Sweaty palms, heart racing, nausea: these are not signs of a heart attack; they are phenomena that an actor experiences before entering an audition room. Sophomore Kiefe Takahashi has been acting since he was 10 years old, going into studio after studio with the dream of making it as a professional actor.
“[When acting] I’m creating my own art, expressing myself and being able to share that with other people,” Takahashi said.
Takahashi’s mom, Karen Takahashi, inspired him to start acting. She had wanted to act when she was a kid, and wanted to provide that opportunity for her son, to see if he would be interested in acting.
“I had the opportunity to be in a musical [one of her friends created a musical called Letters to Eve and invited her to join the cast]. I love the way Kiefe enjoyed [going] to a play, film, or musical, and it seemed like he really liked it. So we had an opportunity to go to a casting call, and he did so well that I thought, ‘Okay, well, let’s see what happens,’” Karen Takahashi said.
From then on, Takahashi’s mom worked with a background agency to submit her son for background work, and after a while, Kiefe Takahashi decided he wanted to have more lines and act more. But as he delved deeper into the industry, more opportunities arose along with more job rejections.
“Once they allow you to have an audition, you have to have the mentality that you got the job, and you’re just gonna give it your all. I started sending him to acting classes for him to enjoy acting and [understand] that it’s okay if he gets rejected. He’s not perfect for every single role, and that’s okay. That’s real life,” Karen Takahashi said.
Some of the television opportunities Kiefe Takahashi has been able to participate in include being featured in a couple of Dhar Mann videos, guest-starring on React Channel videos, and serving as a recurring extra on “The Clauses,” a Disney show. However, there is a big difference between filming for YouTube channels and television.
“For television shows, movies, and commercials, their budget is a lot bigger. For Dhar Mann, you just film in those separate studios, but if you go to like television commercials, people rent out streets and houses; it’s just a [larger] scale,” Kiefe Takahashi said.
During his sophomore year, Takahashi also started exploring different pathways within acting, such as the theatre industry. Recently in RUHS Performing Arts, Kiefe played Bill Livingston in their winter play “Women of Lockerbie” and is in the cast for the spring show, “Something Rotten.”
“My mom [inspired me]; she’s a theater kid. She was Miss Saigon and also Evita. That was my first exposure to musical theater. Seeing my mom on stage gave me admiration for [performing],” Kiefe Takahashi said.
After getting into the film industry, Kiefe attended the Orange County School of the Arts to further his education and to build on his acting skills, which is where he previously attended school before he transferred to RUHS his sophomore year of high school.
“At OSCA, I was more trained in film and TV rather than theatre. But I really love theatre in general, and learning how to sing and how to dance while acting. Musical theatre is probably one of the most impressive things people can do,” Kiefe Takahashi said.
Being in the industry has taught Kiefe Takahashi many things, beyond just facial expressions and authenticity to character. Acting has helped him grow as a person.
“Being an actor has helped me become [more focused] and grow more confident. When I’m doing presentations for school or stuff like that, I just think of it as acting or [performing],” Kiefe Takahashi said.
Overall, Takahashi’s takeaway from his experiences acting and from how he finds his motivation to keep going, audition after audition, is not to be scared of failing, which he strives to do and continues to do in the future.
“It’s okay to fail, because God knows how many auditions I’ve sent in and not even gotten a callback for or how many callbacks I’ve done and not even gotten considered,” Kiefe Takahashi said. “The more you audition, the more you practice, the more you work, and the more you get good things that are going to come to you in the future.”
