Acting employed

A few years ago, Caleb Michaelson wasn’t sure he was going to be an actor at all. He had a string of false starts in college. While playing football for Troy University, he blew out his back. After transferring to Mississippi College, he majored in psychology.

“I enjoyed the study of people,” Michaelson says.

He started work on his master’s, almost becoming a school principal before changing his mind again. “I saw where the education was heading and knew it wasn’t a battle I was ready to fight,” he says. “I dropped out, got a job and thought, ‘Why not give acting a try?’”

After talking with talent agent Brenda Netzberger of Open Range Management, he realized he would need money first. He needed to get into acting classes.

“I needed $200, and I didn’t have it,” Michaelson says. “This is right after college, and I was scratching to get by. I had a form of acting classes. I took it and threw it in the back of my truck.”

In a bizarre turn, his grandmother was cleaning out his truck and found the discarded piece of paper.

“She came up to me and asked, ‘Do you want to do this?’” Michaelson says. “She gave me $200 to get started. Had she not done that, I might not be acting.”

Now 29, Michaelson is no longer the starving actor that his younger brother Seth once helped memorize monologues till 2 a.m. Last year alone, he worked on 10 films, including Knucklehead, where he had a fairly big role as the “meathead jock.” He has two projects this year already, including a role on HBO’s hit show Treme, which begins airing new episodes next month.

His years of hard work are beginning to pay off with better roles and more screen time. But he takes his career in stride. He peppers his conversation with mentions of “his blessings,” how the movie business is “show business, not show fun,” and how the party environment can “chew you up and spit you out.”

If ever an actor needed advice, Michaelson is a man worth talking to. He’s a humble workingman. He doesn’t show up to sets aiming to impress with anything but his acting. He doesn’t cling to emotions he might use on set.

“At the end of the day, it’s work, and it’s not a party,” he says. “When I was pursuing acting, I was counseling with a mentor of mine, and he told me, ‘If you’re going to do this, master your craft. Learn everything there is to know about this business.’ I took that to heart.”

Michaelson did his homework, seeing how big names like Clint Eastwood do a little bit of everything and have their own production companies. He learned to edit video and recently formed a small production company, Dobie Media Productions, with his younger brother.

“Acting is a job that is full of lull-time,” he says. “You have to allow yourself to get excited, but get back down to Earth. Honestly, it’s a job that’s about trying to get a job. When I get a job, I’m excited. But once it’s over, it’s done. I have to go on to the next thing. After every job, you’re unemployed again.”