Digital Social Hour - The Truth About Acting & Why It’s Harder Than Fighting | Sean Carrigan DSH #1253

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

🔥 Sean Carrigan on Acting, Boxing, and the Journey to Hollywood 🎬🥊 In this action-packed episode, we sit down with Sean Carrigan, a former professional boxer turned Hollywood actor. He shares his journey from the boxing ring to starring in hit films and TV shows, the grit required to succeed in entertainment, and how sports shaped his mindset for acting. We dive into: ✅ How boxing prepared him for the challenges of Hollywood ✅ His experience starring in The Young and the Restless ✅ Why mental toughness is key in both acting and fighting ✅ How he transitioned from the ring to the big screen ✅ His latest film Gracepoint and what’s next for him This episode is packed with incredible stories, career insights, and life lessons from one of Hollywood’s most versatile talents! 📲 Follow Sean Carrigan & Learn More: 🔗 Instagram: @TheRealSeanCarrigan 🔗 IMDb: Sean Carrigan IMDb 🔗 Latest Film: Gracepoint – Available on [Amazon & Apple TV] ⏱ CHAPTERS 📌 00:00 – Sean Carrigan’s Journey from Boxing to Hollywood 📌 05:10 – How Boxing Shaped His Mindset & Career 📌 11:25 – Landing a Role on The Young and the Restless 📌 17:40 – The Reality of Hollywood & Breaking Into Acting 📌 23:55 – The Grit Needed to Succeed in Acting & Sports 📌 30:20 – Why Mental Toughness is Everything in Entertainment 📌 36:45 – His Experience Working on Gracepoint & New Projects 📌 42:10 – The Best Advice for Aspiring Actors & Athletes 📌 49:00 – Closing Thoughts & What’s Next for Sean Carrigan 🔥 Apply to Be on the Podcast & Business Inquiries: 🎙 APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application 📩 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] 🔥 Hashtags #SeanCarrigan #Boxing #Hollywood #Acting #YoungAndTheRestless #Gracepoint #MentalToughness #Motivation #DigitalSocialHour #Podcast #SuccessMindset #FromTheRingToHollywood

I would go up and visit my dad all the time up in D.C., live right outside D.C., Northern Virginia, and he'd start training fighters. And that's when, you know, I just kind of fell in love with it, watched him, you know, training fighters. I was around a gym. And, you know, being that I was little, you know, I just like, you know, I had moments when I was a kid

where I felt like powerless and I wanted to have I wanted to have a sense of power and being able to defend myself and stand up to people and You know being around a boxing gym seemed like the way to go And so my dad my dad was all about, you know being Irish and you know boxer fighting Irish, but yeah That's it and so my me and my brothers my dad trained me and my brothers and so I would spend all my summers and winters up there and and then you know eventually I lived up there after college and And that's what I like, you know, I had my a lot of my amateur fights All right guys fellow Sean here today got an actor and a new release, right? Grace Point.

That's right, Grace Point. Yeah, it's out already. It's out on Amazon and Apple TV. I love it, man. And so. Was that your most recent film? Yeah, yo, actually I just shot something called Demonetized that's coming out in April,

but yeah, Grace Point, you know, we've been working, Rory Carp, the guy who directed it, he's been working on this film, getting this film together for a long time. And we got a great cast and we shot it a few years ago and it's finally coming out. And we're happy it's getting the attention it deserves. Yeah, it must be tough these days

to make a top selling movie, right? I think so. I mean, it's a tough time. A lot going on with, you know, streaming and, you know, movies, it's just, you know, and plus there's like so many distractions in the world. You know what I mean? So it's hard to get people to sit down for a whole film, but our, you know, our movie's good and, you know, hopefully people watch it. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like there's a power shift towards the streaming platforms now. It seems

like they're having a lot of power. Yeah, they are. I mean, you know, that's the way the world goes, you know, I mean it's a different convenience. Cause I've had a lot of documentary filmmakers on the podcast and they have numerous stories of how they can't even get on Netflix cause they said certain things in the documentary. Oh right, yeah, I mean, look, you know,

at the end of the day, you know, people just trying to get their stuff made and get it seen and, you know, at the end of the day, you know, people just trying to get their stuff made and get it seen. And, you know, I think there's I think the the the platform has gone gotten bigger for that. Yeah. But now it's just getting flooded. And so, you know, people, you know, and I don't know what, you know, sponsorships people

have with other, you know, you know, with with stuff, you know know stuff on their site and why they won't air movies and stuff like that Like I'm just an actor. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. You're seeing alternative routes Andrew Schultz Who's a comedian ended up launching a special on his own site and it crushed it. Yeah, so there's other route He's super funny. Yeah, I love that guy. Have you seen him in a Performance live for me. I haven't seen Andrew Schultz, but I bounce around the comedy store quite a bit, and I see a lot of guys. Theo Vonn's crushing her now. Shout out to Theo.

