Latest / Next Act with Jeff Ornstein / Sam Humphrey - Actor, Producer & Motivational Speaker, The Little Guy Collective

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Sam Humphrey - Actor, Producer & Motivational Speaker, The Little Guy Collective · Next Act with Jeff Ornstein

• 0:01
  Jeff Ornstein: Hi everyone, and welcome to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein.
• 0:05
  Jeff Ornstein: I am Jeff, and on this show we celebrate people on the cusp of greatness.
• 0:10
  Jeff Ornstein: Those building on past successes in some of the curious and inventive and sometimes unexpected ways they have achieved those, and stepping into moments that could define their legacy.
• 0:21
  Jeff Ornstein: We'll talk about current projects, lessons learned, and the extraordinary opportunities ahead.
• 0:26
  Jeff Ornstein: So the best is yet to come.
• 0:29
  Jeff Ornstein: Today's guest is Sam Humphrey, actor, producer, motivational speaker, and disability advocate, best known for playing Tom Thumb, alongside Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman.
• 0:40
  Jeff Ornstein: From growing up in New Zealand to building a career in Hollywood, Sam now uses his platform to speak openly about faith, mental health, resilience, and representation.
• 0:49
  Jeff Ornstein: Sam, it's good to have you on.
• 0:52
  Sam Humphrey: Hi, thanks for having me.
• 0:53
  Sam Humphrey: It's an honor and a privilege to be here.
• 0:56
  Jeff Ornstein: Okay, excellent.
• 0:58
  Jeff Ornstein: So being from, I mean, of course, there are a lot of people from Australia, certainly a lot of Australians and New Zealand oursel became big stars in the States.
• 1:07
  Jeff Ornstein: But you mentioned it was a dream come true to be able to work with Hugh Jackman.
• 1:11
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, was it because he's such a talent or he's such a nice guy?
• 1:16
  Sam Humphrey: Well, I think the reason I always wanted to work with him is both.
• 1:19
  Sam Humphrey: But I saw Shee Jackman on the big screen and on television when I was like eight years old.
• 1:26
  Sam Humphrey: And something about his, I don't know, his charisma and the character he was playing.
• 1:33
  Sam Humphrey: So I saw him as Wolverine and X-Men.
• 1:35
  Sam Humphrey: And just something about that really junk out at me.
• 1:38
  Sam Humphrey: And when I was watching him play that character, I just always wanted to, well, first off, I wanted to be Wolverine.
• 1:46
  Sam Humphrey: I mean, what I, you know, didn't want to be Wolverine, he had cores.
• 1:51
  Sam Humphrey: And I actually made my own cause out of cardboard.
• 1:55
  Sam Humphrey: And I would run around my house, I would pretend to be Wolverine.
• 1:59
  Sam Humphrey: And then when I looked into him more, I found out that he was an actor.
• 2:04
  Sam Humphrey: Like he wasn't Wolverine.
• 2:06
  Sam Humphrey: The Wolverine was just a character.
• 2:07
  Sam Humphrey: And he was Huge Jagman and he was an actor.
• 2:10
  Sam Humphrey: And when I looked into him more, I found that he was a philanthropist, he was a really great guy.
• 2:15
  Sam Humphrey: He had such an amazing character about him in the industry.
• 2:19
  Sam Humphrey: And that was something that really resonated with me.
• 2:22
  Sam Humphrey: And so I wanted to be just like him.
• 2:25
  Sam Humphrey: And so that led me into a pursuit of acting.
• 2:28
  Sam Humphrey: There's a lot more to the reason why I got into acting, but he was one of the biggest catalysts for why I delved into acting.
• 2:38
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, I gotta tell you, like this is a podcast about second acts, which can be concurrent with what your the life's travel, the path, the journey that you've been on, or it can be as a result of and combining, conjoining skill sets and experiences.
• 2:55
  Jeff Ornstein: But what's really fascinating about your journey is that you've taken passions that are very important to you, mental health, your own physical challenges that you've had, and as well as representation.
• 3:07
  Jeff Ornstein: And you then conjoined it with the theater.
• 3:12
  Jeff Ornstein: So why don't we talk a little bit about that?
• 3:14
  Jeff Ornstein: What was it about your wanting to be a voice for mental health issues and those struggling with it?
• 3:21
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah.
• 3:22
  Sam Humphrey: I think one of the most important things about why I decided to be a mental health advocate is because growing up, when you're a little person, you look at the world, and that's where my face becomes evidently very important to me as a little person and someone who faces all these challenges and troubles.
