The one lesson I’ve learned from life
MAtt WiLLiS is an actor and co-founder of the band Busted. He won i’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! in 2006 and is now starring in the play 2:22 A Ghost Story. He is married to tV presenter Emma Willis, with whom he has three children: isabelle, 13, Ace, ten, and trixie, six.
TAKE SMALL STEPS TO GET BIG REWARDS
The difference between who you are and who you want to be is all down to the choices you make.
As a friend once said to me, no one is coming to save you. If you want something, you need to take steps towards achieving that.
This is something I realised five years ago. having had success with Busted, I was focusing on my career as an actor. There was one big-shot casting director who refused to see me for an audition. I was really annoyed because I’d had a couple of roles by this point and they probably just thought: ‘I don’t want that guy from Busted.’
But then I had a look at myself — the actors I was going up against were simply better than me. There was no point blaming someone else; I just needed to improve.
I hadn’t trained since I left the Sylvia Young Theatre School, aged 16, and I realised that was holding me back. So, at the age of 34, I went back to drama school for two years.
At first it was terrifying and a little weird — as well as humbling — to be in a room of 20- year- olds who were probably thinking: ‘Is that the guy from Busted?’ But after a few classes, I was just another aspiring actor trying to hone their craft.
Then, two years ago, I got an audition with that same casting director who had rejected me. I’ve now auditioned for them eight or nine times, and they have even given me a role. So, going back to school was definitely the right decision.
It wasn’t about that director, it was about taking accountability for what I wanted and then putting in the work.
I’ve taken that ethos into every aspect of my life, from my family to health to relationships. I write down my goals and work out what I can do to achieve them. Then I make small movements to get there. I make a daily to-do list — it can be two things or 18, but it’s all about making that incremental progress towards my perfect existence.
2:22 A Ghost Story is at London’s Criterion until January 8, 2023.