Latest / Ageless and Timeless Podcast® / Adam Ambruso, actor, producer and gifted entrepreneur

Transcript

Adam Ambruso, actor, producer and gifted entrepreneur · Ageless and Timeless Podcast®

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Recording, and good morning. This is Michelle Hughes from Ageless and Timeless.
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Our guest today is Adam and Brusso, and he is both well, he's
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many, many faceted. He's actually a renaissance man. However, you probably
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know him as an actor. And also what I found out about him is
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that he's an extraordinary real estate developer and he's building a beautiful spec home in
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Hollywood that should be ready in the next couple Well, he says a month.
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I told him that was a little unrealistic, but anyway, it's on
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its way and it's going to be an absolutely gorgeous home in the Hollywood Hills.
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And then thirdly, he's made a name for himself in the medical device
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industry as first in sales and then in management. And he has a company
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now I think it's called Younger dot Com. Is that correct, Adam?
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Okay, we need to hear him. Oh, okay, it got you.
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Okay, that's the correct name, right, Yes, that's correct.
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Okay, So Adam, let's first talk about you as an actor, because
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most of our viewers are going to know you by your gorgeous face and also
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by the roles that you've played So what of all the roles that you have
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played in your acting career, which role would you say most typifies you?
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Who was the easiest character for you to assimilate? Well, first of all,
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it's gonna say I don't want to breage over the complimence, so thank
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you very much. It's very sweet of you to say. And and thanks
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for having me on the show. First of all, the intro was spectacular,
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so hopefully I will live up to that intro. Well, thank you
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absolutely, um, and it's been really great getting to know you. So
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I just want to say that the easiest character for me to get to play,
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I think was or dissimilate into. That's a difficult question because most of
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the characters I take on I see some sort of element in myself and those
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characters and that's kind of what draws me to them. But definitely, I
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think the one of the last roles I took in Butterfly Caught, where I
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played a police officer who is sort of like the driving positive note in the
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movie. I really resonated with that character and that scriptures first brought to me.
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I think they were looking at me for a supporting character, or they're
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wondering if I would want to play a supporting character. And when I when
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I saw that script and I read that character, I said, well,
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Randy is me. I have to play it this character. Why is Randy
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you? Or why you where you Randy in in Butterfly Cot. Let's maybe
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talk a little bit about what Butterfly Cat is because I know you won Best
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Supporting our Best Actor, right for that? Um that that movie we the
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cast one close, the cast one Best Ensemble Cast, UM and I was
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nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Um. And the movie is about it's kind
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of it's it's really I don't want to say it's about me too movement,
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although the me too movement happened after the movie came out, and it definitely
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has a lot of me too movement elements in it, right, It's really
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about kind of a cautionary tell of what can happen if you when you move
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out to Hollywood and try to get into entertainment. You know, the downfalls
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that can happen, that happen to many many people that we know. Is
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based on true stories. Actually the writer director's wife, it's kind of her
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story and it's the reason she left the business. And and it's very much
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her met her me too move moment, although there was no me too when
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we started filming this, right, that was Manny Brodriquez, right, that's
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right, Yeah, that's right. Um okay, so there was somewhat autobiographical
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then with his for his wife, it was definitely was it was her story,
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and you know they kind of um took her story and some of her
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friend stories and and and melded them together. But so that's the movies about
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and. And most of the characters are very flawed. Um. Not the
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character I end'm playing. It is perfect by any means, but most of
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the characters have some are short the cautionary tales and then my characters the central
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driving theme, um the strong character that's represents an embodies many ways integrity.
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And when I read when I read that character, I read that read that
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script and I saw that character, I just thought, Wow, I really
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resonate with who this guy is and what he's trying to do in the world
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and how he's trying to be this good um you know, strong directed man
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in this very flawed and crazy world, and I thought, wow, I
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just really resonated with him. And I thought that that's me. That guy's
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me. If I if I had lived his life and I had had his
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circumstances happened to me, I would probably be that guy. And so I
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just felt like I felt like I had to play him. Sought. I
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fought to play him for about a year and and I was fortunate enough to
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actually have that opportunity. So so basically that story was about three women,
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correct who came to Hollywood with stars in her eyes about becoming what they were,
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aspiring actresses, and then they confronted or were confronted by the ugly side
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the underbelly of Hollywood. That's exactly right, Okay, And so what did
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Randy do in that what in that role that you play, what did you
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accomplish with respect to those three women in terms of bringing integrity? Well,
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the I actually end up dating probably the most flawed woman in the in the
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movie. Um, what did I bring to them? That's a good question
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that hasn't asked for. I think in general, I think just by being
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a certain person in life, you affect everyone that you come in contact with.
