MANIFESTING NEW ROLES INTO REALITY
Shot by Gerson Lopes
Words by EJ Jamele
I had the immense pleasure of speaking with Ty Doran. You might recognize him as Cal Jones in Netflix’s hit show Manifest, but he began his acting career at the age of seven as a changeling child in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and never looked back.
-EJ Jamele
EJ: You’ve been in the business over 20 years which is crazy since you’re so young. In unprecedented times, how did you keep your skills and passion sharp during the strike when you had so much unexpected downtime?
Ty: There was a lot of TV and movies that were helpful, consuming the content that I heard was good, watching other people do their thing. I worked with a summer camp here in LA that works with 6-14 year olds and puts on musicals over the summer. It was a blast and it was nice to return to the theater in that way. I think the children really brought out how personal, upfront and in your face that medium is. That was really rewarding, getting to scream, sing and dance with them all day every day.
I also really like consuming art, that was my main way to stay connected to that part of my brain. I was using the time to try getting my hands on everything that I’ve been putting off for so long, not reading.
Honestly, my girlfriend Harley is the best person at recommending books that you’ll ever meet in the entire world. She was ready with twenty of them that I needed to pound through in the first month, she’s fantastic.
EJ: I heard that you got a new family member in your house; tell me more.
Ty: I’ve wanted a dog for a while, now my girlfriend and I moved into a new place in the middle of February. It has this gorgeous backyard on a hill, and it’s perfect for a dog. I was ready on day one, but she was like, okay let’s give it six months of living together here and figure that out first. Then maybe we’ll get a dog.
About a month and a half in, she finally relented when she saw these little golden doodles up for adoption at my favorite pet agency on Instagram.
Our 13 week old puppy is slowly but surely learning where to go to the bathroom and come when we call her name. It’s very exciting, but we haven’t mastered it quite yet.
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EJ: OMG that’s awesome - what agency did you use?
Ty: Wagmor Pets in the Studio City area of LA. It was a good experience and the woman who runs it is dealing with all these puppies, most of them are at her house for the first couple of weeks when they get into town.
EJ: Other than acting and teaching, what else fills your cup? What are your other passions?
Ty: These days, it’s like I’m throwing spaghetti at the wall. Forgive me, as I’m picking at my new guitar calluses. I’ve been learning to play a little, I’ve got my A minor and E minor, but that’s all I have on point so far.
I’ve also been trying to learn Spanish for a while now, it’s not going great but we’re making progress. I’ve always been bad at learning foreign languages, it’s truly my achilles heel but I think it’s good to try things you don’t immediately excel at. That’s been my mission lately.
EJ: How are you learning Spanish?
Ty: It’s an online course called Rocket Language. They take you through 30 minute recorded lessons with some music. Then it’s culture and geography that you learn in the language. It’s going OK, it’s definitely helped my pronunciation abilities. I used to be on Duolingo, but that was too much like a game for me.
EJ: What’s your favorite thing to do on your day off, when you’re not busy working or teaching?
Ty: My favorite thing if I’m really busy and need some time to recuperate is to get out of the house by myself and go somewhere green and sunny. If it’s a rainy day and I can’t do that, then I'll just sleep and lounge all day.
If it’s nice and sunny out, I’m likely at the park. I’m either in the grass reading a book, listening to music or just enjoying the day and people watching, but I’m not talking to literally a single soul.
EJ: Did your role as Cal on Manifest instill any newfound fears of flying?
Ty: Yeah, I mean, the headlines would write themselves. “KID ON A MISSING PLANE ACTUALLY FALLS FROM PLANE!” It would be too perfect. I think the show almost saved me with a get out jail free card. I just don’t think things in life happen that perfectly. You can’t be on a show about a plane crash or disappearance and then in real life be in a plane crash disappearance.
I know that’s not true, but it feels like in the ether there’s something working in my favor. I had my plane experience already, so no more notable things with planes are gonna happen in my life, knock on wood!
It is funny though because my best friend from home just got his pilot’s license about a year ago and has been begging me to go up with him. I have yet to go up with him, it's truly my fear. I'm convinced if I ever make that decision something horrible is going to happen."
EJ: What’s your dream role or ideal character you want to play?
Ty: I was recently thinking about the play Peter and the Starcatchers, which is based on the book with the same name that’s based around Peter Pan. I was supposed to play the Captain Hook character Black Stash at my college in Spring of 2020.
Unfortunately, you know, a pandemic happened. The show was canceled, graduation was canceled and all of the surrounding events. It was the least of my worries then, but I was thinking about it and I regret not getting to do all that. So much of the character is intentionally stupid.