• 3:40
  Sam Humphrey: But as someone in as a little person in this world where everyone is struggling and everyone is facing these types of challenges, you look at the world and you think, I don't belong.
• 3:53
  Sam Humphrey: I'm not like everyone else.
• 3:56
  Sam Humphrey: And it's true that everyone can say that, but as a little person, you look at how this world is designed, how this world has been created, and you think it hasn't been designed for me.
• 4:08
  Sam Humphrey: It's not designed for me to succeed in a way with all of these different programs and having a career and having relationships and all these kinds of things.
• 4:18
  Sam Humphrey: And when I was growing up, I struggled with my identity.
• 4:23
  Sam Humphrey: Who was I?
• 4:24
  Sam Humphrey: And I allowed the world to tell me who I was rather than discovering that internally.
• 4:31
  Sam Humphrey: And that's again where my faith comes in is that I allow my faith, uh, God who I serve, is I allow Him to give me my identity.
• 4:40
  Sam Humphrey: And one of the most important things is that from my faith, it tells us that we are not the thoughts and the lies that we tell ourselves or we allow the world to tell ourselves.
• 4:51
  Sam Humphrey: Like you are bigger, you have a purpose, you have an identity, you're not stupid, you are intelligent.
• 4:58
  Sam Humphrey: So it's all these things that we allow the world to put on us that forms our identity.
• 5:05
  Sam Humphrey: And I believe that unless we break those cycles and we help other people to really understand that those are not our own thoughts, but the thoughts that we've been conditioned to believe and the lies that the world and society has told us to keep us small and not really embrace our true calling and our purpose, then the world is going to keep us small and keep us dumped down.
• 5:30
  Sam Humphrey: And so I think allowing others to acknowledge the mental health that, you know, mental health strat that they fall into is very important.
• 5:39
  Sam Humphrey: And so that's why I spread mental health.
• 5:42
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, I'm a little tongue-tied, but you get a point.
• 5:47
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, it is interesting because I mean the industry as a whole has a way of kind of taking stripping people of their identities and making them more fragile sometimes, or having people under such intense scrutiny that again it increases their mental fragility.
• 6:03
  Jeff Ornstein: But when you think about the artists that frequently speak about mental health issues and faith, and I was thinking like Denzel Washington, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, they speak about mental health issues, Viola Davis, Natalie Portman, people like that, they speak about faith issues.
• 6:24
  Jeff Ornstein: So those are stories that are pretty grounded.
• 6:27
  Jeff Ornstein: So you can see how like getting topics to the forefront, recognizing them and addressing them, and with faith, seeing the value in them, has done several stars have done very well to have them keeping them at the forefront of their career.
• 6:43
  Jeff Ornstein: So I suspect it's probably the same with you.
• 6:46
  Jeff Ornstein: That's what sort of serves as a center.
• 6:48
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:48
  Sam Humphrey: I mean, absolutely.
• 6:50
  Sam Humphrey: I think ultimately when you go and do something as big as what I've done, and being in the assurement, and then you come off that, and sometimes you wonder, like, what is the next big thing?
• 7:02
  Sam Humphrey: And I found that my faith has been the center of everything that I do, whether or not it's I'm in front of cameras or I am taking my own personal time to discover what success is.
• 7:15
  Sam Humphrey: Because I think it always comes back to what is success and what does the world tell us success is, versus what I think from a faith perspective, what that tells us what success is.
• 7:27
  Sam Humphrey: And I think when you focus on the only the external perspective of what success is, it can become a very lonely and very isolated place to be.
• 7:38
  Sam Humphrey: And that's what I found because honestly, when I talk about what I've done and being in the greatest showman, everyone's everyone, you know, asked me, what was that like?
• 7:47
  Sam Humphrey: And that was an experience like no other.
• 7:49
  Sam Humphrey: It was incredible.
• 7:51
  Sam Humphrey: I met people and I had the best time of my life.
• 7:54
  Sam Humphrey: But then coming off the greatest showman, it was something that I had always prayed externally to prove my value and my worth to the world and to myself.
• 8:06
  Sam Humphrey: But then coming off the greater showman, I found myself asking questions like, I found myself asking questions as what does that really mean to me?
• 8:14
  Sam Humphrey: Like, have I proved my worth?
• 8:16
  Sam Humphrey: Have I proved my validation?
• 8:18
  Sam Humphrey: And externally, maybe I did, but internally I still felt lost.
