Kindred Connect

Let's Connect With ... Aaron Ganz

Happy Tuesday! Welcome to Acting Class Daily. Each week we make a Kindred Connection with a member of our community - learning about formative moments, experiencing a few of their favorite things, tasting their artistic heart, and getting a look into their very soul.

#KindredConnect … Aaron Ganz

My Grandfather scratching my back. Fresh baked goods. Bullied. Blue Jays winning back-to-back, baby! Chafetz Chaim yeshivah. Early admissions as a way to break free of the bindings of religion. Medicine. Acting. Love. Breakups. Finding who I wanted to be and going for it. Finding myself missing it. Then making it. Then … Then. Teaching. Roaring. Building. Fighting. Creating and directing beyond anything I knew possible. Bauer buddy. Best bud ever. Best. Bud. Ever. Hanging on. Not being able to hang on. Not letting go. Quiet. Silence. Shadow. Light. Attempt.

Connect with Aaron: Facebook and Instagram.

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#IAMELYSIUM

Open Windows

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Here’s an unguarded, unedited, uninterrupted minute with the windows open.

My Artistic Heart

Revealing the truest, rawest taste of your creative soul through any form of live expression.

My Elysium Artist

The “reputational quote” you’ll earn when you’ve reached your potential.

When Aaron looked at me, I became the character.

What about Elysium feels kindred in spirit to the artist you are today?

I’m in love with the cycle of mentorship found in everything we do. Watching teammates who genuinely care about the success of others … that’s my cup of coffee.

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#FearlessFavorites

Movies

1. Back To The Future

2. The Tree of Life

3. The Wizard of Oz

4. Nine Months

5. Team America: World Police

TV Series

1. 24

2. How I Met Your Mother

3. The West Wing (Seasons 1-4)

4. The Sopranos

5. Battlestar Galactica

Songs

1. Werewolf (CocoRosie)

2. This Bitter Earth / On The Nature of Daylight (Dinah Washington & Max Richter)

3. Hiders (Burial)

4. Johnny Appleseed (Joe Strummer)

5. The King of Wishful Thinking (Go West)

Books/Poems/Plays

1. Act One (Moss Hart)

2. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

3. Harry Potter Series (JK Rowling)

4. Cymbeline (William Shakespeare)

5. DC’s New Frontier (Darwyn Cooke)

Foods

1. BBQ Brisket Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries

2. Fresh Baked Challah

3. Eggplant Parmesan

4. Cereal

5. Kiechel

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#TheInnerView

What role would you most like to live-through … and why?

Richard III. What a challenge. “I shall despair. There is no creature loves me. And if I die no soul will pity me. Wherefore should they? Since that I myself, find in myself, no pity for myself …”

Tell us about a life-shaping moment.

I roared down my inner demon at a ayahuasca ceremony, got carried with care towards a song meant just for me that opened the door to a life-shaping epiphany …

Even in times where I felt most alone, I have always been there.

Having my own back. Right at my own side.

Share a moment when you experienced the best of yourself as an artist.

The moment alone in my room just after opening night of Twelfth Night as Malvolio at Chautauqua. That song on the radio, that message on my phone. The world outside me reflecting what I felt inside. The floating peace of feeling fully accomplished.

Where have you travelled … and most want to travel?

I’m from Toronto, Canada and now live in California. Grew up in New York, living upstate in Rochester and all over “the city” in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. I’ve spent months at a time in Cedar City, Utah and in Chatauqua, New York. I’ve lived in Moscow and traveled to St. Petersburg, Zurich, Prague, Amsterdam, Rome, even drove through northern Germany. I’ve been to Israel three times and maybe the most special trip of all … Guatemala City and Antigua in Guatemala as a reward for work I did raising money for kids in need from those very places.

I drove cross country(-ies?) from Toronto to LA when I first moved out here (taking the northern route) where I explored … so much. It was one of my favorite trips and makes me want to explore a different route back on a road trip to come.

Most want to travel to England - History! Shakespeare! Newcastle United Football!

What does your perfect day-off look like?

Wake up rested. Breakfast with friends. Adventure with Bauer. Dinner under the stars. Relax with music or something funny on TV … before watching the Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup!!!! … and then fall asleep tired into a comfy bed with someone I love.

Did you know…?

I can beat you at ping-pong. 😈

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Kindred Spirits. Connect.

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#UnderTheVeil

My inspiration for “The Veil”

I grew up in Toronto, Canada and we had this amazingness …

Ahhh! Something like it would be wonderful for actors. Not as a means to market or present ourselves, but rather an opportunity to drop the veil and simply speak you.

If you haven’t given it a try yet … there’s no better time than right now to add your first audio message to the growing mix: 989-843-8345 (THE VEIL).