There's some good comedians these days, man. It's a new era. Yeah, Dean Del Rey. He does a lot of work with Bill Burr. I'm a big fan of Dean Del Rey. And Bill Burr is obviously, you know, the king. Yeah, it's hard to beat that, man. I wanna talk about your boxing career.

So you started at 16. So, yeah, man, I was little growing up and, you know, my parents got divorced when I was really young, so I moved down to Miami, Florida, and started living down there with my mom. And I would go up and visit my dad all the time up in DC, live right outside DC, Northern Virginia. And he'd start training fighters.

And that's when I just kind of fell in love with it, watched him train the fighters. I was around a gym. And being that I was little, I just like, I had moments when I was a kid where I felt like, I had moments when I was a kid where I felt like powerless and I wanted to have a sense of power and being able to defend myself and stand up to people and being around a boxing gym

seemed like the way to go. And so my dad was all about being Irish and boxering and fighting Irish. That's it. And so me and my brothers, my dad being Irish and boxers. Fighting Irish. Yeah, that's it. Me and my brothers, my dad trained me and my brothers. I would spend all my summers and winters up there. Eventually, I lived up there after college. That's when I had a lot of my amateur fights.

I fought all over the country. My dad, every other weekend, we'd like be going off somewhere. He would find fights that were going off in Roanoke or West Virginia or up in New Jersey. He would just find fights for all of us to go to. I mean, one time we went to Boston. Searching for the perfect job can be overwhelming. You know it's out there, you just don't know how to find it.

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my dad was always trying to get his son's fights. Wow. Yeah. I mean, when we were really young, I even got a picture of it. My brother, my brother's three and a half years older than me and my dad laced this up when I was like nine. My brother was 12 and he's just, he's like about to, they caught the phone

and right as he's about to land a right hand right on my head. Man, yeah. So you were scrapping with your brother. Yeah, yeah, that's one thing. My dad, he loved putting gloves on the kids and we'd all get out in the yard and get after it. So he had some tough love to him.

I think that's, I mean, that's what, when he was coming up, he grew up in Alcoa, Tennessee, and his uncles were prize fighters and they would lace up all the cousins and put gloves on them and then they'd all go to battle out in the backyard. And my dad was like, he was one of the better ones. Yeah, that's how it was back in the day, man.

My dad grew up on a farm and he was scrapping all the time. Yeah, yeah. You could lay hands on people in school even back then, but now you get immediately suspended. Yeah, it's a lot. I think there's a lot of fight stories back then. Yeah, different era. Now people fight online.

Cyber bullying or whatever. Yeah, it's a much different era, but at the same time, mental health's worse. So you kind of start to wonder which one was better. Yeah, I mean I'm an toss-up. Yeah, you would rather get physically beat up or mentally assaulted on the internet, I guess. Oh I'll take an ass-kicking Yeah, I'll take a physical ass-kicking man man. So that was kind of your destiny from a young age then fighting

Well, you know look man, you know, I wasn't very good. It's interesting because I was real small and I wanted to wrestle and box. Those are my two sports. And I started out wrestling in high school and I just, I was terrible. I wasn't very good. I was weak. I was small. And I think I started at 119 my sophomore year and then I went up to 130, my junior year. I never even made it to the regional tournament, in Dade County.

And so I didn't even make it to regions, man, regionals. And right before my senior year, I wrestled freestyle, and then I went off to a summer camp. Went to J. Robinson Intensive Wrestling Camp in University of Minnesota before my senior year in high school. And I wrestled with the guy who was a state runner-up in Michigan.

I wrestled with him every day for 28 days. And it was just, me and him became pals. And then you just wrestled. They had you working out at J-Rob. They had you wrestling a couple times a day. Then you were doing runs in the morning. You were doing weightlifting. And then they had you write out all your goals.

