Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Palko.
Hi Jeremy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in La Grange, GA and moved to Seattle, WA when I was five. I grew up in the Northwest and graduated the University of Washington in 2005. I dabbled in the theater due to a second knee surgery that ended my mediocre sports career.
That led to an internship and job with Disney. I interned as a lifeguard at Blizzard Beach. Then I was an Entertainment Host aboard the Disney Cruise Line for nearly two years. I hosted every show imaginable and began to grow my interest as an actor.
After leaving the ship life, I found a home in Orlando for the next eight years. I got an agent in the Southeast and immediately started auditioning. I booked my first speaking role in a film called “Never Back Down” early in 2008 and have been a member of the Screen Actors Guild ever since. I was lucky enough to book various parts over the next few years, but the one that would change my life would lead me back to Georgia.
After about six years of auditioning, I finally booked the show that would lead me back to Georgia… “The Walking Dead”. Playing “Andy” on the show for 3 seasons absolutely changed my life in the greatest ways both personally and professionally.
Acting was my everything… then the pandemic hit and auditions slowed. This is where my life has taken the most creative and wonderful turn. As many people found during this time, finding other hobbies was a way of survival. My boredom took me to try painting. It is now my everything and my actual business! I can’t even begin to describe how amazing finding art has been to me. I am creeping on 40 years of age and I am almost upset with myself for not finding this love and passion sooner. I paint pretty much all day every day and enjoy every second of it. Its challenges, its joy, its expressiveness, and its way of being a way of mediation and therapy in a way. I create only original pieces and have many for sale on my website. The amount of love and support I have received thus far has been humbling and inspiring in so many ways. I am proud to say I created a small business during quarantine.
I have lived back here in Georgia for the past six years and am loving every second of it. Feels like home.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It may not be a smooth road, but it is an exciting one. The career of any actor/artist is going to come with its daily struggles and obstacles. But looking back, and even today, I do my best to never look at any struggle as a negative but as an opportunity to learn something and grow from it.
As acting goes, it is a very unstable profession for sure. You truly have to love it to be in it. And you have to have a thick skin to be able to be rejected constantly. I love everything there is about storytelling and creating. That makes the challenges worth it.
Art has its own unique struggles in that art is truly in the eye of the beholder. Art is subjective and not everyone will like or enjoy your work. But for the ones that do… that is what makes art fulfilling.
I am very fortunate I am to be able to pursue what I love. And I don’t take that for granted.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Most days, I am an actor. Other days I am an artist.
I started acting professionally in 2008. Some notable credits include The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, Netflix’s Bloodline, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless, MacGyver, Pitch Perfect 3, Sleepy Hollow, The Middle, Burn Notice, Are We There Yet?, Guiding Light, Never Back Down, and more. Recently seen in Tales on BET.
Being an actor, you try so hard to find creativity through someone else’s words. With art, it is only you. You are representing you. Being open and vulnerable to having people see my art. That is what I am most proud about. Having just picked up a paintbrush in 2020, I am proud of where it has taken me. And the support has been absolutely amazing.
Other than being self-taught in quarantine, I would say that the way I paint is what really sets me apart from others. My house is littered with pieces of art that are a “work in progress”. I probably have over 1,000 at the moment in my house. My poor dog has to walk around them constantly. When I feel like painting, I choose colors at random and begin. I see what paintings need what and add colors and shapes accordingly. I never plan any painting out, it’s just “Let’s see what we get” every time.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Hell yeah, take risks. I guess I would prefer the term “Comfort Zone”? And I think you have to step out of your comfort zone as a person. Risks may be involved of course. But I have always believed in doing what makes you happy. I’ve never liked the term “Yolo”, but I absolutely believe it. So yes, take risks I guess. I don’t wanna ever say I should have, could have, would have.
I guess as an actor, I feel my whole life is a risk. “What if it doesn’t work?” I don’t know why, but I guess I’m just programmed and wired to believe “What if it does work?”
I dropped everything in Seattle in 2005 and flew to Florida by myself to pursue a career in Entertainment aboard the Disney Cruise line… and I had never been on a ship. I remember thinking while I was flying down there, “What am I doing?” I felt that to be a big risk in my life and look back and realize it was one of the best risks. It led me to the south and my pursuit of acting.
There’s another cliche I think about often and that is “If it were easy, everyone would do it.” The risks we take are essentially what makes us great. They don’t have to be life or death risks, but ones that lead us away from repetitiveness. So I say step out of that comfort zone.
Contact Info:
- Website: ArtByPalko.Square.Site
- Instagram: @ArtByPalko
- Facebook: @ArtByPalko
- Twitter: @JeremyPalko
Image Credits
AMC – The Walking Dead BET – RUTHLESS BET – TALES
