Who Is Corbin Allred?
Words cannot describe the love I have for my brother Corbin Allred. We’ve known each other for half of our lives now. Most people know Corbin from the many movies and TV shows he’s been a part of: “Teen Angel,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “Saints and Soldiers,” etc., but what many people may not know is that Corbin and I served LDS missions together and were able to have incredibly fun, memorable, and deeply significant experiences together. We took a stroll down memory lane for a bit and then started discussing some of the current adventures Corbin has had being a physician’s assistant. But now, Corbin Allred, myself, and our other good friend and partner in crime, Jasen Wade, have created an online acting course called Acting Out. We are super excited to bring this to the forefront of people’s eyeballs. Corbin and I chatted about the fun times we had creating it and what are hopes are with the course. Enjoy!
About Corbin Allred
Corbin Allred is a familiar name to anybody who spent many hours in front of the television during the late 1990s and early 2000s. But even if you don’t recognize the name, you will recognize his face. However, there’s much more to Corbin than the glitz and glamor of the silver screen. While Hollywood has been a significant part of his life, it did not begin there.
Who Is Corbin Allred?
Corbin Allred was born May 25, 1979, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His acting career began when he was twelve years old when Corbin attended an open casting call in Midvale, UT. Before making it big in Hollywood, Corbin served a two-year mission in Australia for The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His faith remains integral to him to this day, and Corbin has also appeared in multiple Mormon Cinema productions.
He hasn’t solely stuck to church productions, though, and he wouldn’t have the recognition that he has today were it not for mainstream roles. Corbin made his mainstream film debut in 1993’s “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” directed by the legendary Mel Brooks, while his lead-role in the fantasy series “Teen Angel” brought him to national attention.
In 1999 Corbin appeared in two feature films with renowned performers such as Dan Aykroyd and Kirk Douglas in the comedy “Diamonds” and “Anywhere But Here” with Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon. His first lead role in a film came in 2003’s “Saints and Soldiers. “
A Different Kind of Actor
Anyone who knows anything about Corbin Allred knows that he is an actor unlike any other, and this isn’t just because he has never taken acting lessons, not that you’d know, regardless. While his contemporaries would be happy to take any role they believe could help them make money and achieve worldwide acclaim, Corbin takes a different approach to considering and accepting roles, and this makes him stand out so much in Hollywood.
Since he made his debut back in the ’90s, Corbin has taken a careful approach to the kind of roles he accepts. He avoids movies with excessive violence and has even turned down roles that feature too much sexual content and bad language. This certainly makes him a man who puts his principles before anything else. It doesn’t seem to have harmed him, though, especially considering the fickle world of acting. Corbin has still enjoyed plenty of success in both film and television across his 18-year-plus career.
Despite finding success in Hollywood, Corbin did not forget where he came from, and this is no more evident than when he took the lead role in “The Saratov Approach” in 2013, which covered the real-life kidnapping of two Latter-day Saint missionaries in 1998.
More to Life
Corbin Allred currently lives in Hollywood with his wife McKenzie Marshall. They married in 2005 and have three children. Besides acting, Corbin has a plethora of other passions, including being an avid climber, which makes living in California a no-brainer. He is happy to share his knowledge of climbing by offering lessons if you’re in the area.
There’s even more to him than this, though. A talented folk singer, he has worked with the Nashville Songwriters Association and has led courses that help aspiring musicians take their talents to the next level. When time allows for it in his busy schedule, Corbin also travels as part of The Society, an improv comedy troupe that goes all over the country providing laughter to their fans and audiences.
Corbin isn’t all about performing. As much as he offers guidance to budding musicians and climbers, he also wants to help those in severe need. Corbin has also trained as a physician’s assistant and owns a paramedic service that operates privately. On top of this, he is a trained paramedic, EMT, and is qualified as a tactical medicine instructor.
All of this shows that life is about much more than fame and fortune, and Corbin is a great example of this. Of course, he could have rested on his laurels in the acting world. He could have sat on his fortunes, but this would not align with his life’s philosophy. He feels obligated to use his talents to help and support others, whether they are friends and family or complete strangers. Whether Corbin is offering advice about how to climb that mountain, how to tap into your emotions to write that song, or whether you need assistance after being involved in an injury, you can rely on Corbin to be there for you.