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So I think if I look back at the movie, I think that
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every time I'm in the room, there's some sort of positive way or some
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sort of impact I'm having in a very positive way to all the characters and
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in the room. And I think especially to the girl that I was dating
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in that and that movie, I think that I showed her what maybe a
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real man or the appropriate man for her would be like. Although she ends
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up making some very poor choices because of her her drug addiction, and um,
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she ends up dating a guy that has the tragic ending and actually with
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my character, he's very much involved in drugs as well. So, UM,
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I think i'd bring I brought up some light to her life, although
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the drugs brought her down eventually. So what would you say was the message
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then of that movie? And what what was the takeaway? Um? The
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takeaway from that movie is, I think it's it's definitely follow your dreams,
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sacrifice your integrity. Um. Life is definitely not going to be an easy
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road and things are going to be handed to you. But if you work
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hard and you stay on your path, I think you can you can still
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have your dream without sacrificing your integrity. And in any ways, sacrificing integrity
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can actually take you off your off your dream rather than help you. Those
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themes are all in that movie. So so how long afterwards did the me
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too movement did the Harvey Weinstein um exposure come come to everyone's awareness. What's
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interesting about that film is literally we had filmed it already. This movie had
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been written years earlier, and we had filmed the movie and we were at
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the Twin Cities Film Festival in in Michigan and Michigan or Minneapolis, yess,
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yeah, that's one of the big one of the yeah, big Twin Cities.
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Yeah, twenty film festivals in the in the country, right and beautiful
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at the time of the year, beautiful city. And we were I was
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on the red carpet for the event and they shoved a microphone in my face
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and they said, so, how has the me too movement helped your film?
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And literally I had not even so too and even thought about that,
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and I answered it terribly because it was I just I didn't know. I
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didn't know what to say, and I was like, well, I guess
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it sort of helped the film, which it had, because all of a
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sudden, we have this this film that's coming out during the me too movement.
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But obviously the me Too movement didn't help anything, So that wasn't really
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the best way to answer that the question. And then we went back and
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we had an appropriate pr response written for that question for the future, so
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no one ever messed it up again. But it was interesting that that movement
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was happening while our film was being released, so in many ways kind of
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rode off that at hovement all that that was not the intent, and we
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didn't even know what the Me Too movement was. We just felt like there's
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a story that needed to be told. Well, let's talk for a moment
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about the Me Too movement, because you and I had a little conversation on
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that recently, and I was very fascinated by your candor and your honesty about
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the effect that the Me Too movement has on men and not just on women.
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So that's the side of that movement that most people are not aware of.
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So, without you know, being violating your privacy, could you just
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talk a little bit about the male side of the Me too movement and how
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that has affected you and others like you in Hollywood. Yeah, you know,
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a lot of people don't really talk or there's not been a lot of
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not near as much information about the male side of that equation. And I
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always say, it's not a gender problem, it's a it's a human problem.
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You know, humans take take advantage of humans, and we all in
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many ways, the press and people in general just seem to want a gender
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genderize these problems. And UM problems are universal there they they they're pretty much
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fifty fifty usually UM and among the genders. And I think me Too movement
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is no different from that UM in many quick. In many ways, it's
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probably worse with men because it's a Hollywood is has a large UM, has
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a large population of gave men that run to the town and and men are
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very embarrassed about having being take advantage of it in any more and more fashion,
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so they don't say any thing about it. So a lot of times
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it's easier to get away with and so it's more rampant. And when it's
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men on men, it's usually a little bit more um upfront and brutal,
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and my gloves come off, so to speak. The nicets are not there,
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so it happens a lot. It was an eye opener when I came
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to town for the first time, coming from small towns in Texas and having
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your small view on the world, and it really was good for me to
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see what was really going on in the world and maybe stronger. But it
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definitely was a shock initially. And I think God was formed before I came
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here, and came here after college, you know, coming out here as
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a young teenager. I imagine it's very difficult for a lot of men,
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and I can imagine how difficult it was to make good decisions with mentors and
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people they respected, leading the leading him down the wrong paths or taking advantage
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of them. I made good decisions because I had I was pretty much already
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a man when I came out. You know, I'm in my early twenties,
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so thank god, I I actually made some really good decisions, and
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I think that served me going forward. But I can totally relate and empathize
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with a lot of these There's a lot of people that we don't know that
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I know, that have compromised themselves at certain points in their career, and
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it's difficult in your year sixteen seventeen, eighteen years old to make those really
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good decisions. I think it's interesting and very much reflection of your character.
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To hear the details from one of your interviews where you spoke about your personal
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experience of being so called harass and you know you use the Nike just say
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no, the Nike expression, right, and by doing that, you would
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think that you would have lost your career opportunity. And in this case,
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it turned out to be exactly in your favor and exactly what showed your strength
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that you were not going to play in that sandbox and you were going to
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stand up for what you believe and your values and your character stood firm.
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And you know, guess what it ended up being your your advantage. Do
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you want to talk about that just for a moment and reflect on how that
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affected you and your personal belief system after this whole event occurred and you came
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out victorious absolutely. You know what was at that point in my life,
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I'd had some crazy things already happen to be in Hollywood. I'd been here
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for a minute, and so very I was very comfortable with being hit on
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by men at that point. And actually a lot of my friends, good
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friends in industry that I had at the time, I had good, really
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good gay friends, and so it was very comfortable with that notion. And
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I had a lot of time to get a lot thought and I was in
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his immature as I was in Texas about the topic, and so when it
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happened, I really you know, a lot of people think that when they're
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being hit on sexually or maybe in their version taking advantage of they feel like
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that person's doing it to hurt them. And I think I, at that
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time when my life had really come to the understanding that people aren't doing things
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to hurt you. They they are ignorant and I have a lack of understanding,
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and they think that that is how that they get what they want and
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that that's the way to get love or whatever they're looking for. And so
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when it happened to me, I understood real, real quickly that he's not
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trying to hurt me. Obviously he's done this before and it's worked for him,
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and this is probably how maybe it was done to him, and he's
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just doing what was done to him and he thinks this is how it works.
