Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - Jeff Leach on Surviving Hollywood, Headlines, and Himself

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

From voiceover icon to battlefield entertainer to relentless truth-seeker — Jeff Leach brings a perspective few can match. In this deep yet lighthearted sit-down with The Determined Society, Jeff opens up about his unlikely journey through fame, fallout, and fierce reinvention. Jeff Leach in Predator: Killer of Killers Jeff Leach voices Ivar, a fierce Viking warrior in Predator: Killer of Killers — the animated installment of the iconic sci‑fi horror franchise now available on Hulu. In the Viking segment of the anthology film series, Ivar is part of a brutal clash between humankind’s deadliest fighters and the Predator. With his gruff intensity and piercing grit, Jeff brings Ivar to life. This marks his first major role in the Predator universe. In-Studio: This episode covers comedy under fire, mental health in the media spotlight, and the grit it takes to rise from being “canceled” to calling the shots in your own life. With raw honesty and British wit, Jeff unpacks why purpose is the only punchline that matters. Topics Include: -The fallout of fame and cancel culture -Touring with the troops and comedy under pressure -Mental health, masculinity, and survival -Voice acting, Predator: Killer of Killers, Call of Duty, and reclaiming narrative -Identity, healing, and what comes next Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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This is your crew, right? All of you guys have watched NFL together. Think about what you do there. You get together on a Sunday with all your boyfriends. You sit in front of a screen and you watch muscular, athletic men running around on a field for hours in skin-tight Lulu Lemon Leggins. That is, my friend, a little bit gay. And that's okay. Doesn't mean you want to make passionate love to those men,

but it does mean you appreciate the physique of a powerful, muscular man. Right, Jeff Leach, man. What's up, dude? How are you? I'm so much on me on. Hey, it's a pleasure, man. Thank you for coming. New show nationally on Hulu. Yeah.

Right? Predator of Killers. Yeah, feature film. Feature, right? Yeah. June 6, already 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's merely a perfect score, man. I know, and almost all of those reviews were written by me. So it's like, you know.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, different IP addresses. I've been set up burner accounts. I'm just trying to get it to 100. Hey, dude, I need that. I need that info. No, it's mind-blowing. I mean, the fans have received it so well.

I think if you're a fan of the original Predator movies, or if you're a fan of Dan Tractenberg's work, who's obviously the director on Predator Killer of Killers, and the previous film Predator Prey, which was incredibly well-lawed by critics and fan base alike. Then you're going to be excited about this film because it kind of fills in the gaps of the predator race, you know, that alien,

that alien race of hunters and their engagement with humanity over thousands of years, rather than just over a particular portion of time, you know? It's awesome. How was it like filming that? I mean, I'm sure you had to have been excited and, you know, now to see the early success of it, how has that enriched your experience? Yeah, of course. I mean, when you're voicing characters obviously in feature films, you know, this is an animated

feature. It's obviously a different process than being on set every day with the rest of the car. So it is a bit more of a solitary experience. But that's a new challenge in itself. But going into the booth, Dan was on my session. I believe he was in the sessions for all the actors. When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp.

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And I personally am a stand-up and gesticulate kind of voice actor. I don't like sitting down in a chair and kind of, you know, just reading the lines. I feel like you need to embody what your character is. So for this one, it was obviously a seven-foot Viking warrior called Aivar. You know, yeah, I var, yes, you know. So he was a very... I have to make myself bigger and larger than life. I'm six-four, so I'm almost there.

You're still big, man. Thank you. I appreciate it. I've been doing my squats, too. I've been doing your walks, too, on the mountains and all that guys. Oh, I love hiking. Yeah, I'm super into my fitness stuff now. And I'm trying to get big for a film that I'm shooting at the end of the year, actually.

Nice. But I'm not quite seven-foot and built like a proverbial brick shit house. So I had to channel that kind of big energy in the booth. And that's always fun. It's always fun to play something that is so visually and aesthetically not you. Right. You know, that's why I love voice acting. We don't do it for the money, the voice sentient roles.

That's the on-camera roles. There's the TV and the film roles. But feature films like this, they're animated or AAA video games. You do that because you really love playing characters that are so outside of what aesthetically you're able to play. You know, I can play a 70-year-old wizard with my voice, but I can't play that. in my real life unless someone's going to spend a huge amount of time putting me in prosthetics every day which you know maybe they will but easier to hire seria mckellan for that role and you should because he is an incredible act right how was that built out your dynamic right because as you said

on on camera versus voiceovers it has it given you more range as a talent comedian actor all that kind of Yeah, absolutely. And also it's, it kind of benefits me. It's a boon in the other areas of creative pursuits that I'm passionate about, like my stand-up comedy. I do lots of actouts within my set. I tell stories that are true and they're from my personal life. I like people to empathize with me as a human, laugh at those situations. Hopefully they don't have to go through the same things, but they can empathize with some of the concepts, whether it be heartbreak, love, aging, raising children, you know, having breakups. etc.