Corbin Allred Podcast Transcription
Charan: What’s going on, guys? This is Charan Prabhakar with the Lemonade Stand Podcast, and I’m here with my dear buddy, Mr. Corbin Allred.
Corbin: Thanks for having me.
Charan: Of course, of course.
Corbin: Thank you, Lemonade Stand.
Charan: Oh, man. The Lemonade Stand has been a dream in our lives, and they actually are making our dreams come true right now, which is very, very exciting.
Corbin: Yep.
Charan: But, Corb, we got to rewind time a little bit and go back and share a little bit of our history because you just mentioned that you hated getting head shots.
Corbin: Hate it.
Charan: Hate getting head shots. I hate getting head shots. But you are an actor and you’ve been an actor for a very long time. In fact, when I met you, I was very starstruck by you, I will be honest.
Corbin: Oh, man.
Charan: I was very nervous because we met-
Corbin: Because I’m intimidating?
Charan: Incredibly intimidating.
Corbin: Like, physically imposing?
Charan: So physically imposing; you kill people with your eyes, which is a very accurate statement. But no, dude, we’ve been friends, gosh, man, since 2000.
Corbin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Charan: That’s when I met you.
Corbin: 20-plus years, two decades plus.
Charan: 20-plus years. Two decades ago. We met because we served LDS missions together, and it was funny because … And I don’t even think you knew this about me. Before my mission, I was very interested and kind of intrigued at the possibility of acting. I had a little bit of that, right? But I really didn’t do much with it. I went to BYU, and I wasn’t studying any of that. But it just excited me to think about stuff like that. I remember as a kid growing up ’80s and ’90s, “TGIF” was my jam. That’s what I watched, right? And so-
Corbin: Friday nights.
Charan: Friday nights, you know? The lineup of shows always changed, and when I first started watching it, there was a show called “Perfect Strangers” that was on, and I loved “Perfect Strangers,” “Family Matters,” “Step by Step,” but-
Corbin: I watched all those shows, yeah.
Charan: All those shows, right? But then they kept changing as the years went on, and one of the shows that was on was a show called “Teen Angel,” and I actually watched that show. I watched several episodes of it. So to be on a mission and to hear that one of our leaders that’s going to be over us as missionaries was the guy that was in “Teen Angel,” I was shocked. My mind couldn’t comprehend what I was hearing because I knew this was a big … The fact that I was in Australia was amazing, but-
Corbin: Why would that guy be on a mission, though?
Charan: To think that that guy would be on a mission and that guy would be my leader and I’d be associating with him, I legit was very nervous, and I wasn’t sure which of the two “Teen Angels” it was going to be. But, man, it was so great.
Corbin: Most likely the Latter-day Saint one.
Charan: I guess it was. I guess it was.
Corbin: Turned out to be that one.
Charan: It turned out to be that one. But no, we had such great times. I remember, we never served as companions, but whenever we would get together and go on our exchanges and stuff, it was so much fun. But we both knew very quickly, we should never actually serve together because if we did, we did nothing.
Corbin: We worked hard, though.
Charan: We worked hard.
Corbin: But it would be-
Charan: It was just one of those things where we got along so well. We had so much fun the whole time, and, yeah, it was great. It was great.
Corbin: It was fun. Hopefully, that apprehension and being nervous or intimidated didn’t last very long. I don’t think it did.
Charan: Oh, man.
Corbin: I think the second we started hanging out, it was good times. We knew it was going to be-
Charan: It was such good times, man. Yeah.
Corbin: You have to find the fun in the work-
Charan: Absolutely.
Corbin: … and we had a blast.
Charan: We really did.
Corbin: It was so fun.
Charan: We had some really good times, and I just remember some of the fun things that we did and some of the fun people we met. But I remember thinking, and this is a very … I don’t know if you would want to call it a foreshadowing type of thought, but there was a service project that we did. I don’t think you’d ever remember it at all, but we were goofing around. I don’t even know what we were doing, pretending that we were not missionaries. We were pretending like we were in some scene in some movie or something, like we would do.