• 8:24
  Sam Humphrey: I still felt like I didn't know who I was, like to my own core identity.
• 8:31
  Sam Humphrey: And that was something real that really sent me on a journey of discovering who I was outside of the external validation and outside of what the world and culture and society was telling me that I was, even though I had quote unquote risen to this fame and all that.
• 8:49
  Sam Humphrey: And I found that didn't actually really mean anything to me ultimately.
• 8:55
  Jeff Ornstein: So do you uh share this on television, or do you are you a podcaster, or are you giving uh live seminars?
• 9:03
  Jeff Ornstein: How are you able to get your message out and share with people how important faith has been and how it's impacted you?
• 9:10
  Sam Humphrey: So currently how I am spreading my message is through amazing, incredible people like yourself having me on their podcast.
• 9:18
  Sam Humphrey: I am currently working on writing my autobiography.
• 9:21
  Sam Humphrey: I am working on setting up speaking engagements, and I'm actually working on how to set up a tour to go on speaking engagements around the country and around the world.
• 9:32
  Sam Humphrey: I'm sort of looking at how to get in front of churches because I think my message is very important to churches.
• 9:39
  Sam Humphrey: But those are different avenues that I'm looking at, how to get in front of those people and those stages to be able to talk about that.
• 9:47
  Sam Humphrey: It's just it's something that has really helped me going back to the mental health aspect.
• 9:52
  Sam Humphrey: I know faith isn't necessarily for everyone, but I really believe when you get down to the foundational core elements of what faith is about, you really begin to understand it, really does help the mind because one thing that it says in the Bible is that renew, you have to renew your mind.
• 10:11
  Sam Humphrey: And so, like, that's just another way to say like focus on the thoughts that you're telling yourself, focus on your mindset.
• 10:18
  Sam Humphrey: That's just another way of saying that.
• 10:20
  Sam Humphrey: And there's so many incredible, amazing nuggets of wisdom and truths in the Bible, and that's why I am really into studying and reading the Bible, because that is my core center of everything that I am.
• 10:34
  Jeff Ornstein: So I think that few would argue that against regardless of what your idea of faith is and how you pursue your faith, having a deep understanding within yourself would help you then really be get to the core of a lot of different characters so that you could portray them with the most authenticity.
• 10:55
  Jeff Ornstein: So I think it's listening to you speak and sharing the values that it brings to you, the doors that it opens, you know, spiritually and emotionally, that a lot of people from all walks of life would benefit from that, in particular the actor, because it is so important to lay yourself bare and absorb the character so that you can live it.
• 11:18
  Jeff Ornstein: So are you still pursuing film and television roles or are you focusing more on your speaking?
• 11:26
  Jeff Ornstein: Where are you now in your career development?
• 11:28
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, so when it comes to acting and film and television, I am still pursuing that in a sense that I haven't completely shut that down, but I'm not like pouring all my energy and my time into it.
• 11:40
  Sam Humphrey: I have my teams, I have people that reach out to me and offer me jobs and things like that.
• 11:47
  Sam Humphrey: And actually, I have one coming up next week, which is a recording job.
• 11:51
  Sam Humphrey: So I will be doing that.
• 11:52
  Sam Humphrey: I haven't completely shut myself off for that, but I believe that my purpose now, like with everything that I've gone through, is to speak my message and to show people that ultimately my message is that you are not a mistake.
• 12:07
  Sam Humphrey: You can take whatever your perceived weaknesses are and they can become your strengths.
• 12:13
  Sam Humphrey: So, because when I was growing up and when I was a child, I grew up in church, and the message of the Bible and the gospel was always that God is perfect.
• 12:23
  Sam Humphrey: And for me, when I heard that, I always wondered that if he's so perfect, then why am I the way I am?
• 12:32
  Sam Humphrey: Because I'm sure I'm not like everyone else.
• 12:35
  Sam Humphrey: Like, and so I always wondered, am I a mistake?
• 12:39
  Sam Humphrey: And I went through a life really long time, and I would say, to be completely honest, it's only been in the last few years that I've really started to understand the skill of it, I'm not a mistake, that I am who I am for a reason.
• 12:51
  Sam Humphrey: So my message is to tell everyone that they are not a mistake, that the perceived weaknesses they had can be the strengths.
• 12:58
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, I think a lot of the people watching or listening to this will take a lot from them because there are people that are contemplating a second act and don't necessarily have the courage or the confidence within to go out and do it.