Or, and I recreate some of the characters when I do my stand-up as well. So I do that physically. I do that with my voice and obviously the voice work I'm doing in the booth helps that because it just gives me a larger

spectrum of people that I can draw from in terms of accents, characters, ages, etc. But also it's just fun, man. I just love being something I'm not, you know, for a minute. I want to play villains. That would be my ideal role

for the rest of my career. I think villains are way more fun to play anti-heroes, you know. The heroic guy, who doesn't love Captain America? Sure, he's wonderful, but way more fun to play Thanos. You have to have one, right? Yeah, we have to have one.

Yeah, so, you know, maybe I'll emulate Josh Brolin's career one day in the future and I'd be grateful for that. But yeah, playing good villains, and I'm not a villain in real life, you know? I try and be a good morally and ethically on-point human beings. So, yeah, playing a mass-murdering lunatic. Sounds exciting to me.

That's badass. And I got to do that. Netflix. There's a show called Record of Ragnarok. I played Jack the Ripper. And, you know, when am I ever going to get to play a serial killer who's fighting Hercules to the death? It's badass, dude.

Yeah. That's badass. You touched on your stand-up. And I got to tell you, I've watched your stand-up. I've watched your 2023 special. Right. You're absolutely hysterical. Thank you, man.

That's very sweet of you. Yeah, absolutely. It's brilliant. Talk about that bit because, I mean, I was in. And I got two minutes in, and I'm like, dude, this guy is absolutely... When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information.

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and the point of view from New York versus L.A. Yeah, yeah. Dude, it was like everything, I feel like everything that you say is what most people think but can't really put together the joke. So do you talk about that, man? Like I say, again, it's just drawing from my own personal experience.

know. I don't believe in making up material. There are comics who do it. I know Hussarmanage got lit up about a year ago or something for acknowledging that half of his jokes are kind of exaggerated or not even real. They were concepts that were real to him, but he hadn't actually lived them. For me personally, I feel like I want to talk about what I know, what I've experienced. And I want my comedy to make you laugh, ideally to the point of crying if you're into it, but I also want you to walk away slightly changed by the material. So like I say, when I talk about mental health issues, you know, mental health advocacy is a big thing for me.

Sure. Because I suffered with depression for three decades, clinical depression. I was undiagnosed, but pretty certain I was bipolar one for a long time. And, you know, I've navigated alcohol addiction. I'm six years sober now. All of these things are not necessary source of amusement for a lot of people. You go to an A-A mean, which I do frequently. You know, people are generally not laughing throughout most of their shares in those meetings.

But when the humor comes out of those same, or difficult situations, I feel it's so much more real. And then your audience might walk away slightly changed by that. I've got a bit of material I'm doing at the moment all about after my breakup with my ex-fiance. I heard some stuff about that. Yeah, questioning my own sexuality. Do you know what I mean? Now I'm a straight guy.

I've only ever been intimate with women. I've always been into women. But when you have that many breakups with women, you go like, is there a possibility that I could just suck a little dig? Could I give that a go? And how would that work out for me? Because you know what? All my gay friends are having a great time. They're enjoying themselves.

Except for what's going on in the countries to some extent, right now for the LGBT community. But I like doing jokes about question my own sexuality. Even if the end of the piece and the end of the bit is, look, I discovered I'm straight. But what I also discovered is I think we're all a little bit gay. It's a spectrum and we're all on it somewhere. Even if you watch NFL, you think you're the most manliest man.

Look, we're in a room surrounding big, big, beautiful. brutalish boys that you run with. This is your crew, right? All of you guys have watched NFL together. But think about what you do there. You get together on a Sunday with all your boyfriends. You get a little buzz together and you sit in front of a screen and you watch muscular, athletic men running around on a field for hours in skin tight Lulu Lemon Leggings.

That is, my friend, a little bit gay. And that's okay. Doesn't mean you want to make passionate love to those men, but it does mean you appreciate the physique of a powerful, muscular man. And there's something that's a little homerotic in that. Could be, right? It's just so funny. It could be.

It definitely is. You've got to question yourself on the drive home. Listen, man, I had this conversation with a buddy the other day. I'm like, everybody's got it in a man. Like, I'm sorry. Like you said, that's spectrum. It's spectrum, right? But it's funny because when you brought that up,

dude, that was the part of your bit that I think most men would laugh their asses off. They did because they're going, fuck, he's right. I do spend a lot of time staring at men running in tight hours. It's half time. That's half time. That bit right. I was like, dude, that's funny, right? Urinal, you ever stood at a urinal in a bar on a Friday night?

Of course you have. And you've been stood there. You've been taking a pee. And a giant man has walked in next year and he's pulled out an absolute hog, a leviathan of a penis. And guarantee, every man in the world has at some point side-eyed another man's penis. Like, Jesus Christ, that's huge. Well, I mean, I play sports again. You're in a locker room.