Charan: I remember thinking, “Gosh, I would love to keep in touch with Corbin after and work with him again in the future.” I didn’t think that that would actually happen, but I just thought, ‘That would be so cool to work with him in some capacity or be in a movie with him and stuff,” all things which are happening and have already happened.
Corbin: Yeah. It’s been crazy.
Charan: It’s been crazy. But-
Corbin: But two decades later, there was this kind of round … Charan, we … Because I had the same … You connect with certain people on your mission, and you’d love to say, “Well, I’d love to stay connected with everybody that I serve with.” It just doesn’t happen.
Charan: No.
Corbin: But there are those few that plant a seed in your life, and they represent somebody really important to you, and that’s, I think, the relationship that we had. But you get back, and time and distance just changes. I was in LA, and we kind of overlapped. Charan came back, and he established this really awesome film career and just career in the entertainment industry in general. I mean, everyone knows Charan Prabhakar, everyone.
Charan: Oh my gosh.
Corbin: A wonderful reputation amongst people. But we never had the opportunity to work with each other. I took a little hiatus from film, and I went and jumped into healthcare and had a passion for medicine that I wanted to make sure I pursued to some degree. But it came back around, and now it’s like … We’d talk to each other a couple of times a year for 20 years or whatever.
Charan: If that. If that.
Corbin: Then, now, I don’t know, do we text each other a hundred times a day? I don’t know.
Charan: Dude, it is the craziest thing.
Corbin: Well, we have so many things going on.
Charan: So many things going on-
Corbin: Great things.
Charan: … and we’re going to definitely talk about that. But it’s interesting because I don’t know how that happened other than when we met at that premiere, “Out of Liberty” in 2019-
Corbin: That was big, yeah.
Corbin Allred Talks About His Career Path
Charan: That was a really good day for us, but it was interesting because, yeah, our lives would kind of cross paths, and we would have certain groups of friends like, “Oh, you know those people? I know those people.” But, yeah, it was very interesting. We can reminisce more on that, but I want to talk a little bit more about the Lemonade Stand Podcast being your first Lemonade Stand story or you becoming a creator and doing these things. So let’s rewind time back to your first venture into, I guess, performing because I remember it wasn’t even acting, right? It was first clogging.
Corbin: No. Yeah, I was a dancer.
Charan: Isn’t that what it was?
Corbin: Yes.
Charan: Unbelievable. Unbelievable, yeah.
Corbin: Yes. So growing up in Utah, I didn’t have … Especially then, this is back, gosh, early ’90s in Utah, there were some film projects that would come. Casting would come through Utah or Salt Lake City, but there really wasn’t a Utah film industry or film scene really happening, at least to my knowledge, at that point, and acting was not even on my radar. It wasn’t even something I thought you could do. That was something that happened in Hollywood, it happened in New York, and it was just a different world. So that wasn’t even on my radar. But performing was something I loved, and ever since I was really little, I loved pretending. I loved pretending. In fact, I’d play with my Legos or my GI Joes, or I’d play army or play guns down at the woods behind my house.
Corbin: It was hard because I was kind of one of those kids who often played by myself when I was being imaginative, mainly because I wanted control over the world, and so in this imaginative world I was creating, if I involved somebody else, they would take my story somewhere I didn’t want them to take it. So I’d be like, “I have to play by myself because I’m directing this world. I’m in control of these characters.” So I played alone a lot, and it wasn’t until I was actually … A friend of mine got involved in clogging. In fact, I was over to his house, we were hanging out, and his and his mom was like, “Hey, you’ve got clogging in an hour,” and I’m like, “Clogging? What’s clogging?” He’s like, “Well, I’ve got to go, and then it’s only going to last an hour, and then we can hang out afterwards,” so I was like, “All right, I’ll go.”