I came back my senior year and just destroying everybody. And one of the best wrestlers in Florida my senior year. So I had a good senior year. I'd never even wrestled in a regional tournament. And went to state championships, didn't do as well as I wanted to, but got to go off to college and I wrestled D1 in college. Amazing. That's a great story of just being in the right environment, right? Because you had the field inside you.

You just needed someone to help bring that up. Yeah. And that camp, J Robinson Intensive Camp was, we had a shirt that we would all wear. It said, I'm going to heaven because I've been through hell. J Robinson Intensive Camp. I love it. And so I don't know what I'd do without a shirt,

but I wish I could find it. Yeah, that sounds like a legendary shirt. I love that quote, though. Yeah. You got to go through some a shirt, but I wish I could find it. Yeah, that sounds like a legendary shirt. I love that quote though. Yeah. You gotta go through some tough stuff if you wanna make it to the top. You do. And what was great about that camp was,

they had us right now goals and just doing things, pushing you farther than you realized you could go. And so I came back that year, my senior year, and pre-season tournaments, I would wrestle 145 and 152. I'd register in two weight classes and then I'd be in the finals in both. And then- Wow, that's hard to do.

Yeah, and so, yeah man. So that was, you know, it was a good career, you know, in high school and, you know, it was a good career in high school and I did something. That's why I love the mental side of sports actually, which is why, I don't know if you watch basketball, but I think Phil Jackson's the goat. Because he just had the mental side of the sport on lock. He would make the players meditate, write out goals, like you're saying. I think that's kind of what separates the best athletes from like everyone else the mental side. You know man I think I think you're right. It's just it's just a matter of of just working working working. For me you know I've always kind of fell in my

face quite a bit you know. It seems like I you know I fall down 10 times before I actually succeed. And it was the same thing of boxing. There was a guy in the gym when I was younger, when I first started, he'd been boxing since he was five years old. And he was just better than me because he'd been boxing so long. I was just better than me because he'd been boxing so long. I was just starting. He would just beat my ass all the time. My dad on the drive, we'd be driving home and my dad would just be like, just keep working.

Just keep working. Just keep working. He's like, one of these days it's going to be like a light bulb goes off. It's like a window is going to open. All of a sudden you're going to, you're gonna see the punches, you're gonna see things coming at you, and it's just gonna get easier. He said, you just gotta keep working.

So I listened to it, I'd go back to the gym, and again, we'd box, we'd spar, he'd beat my ass again, and my dad would just say, just keep working, just keep working, just keep working, you work harder, you work hard. And so, and then next thing you know, he was, my dad was right, he was like,

all of a sudden, one day it was just like, you know, it's like the window opened, and I was like, oh wait a second, I'm like, I see everything, I'm like, you know, I started seeing punches coming at me, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no way, no way! You know, and then that guy, that kid, he never beat me after that. Oh really?

It was like an overnight thing for you? Yeah, it was just like my dad said, it was like one day, wow, the light went off. But that comes with hard work. Yeah. And it's the same thing in wrestling. It's just hard work, hard work, hard work. So I was just lucky to do two sports that, you know, that just spoke to me.

And really gave me a sense of identity because I kind of felt lost most of my high school career until my senior year. You felt lost like just overall? Just felt like unseen, you know, just, uh, didn't really have, uh, a sense of identity. That's the thing I love about sports is, is working hard at something gives you character and then all of a sudden, you know, you started having some success and you start to like feel, okay, this is like, I am here. I am, I'm seeing, I'm seeing this hard work pay off.

And it was valuable for me. Absolutely. I attribute, I was a track runner in high school and that helped me find myself and learn mental discipline too. But like you, I was lost in high school, man. My identity, I was pretending to be someone I wasn't for sure. Yeah, in high school, man. My identity, I was pretending to be someone I wasn't for sure.

Yeah, it was tough, man. I just, I think, you know, I was smaller and, you know, I didn't really have the right direction and, you know, I found wrestling and boxing and it changed my life. So you really tied a lot of your identity to your height and size? I think so, I think I did because, you did because I felt like everybody was bigger than me.

