Actor Interview: Greg Braun of The New Collective

Greg Braun is an actor, director, and co-owner of The New Collective acting studio in Los Angeles. Since I first met Greg Braun in 1999 at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, I have been in awe of his talent. I’ve had the privilege of seeing him perform on stage and screen, and I appreciate the depth and truth he brings to each character. I recently caught up with Greg to learn more about his dynamic career in the arts and the important work of The New Collective LA. How did you discover your passion for the art of acting? I was a freshman in high school, and lucky enough to have an incredible drama teacher, Rich Russo, who encouraged me and helped me believe in myself. Do you remember the first time you truly loved an acting performance? It was interesting. As a teenager when I started to become interested in the complexities of great acting performances, I always loved the older male characters the most. The strongest memory I have was seeing Brando in “The Godfather”. His portrayal of an old man fascinated me. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I felt like an old man myself, even though I was thirteen. Then, I always wanted to play old men in high school in plays like “Sunshine Boys” and “My Fair Lady”. It got to be pretty hilarious. How did you become an actor yourself? After doing plays all through high school, I pursued it further. I went to college for a year, then just went straight to New York City to really go for it. Which actors inspire you and your own work? Naturally, all the great Actors Studio actors of the ‘50’s, ‘60’s, and ‘70’s: Marlon Brando, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffmann. All of them were role models for how to have strength, power, and vulnerability at the same time. Where else do you find inspiration? I feel like all the arts provide inspiration. I’ve always been a music lover. I love going to art galleries to be transported into an artist’s vision. I also feel that nature provides the greatest inspiration of all, so I love getting out to the beach, the mountains, or the desert and let my mind wander. Which part of yours did you most relate to? The craft of acting demands that you must find a way to relate to every part, but it’s not until I started working with Susan Batson, my mentor, that I truly began to understand what that process was really about. So, I would say, the parts that I worked on after beginning to study with Susan were ones that I related to the most. Susan directed a modern adaptation of “The Lower Depths” by Maxim Gorky, and we worked on developing our characters for months before even starting rehearsal. My character’s name was Aly; he was a troubled street kid […]

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