• 13:14
  Jeff Ornstein: And what we found from a lot of our guests, the experiences they've shared, and then the comments that come back from our listeners is that when I listened to this story, it empowered me.
• 13:26
  Jeff Ornstein: So, you know, you've succeeded with this internal conflict of feeling less than perfect, some other physical challenges.
• 13:34
  Jeff Ornstein: I noticed that you speak up about concerning Crohn's disease, and also understanding that some of the questions you have about your own worthiness you feel probably may be valid and are being thrust upon other people in the little person community, and you have overcome it.
• 13:53
  Jeff Ornstein: So to the actresses with the slightly imperfect nose, which seems so shallow and inconsequential, just being the authentic person you are and believing in yourself can propel you.
• 14:07
  Jeff Ornstein: And look at you, you were in a global blockbuster.
• 14:09
  Jeff Ornstein: I think it's terrific.
• 14:10
  Jeff Ornstein: And I think the people listening will see that as well.
• 14:13
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:14
  Sam Humphrey: I think one of the things is that if we understand that we all have things about ourselves that we don't like or we don't value, or we don't see as worthy, but I think when we again it goes back to words have power, and so what you speak over yourselves will come true.
• 14:34
  Sam Humphrey: So we have to use our tongue to speak positive words and speak affirmations that we are intelligent, we are smart, we are strong, we are capable.
• 14:44
  Sam Humphrey: And to say that, like going back to saying that I've overcome it, yes, I've overcome some things, but I am still overcoming.
• 14:53
  Sam Humphrey: I still have a lot of things that I fight against on the daily.
• 14:57
  Sam Humphrey: Like what you see here is like a work in progress.
• 15:00
  Sam Humphrey: I still have days where I feel depressed.
• 15:02
  Sam Humphrey: I still have have days where I feel unworthy, I still have days where I'm like, I'm I'm 32.
• 15:08
  Sam Humphrey: I'm like, I'd love to be in a relationship.
• 15:10
  Sam Humphrey: But there are days where I'm like, can I be in a relationship?
• 15:13
  Sam Humphrey: I'm a little person.
• 15:14
  Sam Humphrey: Does someone see me as a potential partner?
• 15:18
  Sam Humphrey: So there's things that I still wrestle with that other people might take for granted.
• 15:23
  Sam Humphrey: So I think it's when we look at what gratitude is, you have to be grateful for the things that you have and focus on what you have and what you can do rather than the things that you don't have and the things you can't do.
• 15:36
  Sam Humphrey: Because when you do well on the negative, there's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• 15:40
  Sam Humphrey: So focus on the positive, and that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• 15:46
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, if I may add my two cents, there's someone for everyone, regardless of shape, size, color, language, economic status.
• 15:55
  Jeff Ornstein: There's definitely someone for everyone.
• 15:57
  Jeff Ornstein: I'm a firm believer in that.
• 15:59
  Jeff Ornstein: So, and it's all about timing.
• 16:01
  Jeff Ornstein: And maybe a lot of people need to look within and find happiness and contentment within, and then that opens up, that shines through, and the people they're around see that contentment, and they will say, Yeah, I want what he's having.
• 16:18
  Sam Humphrey: I mean, that is the journey that I'm yelling on that now.
• 16:21
  Jeff Ornstein: Right.
• 16:21
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, that's fantastic.
• 16:23
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, and that journey could be a lifelong journey.
• 16:26
  Jeff Ornstein: So, and like enjoy the journey, right?
• 16:29
  Jeff Ornstein: There's something to learn every day.
• 16:30
  Jeff Ornstein: Every experience, I also firmly believe that every experience is a valuable experience.
• 16:35
  Jeff Ornstein: Even if it's something that teaches you what you want to avoid or don't do, there's value in that.
• 16:41
  Jeff Ornstein: Or if it's something that shows, oh wow, here's a hidden strength I didn't know I possessed, or talent or skill.
• 16:47
  Jeff Ornstein: So you gotta just enjoy every minute because it can be unexpected surprises that come at you along the way that you're not in control of, but you are in control of your own inner peace and solace.
• 16:57
  Jeff Ornstein: So are you in the United States right now or are you down under?
• 17:01
  Jeff Ornstein: Where are you?
• 17:02
  Sam Humphrey: So I've been in the United States actually for the last nine years now.
• 17:06
  Sam Humphrey: I live in Los Angeles.
• 17:09
  Jeff Ornstein: Okay.