You see him all the time. There you go. And it doesn't mean you want to make love to that guy. It doesn't mean you're a purve. You're not trying to proposition him in the urinal. Right. Doesn't mean you're gay or bisexual because you're not trying to have sex with the but you definitely caught a wind of that gigantic hog and you had a little look at it.

And that is just a smidgen, just a smidgen, just a tiny iota. It's a little bit. Homerootic. And that's okay. And that's what I do on stage. I make jokes about my concepts that most people don't think about. But then everyone can relate to it. They go, Jesus Christ, I have done that.

I have side-eyed a dick. I have, like, watched men for a long time for many years and appreciate their bodies and their power. And maybe there is something to that. Maybe that is a little homoerotic. That's okay. It doesn't mean that I have to question my whole identity. But I think here's the reality. Biologically, every seven years, every cell in your body dies and is regrown and is reborn. You are literally a different vessel every seven years. So why wouldn't you constantly evolve and grow and change within your own identity? You don't have to be beholden to the things that have dictated your identity throughout your life.

Sometimes it's our parents. Sometimes it's teachers. Sometimes it's traumas we experience. And sometimes more often than not, emotional dysregulation, depression, alcoholism. These are byproducts of traumas that happens earlier in life. I'm not going to be beholden to those anymore. So I decided at a certain point, I'm done with a drink. I decided at a certain point I'm done with the depression. How do I change my entire identity? And that's a grander, more mental health skewed aspect of what I talk about in my stand-up.

Like constantly grow, constantly evolve, and laugh at aspects of yourself as you do so. Well, I think when we talk about trauma and we talk about things that are, that are father going on the world in our lives. Humor, you know, is what brings the forefront. It's a part of, it's healing, right? And what I love, like, you kind of went on a segue because a part of the show is like massively directed towards staying healthy mentally.

Like, we want to send that message. And physically, you're all jacked. What is this? This is what we do. You know, so like. Do you ever do episodes where you all take your shirts off? Oh, no. Gosh no.

Okay. Gosh no. Not there yet. All right. Not there yet. You haven't seen enough of my stand-up to question. yourself fully yet. Well, not even that. I just like, hey, I don't know if I'm ready to show this thing off on camera. Okay, all right. Okay, cool. But no, it's, it's, it's interesting

because when you talk about depression, yeah, you know, I've struggled, you know, many years with, again, not clinically diagnosed, but there's moments where I sat there and found myself, I'm not in alignment with who I am. I'm down. I seem to wake up in the morning. My body hurts and emotionally I'm just destroyed. You recognize the patterns of depression. Absolutely, man. And for me, and for me, I'm in the morning. I'm, I'm down. I seem to wake up in the morning. I'm me and I realize, and I want to acknowledge to the audience that not everybody can come out of it, like I would be able to. So for me, it's diving into my nutrition, it's diving into my workouts. That for me kind of brings me out of a depressed state. But it's not that way for everybody.

So are you comfortable talking about your journey? And like you said, at one point, you said, man, I think I'm bipolar one. How did you come out of it, man? Because. So I want to clarify. So I was clinically diagnosed with depression. Okay, got it. for three decades. What I, after talking to my therapist now for five years, what we've established is that I was probably bipolar one. So, you know, periods of great manic successes and like,

oh, I'm just running, I'm running, I'm running, I'm running, I'm doing a million things. Look at me, I'm achieving, I'm thriving, I'm succeeding. And then huge crashes, crashes that might last weeks where I just don't want to leave my bed, you know, and where I hate myself, a constant voice in the head, constant, whether things are good or bad, constantly questioning myself, self-loathing. and I never took any medication. I mean, I come from the UK. We generally don't dish out medication

unless you have suicide ideation, which didn't hit me until later in my life. You know, seven, well, when I leave LA, at New York, sorry, six years ago, I tried to commit suicide. It was very failed attempt, a very weak attempt. I'm intelligent enough if I'd really wanted to get the job done. I probably could have thought of a better way to do it and got it done. But after that experience, I realized, well, look,

I don't want to die clearly. because otherwise I would have done it properly. So I want to live. My only other option is to live. There's an adage in that alcoholic synonymous community and NA as well, I imagine, in SLAA, which is you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. So what you're describing, your moments,

your periods of depressive state, feeling low for a few days, getting down on yourself, not wanting to be successful or achieve anything. imagine that as a constant state of being that you're constantly battling for decades and that's really where I was at and I got to a point where I just went

I'm so sick and tired of feeling this way because the only options out of that freedom is either death which I didn't want to do and unfortunately I've had some of my closest in fact even my best friend a number of very close friends but my best brother friends

took their own lives and I was like well I don't want to do that So what are my other options? I either exist in this state and have another 70 years of misery or I change. I change who I am. I find ways to do that.

And the reprogram came through a mixture of therapy with a wonderful gentleman, Professor Mike Feldler. Shout out to my therapist. Mike! He's an East Coast, real straight-talking dude, you know, from the East Coast. He's helped me immensely.

