'A Bird of the Air' Star Jackson Hurst Soars Toward His Dreams

'A Bird of the Air' Star Jackson Hurst Soars Toward His Dreams By Melinda Loewenstein October 5, 2011 Photo by Vanni Natola Jackson Hurst Slow and steady wins the racethat is the philosophy businessman-turned-actor Jackson Hurst, currently starring in Lifetime Television's "Drop Dead Diva," used to launch his second career. A Texas native, Hurst began acting in junior high and continued until he found himself pulled in too many directions in college. "I decided the 'smart' route would be to pursue academics and get my business degree, and if I still couldn't stay away from the acting, then I would pursue it," he reveals. After graduation, he began his career in business, but he also immediately started doing independent films. He juggled the two careers as long as he could, but when he was offered a role in Frank Darabont's "The Mist" and he had used up all his vacation time working on other films, he met a fork in the road. He "realized it was a sign that [he] had to pursue acting." So he quit his job, packed up everything that fit in his car, and moved to Austin.Patience Pays Off Working regionally wasn't always easy. "You're not going to be able to make a living in theater and film and television living in Texas or living in a lot of regions," he says. In addition to the economic struggle, Hurst was frustrated by the lack of satisfying roles. "Roles that would cast in the area would be the smaller roles that they had budgeted for scale or for regional actors. So that's the toughest part, because you wouldn't get the best roles and you wouldn't make that much money," he notes. Hurst feels that's one of the hardest things about acting for a beginner: "When you're not able to pay your bills and you are struggling for moneythat is a tough place to be in when you constantly doubt yourself. As a struggling actor, the toughest thing [is] constantly keeping confidence in yourself, to push forward even though you know that you may not be able to pay the bills next month."Even though working regionally was challenging, Hurst feels the ease of his transition from regional to L.A. was due to his patience. He says, "I didn't want to be another statistic coming out to L.A. Sometimes it was very difficult to stay patient staying in Austin, but I made myself do it before I got some good projects under my belt, like 'The Tree of Life' and 'Living Proof.' " Hurst stresses that gaining experience on set is invaluable: "I would just sit back, close my mouth, and observe." Working regionally gave him opportunities that he might not have had in L.A., like working with directors Terrence Malick and Robert Rodriguez.The experience led to more work. His producers on "Living Proof," Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, approached Hurst about the role of the love interest Grayson on "Drop Dead Diva," a legal fantasy-drama for Lifetime. After shooting the pilot and seeing the finished product, he had a great feeling about it and decided it was time to make the leap to L.A.Thriving on Challenges Early in his work on "Drop Dead Diva," which just completed its third season, Hurst had a discussion with the producers about his character: "They absolutely had a vision for where they would take him. He was going to go through hell, and that's what I liked. I like the challenge." And if Grayson isn't evolving from episode to episode, Hurst figures out a way to make him evolve. "I hate that feeling of being stagnant," Hurst explains. "Because getting in here and doing a badass scene where everything comes together, you can't duplicate that feeling. It's the best feeling on the planet. And I'd say [for] most people the reason they do [act] is because of that."While doing press for "Drop Dead Diva" in NY, Hurst met with Amanda Mackey, who was casting "A Bird of the Air" (formerly "The Loop"), a quirky romantic comedy about a solitary man breaking out of his shell by connecting with a parrot. She pitched him the project and sent him the script, which he fell in love with. " 'A Bird of the Air' was a life-changing experience," says Hurst. Initially, there's not a lot of dialogue for Hurst's character, Lyman, but he says, "I liked the fact that he didn't talk a lot because I wanted to be able to express what Lyman was going through just in the eyes. I think that's crucial, and I don't feel like you see a whole lot of that these days. It's a natural inclination for an actor to want to overdo it and want to talk a lot and want to express a lot of facial expressions. It was difficult at times, but once I really got into Lyman's skin it started to come a little easier. It's a role that made me really look at myself and dig really deep within myself and also take a collection of so many facets of other people's lives and make them part of my own." Another great aspect of the film was working with the birds. "It was fun; it was sometimes even easier than working with the humans," he notes. "There were actually three different birds. Each one was able to do different tricks." Hurst prepared by hanging out with birds and getting used to handling them. "An animal respects you if you are very much in control, and it's the same thing with the bird. I definitely bloodied up my hands a few times, but it's all part of the fun."Lessons Learned When Hurst was starting his acting career, he didn't get a lot of tips. He says he mostly heard " 'Why would you quit a high-paying corporate job to go pursue something that's completely unreliable?' " But that taught him to ignore the negativity and figure things out for himself. One of the most important things he learned was to stay focused. He says that "means you study and you stay away from stuff that is going to distract you. Everything that you do should be moving you towards your goal." And don't give up: "If it's truly what you're meant to do and what you feel is your destiny, you cannot give up. You do whatever it takes to make it happen because the odds of it eventually happening are very high. It's like the more you play the lottery, every time you play, the probability of you winning goes up. I'm a perfect example of that. I was in dire straits; I was in a bad placeemotionally, mentally, physicallyfor a while, and I cleaned my shit up and I went after it and made it happen. And I think anybody can do it." 