Was that intimidating to you? Yeah. I think especially in junior high, junior high was rough. And then ninth and tenth grade, you just, you know, you just, you know, it was just, when you, when you, I attributed, I attributed like, being, not being able to like stand up to, being scared. Okay, I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example of what I'm saying. When I was in junior high, there was a big fight, right, out in the yard. And a couple of my friends were outnumbered

and a bunch of guys jumped in. And I went to like go help and I froze. I froze because I was scared. And I felt like I literally couldn't make myself, because I was scared. I couldn't make myself go help. Now a bunch of other of my friends jumped in and they got out of the situation,

but it's still like that feeling of, of like, being scared and frozen. I was like, dude, I can't, I can't live my life like this. I don't want to live my life like that. And that's why, you know, I think I turned to wrestling and when I turned to boxing and there's nothing like, you know, Rory, my, my buddy Rory Carp, who was on here and he's director and you know he said he always wanted to have the one fight he wanted to know what that's like when you're walking out to you know taking that that walk out to the ring and he wanted to know like you know what that feels like and I wanted to know what that felt like. I wanted to know that I can conquer

being scared and frozen. And that's why I did it. And you know, when you first walk out that first fight that I had, I fought a guy named Leonard Johnson from Alexander Boxing Club at the Olympia Boxing Club in Falls Church, Virginia, and it was a big smoker event. And I, you know, walking out to that ring was one of the scariest moments of my life because I was like, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?

Why am I doing this? You know, and part of you wants to chicken out. Yeah. And then I just force myself, I was like, you have to, you have to, you have to. And then you get in there and then you start mixing it up and you're like, all right, I can, I can do this, I can do this.

And conquering your fears, and I think that's what it is. It's, you know, the thing about boxing and wrestling is you learn to conquer your fears, learn to like, you know, to really like stand up and fight for yourself. And you know, there was an interesting thing that happened in that fight. It was my first fight and between, so it was a three round, you know, it was a three rounder and between rounds two and three, you know, me and this guy had been going at it.

We had been going at it and I was doing really well and Jim Ed Jones, who was my trainer at the time with my dad, Jim Ed Jones said to me in the middle of round two and three, he goes, hey, this next round ain't about boxing. This next round is about heart. It's about how much heart you got. You go out there and you give it everything. This round is about heart. It's about what you got inside. You get out there and you get it. You take it. You take it right now. And I've never forgotten that. And I went out there and it's like, you know, just put it on the guy.

And it was one of the greatest moments of my life. And I'll never forget that advice. You know, and go ahead. Where you sound like a really pivotal moment in your life. You remembered every single word and like. Yeah, yeah, and I remember him like, standing there looking at me, he was like, cause I was gassed.

I was so gassed, I was, you know, I was exhausted. And you get, when you have your first fight, you know, and the amateurs, you're exhausted. Cause you don't know how to pace yourself yet. Yeah, no, I mean, it's just, you know, it's exhausting. And, you know, there's so much adrenaline pumping through you because you're also nervous and scared. And then you get in there and, you know,

it's just, you know, you're probably going at a faster pace than you would, you know, as time goes on. I mean, as the years went on, you know, the fights got easier, you know, you, you manage those emotions better, but nothing like a, that first, that first match. I love it, man. Yeah. That's why I love sports and especially fighting sports. It builds your confidence, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, I was, I was boxing and wrestling way before MMA became a thing. I kind of missed the MMA window. But I always loved feeling like, you know, I could defend a takedown and also defend

myself with my hands. So it's good life skill to have, you know, you never know when you'll need to throw hands with someone at the bar or something. Yeah. Yeah. But just that confidence, knowing you can defend yourself. You can defend your girl or your friends. I mean, that's really the only reason I started boxing and wrestling,

is I wanted to be able to defend myself. And then I just, as the years went on, I did it more and more. And then my dad was such a proponent of it, that, you know, just ended up having a career longer than I ever anticipated. But that was the main reason I started, was just to be able to defend myself.

Yeah, did your brother get to the pro level too? Yeah, both my brothers, I've got a bunch of brothers and sisters, but two of my brothers fought. My younger brother, he started fighting when he was like, you know, he was like six. My younger brother, he started fighting when he was like six. Wow. Yeah, he was young.