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And so I was just trying to be kind to him. I was
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thinking, well, what if I was that guy sitting in front of me,
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and I was acting like a fool or an idiot, or someone who
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lacked knowledge or was making mistakes or they should be doing. What I want
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someone to whack me down and smack me in the face, or what I
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want someone to handle me with care and kind of say, hey, you
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know, you know you're not doing things the right way. So I chose
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to choose him as I would want to be treated, which I think is
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a good good rule in general. Just treat people as you would want to
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be treated, and that seems guide you pretty well. And I just thought,
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okay, well, I'm going to be kind to him and let him
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know that's not going to happen and not match his behavior. And when I
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did that and I made that choice, all of a sudden, it shined
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a light on his behavior being so weird and out of context, and because
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of that, he became convicted during the conversation, and he admitted to me
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that he had a problem that would happen if I would have, you know,
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done the grand gesture of you know, hitting someone or calling him a
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name and walking out or whatever. You you know, iculous thing you think
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to do that. I've heard people so they say they've done the past.
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And he ended up after admitting that, you know, he knew he had
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a problem. I said, yeah, I know, you do, and
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I just said, you know, I think I think i'd like this to
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remain friends because I don't want friendship to be based on someone doing something for
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me. And then I just thought, you know, I don't really need
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help from someone. That that was our intention in the first place. I
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got this. I can I can do this on my own. I think
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that really very much shocked. And he was trying to still kind of talk
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me to letting do something for me, and I said, no, I
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prefer you didn't. And what's interesting is there was a respect that was built
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there. I think it's all about how you handle things are done to you.
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You know, you can have the most horrific act said or committed to
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you, and how you handle that can completely change the outcome of that situation.
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You know, you're there's a there's not a necessary response for someone's quote
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unquote offending you. You know, I think being offended as a choice,
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and I in that situation, I chose not to be offended and by doing
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so, and actually I had a really beautiful outcome because I end up seeing
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him many times in life. You know, I think everything happens for reasons.
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So sometimes you think, oh, I'm never going to see this person
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again. Well, maybe life or God had that had something else in mind
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for you. Maybe this was a test. Maybe this is the this is
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the initial meeting of somebody that could actually change your life forever based on how
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you how you handle it and if you're evolved enough to see outside of yourself.
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So and I wouldn't say I'm as evolved as I am now, but
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at the time I was involved, thank God, enough to see this was
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a bigger This is bigger than me and m and I saw him. I
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kept seeing him everywhere, and I never see this guy before, and now
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I see him everywhere in my life after this situation. And eventually he's just
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like, hey, listen. I didn't even ask him to do something.
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You know, we were on the I saw him out at an audition.
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He said, let's talk. We ended up talking after the audition, and
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he clicked over his phone and then called a very powerful manager in town and
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then clicked back over and said, she's waiting to hear from you. And
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that very powerful woman ended up being my manager for two years and she's probably
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on the top three most powerful women in Hollywood. And why did that happen.
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That happened because I created a relationship regardless of his behavior. You know,
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I think that's a really powerful notion. Is I think that many ways
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we're more powerful than we think we are. We're kind of shape shifters.
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We affect reality. Reality doesn't really affect us. If you know that,
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I think you can walk into a situation and you can bend that situation to
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whatever you want it to be, if you have the knowledge that you can
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do that. And I think that you can go into situation and just by
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your words saying I'm going to have an amazing relationship with this person or I'm
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going to make this happen. Just by you you're merely saying those words and
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believing that they're true, you can actually bend reality into making that true.
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Regardless of what they had in mind or what their intentions were. You remove
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them from the equation. And I think that's really a place of true power.
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It's so true. And you know, you neutralized the situation and you
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did a random act of kindness, which is always a very spiritual approach to
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human behavior and relationships. And then you know it's all about what you think
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is what you become so your thoughts became your realities, and your thought was,
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I'm not going to make an enemy. I'm going to make an ally.
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That was your intention, right, what you were using kind as your
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quotient rather than getting angry or resistant or vengee vengeful. So it was brilliant.
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What you did was absolutely brilliant, Adam. I appreciate that, and
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you know, very much a part of I believe who you are as an
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evolved human being. But I assume that was a very big turning point in
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your life in terms of awareness of your own values and how they can play
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to your advantage. So, um, yeah, I mean I'm so,
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I'm in awe of how you handled that. I think it's so so I
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handled that too. I'm like, wow, yeah, yeah, I think
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that. Um, there's a spiritual element too, and sometimes I think you
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yielded that spiritual element guide to you. So even I think even after I
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finished that, that, even after that occurred, I was even going,
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wow, thanks God, you know, like, thank you for guiding me
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wisdom how to handle that, because it was so shocking when it happened,
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because it happened so fast. You know, I had three minutes, you
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know, I sat down, and three minutes later he was asking me to
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go in the bathroom with him. So you don't really how much time to
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like formulate your thoughts and react, you know, so you really have to.
