Interviewing actor Julien Romano

1. What first inspired you to become an actor, and when did you realize that acting was your passion?

 I think what first drew me to acting was the possibility of experiencing life through different eyes. I’ve always been fascinated by human nature, by what people hide, what they reveal, and the contradictions that make us who we are.

My journey into acting wasn’t necessarily a straight line. But at some point, I realized that acting gave me a freedom I couldn’t find anywhere else: the freedom to explore different lives, to question myself, and to express things that are sometimes difficult to put into words.

For me, acting is not just about becoming someone else. It’s about discovering something new about yourself through someone else. And I think that’s when I understood that this was more than a passion — it was something I needed to do.

2. How would you describe yourself as an actor in three words?

Intense, instinctive, and versatile.

I’m drawn to characters who have contradictions, who are difficult to define, and who reveal something unexpected about human nature. I like to take risks, follow my instincts, and never give the same answer twice.

3. When you receive a new script, what is the first thing you look for in your character?

The first thing I look for is the contradiction within the character. I’m interested in the gap between who they pretend to be and who they really are.

What are they hiding? What do they desire but are afraid to admit? What is the wound, the fear, or the vulnerability driving their actions?

For me, that’s where the real character lives. I’m less interested in playing an emotion than in understanding what triggers it. Once I find that inner conflict, I can start building someone who feels real, unpredictable, and alive.

4. How do you prepare yourself emotionally and physically for a demanding role?

For me, the physical and emotional preparation are deeply connected. My background in sports taught me discipline, endurance, and the importance of being fully present in my body.

Physically, I adapt my training to the character. I ask myself what their body tells us about their life, their habits, their fears, or even their social background. The way someone moves can reveal as much as what they say.

Emotionally, I start by understanding the character rather than judging them. I try to find a personal point of connection, even when their experiences are very different from mine. I use imagination, observation, and my own emotional memory, while always respecting the boundaries between myself and the character.

Ultimately, I want to be prepared enough to let go. The work happens before the camera rolls, so that in the moment, I can stop thinking and simply live.

5. Is there a particular character you have played who has changed you personally?

 I think two characters have had a particularly strong impact on me, but in very different ways: my role in Vortex, where I portrayed a serial killer, and The Deadend, a project I also wrote.

Playing a serial killer was an intense psychological experience. It required me to explore a very dark side of human nature and to understand a mind that was far removed from my own. As an actor, you have to find a way into a character without judging them, and that can take you to some very uncomfortable places. It taught me a lot about the complexity of human behaviour and the importance of emotional discipline.

The Deadend was demanding in a different way because I was not only interpreting a character, but I had also created the story. There was a much more personal investment in it. When you write something and then have to embody it, you expose a part of yourself, sometimes without even realizing it.

Both experiences pushed me emotionally and creatively. They reminded me that acting is not always about feeling comfortable; sometimes, it's about having the courage to explore uncomfortable truths. And I think that's where some of the most meaningful work happens.

6. What has been the biggest challenge you have faced during your acting career?

I think one of the biggest challenges has been learning how to keep believing in yourself in an industry where so much is beyond your control.

As an actor, you can work incredibly hard, prepare for a role, give everything in an audition, and still not get the part. You have to learn not to let rejection define your worth, and to keep growing even when things aren't moving as quickly as you'd hoped.

At some point, I realized that I didn't want to spend my entire career waiting for someone else to give me an opportunity. I wanted to create my own. That's one of the reasons I've started developing my own projects and building my production company, Romano Studios.

It's been challenging, because it means taking responsibility not only for my work as an actor, but also for the stories I want to tell. But it's also been liberating. I've learned that you can't always control the opportunities that come your way, but you can take control of what you choose to create.

7. Do you prefer playing characters who are similar to you, or do you enjoy stepping completely outside your comfort zone?

I’m definitely drawn to characters who take me outside my comfort zone. I think there’s something fascinating about exploring a life, a psychology, or a way of seeing the world that is completely different from your own.

Playing a serial killer in Vortex, for example, pushed me into some very dark and unfamiliar territory. It challenged me to explore a side of human nature that I would never experience in my own life.

But I also believe that, in order to play someone completely different from you, you have to find something human that you can relate to. It might be a fear, a desire, a sense of loneliness, or the need to be loved. That's your point of entry.

So, I don't necessarily look for characters who are similar to me. I look for characters who can teach me something, challenge me, or force me to see the world differently. The more complex and unpredictable they are, the more interesting I find them.

8. What has been the most memorable moment you have experienced on a film or television set?

One of the most unforgettable moments of my career happened on the set of Vortex, where I played a serial killer.

There was a scene in which I had to cut my hair with a pair of garden shears. It was filmed in one continuous take, and as I got deeper and deeper into the character, the intensity of the scene took over. At some point, I accidentally cut my finger, but I stayed in character and kept playing the scene.

As the take went on, the team started noticing blood coming from my head, my hand, and my mouth. They actually thought I had put fake blood on myself beforehand as part of the performance. They had no idea that I had genuinely cut my finger during the take.

When the director finally called cut, the whole crew went crazy. Everyone was reacting to the intensity of the performance, but also to the amount of blood they had just witnessed.

And the funny part is that I actually finished the working day with an open wound on my hand before going to the hospital to get stitches.

