy Short "legend of Dark Rider", the two Viking Features "Draug" and "THe Huntress- Rune of the Dead" and the TV-series "Blinded". Second season coming up. Just signed with an International agency: Jack and Jill Talent Agency, so now I am hoping for the vaccines to start kicking in, so I can go work abroad (in lovely India, for instance). Fingers crossed! Now hoping for a nice Period Piece or a Sci-Fi Story to land in my lap. I simply will not die before having had a role in a Star Wars Movie or series. The kid in me will not let me. So it will/must happen.

2. Did you ever think or dream of being an actor?

Both yes and no. I did early on (think I was about ten or eleven), say that I wanted to be an actor, because I loved the magic of movies and tv-series, but in my family that was something unheard of. My mother was a Teacher and my Father a Car Salesman. Noone in our midst had ever chosen to pursue a career within the Arts. When I was seventeen and went to see a play (by Lars Norén, Swedens most famous Playwright after Strindberg), with my class, that was the first time an experience of the Theatre blew me away.

I took some additional courses in Drama and started to act in some Student Theatre Groups after, but at that time music was my main focus. It was at the age of 23, when studying at the forementioned Theatre Course i felt I had to make a choice and chose Acting as my primary passion and made making music into more of a hobby (still keep at it though "The Urban Fuckups" are on Spotify) and I have also cofounded a Film Music Live Festival (2018) where Directors of Short Films are paired up with Composers and then have the music performed live by a full Orchestra and Choir, when the film is first screened. Beyond Super cool. Goosebumps all over.

3. How can one approach their career and have the confidence and belief to become an actor?

Ok,some practical stuff:

Get a real good Head Shot. Something that shows YOU. This is a tricky one but important. My Head Shot is the one above. I went for a warm and mischievious look. Both are (hopefully) me and makes an inception on the beholder. Oh, he can be both a father, a nurse, a teacher. and a killer. These are roles I absolutely can see me playing and would love portraying. It is for you to decide what you want to.
When having done some stuff, make a Show Reel. If you do not have enough material, do things on your own. Have a friend with an ok camera film you performing a monologue or whatever. Max 3 min. long. Remember that what we want to see is you. What you can do, so focus on where you shine.
Practice making presentation videos. Today it is almost always Self Tapes instead of live auditions. Accompanied with a presentation video. Try to be super short, super precise about who you are and what you do/have done, with a touch that shows who you are. This sounds easy. It is not.
Learn your lines and try not to knock over the furniture.
Have fun. Always.

As to confidence an belief, I am going to be pretentious and say, that if you do not see this as a calling, it is probably not for you. Because it is not an easy path and there will be dry seasons. Few of us are so blessed that we have an even work flow. It is more a rule, than an exception that there is nothing, nothing, nothing and then everything at the same time, so that you even have to say no to stuff. This is challenging to say the least.

But there is also the truth of "you are only a role away from making it big!". But you have to have thick skin. Because it is needed when you get 49 NO:s before the last important YES. This is paradoxal because our work is about being sensitive and having a good understanding of human nature. And having thick skin.

4. If not this, what would you be doing?

There is nothing but this. Because I get to combine so many traits. Acting/writing/directing/lecturing.

But If my back was to the wall I´d say Rock Star.

5. For a complete outsider with inroads, what advice would you like to give?

I think lust is the key word. If you feel that you love acting and have the insight as to whether you might actually become good at it and the answer is yes, then pursue. Number one always being, to keep at it. As with everything else it is hard work and you are never (never, I tell you!) fully learned. Keep doing stuff, it is also of importance for being noticed. Always keep at it and when you feel that you are doing something that is good, invite people in the business. To your show or film or whatever. Even if they do not show, you will be in their minds, just by inviting. Make it a habit of updating your material. Then mail Casting Agencies and others you want to work with and let them now what´s up, what´s new. Maybe twice a year. You do not want to be annoying by doing it too often.

Connect with people on social media and tell the world what you are doing and why you love doing it. Passion enthusiasms. And always tell the people you think are doing a good job, that they are. We all need appreciation and although this is a very solitaire work, in one regard, at least in your preparation period, it is also always a team effort in the end. The similarities to playing football are many. You are one in a team, but you also perform solo. You can never win a match single handed. It takes everones best effort, on the field as well as beside it. This does of course also comply to things outside your work. Praise your collegues when you like something. Tell the author of that great book, that you loved it, that band and so on. Actually, tell everyone. What goes around comes around. Karma is everything. In these days more than ever.

6. What is your mantra of success?

Perseverence. Lust and perseverence. Hm, that is actually a good title.

Lust comes and goes, of course. You have to play the long game. Endure.

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

Oh, there is no one favourite. Like there is no one film or no one music album. There are thankfully sooo many! But a favourite Author (Swedish by coinsidence) is John Ajvide Lindqvist (his "Let the right one in" and "Border" are both adapted to great films). Reading his latest Novel "The Kindness" now. Awesome, as always.

- Urban Bergsten ( Actor)