And then also sobriety. And at the beginning of my journey, I also did some psilocybin. trips. I had some sort of cyber medical, you know, medicine. You do different medicines. Right. Absolutely. You know, I might be boosting various vitamins and et cetera. For me, it was, I need to leave my body, go somewhere else. And I had some realizations in that and some explanations of what the cosmos is and what I am. And I'm not, I'm not even this. I'm not his physical body. I'm not the identity attached. I'm not the jewelry and the earrings and the rings. That's

all performance. And I love it. It's the identity I've chosen because I enjoy it. But who I am. is really just a little spark of energy. And if you can get further and further back to that, which I think is what every philosopher and enlightened being seems to work towards, you know, the concept of the self, you go beyond the super ego, beyond the id, beyond that child and that parent,

you know, that's constantly the voice in your head and you get back and back and back beyond the body, you realize you're just an observer. So what do you want to watch? Do you want to watch a happy movie or do you want to watch a miserable movie that makes you cry the whole time? I love this conversation.

first and foremost because, you know, there's been a lot of people that are going to the psilocybans, the natural, you know, plant medicines that are here. They're here for a reason, right? I haven't gone that route. I'm not against it at all, right? But it is... I've been intrigued to see what would happen if you tried it once

and what realizations or what epiphanies you might have because as someone who seems very balanced, everyone I know who's, you know, had a big trip. And I'm talking like, we take seven grams and you leave your body. Ketamin infusion therapy. is another one that does similar things. It basically, scientifically now, they've got so much data. It reprograms your brain.

Literally blocks that you have along synapses that are now broken because of a trauma. This is true for first responders, for veterans, for serving military, for police officers. It has 100% success rate, Ketaminafusion therapy, with first responders and military personnel. Because it basically, you know, you have a blockage, a trauma that stops you getting from point A to point B

in your own mind. They grow new synapse. It grows a new path. Well, it's a disassociate, right? So like you're going through it, but you don't actually feel it. It's like you're an observer. You don't have to hold on to that moment anymore and not be able to get beyond it. It grows a new path.

You go, oh, look, that's that thing that has been screwing me up for 10 years. I don't need to be beholden to that anymore. I can be okay with it. I can move beyond it. It's not defining me. Right. I did a documentary mini doc that I'm going to be releasing later this year about this. Okay.

A program called Patriot Power Up program because some of my jobs in the past voiceover jobs have connected me to the military community and veterans in particular get flooded to me and and now i'm a big part of that community uh volunteering and partner with the u.s vets in las vegas and here in california um ambassador for a couple of veterans skewed charities including the children's children of vets who've been lost their lives um and that work is like made me so deeply interested in understanding how broken people can fix themselves you know and we can So you're about to make a trade based on a friend's text.

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You know, and it's crazy because, you know, you're talking about living versus existing, right? So, I mean, there's a massive difference, right? Mass of difference. Like, I can, I just don't want to exist because for the longest time in, well, man, now you're getting deep. That's what I love it. I love it because you're, you're taking me on my own journey.

As you're speaking, I'm thinking about the things that I've gone through recently. You know, fourth quarter of 2024, what most people don't know. I mean, my wife does, my partners do, and the people that are closest to me know where I was at, right? So I would record a show. But then on the off time, I couldn't go to the gym. I really honestly couldn't get off my couch because I was just, I was just so down, man. Like, I couldn't move. I was living. I'm sorry, I was existing, not living. Right. Now I took control of a lot of different things in my life. And now I'm, dude, I'm living every day. I'm really happy to you. Yeah. Thank you. I mean, shit, man, I live in Florida. I'm out here with you. You know, we're spending time here in Hollywood and

Burbank the next couple days and it's like that to me is like wow this thing has grown so much because of the decisions that I made. I'm like, am I going to watch a sad movie or am I going to pour into the good movie, a happy movie? And of course there's moments. I'm going to rewrite my scripts. Exactly. And there's moments where it's like, man, I don't know. Today just, you know, I don't know if I can do it today, but you just do the thing. You move on. And the one thing that I really love about your story, because you're talking about your healing. But the one thing, and I really hope that you own this is that you are now living, but you're also healing more because you are giving back. Service. So that's the integral part. When you are of service to yourself, which is what

healing yourself does, dealing with your traumas, getting sober, getting right in your body, getting right in your mind. As soon as you're of service yourself, you are infinitely more able to be of service other people. Now, not everyone does that. Some people go through their lives self-serving the entire time don't ever give back and those people often end up pretty miserable you know some of the biggest stars here in this city in hollywood it's been very self-serving they've got millions of dollars in the bank opportunities through the wazoo but they're miserable deeply miserable because they've lost the balance i've realized because of the impact to me being very vocal about my lows and how i navigate to get out of those and to find a higher state of existing sorry living rather than

existing, has already had impact on some people. People send me messages. You know, I get, when I was streaming, like almost on a daily basis. Oh, man, you're talking about your alcoholism and navigating that. You're talking about your depression. Dude, I didn't even know that my favorite carrots in a video game would even go through something like that. Where did you get help?