Looking back, it's an experience I'll never forget. It was an incredibly intense moment, and it reminded me how unpredictable filmmaking can be. But it also taught me something important: as actors, we have to be completely committed to the truth of a scene, while never forgetting that our physical safety matters. There's a fine line between being immersed in a character and losing awareness of what's happening around you.

9. Which actor or filmmaker has inspired you the most throughout your career?

I’ve always been fascinated by artists who are willing to take risks and explore the darker, more complex sides of human nature. As an actor, Joaquin Phoenix is someone whose work I deeply admire. His fearlessness, his transformations, and his ability to make even the most disturbing characters feel profoundly human are incredibly inspiring to me.

As a filmmaker, Darren Aronofsky has had a strong influence on the way I look at cinema. I love how he pushes his characters to their psychological and emotional limits, often placing them in situations where ambition, obsession, and vulnerability collide. His films don't simply tell stories; they immerse you in an experience. They can be uncomfortable, intense, and sometimes even overwhelming, but they stay with you long after you've watched them.

What connects these two artists for me is their willingness to go beyond what's safe or conventional. They remind me that cinema can be both deeply personal and universal, and that the most powerful stories often emerge when we're willing to confront uncomfortable truths.

That's the kind of cinema that inspires me: bold, psychologically rich, and emotionally uncompromising. Cinema that doesn't just entertain you, but makes you feel something you can't quite shake off.

10. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received about acting?

One of the most important lessons I've learned is that you don't have to show the audience what your character is feeling. You have to experience it yourself and trust that the audience will feel it too.

As actors, we can sometimes become so focused on delivering a good performance that we start trying to control everything: every emotion, every gesture, every line. But I think the real magic happens when you let go of that need for control and allow yourself to be truly present.

You do the work, you understand the character, you prepare as much as you can, and then you have to be brave enough to let go and live the moment.

For me, acting is not about showing people that you're acting. It's about making them forget that they are watching an actor at all.

11. Is there a dream role or a particular type of character you would love to play in the future?

I don't think I have one specific dream role. I'm more interested in the kind of character that scares me a little, the one that makes me wonder whether I'm capable of going far enough to do it justice.

I'd love to play a deeply complex character, someone full of contradictions, with a dark side but also a profound vulnerability. A character who challenges the audience's perception of right and wrong, and who stays with them long after the film ends.

I'm also fascinated by characters who undergo a radical transformation, physically, psychologically, or both. I love the idea of disappearing into a role so completely that people almost forget who they're watching.

And beyond the roles I'm offered, I'd love to keep creating characters and stories of my own through my work as a writer and producer. Sometimes, the dream role is one you have to create yourself.

Ultimately, I don't want to repeat myself. I want to keep surprising people, and above all, to surprise myself.

12. How do you deal with criticism and the pressure that can come with being an actor?

I think criticism and pressure are part of the journey, and learning how to deal with them is just as important as developing your craft.

Of course, criticism can affect you. We're human, and acting is a very personal profession because, in a way, you're putting a part of yourself out there. But over time, I've learned to distinguish between criticism that can help me grow and opinions that I simply have to let go of.

I'm also learning not to attach my sense of worth to the outcome of a project, an audition, or someone else's opinion of my work. You can give everything you have to a role and still not get the result you hoped for. What matters is whether you've been honest in your work and whether you've learned something from the experience.

As for pressure, I try to turn it into something productive. I prepare as much as I can, I stay disciplined, and then I remind myself why I started acting in the first place.

Ultimately, I think you need both ambition and perspective. You have to care deeply about what you do, but you also have to be able to step back, keep learning, and not take yourself too seriously. Otherwise, the pressure can take away the very freedom that makes acting exciting.

13. If you could go back to the beginning of your career, what advice would you give to your younger self?

I would tell my younger self to stop waiting for permission.

Don't wait for someone to discover you, to validate you, or to tell you that you're ready. Keep learning your craft, stay curious, take risks, and create your own opportunities instead of waiting for the right door to open.

I'd also tell him not to confuse rejection with failure. In this industry, you can spend years wondering why things aren't happening the way you imagined. But sometimes, the detours are what shape you into the artist you're meant to become.

And perhaps most importantly, I'd tell him to be patient with himself. You don't have to have everything figured out at the beginning. You just have to keep moving, keep growing, and stay true to what makes you different.

Because at the end of the day, your career is not just about the roles you get. It's about the artist you become along the way, and the stories you eventually find the courage to tell yourself.

14. Finally, what does cinema mean to you, and what do you hope audiences feel when they watch your work?

For me, cinema is a way of exploring what it means to be human. It's a space where we can confront our fears, our contradictions, our darkest sides, but also our capacity to love, to change, and to find beauty in unexpected places.

What I love about cinema is that, for a couple of hours, you can step into someone else's world and come out seeing your own a little differently. A film can make you laugh, disturb you, challenge your beliefs, or make you feel less alone without you even realizing why.

That's what I hope to achieve with my work. I don't necessarily need audiences to like my characters or even agree with them. I want them to feel something genuine. I want to make them question things, to feel uncomfortable sometimes, to laugh when they least expect it, and perhaps to recognize a part of themselves in someone they thought they could never understand.

Ultimately, I don't want people to leave a cinema feeling exactly the way they did when they walked in. Even if it's just one image, one emotion, or one question that stays with them, that's enough.

Because I believe the power of cinema isn't just in the stories we tell. It's in what those stories awaken in other people long after the screen goes dark.