Alumni Profile
Neal Bledsoe ’00 (Lonsdale’s)
The Advancement & Community Engagement team recently caught up with alum Neal Bledsoe ’00 (Lonsdale’s), who has just finished acting in the Broadway revival of Othello alongside Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal. In this profile, Neal shares his path from the campus of Shawnigan to the Broadway stage.
Neal caught the acting bug the same way most kids do – sitting in a darkened movie theatre, mesmerized by larger-than-life stories unfolding on screen. "It's impossible to ignore the power of them in our culture, and within our families as well," he said.
Neal caught the acting bug the same way most kids do – sitting in a darkened movie theatre, mesmerized by larger-than-life stories unfolding on screen. "It's impossible to ignore the power of them in our culture, and within our families as well," he said.
He almost went into another field entirely. At Shawnigan, his academic strength was history – so much so that his advisor, Mr. Nicolas Szymanis, invited him to teach a unit on the Second World War to his own class. After having a short story published in the Shawnigan Gazette and starring in a production of Love Letters at the School – "the ONE outlet available for an actor who couldn't sing" – the arts took an unshakeable hold upon him.
With guidance from Mr. Szymanis and Lonsdale's House Director Dave Hutchison, Neal decided to defer university and spend a year at Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. "All I did there was write and act, but I still didn't know if I would be any good at it," he said. "It's a bubble, and while your teachers and peers might say you're good, it's still hard to know if you'll gain traction in the real world."
After Idyllwild, Neal attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, one of the world's best acting conservatories. There, he was mentored by Gerald Freedman, the famed theatre director behind the original productions of Hair! and West Side Story. "As a young actor, I remember a teacher once saying that I would have been an asshole unless I got proper training. Youth and beauty are a dime a dozen, but training is what separates you from the pack."
His training gave him the skillset to work across the industry – from broadcast to streaming, big-budget blockbusters to art-house indies, and opposite actors like Jeremy Irons, Judith Light, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rufus Sewell, and Val Kilmer.
Neal's interests have always extended beyond acting. In 2014, he began contributing to Sports Illustrated, and has since written for Variety and Men's Health. With mentor Gay Talese, he's writing a book examining Hollywood's recent challenges. "To me, Hollywood was looking a lot like Detroit – that really scared me. I got curious about why it was all happening."
Despite setbacks – the pandemic, strikes, his agency going bust – Neal kept looking for ways to thrive. A failed Stranger Things audition led to Kathryn Bigelow's Netflix film A House of Dynamite. Relocating to New York led him to Othello.
Neal initially auditioned for Cassio but didn't get it. "I'm happily aging out of my Cassio years." He then auditioned for the Duke of Venice and to understudy Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago. "It was preparation meeting opportunity – I had been working on this play for 20 years."
"Watching Denzel and Jake work, seeing how they change their performance each night, was a privilege. The entire cast was made of killers. I tried to exercise as much humility as I could, simply so I could learn from people who were better than I was."
His advice to Shawnigan students considering performing arts? "You have to be willing to take a risk. You have to really want it and commit to it. After you outwork everybody you know, then you've just got to be lucky. And when you're lucky, you have to exploit every ounce of those opportunities."
As for his proudest work, Neal points to Sports Illustrated, where "The Delicate Moron" chronicles his doomed attempt to play semi-professional football for a team owned by Kiss. "I've been able to professionalize my curiosity," he says, "which is perhaps what I was looking to do all along."
With guidance from Mr. Szymanis and Lonsdale's House Director Dave Hutchison, Neal decided to defer university and spend a year at Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. "All I did there was write and act, but I still didn't know if I would be any good at it," he said. "It's a bubble, and while your teachers and peers might say you're good, it's still hard to know if you'll gain traction in the real world."
After Idyllwild, Neal attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, one of the world's best acting conservatories. There, he was mentored by Gerald Freedman, the famed theatre director behind the original productions of Hair! and West Side Story. "As a young actor, I remember a teacher once saying that I would have been an asshole unless I got proper training. Youth and beauty are a dime a dozen, but training is what separates you from the pack."
His training gave him the skillset to work across the industry – from broadcast to streaming, big-budget blockbusters to art-house indies, and opposite actors like Jeremy Irons, Judith Light, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rufus Sewell, and Val Kilmer.
Neal's interests have always extended beyond acting. In 2014, he began contributing to Sports Illustrated, and has since written for Variety and Men's Health. With mentor Gay Talese, he's writing a book examining Hollywood's recent challenges. "To me, Hollywood was looking a lot like Detroit – that really scared me. I got curious about why it was all happening."
Despite setbacks – the pandemic, strikes, his agency going bust – Neal kept looking for ways to thrive. A failed Stranger Things audition led to Kathryn Bigelow's Netflix film A House of Dynamite. Relocating to New York led him to Othello.
Neal initially auditioned for Cassio but didn't get it. "I'm happily aging out of my Cassio years." He then auditioned for the Duke of Venice and to understudy Jake Gyllenhaal as Iago. "It was preparation meeting opportunity – I had been working on this play for 20 years."
"Watching Denzel and Jake work, seeing how they change their performance each night, was a privilege. The entire cast was made of killers. I tried to exercise as much humility as I could, simply so I could learn from people who were better than I was."
His advice to Shawnigan students considering performing arts? "You have to be willing to take a risk. You have to really want it and commit to it. After you outwork everybody you know, then you've just got to be lucky. And when you're lucky, you have to exploit every ounce of those opportunities."
As for his proudest work, Neal points to Sports Illustrated, where "The Delicate Moron" chronicles his doomed attempt to play semi-professional football for a team owned by Kiss. "I've been able to professionalize my curiosity," he says, "which is perhaps what I was looking to do all along."
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Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