'A Bird of the Air' Star Jackson Hurst Soars Toward His Dreams By Melinda Loewenstein October 5, 2011 Jackson Hurst PHOTO CREDIT Vanni Natola Slow and steady wins the racethat is the philosophy businessman-turned-actor Jackson Hurst, currently starring in Lifetime Television's "Drop Dead Diva," used to launch his second career. A Texas native, Hurst began acting in junior high and continued until he found himself pulled in too many directions in college. "I decided the 'smart' route would be to pursue academics and get my business degree, and if I still couldn't stay away from the acting, then I would pursue it," he reveals. After graduation, he began his career in business, but he also immediately started doing independent films. He juggled the two careers as long as he could, but when he was offered a role in Frank Darabont's "The Mist" and he had used up all his vacation time working on other films, he met a fork in the road. He "realized it was a sign that [he] had to pursue acting." So he quit his job, packed up everything that fit in his car, and moved to Austin.Patience Pays Off Working regionally wasn't always easy. "You're not going to be able to make a living in theater and film and television living in Texas or living in a lot of regions," he says. In addition to the economic struggle, Hurst was frustrated by the lack of satisfying roles. "Roles that would cast in the area would be the smaller roles that they had budgeted for scale or for regional actors. So that's the toughest part, because you wouldn't get the best roles and you wouldn't make that much money," he notes. Hurst feels that's one of the hardest things about acting for a beginner: "When you're not able to pay your bills and you are struggling for moneythat is a tough place to be in when you constantly doubt yourself. As a struggling actor, the toughest thing [is] constantly keeping confidence in yourself, to push forward even though you know that you may not be able to pay the bills next month."Even though working regionally was challenging, Hurst feels the ease of his transition from regional to L.A. was due to his patience. He says, "I didn't want to be another statistic coming out to L.A. Sometimes it was very difficult to stay patient staying in Austin, but I made myself do it before I got some good projects under my belt, like 'The Tree of Life' and 'Living Proof.' " Hurst stresses that gaining experience on set is invaluable: "I would just sit back, close my mouth, and observe." Working regionally gave him opportunities that he might not have had in L.A., like working with directors Terrence Malick and Robert Rodriguez.The experience led to more work. His producers on "Living Proof," Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, approached Hurst about the role of the love interest Grayson on "Drop Dead Diva," a legal fantasy-drama for Lifetime. After shooting the pilot and seeing the finished product, he had a great feeling about it and decided it was time to make the leap to L.A.Thriving on Challenges Early in his work on "Drop Dead Diva," which just completed its third season, Hurst had a discussion with the producers about his character: "They absolutely had a vision for where they would take him. He was going to go through hell, and that's what I liked. I like the challenge." And if Grayson isn't evolving from episode to episode, Hurst figures out a way to make him evolve. "I hate that feeling of being stagnant," Hurst explains. "Because getting in here and doing a badass scene where everything comes together, you can't duplicate that feeling. It's the best feeling on the planet. And I'd say [for] most people the reason they do [act] is because of that."While doing press for "Drop Dead Diva" in NY, Hurst met with Amanda Mackey, who was casting "A Bird of the Air" (formerly "The Loop"), a quirky romantic comedy about a solitary man breaking out of his shell by connecting with a parrot. She pitched him the project and sent him the script, which he fell in love with. " 'A Bird of the Air' was a life-changing experience," says Hurst. Initially, there's not a lot of dialogue for Hurst's character, Lyman, but he says, "I liked the fact that he didn't talk a lot because I wanted to be able to express what Lyman was going through just in the eyes. I think that's crucial, and I don't feel like you see a whole lot of that these days. It's a natural inclination for an actor to want to overdo it and want to talk a lot and want to express a lot of facial expressions. It was difficult at times, but once I really got into Lyman's skin it started to come a little easier. It's a role that made me really look at myself and dig really deep within myself and also take a collection of so many facets of other people's lives and make them part of my own." Another great aspect of the film was working with the birds. "It was fun; it was sometimes even easier than working with the humans," he notes. "There were actually three different birds. Each one was able to do different tricks." Hurst prepared by hanging out with birds and getting used to handling them. "An animal respects you if you are very much in control, and it's the same thing with the bird. I definitely bloodied up my hands a few times, but it's all part of the fun."Lessons Learned When Hurst was starting his acting career, he didn't get a lot of tips. He says he mostly heard " 'Why would you quit a high-paying corporate job to go pursue something that's completely unreliable?' " But that taught him to ignore the negativity and figure things out for himself. One of the most important things he learned was to stay focused. He says that "means you study and you stay away from stuff that is going to distract you. Everything that you do should be moving you towards your goal." And don't give up: "If it's truly what you're meant to do and what you feel is your destiny, you cannot give up. You do whatever it takes to make it happen because the odds of it eventually happening are very high. It's like the more you play the lottery, every time you play, the probability of you winning goes up. I'm a perfect example of that. I was in dire straits; I was in a bad placeemotionally, mentally, physicallyfor a while, and I cleaned my shit up and I went after it and made it happen. And I think anybody can do it."