Shane McCormick, age 37, from Hillingdon grew up unable to afford his ambition of attending acting school but never gave up on his dream, and is now acting and producing films – becoming a successful property developer helped him kick-start his career in film.
Shane, who grew up in a single-parent household with very little money, said: “Even though my Mum was wonderful, not having my Dad around was hard on me. From an early age, I loved to escape by watching films and dreamt of becoming an actor; being able to portray various characters and briefly ‘live’ other lives really captured my imagination”.
“My Dad would come in and out of mine and my sister’s life multiple times, cheating on my mum, getting caught and then returning to France where his family was. What that does psychologically to a young child isn’t something kids should go through. From an early age I was hanging around with wrong crowds, I had severe anger issues, and I was always fighting, always on edge. Underneath it all I was a kid who didn’t know what to do with all the hurt”
Shane had the opportunity to go to Performing Arts School for 2 years in 6th Form, but the money just wasn’t there. Although he was devastated at the time, he remained single-minded, and I never gave up; he said: “Making a success of anything I do is incredibly important to me. I went into the construction industry – so pretty far from my dream of acting! Eventually, I gained the skills and knowledge through college and courses to become a Carpenter, and a Site Manager. I also I had a son – Roco McCormick, now 11 years old, and I swore I would be the best dad ever – the total opposite to the dad I had. This was the start of becoming a better me! I matured and followed through with 12 session of anger management and went on to set up my own Construction business, and from there, I bought my own home and began house flipping and property development.”
“I was able to afford to buy my mums council house for her and spent 2 years paying off debt my dad left my mum in”.
Aged 26 – late by acting standards, he ditched property developing and started acting school. He says, “After 3 years of having the construction company the stress got the better of me, I suffered with anxiety like you would not believe and developed a twitch, deep down I didn’t want to do what I was doing – I wanted to act! I went back to therapy and liquidated my construction company. With the profit, I went bought myself a house, and my mum a car and, I put myself in an acting school “
Shane attended Reel Scene acting school – where real, working actors mentor students as opposed to theoretical tutors. He says “It was important to me to understand this world from the people actually making a living in it. The mentorship I received from actors like Frank Harper (Lock Stock) and Steve North was invaluable. From there, I became involved with the team behind the Rise of The Footsoldier franchise and starred in Rise of the Footsoldier: Marbella and Origins; I got further film work as a result. But I wanted to become a lead actor – so I chose to produce some short films as a vehicle to test my knowledge of how the machine works to produce a film, but to also test my method acting, other techniques I’ve picked up on my journey and take my craft to the next level”.
Acting is rarely a solid career choice – McCormick found himself doing 12 auditions and maybe getting three parts – that wasn’t enough for him, “I had an agent, but sitting around waiting for him to call just wasn’t my style”. Keen to make up for lost time, he put it all on the line, “I put my money where my mouth is and started a Production Company (Move Mountains Production). Now I’m involved in the acting, production and business side of film, and I wanted to achieve a complete understanding of this. Our first feature movie is called Trapped, a heavyweight film about escape from domestic abuse, starring myself, Geoff Bell, Craig Fairbrass and directed by Roland Manookian (The Football Factory, Rocknrolla).. I couldn’t be prouder of this achievement, and I hope the film helps sufferers of abuse on their journey of recovery. I’m excited to say I have at least three more feature films coming up”, we are in pre- production for our next one already.”
Shane admits it’s an accelerated career path he’s created for himself, “I was conscious of needing to advance myself quicker to make up for lost time; some people in the industry don’t like what I’m doing – they think I’m jumping the gun – but I really don’t care what they think. It’s important to always believe in yourself & never give up on your ambitions – that’s a message I always want to share with my son”.
Trapped is Out Now & available to rent or buy from Amazon Prime, Google Play or iTunes