I’ve also been re-watching Parks and Rec lately. Chris Pratt’s character is having a ball the entire time. That’s what I want right now, I have that itch for the dumbest character that’s loveable and trying really hard, trying so hard but is dumb to truly insane levels of ridiculousness.
That kind of play, getting to work off impulse in that way. Maybe it’s because of the puppy, and she’s always taking in every moment - the whole world is brand new to her. She doesn’t really know how to walk, it’s like, do I jump right now? Wait, what’s correct? That kind of energy is really attractive to me right now.
EJ: Who is your number one dream co-star or collaborator that you really want to work with?
Ty: That’s a great question, there’s so many. As a co-star, I would love to work with LaKeith Stanfield. I think he’s an incredible actor. Sorry To Bother You is one of my favorite movies, I think he’s good and that sort of naturalism and the same sense of play I was talking about is there, but in a very different way. How it manifests in his body and especially with his character in Atlanta is almost the stoner side of dumb and philosophical, but he really thinks he’s smart and can do everything. I think he plays that to a T.
On a director level, I love everything Yorgos Lanthimos puts out. Poor Things was amazing, I think The Favorite was even better. I thought it was awesome, that kind of storytelling where it’s so intimate and the performers are so good in beautiful settings. I think it’s really, really cool. The stuff he’s making is awesome and I’d love to be part of it!
EJ: What’s next on your binge list?
Ty: I hear Shogun is amazing. Feudal Japan is always a setting that is attractive to me, there’s this intensity to it. I haven’t started it yet but I’m so excited to watch Shogun. I love a foreign language film that makes me feel smarter for watching it. I know that’s not how it works at all, but it feels like you’re getting some extra insight. It’s like, I’m cultured, I’ve basically been to Japan.
Super, that’s next on the binge list for me. I hear it’s amazing and I need anything to fill that Game of Thrones void in my life at any given time.
EJ: You’ve worked in every medium of acting, film, theater and TV. What’s your rose and thorn of each?
Theater Rose
I think the rose is the way in which you get that collaboration element which is my favorite thing about acting. I’m a big collaborator in theater. Even when it’s being performed it’s like a collaboration with the audience, everyone there is complicit and involved with what’s going on. For filmmaking (which I also love) that’s just not true, you’re separated by the screen and time.
Theater Thorn
I guess you have to be there, it’s physical, the accessibility issue of it. You don’t get to reach all the people you want to, and it’s nowhere near the amount you reach with TV or film. Theater can be filmed but I think you lose something in the recording.
For the record though, I’m all for making theater movies. I think it’s pretentious to say no, you have to be there. I mean, yes, I’d rather go to a basketball game than watch it on TV, but I’d still like to have the option if I can’t go to a basketball game. I don’t live in Houston, that’s where my favorite team is. I think high energy is helpful, especially the way people are creatively filming theater now where it’s shot cinematically with angles instead of just back of the house with an audience. It’s difficult if you have to pay a lot of money and travel to these places if you want to see these things, so filming it brings us more global accessibility and reach.
Film Rose:
The level of curation with film, especially in comparison to TV is incredible. In television, you’re on set more, with much more of a tight schedule, making more content usually for less money.
There’s an element of logistics that keeps it running. I think that’s also there in filmmaking, but you’re making less stuff, there’s more room to move around creatively in the filming of it.
Film Thorn:
Because you have a lot of freedom you inevitably fall short of what the high minded original idea of it was, and then it’s a lot easier to end up in a disappointed place. You have to tell a much tighter, intricate story, and sometimes there’s just not enough there. You potentially don’t have enough time or you have too much time without the content to fill it.
In film, there’s so many parts and I feel like I have less control as an actor.
EJ: What are some of your favorite artists or bands to listen to?
Ty: It’s been a lot of Chappell Roan in our house and a little bit of King Princess. I love Tierra Whack’s new album too. It’s mostly a collection of her singles, but the new ones are fantastic and I love the singles. Now they’re all in that one album, Shower Song is something I have to put on when I’m in the shower, it’s a good time. Same with Sammy Rae and The Friends, all are great shower music.
Then it’s the classics, Frank Ocean always comes on and a little Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads.
EJ: Here’s a scenario for you. You have to be at the airport in 45 minutes. You have to pack and run. What are your essentials you must have in your bag right now?
Ty: The number one essential item is my noise canceling Bose headphones, they’re amazing. They’ve solved plane travel for me. They were recently chewed to death by the new puppy Mona so I have to get a new set, thanks for reminding me!
If I had to go on a flight tomorrow I’m panicking and ask myself, What am I going to listen to and how am I going to listen to it? I’d be worried I’m gonna hear the plane and all the people on it. Impossible!
