Los Lunas author writes about acting

LOS LUNAS — Thriving in the entertainment industry is not an easy task, but one Los Lunas actor, author and teacher is offering what he hopes are ways to be successful and keep a positive outlook about the hard knocks that often come with pursuing that type of career.

Mike Kimmel wants to share what he has learned in his 30-plus years in the film industry.

“The toughest part, I’m always thinking about people who want to get started. They don’t know who they can ask for advice,” Kimmel said. “I knew what I wanted to do since I was 5. I’ve been playing the long game — I wanted to act, write and teach and coach acting. I’ve always felt those were great opportunities to stay busy.”

Now living in the village of Los Lunas, Kimmel has extensive New York and Los Angeles credits in television, film and theater.

He has worked with Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Townsend, and was a regular sketch comedy player on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno for 11 years.

Typically working on multiple books at the same time, Kimmel has two new volumes he hopes can be of help to up-and-coming actors — “Monologues for Young Adults,” which contains 60 original collection of family-friendly, gender-neutral, stage and screen scripts, and “The Actor’s Book of Quotes: Words of Wisdom for Performing Artists.”

Creating the monologues, Kimmel relied on real-world experiences and leaned into keeping them on the more lighthearted side of the spectrum. He thought about casting directors listening to audition after audition, dramatic presentations of heavy material and considered how that affected them.

“Casting directors are human beings and I thought about them listening to these dark, dreary pieces, one after another,” he said. “Then after a while, someone comes in with something a little lighthearted, something that’s food for thought or offers some insight and a life lesson. That’s going to make that director respond like any human being would.”

Another dose of lightness comes in Kimmel’s “The Actors’ Book of Quotes,” an endeavor he’s been working on slowly, for years.

“Way, way back, when I was going to auditions, when I’d need a boost of encouragement I’d print a couple pages of motivational quotes to keep my energy up,” he said. “I’ve been collecting quotes from people in the industry for many, many years. It’s how we can keep ourselves going.”

As an acting coach, Kimmel often reminds his students that criticism, even from experts, isn’t always right. He uses a story about silent film legend Charlie Chaplin as an example. At the height of this popularity, with the No. 1 movie in the world, Paramount Studios decided to hold a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

“It was huge and being judged by some very experienced people. Charlie was feeling mischievous and entered under a fictitious name,” Kimmel says. “He came in third.

Containing quotes from actors ranging from Robert Downey Jr. to Shelly Duvall to Lillian Gish, Kimmel hopes it will help actors stay motivated “and hopefully stay in the business a little longer. It does chew people up and spit them out, especially when they’ve had a couple of strikes. We all need things to help keep us going.”

Kimmel has written nearly a dozen books of monologues and acting scenes for kids, teens, tweens and young adults. His books can be found on Amazon, at Target and Walmart and other book stores.