Yeah, he was like, you know, just scrapping it out, just scrapping it out. You know, seeing little kids spite of that at that age is ridiculous. It looks like they're running. Yeah, it's super early, man. I don't know about that. But he had tons of fights, you know,

had a very long amateur career. My older brother had an amateur career too and then he turned pro and I think he had like, maybe my brother had like maybe four pro fights, same thing with my younger brother. Okay. And then, you know, but they had, my little brother, he started boxing at a very young age, fought in all kinds of national championship tournaments and did, you know, did really

well for a long time. And he was even a better wrestler than he was a boxer. But there's no money in that, right? No, I mean, no, but I mean, now he. Yeah. You know, but back then, he had the most single season wins as a freshman in his high school. He had the most single season wins as a freshman. And he could have been, I mean, he could have done really, he went to the state championships a couple times and then he just got, you know, he got in a little bit of trouble. He followed my other brother, was in and out of jail. Both my brothers have been in and out of jail.

They both kinda, you know, I think they were selling drugs at one point and, you know, getting in all kinds of trouble and then they did some time. I mean, I get it, man. I was a little weed dealer in college, you know? Yeah. You had to go. I mean, I had to buy man. I was a little weed dealer in college, you know? Yeah. Broke, I mean, I had to buy. Yeah, they were, you know, they got messed up.

But my little brother's cleaning himself up pretty well. My older brother's doing all right. But they were actually, both of them, what's a funny story, they were both in Fairfax County jail for about a year and a half. Around that time, they were both in that jail on different floors when I was on The Young and the Restless. And both of them got in fights in the TV rec room

over somebody trying to change the channel when I was on The Young and the Restless. Both of them at different times. And so that's, you know. That's cool that you could provide them some hope while they were in there though. Yeah, and then my one brother is like, that's my brother. It's like, no, it ain't. It's like, yeah it is, that's my brother. I love it, man. It sounds like you're tight with your brothers. That's cool.

Yeah, we're all really tight with all my brothers and my sisters. Yeah, I grew up an only child so I can't relate. But when I have kids, I want them to have siblings. I think that's important. Yeah, it was good. I mean, we came from a rough and tumble family. Some of my brothers and sisters, they struggled with addiction. I think that that's why this movie that we did, Grace Point, has been

so important to me. You know, the main character struggles with addiction and, you know, then he goes on this journey and it's about a father and a son and a son trying to find his father. You know, it's like an inspirational thriller and a heartwarming thriller. And so I think that's why I related to the script and why I wanted to do it. And, you know, something like family. I love that. I think everyone can relate to addiction,

whether it's themselves or the family members, right? I saw my dad with alcoholism, that rectum. Sure. You know, I think there's, it's a problem everywhere, addiction. Yeah, it really is. And it's commercialized too, like, you know, alcohol, be out, you know, and,

you know, beer commercials, everything, everything. Drug commercials on every television network, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's crazy. So easy to get access to this stuff too. Yeah. You really gotta have the right people around you to break you out. Yeah.

I had to break my brother out of a crack house one time. Damn. Yeah. That's just straight out of the movie The Fighter. I swear to God. I saw that movie and I was like, Jesus, man, that's me and my older brother. So those actually exist, those crack houses. Yeah.

He was in some like, you know, some like, like, just this worn out house that, you know, everybody went and did drugs at and he called me one day and he goes, Hey, man. Hey, man, you got it. You got to come get me, man. These bikers are coming to jump me, man. These bikers are coming to jump me. And so I was wrestling at George Mason University at the time. And I, you know, I was there. And I was at a, I think I was like, I forget where I was, but, but a couple of my other wrestler buddies were with me. And I said, Hey, man, I gotta go, I gotta go rescue my brother, man. He's at this, this, you know, drug house. And you know, it's, I don't know, I just got to go. And they were like, Hey,

we're coming with you. And I was like, Yeah, I don't know what I'm walking into, man. You know, so just letting you guys know that. And so they're like, we're coming. So my buddies, Mark and Ty, you know, they're guys that wrestle on my wrestling team with me. We went and we got there and we pulled up to this house and I go, all right, I don't

know how this is going to go. But what I'm going to do is I'm just going to go kick that front door in and start yelling where you know, where's Michael Kerrigan? Where's Toby Kerrigan? Where's he at? And so you guys, you know, Ty, you go around the back, you can kill him, you come with me or you get however you want to do this. Ty went around the back.

