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Photo: Courtesy of Nicolas Gerardin
From his hometown of Dallas, Texas to NYC where he currently resides, JC Schuster has been everywhere on the stage and screen. He is also gracing the pages of our fall issue, featuring the distinct new men’s trend: the man bun. A classically trained dancer, Schuster’s reputable expertise has lead him to Off-Broadway shows like Soul Doctor (Theater in the Square) and Finding Neverland (A.R.T.), as well as movies and television shows like Annie, Glee and Nurse Jackie. When asked if he prefers stage or camera acting, he explains:
“If I had to choose one, I love film. I love TV and film because it’s just different. The beauty of live theatre is that it’s live, so you never know what’s going to happen; for the actor, for the dancer, for the audience. There are so many different things that can happen so your experience is always different. For film, you get your best, you get to show your best, if you don’t like what you did, you do another take. And instead of going off of your own instinct, you get to work with a team and that’s really awesome. It’s a relationship between the director, actor, dancer and choreographer. So it’s a big team kind of coming together to create this one thing.”
We also asked our man bun model another comparison question: New York or L.A.? Prior to living in NYC, Schuster lived and worked Los Angeles with talent agency Bloc.
“I will say this. I am a New York City fan. I’m from Texas so if I want to go to the best state, I’m going to go to Texas. If I want to be in the best city I’ll go to New York City. I think California is a great place to visit and I think it’s a great place to work. For me I didn’t really enjoy living there. I enjoy living in the city where there’s always something to do and you don’t have to worry about a car. The city is full of people, it’s full of jobs, it’s full of opportunity,” he enthuses.
Within the past year, he has been involved in notable projects like Orange is the New Black and HBO’s Vinyl, premiering in 2016, where Schuster says that he was told to perform outside of his classical instruction.
“It’s based in the 70s so you have to take everything you know and kind of throw it out and try and live in the 70s. That’s awesome as a dancer and choreographer to get to take these chances, getting to jump into different characters that I didn’t get to growing up.”
As for future projects, he explains that he would love to foster his career as a choreographer.
“I love performing and doing that but I eventually will want to be fully on the other side of the camera.”
-by Johanna Silver