Hey, I'd check this out. Check this resource. You know, and by doing that, it makes you feel good to help other people. It makes you feel more empowered in your own journey to see others in power and themselves based on the things that you've shared. And, you know, all good advice is literally just someone talking about the mistakes they've made in the past and how they navigate them. That's it. That's what it is. That's it, right? Not talking from the soapbox, but talking from the scars. Yeah. Right. So when you have that experience and healing, you can now give back to somebody.

It brings up great points because you're talking about stars in Hollywood that have been self-serving. They're not giving back. And they may feel this emptiness. And some of them. Some of them do. And they're great. Those are the people who want to emulate the careers and Absolutely, but I think what we're searching for in life, right? And to have that ultimate fulfillment, there has to be impact. Yeah, for sure. And if you can impact somebody, and that's what we do in the show. It's like, I don't just do this to hear myself talking like, yeah, I want to have a podcast

so I can talk about myself and people. I want to bring messages like this today that the audience can listen to like, that's a funny son of a bitch, but like, wow, he's deep. And you know what? I never thought of things like that. they get different perspective. So now, you know, someone else that you don't know, worldwide that is listening to the show,

you're impacting them and you're giving them realizations of what they need to start working on. Yeah, or even just holding, I'm just holding up a mirror, man. I'm going to look, I'm broken. Who isn't? Show me someone who hasn't got some kind of issue. You're showing me a liar.

That's the reality. So everyone's got something going on. Taking time to talk to people is important. Taking time to talk about your own experiences and navigating them is equally important. And yeah, you never know who you're going to help along the way. So I'm very grateful that there's already been enough people brave enough to message me and let me know that there's been an impact.

And so that tells me I'm on the right path. I just keep doing it. Now, certain brands, certain entities, corporate entities, don't necessarily want that from their stars, their actors, their performers. And that's okay. I get it. You know, sometimes they want it all to be light and bubbles and positivity. And what I'm suggesting is positive, I think.

But you have to show there was some dark, but this is the like that can come from that when you start being honest and open about it. And it saved my life, literally, save my life, stop me trying to kill myself. And if that does something for another person, if some 11-year-old kid who plays video games that I'm the lead character in,

hears me talking on a podcast like this about this, and that makes them open up to someone because they're being bullied at school, or they're depressed, or they're thinking about hurting themselves, and they don't want to do that, that's worth more to me than any paycheck or any success, career success, anyway.

See, that's what I'm talking about. That's what I love because, as you said, some brands, some things, they don't want that from their talent. Of course. But those aren't your people, right? Those aren't your people. You want to be welcome for who you are. That's the Kardashians.

They can take that job. Hey, they do. And they do. And they do it well. To the tune of billions of dollars. Seriously, good God. Yeah, I still pay red. My point is, is there's like,

there's brand deals who want pretty people who will say, everything's light and fairy and wonderful by this thing. That's someone else's job. My job is to be the actor, the comedian, the performer, the producer, the scriptwriter who tells stories that are true. And then also in part, hey, it's not all light and fairies, but that's okay. That's all right. And you can get to a place where it is if you're honest about the things that are dark. That brings up a good point because, you know, you look at delusional optimism.

Right. That shit could be toxic, man. Yeah, yeah. So, like, we all want to be happy. And, you know, I've fallen into that, dude. It's like, hey, how are you? I'm great. Yeah, yeah.

Sean, are you? I had somebody reach out to me. And you need someone in that moment, you need someone who's digging a bit deeper to actually get it. Most people we go, how you doing? Yeah, great. And they go, cool, right, let's get on with a thing. And there's been no, there's been no real, no real exploration there. Do you know what I mean? It's funny because I got a message about a year and a half ago from somebody, old friend. And when he sent me the message, he's like, hey, I just want to make sure you're good. I'm like, yeah, man, what's up? Like, everything's fine. He's like, well, I know things a lot of times from the outside look like everything's great, but those are the people are hurting the most. I'm like,

I'm good, man. And I didn't know. And it's so cool because, you know, when I look back on that interaction, like, I responded internally. I was pissed. I was like, dude, we haven't talked for how long and you're going to, you don't, you don't even know who I am anymore. I'm a different person. When I look back at it, I was like, man, you know, he was right because came back around and he goes, now I can see I can see the happiness in your face you're smiling with your soul again

or some you know not verbatim but that was it but you know but we need people like that to hold us accountable I just wish at that point he would have went deeper like hey I know you're probably triggered here but like this is what I'm seeing you probably felt the reaction you know if you had a little insecurity around that

or you weren't even completely aware yourself and you push back it's like all right maybe now's not the time but you've got to also pick and choose your moments, you know, I see that. But it was cool because maybe subconsciously I thought, well, hey, maybe he's right. Yeah. Maybe I start making these moves because it was shortly after that I started to come out of it by action every day, you know.

And so with that, right, with action, we all have these massive goals. I mean, you're doing some amazing things in your career and you have done and you're continuing to more things coming out. There is another movie coming out June 26 that I do want to touch on. That's a AAA video game. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. PlayStation, right?