Corbin: So I went with him, and he went … We walked down in this little basement studio. It’s called … Freckles and Frills was the name of the studio, Carol and Gary Brotherson, most amazing people. But we go, I walk down in here, and there’s this hardwood floor. Clogging, if you don’t know what it is, it’s similar to tap dancing, but the taps are just a little bit different and the steps are quite different. It has its roots going all the way back to a lot of square-dancing-type stuff that happened in the West or, excuse me, back in the South and then even back to Irish step and things like that. So there’s a lot of influence there.
Corbin: Long story short, I’m in there, and I’m standing, and my friend is dancing, and I’m looking and it’s like the ratio of him to cute girls was … He was the only guy in there, and there was just all these cute 12-, 13-year-old girls, girls my age at the time. I was like, “This is either really lame or the greatest thing, the smartest thing that you could ever do.”
Charan: As a 12-year-old, sure.
Corbin: I was taken by the power of the steps. I was taken by the music, by the rhythm of it all. It was playing the drums with your feet, you know? So I went home that night, and I was like, “Hey, I think I want to do this,” and my mom’s like, “You’re sure?” And backstory, my dad was a professional tap dancer, ballroom dancer, and he danced-
Charan: Wait, what? I did not know that.
Corbin: Yes, dude. Yes.
Charan: No way. Okay. All right.
Corbin: Yes, yes, yes. And my mom danced as well, but my dad is a professional tap dancer. So genetically it was there, you know? I threw on some clogging shoes, and that’s the start of my clogging career. Clogging then lent … I loved being on stage. I loved performing. It happened that at one … And I competed, I traveled, I did very well in clogging. I don’t know how you measure that, but it was interesting, because I went to a performance and there was a woman there who is a dear friend of our family’s and she had read an ad in a newspaper advertising an open casting call. If you don’t know what newspapers are, they’re actually pieces of paper that have news on them.
Charan: Yeah, okay.
Corbin: Yeah, they don’t exist anymore, really, to any large degree.
Charan: Do you have to swipe right or left to get them to turn or-
Corbin: Yeah, you actually don’t. It’s paper. It’s folded paper.
Charan: You’ve got to be kidding me.
Corbin: Yes, it’s ink on paper, and they throw it onto your driveway.
Charan: That’s crazy.
Corbin: And if it rains, it’s in a bag.
Charan: Unbelievable.
Corbin: So, anyway, she tells my mom, she watches me perform, she’s like, “Hey, I read this ad.” And if she had never done this, I would never be an actor.
Charan: Oh, wow. Okay.
Corbin: So she’s like, “I read this ad. They’re advertising a Disney movie that’s casting in Salt Lake City. You should take him. He seems like he likes to perform.” So my mom comes to me, she’s like, “Would you have any interest in it?” I’m like, “Sure. Let’s go. I’d love to be in a movie,” as if it was that easy.
Charan: As if it was that easy.
Corbin: Yeah, it’s like, “I just show up and they put me in a movie.” So we went on this audition. I met the casting director, who ended up being a very influential, well-known casting director named Shari Rhodes. She’s since passed away but cast a lot of big, big projects. She had a lot of connections with management companies and agencies in LA.
Corbin: So I read for this film. I didn’t get the part. In fact, they changed the role to a … It ended up being a girl’s part. But the casting director invited my mom into the room after I auditioned, and I’d never auditioned, I literally got the sides and I read it, and invited me into the room, and she’s like, “He’s never acted before?” My mom was like, “No, no, no.” I’m like, “I have. I’ve faked sick for school.” I’m like, “I’m pretty good.” But she’s like, “He needs to go to LA. I promise if you take him to Hollywood, he’ll work. He’ll be successful.”
Charan: Wow.
Corbin: And we thought … My mom was, of course, like, “This is a scam. What’s the catch?”
Charan: Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What’s the catch? What’s the catch?
Corbin: “You say this to every kid.” So we left, didn’t get the part, and we didn’t think anything of it. Well, we get a call not long later from a manager who had been told about me, and she said, “Please, I would love to represent him. I’d love to meet him.”
Charan: Really?
Corbin: “Please come to Hollywood.”
Charan: And you’re how old at the time? 13, 12, 13?