• 17:09
  Jeff Ornstein: Are you represented in Los Angeles?
• 17:13
  Sam Humphrey: So I currently have a manager, however, I don't have an agent at this current time.
• 17:18
  Sam Humphrey: I've kind of been going through different agents because, as you see, I am a very unique type of talent.
• 17:26
  Sam Humphrey: And so a lot of the agents I call them haven't fully understood or been able to call that.
• 17:32
  Sam Humphrey: And a lot of the times what I find is we kind of get to a certain point where they go, oh, sorry, we don't really know how to squeeze you into the industry.
• 17:43
  Sam Humphrey: So to be fair on you, we think that you should maybe move on and find someone who really kind of understands how to market you.
• 17:51
  Sam Humphrey: And that's kind of been one of my core problems throughout my entire career.
• 17:56
  Sam Humphrey: No one really knows how to market me.
• 18:00
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, forgive me because I don't know his name because I wasn't a spectator of that show.
• 18:04
  Jeff Ornstein: But the little person in Game of Thrones, I mean, he reached incredible success and sex symbol status, in fact.
• 18:14
  Jeff Ornstein: I think the whole world just wants to soak him up and be around him and watch him.
• 18:18
  Jeff Ornstein: And he's a very commanding presence on screen.
• 18:21
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, Peter Dinklage.
• 18:22
  Sam Humphrey: I mean, he's actually someone that I really admire, considering that he's also a little person.
• 18:27
  Sam Humphrey: And actually, in bringing that up, the funny thing is uh the fact that I found like uh inspiration in Chi Jackman, which led me into acting, is funny because I'm surprised that I didn't really, I mean, at the time I didn't really know Peter Dinklage.
• 18:44
  Sam Humphrey: But now when I look at like who my inspirations are, like Peter Dinklage is one of the biggest inspirations for who I would like to map my career after.
• 18:54
  Sam Humphrey: And I mean, and one of the other things is that I'm finding that I'm really passionate about in terms of acting is actually creature work.
• 19:01
  Sam Humphrey: I'd had the opportunity to do creature work throughout my career a few times.
• 19:06
  Sam Humphrey: There's a few projects that I've been in that I've done creature work, and I find it actually the most fulfilling.
• 19:13
  Sam Humphrey: Even though I'm not visible to the camera, it's just a different type of skill set and it's a different type of talent that you really have to wrap your head around.
• 19:22
  Sam Humphrey: And that's something that I'm looking to pursue more in the future, if that is something that comes up, especially when it comes to Star Wars.
• 19:30
  Sam Humphrey: Star Wars has been one of my lifetime goals that I would like to, you know, be in.
• 19:35
  Sam Humphrey: And I was in Star Wars full character scenes in Skeleton Clube, but I'm looking to hopefully land a role in the future films, if that is an opportunity that I can land.
• 19:47
  Jeff Ornstein: Well, Sam, we're grossly over schedule, but I just love listening to you and all of your enthusiasm and your passions and your searches.
• 19:54
  Jeff Ornstein: I think you're going to make a big mark because you've sounds like a lot of commitment to all of these things, to the mental health issues, to faith, to entrepreneurship, to producing, to performing.
• 20:06
  Jeff Ornstein: I mean, you light up when you speak about all of them.
• 20:09
  Jeff Ornstein: So we're going to keep you on our radar here at Next Act.
• 20:12
  Jeff Ornstein: And I want you to always feel free to reach back out to us.
• 20:15
  Jeff Ornstein: If you have an exciting project and you want to share it with the listeners, we'd love to have you back.
• 20:19
  Sam Humphrey: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 20:20
  Sam Humphrey: When my book is ready to publish and is gone to be released, I'll let you know.
• 20:26
  Sam Humphrey: And the same thing with any of my speaking engagements as well.
• 20:31
  Jeff Ornstein: Okay, terrific.
• 20:32
  Jeff Ornstein: Sam, thanks again and have a wonderful day.
• 20:35
  Sam Humphrey: You too.
• 20:35
  Sam Humphrey: Take care.
• 20:36
  Sam Humphrey: Have a good one, Jeff.
• 20:37
  Jeff Ornstein: Thanks for tuning in to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein.
• 20:40
  Jeff Ornstein: Follow, subscribe, and stay connected to your favorite socials at www.nextdackpodcast.com.
• 20:48
  Jeff Ornstein: Keep chasing your next act.
• 20:50
  Jeff Ornstein: The best is yet to come.