Episode 83: Eric Berryman - Called To Act

Eric Berryman is an actor based in New York City.

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(00:00) Destiny, family roots, New York as home base

(03:08) Teacher advice: New York won’t walk away

(06:41) No single “artist moment,” just always knew

(10:02) Childhood assembly poem and grandmother’s prophecy

(13:37) Drawn to acting, TV, movies from early on

(17:05) Classical-actor dreams: Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Wilson

(20:44) Loving the archive, but staying forward-looking

(24:18) Why freelancing mattered: freedom to move and shake

(27:56) Too many interests: loving every style and genre

(31:22) Wanting great stories, not one lane

(34:57) Admiration over competition; rising with peers

(38:30) First “public lines” in sixth-grade drama club

(41:48) Magnet arts school and the Wishing Star Theater

(45:21) Early roles: Annie, then Charlie Brown lead

(48:55) Serious kid bio; faith, family, and rides home

(52:27) Why actor bios are overrated; performance should speak

(55:59) Acting as joy, plus subjective feedback and “proof”

(59:33) Performing as how he makes sense of life

(63:04) Reviving Toasts: oral tradition, folklore, preservation

(66:40) Returning to Carnegie: voice/movement, “unorthodox success”

(70:12) Regional theater circuit: working everywhere, staying NYC-based

(74:05) Kennedy Center breakthrough; learning power of relationships

(78:11) Backdoor-ninja into New York; saying yes to everything

(82:07) Identity, career grounding, and the pre-COVID hiatus plan

(85:03) 2019 whirlwind; heartbreak, money, and theater economics

(87:58) Defining success: freedom, time, and “do what I want”