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And that's the other thing that's interesting, is you really have to decide
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how you're going to react and how you're and who you're going to be before
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you're in those situations, because the time to figure that out is not when
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you're in the situation, because it's too it's too complicated, and you're giving
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yourself, you're you're not giving yourself enough time to actually really think about who
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you want to be. So I think it's it's very important to decide who
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you're going to be and who what kind of person do you want to be,
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and what you believe early and then when you're in the situation, it
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makes those makes those decisions much easier because you've already decided, oh, yeah,
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right, I'm going to be this guy. Well, because you're guided,
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you're guided by your virtues and it's not what happens to you but how
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you deal with it. And when you have that foundation of virtue and character,
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it's almost an automatic response to to do what you did, which is
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to be, as I said, random act of kindness. So you didn't
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try to offend him. You tried to befriend him, but not in a
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solicitous way, and not because you wanted him to do anything for you,
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because you realize that wasn't going to play out, as you know, the
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the the objective of the agenda. So the best thing was to just show
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your strength and stand tall and say, you know, I don't really need
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I don't really need you. But you didn't say it quite that directly,
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but you basically said, you know, that's okay, I don't need your
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help. I'm sure that just completely shocked would shock most people in power,
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right, that somebody could have that kind of strength. Well, you did
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another movie that I think is so important that well you've done several, but
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this one called Trafficked with Will Wallace, who I guess as your mentor,
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right, Yeah, yeah, sure. As a matter of fact, Will
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was staying at my place last night because he has he had a meeting in
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town today, so we had a long conversation about Trafficked and some of the
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movies that we did and what movies we're gonna be doing next, and well,
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well, Okay, So if we were eavesdropping on that conversation last night,
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can you share with us some of what you were talking about. Yeah,
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you know, with every film there are bitter sweet things that happen.
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Films are difficult to make and they require a lot of people to make them,
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and even ones that are made about good topics such as traffic, have
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some unfortunate occurrences back behind the scenes. And we were we're always talking about,
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hey, what can we learn from what we have done, and how
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can we prevent that from happening in the future, and how can we let
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guide us and build on what we've done so we can do bigger and even
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more important films in the future. And that film and I'm like, I
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don't want to go into the negativity that happened, some unfortunate thing has happened
25:15
on that film behind the scenes that are really unimportant because the film has so
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many good things that have happened that that's really all all that's important. But
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that's what we were talking about. And we were talking about how how much
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good that film did and how necessary it was to have that film out there,
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and also how much it's impacted his career in my career and how many
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opportunities and the things and the opportunities and films are coming our way now,
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and the meetings that we're taking now are occurring because of our filmography, and
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that is a major part of our filmography and our our background. So we
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were just discussing all the positive things about that film. You know, that
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film came to me from Will. Will is definitely my mentor and has had
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a large impact on who I am as a human being as far as well
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as my entertainment career. And it's really pushed me for a lot of the
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big films that a lot of the bigger films I've done, and is the
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reason I've been in the room for those films and even had an opportunity to
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fight for those films, and Butterfly Cot being one of them. I met
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the director through Will and then through that relationship, I fought for that role
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for a year. Wasn't like it was handed to me, but he definitely
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put me in the room and gave me, gave me the opportunity to go
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for it. He brought Traffic to me because it sat for about four years
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and he wanted to get that movie made and he just said, hey,
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listen, you know you you know, you were a lead in Butterfly cot
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you know, I don't know if he'll be a lead in this one,
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but see if this movie resonates with you, and if it does and you
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want to help me get it made, you can have a role in this
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film and we'll find a place for you. And so I was watching,
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you know, I read that script and was deeply moved based on true stories
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again, and I just thought, well, I don't really have a choice.
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I have to make this film. It wasn't like, oh I should
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should I make this. It's like when you read a story like that,
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you realize, Wow, this is bigger than me. And this script came
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to me because I really believe that script came to me because I had the
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reason. I had the ability and resources to make it. You know,
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I'd worked with them. I'd worked with the Dallas Virus Club guys a couple
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of years before that and trying to help them produce a movie that was going
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to be starring Anthony Mackie at the time when Anthony Mackie was sort of just
27:48
arriving on the scene. And I spent a lot of large portion of my
27:53
year with a partner of mine trying to get that film funded, and we
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did, and then they passed on the film, and I was like,
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oh my god, you know, what was the whole purpose of this whole
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year? Um? And now then this movie comes across my path and I
28:10
realized, wait, I'm reading the script and I had to put it down,
28:14
and I'm like, I got emotional, I got pissed, I want
28:17
I was angry, and then I and then through the reading of it,
28:21
I thought, wait a minute, you know, I think that Dallas Buyers
28:22
Club producers would respond to this material. And I called him up and I
28:29
said, hey, listen, I said, Tony, you've got to read
28:32
the Scriptum, I really think it's something that you're interested inside. Send it
28:37
to him. He called me a couple of days later and he said,
28:40
yeah, I want to I want to make that movie. And they dream
28:44
come true when you have that kind of a call, right when you're ye.
28:48
Yeah. He came in as the first money into the project end and
28:52
essentially the project became ago because of that phone call, because of the script
28:56
arriving on my desk, and I just really think that I'm sometimes I've been
29:00
asked before, Hey, when did you get involved or interested in human trafficking?