Yeah, Hideo Kajima's next game, Death Stranding 2. So I'll be playing Pierre Southern in that. Alongside, like, Norman Reader, it's an L. Fanning. It's a great cast, man. Yeah, I feel very blessed. And Hideo Kajima is like one of the godfathers of video games. You know, this is a guy who, I don't know if you ever played Metal Gear Solid. Oh, yeah, man.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like, that's him. He's like the stealth king. So I'm very excited to be in that project. And that's the thing, right? That's like the mountain, right? You see that's the goal. That's the job.

But there's all these different micro movements in between where you're taking action every day. Because if you don't do that, then you don't have the on screen, right? You don't have the standup. Can you touch on your process a little bit? Because there's people out there right now that want to hit their goal.

They want to make sure that, hey, I want to be at the top of my game. But they're so focused on this that they're forgetting the stages, right? Sure. Sure. I mean, working my way up. I'm 40 years of age.

Let's lay it out. I look all right. You know what I mean? I'm not too out of shape. I'm not too bad at the moment. You're very sweet. I wasn't fishing. What I mean is like,

I've got time. Like I'm not in a rush. I was when I was a younger man. I was most definitely in a rush. Do you know what I mean? Like most people in this industry. Unless you have nepotism on your side, so you're a child of a famous performer already

or your dad's the owner of the business that you want to thrive and get to the C-level suite on. You know, you have to work your way. up the ladder and I've done that. I've made the coffees of, you know, I've done the photocopies, I've done all of that stuff to work my way up the industry, which is important. I think it makes you a better, more grateful success story when you get to your place of success. I'm also, where I'm at now, I've got, I appreciate you lauding my various, you know, projects and successes I've already

had. But there's another height, another level of things I want to achieve and creators I want to create with, artists I want to work with, roles I want to portray, scripts I want to write. What I've learned more than anything is if you, I spent a few years, a good few years, maybe a full decade, existing within that cynicism of, oh, I've got so many opportunities that I've lost out on or have been passed over on or some BS has gotten the way of me achieving that thing or getting that thing. Or I've even recorded the job and then something else has gone wrong and they lost funding or someone, another actor, they, you know, fell out with someone else and the project fell apart, whatever it is, you know, where that should

have been my big moment to really succeed. The should have, right? Yeah. I mean, look, when I was 26, I booked a massive Hollywood role with a bunch of, like, the cast was insane. It would have been, by sure, even today's standard, it would be the biggest project I'd ever done. It would have launched me, big red carpets, all that. And I got jacked.

I had a personal trainer for a few months. I spent a bunch of money. I got told what I was being paid, which wasn't a huge fee, but for me it was huge at that time, 26. I'm sure compared to the other stars, they were all getting multi-millions, and I was getting hundreds of thousands,

but I was like, wow, this is huge. And I spent a load of money on a trainer, I spent a load of money on a suit for the red carpet. I did all these things. I was so excited. And then a month before principal photography, they lost one of their major funding sources. He got moved to another picture.

And I didn't know. This was my first big movie. So I was so unbelievably depressed. It got delayed six months, then a year, then it never happened. It's still on IMDB in development 20 years later, right? Or 15 years later. That really crushed me. But what I realize now is I was so focused on the finishing of a project,

what that goal was going to do for me, what that will do for my career, will that push me to the next place? Is that going to build my brand? Is that going to get me a bigger audience? I was so focused on that, rather than being focused on creating something good, and just enjoying the process. That's my biggest piece of advice for anyone who's listening. Whether you are starting up a brand new business,

it doesn't have to be an entertainment, whether you are trying to get that raise or that ascension to the next role in your business, enjoy the present moment and doing what you're doing now. And, A, it will lead to more opportunities. It just will. Because people will recognize you at work. Wow, have you seen how hard he's work in the moment?

Let's get him, let's talk about a raise. Oh, wow, have you seen this guy? He's excelling. He's thriving. Wow, it's getting in. Have you seen what she's been doing on set? Wow, she's working so hard. Maybe we'll get on the next project.

It will lead to more opportunities. But also, if you're focused on enjoying the process of creating a thing or doing the thing, then you don't stress about what happens at the end of it. I'm producing a movie right now, right? I wrote a scripts, an adaptation from a novel. It's going to be a short film that's coming out at the end of the year. It's based on a franchise that I'm deeply passionate about, not involved in. It's not official.

It's basically a fan film that I'm making. And it's going to cost me. quite a lot of money. We're talking like over $100,000 of my own cash for this short film. I brought together loads of people who can do it on a cheap budget but at a high level.

I'm not worried about the success of this thing. I have goals for it, for sure. But even if the success of it is I just made the best piece of art I've made, that for me is, that's what I'm enjoying. That's the reward. I'm enjoying having these production means with people who are top tier artists.

Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm like, wow, I really know some talented people. And by doing that, you remove all the stress. You're never looking desperately to the future or lamenting the past, which I think a lot of people exist in that state, including myself for most of my life. Hell yeah, man. Instead, now I'm just like, today I'm doing something really fun.

I've just written a script with a great author of an amazing novel that I respect. And we've wrote an adaptation. Isn't that cool? You know, like things like that. So enjoy the process. You know, that's the thing, right? Because a lot of people are listening right now, like, enjoy, how am I enjoying this? what they have to understand is that pain is required, right?

That's the cover charge. Sure. Right? So you go through some pain. Well, how can you have positives unless you already know the litmus test of what a negative feels like? And how are you going to enjoy when you hit that finish line or that perceived finish line, right?

Because like you said a bit ago, you know, you're here now. But then once you hit there, you look at, okay, always grateful, never satisfied. What's the next level? There's always, you're always moving, right? You're always shooting for that next thing, the next development. But my next development now is creating better work with better people and working even harder on those projects. It's never how many Instagram followers are got? How do I get to over a million on TikTok?

What am I? Who am I working with the right director? How famous am I? It's none of that shit. It's, excuse my language. Oh, you know, you let it fly, man. It's now, oh, you don't want to say that to me. I'm an East End cockney.

It'll be every other word. I've had to train myself, darling, to speak a little bit more beautifully. But, you know, it's never about those things anymore. It's just like, I just create something great, great. Let me go create something even greater. That's the thing, though, right? Yeah, yeah. That's the process.

Those are the stages. And when I die, by the way, I've already accepted on my deathbed, I'm not going to think about anything I've created. I might briefly, in that little flashback of my entire life, go, cool, I create some good work. I'm happy for that. But that's not what I'm going to think about. I'm going to think about that holiday with my girlfriend.

I'm going to think about when I got my dog from the rescue center and the, the years of love she's given me. I'm going to think about my mum and my dad and my sister. I'm going to think about my little niece and get to see her grow up and her passion for dance. I'm going to think about the coolest place in the world I've traveled to. I'm not going to think remotely about, oh, wasn't it cool that I did a movie with so and so?

I'm not going to think about that. Yeah. So I've already accepted that whilst career successes can be very important for a lot of people and for me that, yes, they are creating good work. That's not that where joy in real joy in life comes from. It comes from the doing of something. It comes from your family. It comes from your friends.

It comes from, I love grilling, man. It comes from getting a piccagna and nailing it and having a fat steak with some grill zucchini on the side. I love some steak. It's about the moments, right? Life's about moments that you create with your family, the people that you love, your friends. Those are what enrich someone's life

and allows them to live to the fullest. And what unifies all of those experiences that we just described is, in all of those experiences, you're experiencing a very present joy. Whereas career-related things are often, what's my future goal? What's my past achievements? So how do you create more present moments within something like your career? How do you get excited to wake up today and go, today I'm going to do something,

though? You know what I mean? Rather than, I'm going to get a raise in the month or am I going to get passed over for that, that, you know, that role or whatever it is, you know? Insightful. Those moments that you're talking about is the paradigm has to be, this is the most important thing. This moment, every single moment that you live, every interaction like this, this is it. This is the moment.

For sure. Right? Because that's how you build connection. And that's how you become fulfilled. And I just think too many people are like looking to the left, looking to the right, looking up, looking down. Because we're being grown to do that as well. Absolutely. Social media.

Come on. It's telling us to like hate each other. We're all different. We're all divided. Whether you vote this way, you vote that way. you look this way, who you want to have six, whatever. You know, we're just, everyone's trying to be divided. That's bullshit.

We're more unified. We're all human. We're all struggling with certain things. And, I don't know, I find, yeah, that present living is hard. By the way, none of the concepts I'm suggesting here, I might have had these realizations. None of them are new concepts. I haven't created any of these things. These are all old philosophies that go back thousands of years.

And they exist in lots of theologies, you know, whether you're spiritual, religious, or just a deep thinker, philosophical thinker, you know, I'm not saying anything new. I'm just, I guess the new thing is I'm living it now. And I didn't for from the age of maybe like nine years old, eight, nine years old until I was 38 years old. And that's normal for a lot of people, right? Yeah. Well, it's normal to do it their entire life.

Sure. I mean, because you get in this autopilot where you just don't know. This is present state. This is how I'm supposed to feel. Instead of diving into whether, you know, like, it could be spiritual. you know, theological philosophy, all the principles are, be here now, serve, work. Like literally perfect what you're doing to an extent.

Like I don't like the word perfect or perfectionism. Sure, sure. But really. Perfection and progress. Yeah, exactly. Like really make progress in that one thing that you're doing, man. I just think it's so important because when you look up, it's like, wait a second.

You know, I'm so much further ahead than I was maybe 12 months ago. But when you're going through it, it's the process. Yeah. And, you know, sometimes it's good to kind of sit back and like, okay, all right, I see the up level. But now let's stay what's most important right this moment. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, man. It's good stuff, man.