I went in the front. You know, Keir was with me or you get however you want to do so Ty went around the back I went in the front you know Kier was with me I just kicked the door in I was like yeah where the fuck is Michael Kerrigan where the fuck is Toby Kerrigan he also goes by Toby that's all right and I said where the fuck is he where is he and they're like you know people were like oh he's over there he's over there I was like I was, hey. He said, oh, hey man, hey man. And I grabbed him, got him out of there, and then saved him, I think, I don't know.

And that was your older brother? It was my older brother. Yeah, he struggled with addiction over the years. So you kind of had to grow up quick then, you had to be responsible for your older brother. You know, he's, like I like to say, he's my older little brother. I love that.

But he's always, you know, look, we had different moms, and, you know, he had a rougher upbringing than I did. Really? And so, you know, same thing with my other older brothers and sisters. And so I take that into account. I guess we're a victim of our environment sometimes when we're growing up.

Yeah. And I just try to be as much help to my brothers and sisters as I can. And family's meant so much to me over the years just try to be as much help to my brothers and sisters as I can and you know, families, families meant so much to me over the years that I'll do anything for them. I love that man. Not in my blood.

Yeah. Yeah, family's important for sure. I saw, so I grew up mixed, I'm half Irish, half Asian, so it's such a different lifestyle with family on the two sides. So I got to experience both, you know? Wow, man. So now I kinda know what the best of each

and gonna have a good family one of these days, you know? Yeah, are you gonna have kids? Yeah, and I didn't want kids when I was younger, but now I do, you know? I just, I don't know, should I talk about it? I just, my girl and I, we decided to have kids. Oh, nice. And so, and we just found out that we're having twins.

Dude, congrats. Yeah, and I called them too, I called them by the way. Two for one, baby. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I told her, I actually told her before and I was like, hey, listen, we need two for one. How am I getting any younger? You manifest.

Yeah, and so, we're pretty excited about it. That's cool, man. You held off. Yeah. You know, hey, what was the deciding moment to have them? When I met her. Wow. I just, I hadn't met anyone that checked all the boxes

like that for me. And it made me, she's such a good mom. She has two kids from previous marriage. And she's just the most wonderful person and mother. That's a good mom. She has two kids from previous marriage. And she's just the most wonderful person and mother. That's a good ass. And I just met her at the right time. And we known each other for a long time, but we never really started dating until back in May.

Is she an actress as well? No, no. She's a government worker. She runs the water department over in the city of Oxnard. Total opposite personality it sounds like. Yeah, yeah. I always tease her. I'm like, you like the movie Chinatown?

You run the water. Sometimes you need that balance, man. The opposites attract, like you said. It's cool, but she's amazing. And she's super supportive with my career. And so I'm just lucky. Love that man. I want to hear about your transition to acting because that's not an easy space to penetrate,

right? Getting acting gigs. No, you know, man, when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an actor. And you know, one of my favorite movies is Star Wars. You know? Classic. Yeah. And, you know, then Return of the Jedi came out, or Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, and like, you know, when I was a kid, I'd see these movies, and I'd like come home and I'd just like act them out to my mom.

And then, you know, Luke Skywalker did this, and then Anselmo did this, and my poor mom, you know, she's like, you know, been been working all day she's like sitting there trying to like listen to me describe all these different scenes of these movies and I think she knew at that point that I wanted to be an actor but you know when I was in high school I had you know especially after you know my especially my senior year was like you know going into my senior year I, I had these athletic goals that I wanted to try to hit. I wanted to go to a Division I program, wrestle in Division I, try to be an All-American,

and then I also wanted to have more of an amateur career, and then turn pro and fight professionally for a couple years. I only wanted to have, my goal was to have like five pro fights, I ended up having eight. And so I just, I wanted to, but I wanted to, you know, do those things. And then I used to tell people in my senior,

I was in drama my senior year, I would tell, I used to tell people in my class, I'd be like, I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna try to be an All-American in wrestling, I'm gonna have a brief pro career in boxing, and then I'm gonna become an actor. Wow. And so, you called it.

So, so like people, like, you know, they'd be like, you're gonna do what? You're gonna do what? Oh, and then you're gonna do what? I'd say, yeah, okay, pal, you know, that's not the path that everybody takes. Yeah. But I was just, I had it in my mind. Yeah, okay pal, you know, that's not the path that everybody takes But I was just I had it I had it in my mind

and so when I When I was boxing I was by you know, I turned pro in 98 and I was you know fought professionally until April 2000 and After that fight I I got cast in a UPN pilot that was shooting in Baltimore. And I got my SAG card from it. And so once I got my SAG card, I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna go to New York. I'm gonna go to LA.