29:04
Honestly, it wasn't on my radar. I was never involved or interested
29:07
in human trafficking. But when I read the script and I was educated and
29:14
realized what the problem was and what was occurring on the planet. Now I'm
29:18
very interested in that topic. And um, and you can't unknow what you
29:22
know? I want you to know. I feel like there's a responsibility to
29:26
do something about it. So now now I know. So now now the
29:30
responsibility is on me. And the first step was making that film. So
29:34
what was your role in Traffic and why didn't you give us the synopsis?
29:37
And how you fit into the role that that movie that you portrayed in that
29:44
movie. So my role was interesting because I got to play a really bad
29:49
guy, which is fun to do because you know, it's always fun to
29:53
step up aside of who you are and and play something that you don't get
29:57
to normally do on a daily basis. Um, there is we were.
30:03
The movie was trying to make a point that this is a very complicated issue
30:07
and it's not just um, bad guys that look but looked like bad guys
30:12
doing this. It's actually also at a UM in some cases a government level
30:18
and sometimes law enforcements involved because it's it comes down to money. And so
30:26
I played a Texas ranger at the Texas Mexico border who was UM in many
30:37
ways helping the situation, facilitating and providing law protection for the human traffickers.
30:45
And so I played a key scene where it shows UM, kind of a
30:52
bad, kind of a bad dude, UM Texas ranger that you really wouldn't
30:56
want to mess with, and who's who's who's making bad decisions and hanging with
31:02
some pretty bad people and uh, my scene takes place primarily in a brothel.
31:08
And so, yeah, I played that. I played a Texas ranger.
31:15
How do you feel? You know? I know, I know that
31:19
your birthday is coming up this week, and I also know that means you're
31:23
a Libra and I know what Libra by character is all about, Libra love,
31:30
right, How how do you get yourself to be such a bad guy?
31:33
How how do you go and make that transition from the good guy that
31:37
you are, which I already know that and obviously you've demonstrated that with your
31:41
story about the me too situation. UM, but tell us, how do
31:47
you get into a role like that when you're just an evil through and through
31:49
evil man and you're not like that at all. A good question, you
31:55
know, Um, I do thank you for the confidence of saying I'm I
32:01
come up as a good guy, and I think if I had to describe
32:05
myself, I would definitely say I was a good guy. However, many
32:08
ways more than that, I fear myself personally as sort of a protector in
32:15
life. I feel like, you know, whether this is true or not,
32:17
I believe it to be true. I think that if you're given to
32:20
those who much has given, much is required. And I've had to give
32:23
a lot of thought, why are why have I been given certain gifts that
32:25
I've been given a life? Why am I tall, athletic and strong?
32:30
And what's the responsibility with that? And why was that given to me and
32:37
not others? Because many others don't have that right. There's people that are
32:39
born even with illness and crippled, and so I've really kind of show on
32:47
a spiritual level, had to come to grips with what what does that mean
32:52
for me? And what is my mission on the planet? And I really
32:54
feel like I'm a protector in anyways I'm a hero. I want to be
32:58
a hero, whether I am or not. I think that's in me to
33:00
want to be that. And I don't know if it's a Libra and me
33:05
or what it is in me, but when I see injustice, it makes
33:10
my blood sort of boil, right, Whenever I see people that are less
33:16
less, less fortunate getting taken advantage of, this protecting side comes out of
33:23
me, this superman that wants to, you know, hurt somebody and protect
33:28
those people. And I think that's what. So that's when when when I'm
33:31
looking for that anger side or I'm looking for that bad guys side, I
33:37
think I just kind of think about what if someone close to me, or
33:39
someone that I knew, or even just someone that I think is fragile is
33:47
being taken advantage of by someone, and I let that affect me. And
33:54
when I get in that place, I can get pretty I can get pretty
33:59
pretty angry. And and I think in the situations that's a that's not a
34:04
negative thing. I think that is a tool, a gift, and at
34:07
some point that could save your life or someone else's lives or many people's lives.
34:15
Well. Remind me that we're going to walk down dark galleys together.
34:20
I know, I know I have strength by my side. Um. So,
34:24
Adam, when you you buzz on a second for a second for sure,
34:31
what did What did you say? Oh? I said, oh you
34:35
I backed up? Okay, I said that that means that I'm going we
34:38
need to walk down dark galleys together. Absolutely, I know I have strength
34:45
by my side. So, Adam, when did you first realize you wanted
34:51
to be an actor? Uh, that's a that's a good question, I
34:55
am. You know, I was raised by a single mom. She was
35:00
a teenage teenage mom, and I know that's a similar that's a very familiar
35:05
story, especially in the US. And I think at an early age,
35:10
my mom was gone a lot because she had she was supporting me on a
35:15
cocktail waitress salary with no father figure helping financially. So as a result of
35:23
that, I was alone a lot and I was left sort of to be
35:29
raised in many ways by a television set or a radio. And I became
35:34
very obsessed and fascinated with TV at a very early age because that's really where
35:38
I spent majority of my time. And I remember even at as an age
35:43
of five, you know, sort of like pointing at the TV and saying,
35:45
hey, you know, I want to do that, you know,
35:50
And she would say things because my mom had the best intentions in the world
35:54
and he was just doing the best she could. She would say things like,
35:57
Okay, well we'll go try that sometime. We'll go do that sometime.