My Nintendo Switch is huge for a plane ride, especially with a long one like LA to NYC. Six hours is way too long to not have at least one kind of addictive video game to light an hour and a half on fire.
A book is huge as you can tell. I’m mostly entertainment focused for plane travel. Right now I’m reading Dune, the movies have been coming out and I want to read the book before I see them. I’m way behind, so I need to power through it. I’m only on page 220 of 800 pages.
I can’t do an audiobook, but I love a podcast. I don’t usually feel like I need to listen to an entire podcast. With a book I read every sentence at least 3 times, I’m the slowest reader in the world, but I have very good reading comprehension. I get what the author is trying to give me, but it moves slowly. An audiobook goes too fast. My brain is so flighty that trying to concentrate on plot or character development by just being told it over the course of hours, never. I prefer to read, but I’ll do a Kindle. An e-book is great, we love the planet, we love easy things but I definitely prefer to have the pages in my hands.
EJ: If you were a UFC fighter, what would be your walk out song?
Ty: There’s a song that’s kind of niche. Andy Mineo has a song called You Can’t Stop Me. Andy Mineo, I think he would define himself as a Christian rapper. The lyrics to You Can’t Stop Me are along the lines of, God’s got my back so you can’t take me down. It’s intent is people are screwed and you can’t stop me. That would be my walkout song because I like it and that song gets my hyped up. When I was struggling in college with my calculus class, as I was walking to those exams this song was playing. I was getting in the zone. I need some sort of self-affirmation from a loud hype man in a rap song like that. That is the one I turn to and it speaks to my roots as a Catholic raised boy.
It gets some good God references in there, and that’s important. It makes you feel Holier than Thou, stronger than any mortal being.
I listen to a bit of everything. Some folk, rap, alt rock and country. Does Chris Stapleton count for country? I’m not a huge country fan, but growing up in Houston you get a little of that inevitably.
EJ: Ketchup or Mustard?
Ty: Ketchup
EJ: Beach or Mountains?
Ty: A Beach Vacation
EJ: Out on the Town or Night on the Couch?
Ty: Movie night on the couch
EJ: Control Time or Control the Weather?
Ty: Weather, time is too powerful. I wouldn’t be responsible enough with it.
EJ: If you had to swap lives with a fictional character for a day, who would you choose?
Ty: Spongebob Squarepants. I think he’s so happy, truly nothing can get that guy down. I wanna figure out what makes him tick.
EJ: If you could teleport anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why?
Ty: This second I would go to Japan. It’s number one on my travel list, it would be so beautiful. Cherry blossom season is over now, either way I’d love to see it.
I hear Kyoto is pretty, but I think Tokyo is the way to go.
EJ: What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?
Ty: I don’t know, I went to Europe with my friend Mason. Our night in Amsterdam was a long one. It was definitely my most adventurous night. It’s not like I was paying for anything explicit, but we were attending some 18-year old me had never seen those kinds of bars before. I didn’t know what I was walking into.
The most adventurous part for me was getting on stage at the live sex show to dance with a naked monkey.
EJ: What’s the most interesting job you’ve ever had?
Ty: Doing COVID testing and vaccinations. I met so many different kinds of people in various states of distress, comfort and opinions about the whole thing. I had a lot of interesting conversations. Some very good, some very bad while working that job.
I find medical professionals hilarious. They have the strongest opinions about things that you will meet out of any group of people in the world and it’s ripe for good discussion.
EJ: If you could learn any skill instantly, what would it be and why? Ty: Learning languages because I’m so bad at it. I really like to pick random people’s brains, I got it from my father. We’re very intense about asking questions and never spilling information about ourselves. It’s good to learn about people and stay reserved, it’s the Irish Catholic way.
Learning languages and getting to speak to anyone on their terms and fully understand them, and to consume art in the language it was originally conceived would be super interesting. I wish I could learn any language instantly.
EJ: Is there anything we didn’t touch on that you want to talk about?
Ty: I’m still working with Epic Players, it’s a great theater company in New York. There’s an LA pilot program I’m working with. We got an ensemble of neurodiverse performers and The New York branch is doing a ton of stuff all the time. https://www.epicplayersnyc.org/, oh and I have a project I am filming right now that I can not wait to announce!
A HUGE & SPECIAL THANKS TO MORE FOLKS yo͞o SHo͝od nō
THE CREDITS:
Starring: Ty Doran, @_TyDoran_
Photographer: Gerson Lopes, @GersonLopes_Photographer
Executive Producer: EJ Jamele, @EJ_Jamele
Executive Production: crowdMGMT, @crowdMGMT
Words: EJ Jamele, @EJ_Jamele
Grooming: Nikay Higgins, @NikayHigginsHair
Graphics: crowdMGMT, @crowdMGMT