I enjoy talking to you, dude. Thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah. Absolutely. Rooting for you. Excited to see everything that you're doing. I do have one more question as we land the point.

Yeah, yeah. The show is called The Determined Society, right? And we based it on what does determinate? mean. A lot of people have different definitions of determination and how they execute it on a daily basis or even a moment to moment basis. But what does determination mean to you? Consistency for me. I've found like I've used the word I'm determined to do this. I'm determined to achieve that. I'm determined to make this change in my life. But until I learn the, which is again, a very recent thing I've learned. Consistency is key for everything. Working out. You know it. You're in the gym. I'm back. in there now. I'm got a trainer again now. I'm in five days, six days a week. And I'm seeing the benefits. I'm like, oh, okay. So my determination to get fit for a role that I've got, I'm getting fit for a reason. I got a film at the end of the year. I want to get buff. You know what I mean? But I also know it has ongoing benefits. I think consistency for me has been the skill that I needed

to learn to exist in a determined fashion day to day, really. Love that. A lot of people think it's like being gritty all the time, being super intense. Nah. It's loud. Because those are moments as well. You don't know how you're going to act in a moment. I've now had enough crisis experiences, crisis moment, where I've realized I thrive in that environment.

You know, there's an active shooter. I'm not going to lie, I'm the guy running at him and trying to tackle him. Maybe there's a little bit of a hero complex behind that as well. There's lots of things to unpack. But people think they can be determined in specific moments, but you don't really know until you're put in that moment. If you're determined to achieve a certain goal, it has to start from the small building blocks

all the way to the end of that goal. And that is literally the definition of consistency. Every day, hey, I want to, you want to write Hollywood movies? Cool. Start writing. Suck it in. Write shitty scripts. Have your friends laugh with them.

Go and do a writing course. Go work with someone else who's a better right than you. Learn from them. Read some online blogs. Do a master class. Boom, boom, boom, boom. and now five years later, you've written a script that's just been picked up by a major studio in Hollywood. You see what I mean?

And it wasn't like, I wasn't just determined to write a script for Hollywood. It wasn't that. It was like, no, you have to be consistent with the work and the ethic. Mastering the monotony. Like, that's really what it is, right? Like you said, the consistency. Or not even monotony. I disagree with that.

Sorry. And I apologize to pushing back because I like the sentiment. I get it. Yeah. I don't think it even mastering monotony because some of it's not, that's what I was talking about earlier. you have to find ways to make what you're doing not monotonous. You want to be buff. Does everyone enjoy going to the gym?

No, they don't. Okay. So, I don't enjoy going to the gym. Cool, but I want to get really muscular. How do I now make going to the gym every day, not a monotonous task?

How do I live presently in that and feel good about it? All right, maybe I'm going to listen to podcasts that really like speak to me when I'm doing it. So now I'm in there, I'm like, not only am I getting fit, I'm growing my mind while I'm doing this. Maybe I just like listening to music that up lifts me.

Maybe before how, you know, you treat yourself at the end. of every workout with a Chipotle protein bowl. Whatever the hell it is that makes you go, now this is not a monotonous experience. Now this is something that I feel the results because I know what my end goal is, but I'm living in the present moment

and being happy about doing this daily workout regime. That's why I think. Like find ways to not make it monotonous. Yeah, no, thank you for that. Thank you for pushing back on that. It's always welcome because I don't, I have certain perspectives, right? It's going to beat the shit out of me afterwards.

I'm going to get him. I'm going to parking lot, me and you after school. Right, but no, it's true. true. It's like, because I do at the root level go, okay, how do I, how do I enjoy this? Yeah. A lot of times is, you know, I'll see, oh, well, I get to see so-and-so at the gym and say hi to them. And it's always a good interaction and it makes it fun. Or like you said, the podcast, the music, whatever. You go, you built a social circle around your gym now. 1,000%. So you're dope. You got in there like, hey, what's up? Barry, what's going on? Hey, Celine, how are you?

How are you? Can you show me this? Can I learn something? Hey, would you guys mind spotting? Boom, boom, boom. It's a social club. Now you're learning more about yourself. You're learning more about what your body could do. I didn't even know I could do that. Exactly. Wait, I can do 20 pull-ups. I didn't know I can do that shit.

You know what I mean? Whatever it is. That's serious strength, man. Well, you get what I'm saying. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, but absolutely. Absolutely. Building the social circle.

I can't do 20 pull-ups just so you know. You get what I'm saying. The point is it. I do. I do. But it's great. No, but, man, thank you so much for coming on, man.

It was great to meet you. and I'm excited to see everything that you're going to continue to do. Thank you very much, man. But the thing that impresses me most is about your introspective journey on your own life and how you're giving back and acts of service to the community and doing things for the right reason. So thank you, brother. I appreciate you.

For the audience, go check my boy out. Jeff Leach. Until next time, stay determined. Next up is a little song from CarMax about selling a car your way. You want to sell those wheels. You want to get a CarMax instant offer. So fast. Want to take a sec to think about it?

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