35:59
But just life circumstances never worked out for us that way. And I
36:05
grew up in a tech growing up in Texas, many ways, being a
36:08
theater guy, it's not the coolest thing in the world. So I did
36:14
what most kids do is I played football, and I think when I got
36:17
into college and I started really becoming a freethinker and my own man. And
36:22
I went off to University of Texas at Austin, which is you know their
36:27
motto there is keep Austin Weird. All of a sudden, I didn't have
36:30
to be this this sort of one note jock to be cool. Like I
36:37
realized, oh wow, there's other ways of thinking and all kinds of cool
36:42
people and maybe and I started exploring other sides of myself. And I took
36:45
an acting class and started studying acting at University of Texas, and one day
36:53
I wound up in a really amazing professor's class who was a touring professor,
36:58
and I did a monologue a movie called Taps that maybe some of you know.
37:05
And after, you know, after I did that mologue, he said,
37:07
you know, Adam, would you mind staying after class? I'd like
37:09
to talk to you for a little bit. And I said sure, So
37:12
I stayed after and I came into his office and he said, you know,
37:15
I'm not too not too sure about this, but I think you might
37:19
want to consider this profession. And I'd already really I was thinking about that
37:25
a lot of the time, and I think when he said that to me,
37:28
I just thought, you know what, Yeah, I'm gonna do this.
37:32
So six, you know, got too long after I graduated. Yeah,
37:36
I'm gonna say, have you ever gone back to that professor to does
37:39
he know where you are today and what you've done? No? You know
37:45
what, It's funny, I haven't. And I've always thought about doing that
37:49
kind of tracing that guy, tracing that tracking that guy down and tracing it
37:53
back to m I think I will eventually. I always have this. I
37:58
always had this um, this little fantasy in my head that I would,
38:01
you know, when I was if I was winning in the award or you
38:07
know, when I have an opportunity to win an award, I would say
38:10
I would mention his name and just let his by that. But yeah,
38:15
I guess it would be pretty cool to actually track him down at some point,
38:19
so maybe I will do that. Um, that's a that's a good,
38:22
good suggestion. So let's let's switch gears for a moment. What you
38:29
shared with me is a multidimensional human being who has excelled in in several different
38:37
professions. This is kind of the American dream, but many people never know
38:42
how to accomplish those kinds of never mind, you know several different careers,
38:47
but even one career. So can you share with us some of the history
38:52
and the secrets of your success? Absolutely? Yeah, a good question.
38:59
And I really like um in a lot of ways. Um, this is
39:04
my message, you know. Yeah, I'm just having this conversation with a
39:07
friend and I was like, well, you know, when I do podcasts
39:12
or you know, what do I talk about? What's my thing? And
39:16
I really feel like that's something I can really give back to people, you
39:21
know what, what I would tell people? And I have some friends that
39:25
I mentor, and UM, a lot of masked me. You know,
39:30
how do I get here? What I what do I do here? How
39:32
do I get to this place? And I look back and I'm thinking,
39:36
well, because if you look at my background, you're like, what,
39:39
how did that happen? What's going on? And I know it looks kind
39:43
of um, it looks kind of like a hodgepodge of accomplishments, But really
39:50
there's there's a method behind the madness. And it really comes down to I'm
39:54
just really, I'm just a fighter and I'm a creator. Really, I
40:00
mean, that's really how I if I had to sum it up, and
40:01
I would tell people, just fight for your dream and fight for your goal
40:07
and then stand in that problem and then do whatever it takes to get there.
40:12
And I think when I came to Hollywood, Hollywood's not really set up
40:16
for Hey, you're here, finally we've been waiting for you. You know,
40:22
that's that doesn't really happen. So when I got here, I struggled
40:25
financially and emotionally and mentally because it was actually much more difficult than I thought
40:31
it would be, and no one was really waiting for me, and I
40:36
was trying to figure this out. I came in debt like a lot of
40:38
people do, and I started bartending because I thought that's what you do.
40:44
And I wound up in this really kind of dark, broke, mentally broken
40:50
place, and I started thinking, Wow, what life choices have I made
40:54
here? You know, because I also, along with acting, I studied
40:58
counting at UT and it was a it was the number one program in the
41:01
nation, and so I had I had a good degree and I understood business,
41:06
and so I remember just thinking a couple of years in, I just
41:09
remember thinking, you know what, um, I'm not going to struggle anymore
41:15
and I'm going to find a way to have a great life while i'm doing
41:17
this, or I'm going to go home. I mean, that was the
41:20
other option. And I thought, you know what, I'd never quit anything.
