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Postcard Profile: Actor, photographer Benjamin Laird

Caroline Russell-King offers her Postcard Profile of professional photographer, actor and activist Benjamin Laird (with a nod to Bernard Pivot and James Lipton).

What is the next project for you? 

I get to shoot two concerts with BANC an event at the Jack Singer Concert Hall titled 33 1/3 which will raise money for Indigenous Missing and Murdered Women and features Emmylou Harris. (Editor’s note: the concert was at the end of October.)

How do you contribute to this piece? 

I’m shooting and hobnobbing with famous people!

What is your greatest creative challenge?

Motivation.

What turns you on creatively? 

Surrounding myself with other creative people — not on Facebook, but in real life.

What turns you off creatively? 

People who talk big about the arts with no follow through and apathy,

What’s one thing you’re really good at? 

I’m good at reading stories to my kids, especially if there are accents involved. I thank my BFA for that.

If you could resurrect and share a drink with a dead person who would it be?

Oh god, that’s a tricky one. John Lennon because he was an artist, poet, writer, singer and a well-rounded human being.

What is one thing you wish you’d known sooner? 

I wish I’d started investing sooner.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

If I wasn’t doing this — a professional chef.

What would you do with extreme wealth? 

I would create a foundation to support creatives where people could apply for financial gifts to kickstart a project.

What is one piece of advice you would give to the person who wants to do what you do? 

Be patient, try to banish professional jealously (it’s deadly), and be true to your word.

Caroline Russell-King is a playwright, dramaturg, and instructor. She is a member of The Playwrights Guild of Canada, the Dramatist Guild of America and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. You can find her work here at www.carolinerussellking.com.

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