BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actor-comedian Will Sasso says it is a good thing that he was hopelessly naive when he became an actor at 15.
“You add 10 years to life at that age, if you think about someone in the mid-20s, I would’ve done things a whole lot differently had I started in my mid-20s as opposed to my mid-teens,” he says in a meeting room of a hotel here, seated at a round table.
“The world starts to scare you more. When you’re young and you only have enough room in your brain for what you think is important — whether it’s something silly that you want to do, whether it’s that part that you’re doing that’s forwarding this passion of yours. You’re a dreamer, ‘Oh, I want to do this and that.’ And I was fortunate enough to have these saving graces of having wonderful people around me like my drama teacher who I’m still in touch with from high school, who’s really supportive.”
Most folk recognize Sasso for his spot-on celebrity impersonations and his scrapbook of quirky characters from “MADtv.” But he’s also a serious actor and has costarred in shows such as “Justified,” “$#*! My Dad Says” and “Hot in Cleveland.”
His latest is a switch for Sasso who plays best pal and sober sponsor in AUDIENCE Network’s hilarious new series, “Loudermilk,” premiering Oct. 17. Sasso portrays roommate and goading guide to Ron Livingston’s volatile character, Ben Loudermilk. They share an affinity for alcohol though both ride uneasily on the wagon for now.
Closer to reality
“‘Loudermilk’ is a dark comedy,” says Sasso, grinning. “That’s way more fun for me to play. The more rooted the character is, in my opinion, the more bizarre he can get. So I like this show is rooted in a very real world, a very real story.”
His real story began in Canada, where he grew up the son of Italian immigrants in a suburb of Vancouver, B.C. “It was a quick bus ride in when I was a teenager and I’d do open calls and crashing auditions here and there,” he recalls.
“And I ended up getting an agent out of it when I was 15. I was really fortunate … Now you can go to a string of auditions and not get anything. But I had a couple of early auditions where I got the part. And I feel that this agent I had when I was younger, he thought, ‘Oh, this kid can … he’s pulled in a couple of jobs!’ So it opened me up there.”
Jump to L.A.
Sasso, 42, who’s natty in a navy-blue suit and a blue-and-white checked shirt, says he was definitely a nerd as a kid. “I was kind of a class clown, and I had a bunch of funny friends. And we were making stuff together and shooting stuff together, doing plays together, and playing sports together. … Even now I have friends from that group who are still in creative circles.”
He was 20 when he rented a U-Haul trailer and headed for Hollywood. “When you show up in L.A. at 20 years old and you are daunted by the whole thing, but there’s a self preservation. That’s the way I approached it. I actually knew my manager because I’d met her before I moved. I had one other friend I’d worked on a film with in Vancouver who lived out here …
“He had a young family. I left the U-Haul trailer in his backyard for a few weeks while I tried to find an apartment. I stayed in a little hotel for a while looking for an apartment. I had no credit history in America, no relatives in America,” he says.
“My parents came from Italy. My mom, my brother and sister and a bunch of my aunts and uncles — my dad was the only one who spoke English. He ended up in Vancouver not with the promise of a job. But PERHAPS one will be waiting for you. And he went and got the job and kept going. For me, at 20, if I failed it was just my big a–. It’s a 24-hour drive back to Canada,” he shrugs.
“I think the thing that came out of my love for what I do is that that love for what I do sustained me. I never thought of this at the time, but as you get older you start to realize that all that passion and love for what I do really loved me back, even if it doesn’t mean success. Even if you’re starving a little bit or experiencing defeats, you’re still in this passion, still in this love for what you do that moves you and pushes you forward and fills your heart.”