41:23
I'm not a quitter. And I thought, and it's just a little
41:27
dramatic, this is how I talk to myself. I said, I'm either
41:30
going to do this or they're gonna kill me. Yeah, I'm either going
41:35
to do this or I'm going to die in the middle of trying. And
41:38
because I'm I'm kind of a warrior spirit and that kind of that kind of
41:43
gets that warrior in me. I'm like yes, death or goal right,
41:46
and and I just started looking around. I'm trying to figure out how to
41:51
make money, and um, I remember, I remembered when I had an
41:55
internship at Dell Computers when I was in college that the people that were we're
42:00
really killing killing it financially. We're not the people in finance. Unfortunately,
42:02
they were the people that were the top salespeople. And actually the top outside
42:07
salesperson at a company is the high speed person in the company other than the
42:10
CEO usually. So I thought, I'm going to get an outside sales job,
42:15
and I'm going to find the most hottest industry and I'm gonna make money
42:20
and I'm gonna act, and then I'm either going to have to quit everything
42:22
because I make it as an actor, or I'm gonna I'm gonna kill it
42:29
so much that I'm going to be having a ton of money to make my
42:30
own movies. And either way I win. And so I through it didn't
42:37
happen this fast. But just to cut to the chase, I got a
42:39
job in medical devices and sales, the worst job, the worst medical device
42:44
sales job in probably the city, because it was a startup company and they
42:47
didn't know if they're going to be round in a year. But it was
42:50
the only thing offered to me, so I took it. I started out
42:52
in shipping, which is even worse, but I finally got this job,
42:55
and they all trained, they all helped. Next that it was all for
43:00
the good. So nothing bad about shipping if you're in shipping out there,
43:05
um and uh. And then I combined hard work with serendipity, and I
43:10
worked. I worked the job very difficult, very very hard, because I
43:15
thought that they might find I was an actor and then that would be a
43:19
problem. And uh. And I was told that I've read in a book
43:22
one time that the first three months of the company is how they're going to
43:24
view you forever. So I figured it, for three months, I'll just
43:27
pretend like I'm not an actor, and I'll just destroy this job. And
43:30
that's what I did. I just really I did five times the workload that
43:35
they required of me, and three months in I was their top salesperson.
43:37
And then that's when that's when the that combined with the God factor comes in.
43:45
Right, that's the stuff I could control. But then there's the stuff
43:47
that life throws at you and you can't control, and what that was was
43:52
the company exploded. It just I just happened to be working for a company
43:58
that I became the top sales person in that also exploded the first year,
44:01
and they became end up becoming the gold standard and what they were doing.
44:06
And then every year I was doubling my income. And then three years in
44:08
I found myself making just enormous amounts of money. And then all of a
44:15
sudden, I get a call from the CEO and he says, you know,
44:17
I hear you're going to leave, which I was going to because people
44:21
are offering me more money, and and he said, if I if I
44:25
made you a partner in the firm, would you stay? And I said
44:30
absolutely. And so here three years in, I'm a partner in a medical
44:35
device company and an actor and I'm like this is I'm like, this needs
44:38
to be a movie in itself. And then my income went up dramatically after
44:44
that, and they made me a bigger partner two years in, and then
44:45
I bought in and became even a bigger partner two years in. And during
44:49
this process of making a lot of money and getting out of debt and buying
44:52
a house in the hills and all of a sudden, you know, being
44:55
in a position where I could help I could even produce my own movie.
45:00
Everything kind of sort of started happening at once, and then success breeds success,
45:05
and I had people coming to me saying, Hey, I want to
45:07
start this company. So I ended up starting other companies because they saw me
45:13
having success in another area. So I started a skincare line. I started
45:15
a nutraceutical company with these famous plastic surgeons that I had become friends with.
45:23
And then I started developing real estate because I really the real estate thing came
45:29
around because I saw myself working so hard. I was making good money,
45:34
right money, but I also saw how that could take over your life,
45:38
and I was having a hard time balancing. A matter of fact, when
45:42
I did Butterfly Caught, you can see how I start to like lose weight
45:45
and then get skinnier by the end of the film. Because I was working
45:51
like three full time jobs. So I oftentimes I would film from you know,
45:55
eleven pm at night till four in the morning, and then I would
46:01
go home and sleep for a couple hours, and I would be up,
46:06
you know, getting ready to go have meetings with some of the top plastic
46:08
surgeons on the planet and have these detailed conversations about how skin heals and and
46:15
why our product is the best and and I just my body just was breaking
46:20
down by the end of the movie. So just surviving the filming that movie
46:23
was a challenge. And but you know, at the end of the day,
46:30
you can do anything you put your mind to. You know, you
46:32
really can. You know, if someone said, hey, can you do
46:36
all this and we're gonna orchestrate this these circumstances, you know beforehand, I'd
46:39
be like, I don't know, I don't know if I can do that.
46:44
But when you're in it and you're just like, you just keep walking
46:46
forward, you keep putting the next foot in front of yourself, and you're
46:51
just like, well, I know I can get to set at ten,
46:52
and I know I can get to that meeting at eight. And then you
46:54
just don't really think about the background circumstances. You just find yourself doing all
47:00
these things. When you look back and you're like, wow, how did
47:02
that happen? I mean, you know, Napoleon Hill and think and grow
47:07
Rich says you must have a burning desire and your thoughts, uh if whatever
47:13
you think, whatever you think, and believe you can achieve, and there
47:17
you are. You are the the the exemplary model for think and grow rich,
47:23
and so we congratulate you. I can't believe we are out of time.
