May 26, 2020

Hump Day Cast Love: Leighton Williams

Actor Leighton Williams plays Dave in Avocado Toast the series. He believes that there are so many great stories out there that make us see ourselves, see our flaws, our strengths, and who we want to be.

With so much going on in the world today, what’s your motivation to be a performer? Do you act to explain? To get away? To move past? To widen our knowledge? To incite a conversation?

I act for many reasons. Selfishly, I act to increase my empathy; I believe that having an abundance of empathy makes us better humans. As artist we sometimes have to defend the "legitimacy" of our craft, because at face value we're just entertainers. Acting is not rocket science, or brain surgery; however, it does have the power to change minds and save lives, so I beg to differ. There are so many great stories out there that make us see ourselves, see our flaws, our strengths, and who we want to be. I want to be apart of that.

Who is a major influence for you and/or your creativity?

I know it's such a cliche answer to say Meryl Streep...but she really is brilliant. I've always been drawn to the actors that seem to fully disappear within a character: Meryl Streep, Joaquin Phoenix, etc. I also just watched the Laundromat on Netflix, and while I didn't connect with the story, I connected with Meryl's performance; she's so nuance driven. Finding different character nuance, and breathing truth into that is what I aim to do in my work.

How much were you able to relate your own experiences to create your character? And how much did you have to research or imagine?

Embarrassingly enough, not a lot of research was required to create Dave. He's a rich fuckboy, and I've had my fuckboy phase, I'd be lying if I told you otherwise. In his, well I guess "our" defence, our current dating landscape conditions men into being fuckboys....so...yeah. (<p.s- that was the most fuckboy thing I've ever said🤦🏾‍♂️)

What are some of your favourite millennial slang and why?

YOLO, which means: You only live once. I know it was birthed in a popular rap song by Drake, but it has the potential to be profound. Yolo can be used in a way that's dismissive, or apathetic; but I like to think of it in a more positive light. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough...so Yolo, bro.

Is there a type of role you dream of playing but haven’t had the opportunity yet?

I would love to be in a live action movie of a popular video game series. My favourite video game has always been Mortal Kombat, and I really think it would be a challenging and enriching experience to play the sorcerer Quan Chi. At face value, he's quite one-dimensional, a power hungry backstabber who grows tired of serving better men before him; however, I think there is room to humanize him.

What's next for you as a creator/actor/performer?

I'm currently in Obsidian Theatre's Playwrights unit, so I'm in the process of developing and publishing my first ever play! My production company BDB Productions Inc, is also in pre-production for a web-series written by Xavier DeGuzman, which I'll be acting in as well. I'll also be featured in Netflix's Spinning Out in 2020.