Photo Courtesy
of
Yaron Urbas
Yaron Urbas’ more
recent work includes a co-starring role with Jim Gaffigan as well numerous lead
and supporting roles in indie feature films with well known talent, including,
Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Navid Neghaban (Homeland), Michael Angarano (The Knick).
A down to earth guy with a strong background in almost everything, one of
his first big breaks, "I just don't believe there's only one..."
Yaron laughs, occurred when he landed a part in the History Channel
Mini-Series, The Men who Built America. But the "big
break" stood in jeopardy after an on set mix-up had occurred and Urbas
wasn't sent a two page speech the night before and was required to take ten
minutes to memorize it before shooting. With an entire production on hold,
including over 50+ background in the wings, not only did the Israeli born actor
refuse to fold when the unexpected moment came, but left him in feeling
relatively secure with everything on the line.
“I find that I
actually perform better when I’m under stress,” said Urbas.
Given his varied
personal and professional background, the steadiness that allowed him to “rock
the speech” probably isn’t a surprise to people who know him. A computer geek
before home PCs became commonplace, a professional rapper, dog walking company
owner, a lowly paid Merrill Lynch employee, who for a time lived a more
sobering Wolf of Wall Street experience, cold called $5 Million worth of
business and than moved on to surf the wave of the Dot.com bubble, his
restlessness flows from an unquenchable thirst to grow. “Around
2007, my wife thought I was crazy when I was finally making a great living at a
Dot.com company as an executive and I wanted to quit. But I told her my flesh
was being fed but not my soul,” he remembers.
Acting was the elixir
he sought. Even so, before all the career moves that made pressure
old hat, fitting in on the Lower East Side built his foundation. Only speaking
Hebrew when I came over in 1976 at age four, he says, “It took me a while to
latch onto American culture.”
His classroom – so to
speak – bordered on special. “Frankly, I grew up poor and it was just my
mother, grandmother and I, we where immigrants, we lived right in the middle of
the better area and the worse area – across from Stuyvesant Town, but on the
other side was the lower east side. It was pretty tough.”
He doesn’t dismiss the
unsavory, but his adaptability let him find the light among the
morass. “There were a lot of beautiful people who embraced me in
what was a very tough environment in the lower east side of NYC in the 70's and
80's... it was far from the gentrified mecca it is now it was a violent place
to grow up in – in large part the minority community embraced me, but let's be
real, honestly where I grew up, I felt like the minority, being this white
Jewish kid fresh off the boat... he laughs... and it wasn't easy, but I was
lucky... a Puerto Rican family that practically adopted me took me under
their wing. I grew up with them.”
He credits his comedic
timing to the culture, but the experience had a deeper impact. “That played
into who I became. I learned to be more social and how to get along, and to
toughen up a bit and gain confidence. I eventually embraced training in various
martial arts as well for a very long time and to this day” he says.
That’s not to dismiss
the importance of his family – even if at times it was also an
obstacle. “I was such a mamma’s boy. She made me wear a
tie the first day of public school. I stood out like a sore thumb – pleading
for punishment,” says Urbas.
Dress code aside, his
mother’s influence created an unyielding push to persevere. “She demonstrated a
great work ethic not by telling me to work hard but by showing me. That left an
impression on everything I pursued,” he says.
But she was nothing
compared to Yaron’s grandmother. Remembering when her street vendor business
almost fell prey to a drug dealer who worked the same street corner, his
grandmother didn’t hesitate to call the tough’s bluff. “’Alright do it, shoot
me now.’ He recalls her words, “That’s the fighting entrepreneurial spirit I’ve
never lost.”
First showing itself
in bridging the gap across both sides of his brain as teenager, he began
writing poetry and rapping and then became immersed in the prospects of owning
a PC. “As I was saving every penny, I used to cut out pictures of pieces of
computers and put them on the wall. That was my PC,” he jokes.
Eventually his Mom
bought him one, and he began programming. But his early 20s brought marriage,
and he opened a dog walking business because his retail job wasn’t providing
opportunity for advancement. “The first few years where rough, I'd often make
like $20 a week before it turned into a legitimate business,” says Urbas.
Of course,
restlessness got the best of him and a pay cut came with college and working
the ground floor at Merrill Lynch in 1998. But a lack of appreciation put Yaron
on the move again – feeling Merrill used his lack of a degree to lowball him.
“I got my BS at Baruch and left around 1998,” he says.
Reengaging as a
techie, his dot.com career began. “That’s where my career took off,”
he says.
It also helped him
identify “this wonderful level of ignorance” that has always propelled him. “I
never knew what I WASN'T supposed to be able to do so it never kept me from
doing it,” Urbas reflected. "I love ignorance... it's a gift"
Rising to the level of
VP at a well known publicly held online marketing company, he certainly knew
how good pay cushions the difficulty of providing for a family of five, but he
chose uncertainty again. “I’ve always liked the human condition, why we do what
we do, he says. “I realized acting was an amazing way to explore it.”
In 2009, he got his
start at the Park Performance Arts Center in Union, NJ, and while parts
got bigger each year, the pace was too slow. “Starting as an actor later in
life is a big gamble. This is not a hobby for me, it's a career and I pursue it
as seriously as I have any other... I knew I had to fast track my career a bit,
I was a newbie in the industry, but I didn't feel that way. I felt that my rich
life of experiences and college work in psychology empowered me as an actor, I
didn't feel like I was starting from scratch... I also felt I could leverage my
highly successful business experience to grow as an artist as well as provide
for my family. I took what could be perceived as disadvantages or a late start
in the business and made them advantages and I think it has and continues to
work” he says.
A big believer in
fostering community, growing together and giving back, he began the Dedicated
Actors Group as well as The Ultimate Filmmaker (as a co-founder of a film race
contest). Setting up networking opportunities, meet and greets with
casting directors and reading events,” he says, “I new I could accomplish more
by helping and working with others, than I could by myself.”
The latter providing
the chance to give back, the idea is to convert the actor sitting alone by the
phone into a network of peers.
Continuing to find
success on various TV and feature projects and slowly growing in popularity as
a serious and capable actor. However, fame is secondary to satisfying the
restless soul that has gotten him this far. “My ambition is to
continue to be a capable actor and I just want people to respect me as an
artist, I really don't care about fame, I just want to be famous to my family,
the folks that love me everyday, no matter what I do, but it seems you need to
pursue some level of fame to succeed as an actor, and so I'm working on it and
growing everyday and as far as growth, well I've started working as a producer
on projects as well, the journey never ends and ignorance to me is truly
bliss and a strength (he laughs) ” he
concludes.
A versatile and talented actor, Yaron Urbas has and continues to
play everything from working class hero, relentless bad guy, soldier, mobster,
to cultured entrepreneur in various principal roles for feature films on
Netflix, Amazon, hit shows on TV Land, Discovery ID, History Channel, Travel
Channel, Bio, National Geographic and PBS. He has appeared in prominent roles
for many indie films and theater projects. He is known for bringing intensity,
realness and truth to a character, he also has a great sense of comedic
instinct which he often brings to even the most serious roles.
Give him a visit at: http://yaronu.wix.com/yaronurbas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yaronu
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