47:30
It just went by so fast with you, Adam, and you were
47:31
right. We both agreed that when we get talking, we can talk forever,
47:37
which is which means that you know, there's a lot of alignment and
47:40
simpatico and and actually very very good feelings for at least on my side towards
47:46
you. I wanted just before we say goodbye today, I just wanted to
47:52
give a little plug for your real estate because I know your house, your
47:57
home there will be coming online very soon. Is there anything in like one
48:02
minute, is there anything you could you want to say to us and give
48:06
us a contact if someone were interested in purchasing your would use my podcast as
48:13
a facilitator. Absolutely use The house is absolutely stunning. And I built a
48:20
house not based on what is in the area. I built one of these
48:23
rare houses that was built as if you weren't really worried so much about surpassing
48:30
your area. I built the house that you'd want to build in build if
48:34
you were living in it. Not just trying to sell it. And this
48:37
house is going to be listed in the thirteen millionish range. I think we're
48:45
still trying to set that number anywhere from I think fifteen, possibly maybe twelve
48:52
to fifteen. We're trying to figure out that number is. But it is
48:55
an exceptional home. Three bedrooms, four baths, top of the Hollywood Hills,
49:00
running canyon grip, the observatory of view, two story garage of a
49:05
lift pull suspended in the air on casons, thirteen foot ceilings, botanical garden
49:09
in the middle of the house, like one of those rare houses that you
49:14
could never rebuild because the laws have changed in the Hollywood Hills. And if
49:17
you would like to see it, we actually have an Instagram page for it.
49:22
It's two five three eight Carmen Crest Drive. That's cr M A and
49:28
Crest Drive, Los Angeles, California, nine zero zero sixty eight. And
49:32
at this point I haven't chosen a listing agent for the property, so you
49:37
can contact me directly via the Instagram. Are I mean, I can even
49:43
get my phone number out if that's appropriate. Yeah, go ahead, go
49:45
ahead and do that if you don't mind, And then they can also contact
49:49
me and I can facilitate that. I think they should let people let you
49:52
know that they've come to you through this podcast, so that you'll be aware
49:58
that we we we love to help our guests if we can do so.
50:04
U. So, yeah, go ahead and give us your phone number and
50:07
I'll give mine, and anyone wanting to call either one of us to talk
50:10
about it would be certainly would be we'd be welcoming those calls. Oh great,
50:16
Okay, So my cell phone numbers three two three five, three three
50:20
six two three two. Oka, say it one more time, Adam.
50:23
Yeah, you're three two three five three three six two three two call our
50:28
tests and I will. And I just want to make one mention you said,
50:32
think you go rich. I I'm on my fourth time through that book.
50:36
I have the workbook. I do all the exercises daily, so I
50:39
just want to it's funny where I've like mind, I actually am a huge
50:45
Why doesn't that surprise me? Okay, So my phone number in case someone
50:52
wants to call me directly eight O eight. It sounds like I'm in Hawaii,
50:54
but I'm in Los Angeles eight O eight six three nine zero zero four.
51:00
And the Hawaii is because for twenty five years, I developed a real
51:06
estate on the island of Kauai. As Adams knows that we share the real
51:10
estate experience and we love to create beauty because we both have the strong Libra
51:15
in our astrological chart. So Adam, thank you so much for joining us.
51:21
I know how busy you are. This home, I know is consuming
51:24
huge amounts of your time, and how you juggle it all is now a
51:29
little bit more clear to me that you don't always sleep that much, but
51:32
get keep your house because without your house, nothing else matters, as you
51:37
know, So thank you for joining us. And I'll say my number one
51:40
more time. Eight O eight sixty three nine zero nine zero four. This
51:45
is Michelle Hughes and we want to thank Adam Ambrusso for joining us today and
51:52
have a beautiful day. Yes, thanks well. I think you've been privileged
52:01
today to hear a story. As I've told you in the very beginning of
52:07
our Ageless and Timeless podcasts, our goal is through the stories of others,
52:14
the experiences of others, to learn more about ourselves and what we are doing
52:20
and what we could do better. And I would say that Adam is at
52:23
the top of the food chain, if you want to put it metaphorically,
52:28
because he has gone from being a starving actor, which so many of those
52:32
that come into Hollywood with stars in their eyes are capable of, of just
52:37
walking away and not succeeding, which, of course, his movie Butterfly Cot
52:43
was portraying a lot of that type of negative experience. Adam, on the
52:49
other hand, as a survivor and perseverance has served him well and all those
52:55
other wonderful traits that he has. So we thank him for joining us today
53:00
and wish you all a very, very beautiful day. Yes, hey,
53:27
I can't hear you. Oh, hold on on second, Okay. I
53:31
said you were great and it was wonderful. I loved it. I loved
53:36
it. Thank you, I did too. I really appreciate that. I
53:40
hope a few people call you on your house let me know. And I
53:46
didn't. I just realized I totally breezed over your question about I didn't mention
53:52
anything about Younger dot com. That was it's being released. We ran ran
53:54
out of time, but I didn't mean to to ignore your questions, and
53:58
I just forgot to say something about it till now. It's not a problem,
54:02
you know, what. I can always add it into another podcast too
54:06
when we have a moment to say. By the way, so don't no
54:09
worries about it. We did have I think Tony flashed your website up right,
54:14
Tony, Oh, I guess your website's in construction, right, is
54:16
that? Yeah? We're doing a hard yeah. Okay, well we got
54:22
to run. We have another guess there's Aaron. Awesome. Okay, talk
54:25
to you soon. Take care, Michelle. That was great, okay,
54:29
bye bye. Good morning Aaron, Good morning. We were going from one
54:36
to the next. We just finished with my friend that I told you about
54:38
yesterday, Adam and Brusso, and he wants to meet you, so we
54:43
went I'm going to talk to you about him later today because he could become
54:46
a very good client for Q three sixty. Oh. Great,