I'm gonna give up my boxing career. Wow. It's time, It's time. My dad, he was pissed. He was so mad. He said, hey man, you're going to be driving cabs the rest of your life. I go, hey Pop, I'll show you that one of these days you're going to see me on the big screen. He's like, hey, I'll be dead and gone before that ever happens.

And then I went off. I went off to New York. I was having no luck up in New York. I was bouncing at the China Club in New York for like six months, having no luck. And then I ran into Michael Rappaport, and he goes, he was at the club, and I go, hey man, when you made it in film,

or when you made it in acting, did you make it here in New York? Or did you make it in LA? He goes, what kind of acting do you want to do? You want to do TV and film? And I go, yeah. He goes, then you've got to go to LA, man. And so next thing you know, I was in my truck,

driving out to LA, and I've been here for 24 years. Wow. Shout out to Michael. Does he know that story, by the way? No. I mean, I've never ran into him. I'm going to let him know. He's coming on the podcast. Is that right? Yeah. I'll tell him about it. Yeah. Does he know that story, by the way? No, I mean, I've never ran it. I'm gonna let him know, he's coming on the podcast. Is that right?

Yeah, I'll tell him about it. Yeah, that's cool, man. And so, yeah, I love that guy. I love him. He's hilarious. Yeah, and he's a great actor, and he said that to me right there. And I was bouncing at the China Club,

and I was like, you know, and he was cool too, because as he was walking out, I was like, hey man, you mind if I ask you something? You know, and he and he was cool too, because as he was walking out, I was like, hey man, you mind if I asked you something? You know, and he was very forthcoming, man. He was a good dude. And, but anyway, so fast forward years later, I'm sitting with my dad, we're at a DC film festival, we're about to watch this movie I did on the big screen.

And my old man sitting right next to me and I go, hey, hey Pop, remember how you said that you'd be dead and gone before you saw me on the big screen? Guess what, you're about to watch me on the big screen and my old man's sitting right next to me and I go, hey, hey, Pop, remember how you said that you'd be dead and gone before you saw me on the big screen? Guess what? You're about to watch me on the big screen. He's like, you son of a bitch, you remember everything, god damn it. And so it was good. Sometimes your biggest haters are your biggest motivation. Yeah, he became one of my biggest fans though. He was a child to my mother, you know, skeptical at first, you know, coming from China,

academics is everything, education, getting good grades. That's how she escaped poverty, so why not apply it to me, but different path, you know? Sure. So we used to butt heads all the time about it. But now she watches every single episode, she's like my biggest fan. Of course.

Yeah, it's funny how that works. My dad at the end of, you know, when in his older years, he would hang out, he would hang out at the Moose Lodge and the American Legion and he'd be hanging out with all these different women and stuff. All of a sudden I get a call and I go, hey, what's up? He go, hey, tell this girl that you play Stitch on Young and the Restless. The girl go, your dad says you're Stitch, I don't believe. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And she's like, prove it. And I go, all right, well, I was with Victoria. I left Victoria. I got with her stepmom, Ashley. And then I left Ashley. And then I got with Ashley's daughter, Abby. And then I was in a love triangle between Ashley and Abby. And she was like, oh my god, it is Stitch.

And then my dad grabbed the phone and like alright. Hey, thanks, man I'm ashamed. Yeah used it to get girls before FaceTime, you know, man times have changed. That's a money man Yeah, well, dude, this has been really fun. What are you working on next? Where people keep up with you? I'm on Instagram. Follow me on the real Sean Carrigan and You know do us a favor go out and buy or rent Grace Point. Yeah, we'll link it below. Yeah, it's on Amazon and Apple. And, you know, we worked really hard on the movie.

And it's got a great twist at the end. And people get a lot of great feedback from it. So yeah, guys, after you're done watching Beast Games, check out Grace Point. It's on the same platform. Right on, man. Let's do it. All right, guys. See you guys after you're done watching Beast Games, check out GracePoint, it's on the same platform. Right on man. Let's do it. All right guys, see you next time.

Thanks.