Corbin: Yeah, 12.
Charan: 12, okay.
Corbin: Yeah, 11, 12.
Charan: Yeah.
Corbin: So she was adamant. She was like, “Please.” She’s like, “Come for one month. I’ll send you out on auditions. If you don’t book anything, you can go home. You can say you tried. But I’ve been told that he can do this.” I had no acting classes, nothing. So my mom and, of course, I got my dad and my brother and sisters, and it wasn’t an easy decision. It was big sacrifice because I couldn’t go by myself. So my mom was going to have to go with me. So we decided as a family that we’d go for one month and loaded up in the Ford Taurus and drove to Hollywood, lived in a little tiny studio apartment.
Charan: No way.
Corbin: I started. I signed some contracts that day with a manager at two agencies, a film theatrical agent and a commercial agent, started auditioning, and then within two or three weeks, I booked the lead in a film that started filming the following week.
Charan: You’ve got to be kidding.
Corbin: Yeah. And-
Charan: Which one was that one?
Corbin: It’s called “Quest of the Delta Knights.”
Charan: Oh, that’s awesome.
Corbin: So if you’re in the tens of people who have ever seen that movie, you’re welcome. Claim to fame, it did make it on “Mystery Science Theater.”
Charan: No.
Corbin: So they mocked it unmercifully, which it deserved it.
Charan: Unbelievable. Yeah.
Corbin: Then one of my next films was “Robin Hood: Men in Tights.” Then it was like film, commercial, TV show after. From there, it was like my career just fueled my visits to LA. I spent about half the year every year since the time I was really young, pilot season and then the summers, just shooting film and television. That’s where it all started.
Charan: That is crazy. And it’s great because the truth of it is it’s definitely a challenge, guys. We have to let people know. There’s tons and tons of competition, and there’s tons of things that can make you feel stressed out and feel like you’re not good enough or whatever. As a kid, going in where your parents aren’t the theater people, they aren’t the people that pushed you into doing something like this-
Corbin: No.
Charan: … how did you have the confidence to go and perform, especially when you haven’t taken a single acting class at the time?
Corbin: I think naivety was the key for me. I think if I had known early on that there were kids that have been down there years and years trying to make it and had never booked a part much less ever had even an agent want to represent them, and all of a sudden, I have a manager, I have a few agents, I’m going out on auditions, I’m going straight to producers on these things. A lot of it was just I was connected early on with people that were connected. So much of it is who you know, in a lot of ways, because there are so many talented people, and I’m not under any illusion that I’m the greatest actor on the planet. But if I can get in a room, which is half the battle-
Charan: 100%.
Corbin: … then let me do my thing. But I think I was so naive. I assumed that’s the way it was for everyone. In fact, I hesitate. People say, “How’d you get into the industry?” I almost hesitate to tell them the story because I’m like, “This doesn’t happen.” I’m not a big believer in “meant to be.” I think we make our destiny and our choices dictate our future and we can make reasons for things. But I fell into a place where I was connected with good people. I had a family that was willing to sacrifice and help support a passion that developed. The passion for pretending and acting and storytelling was there. I mean, that’s just my disposition. I love to tell a story. I love-
Charan: 100%.
Corbin: And I was born that way. So part of it was when you ask, “How were you confident going into a room and performing,” I pretended, and so if all you want to do is put some people in the room with me and turn on a camera or something like that, I still pretend. I don’t get uncomfortable about that. But I think I would’ve really ripped the carpet out from under myself if I had any inkling at how hard this was for people. It just happened to be that for me getting into it … I’ve had hard times since then, of course.
Charan: Sure, of course.
Corbin: Slow times. You think you’re going to book a job, you don’t book a job, or bad things-
Charan: Was there ever one you were really, really going for and you didn’t get it and second-guessed-
Corbin: Oh, absolutely. Many times, many times. You have to eat that humble pie, and you have to pretend to enjoy it and pretend to be a good sport about it. Eventually, you stop pretending. You actually end up being a good sport about it because you recognize that sometimes if I’m not the one to tell the story … The story should be told, and if I’m not the right guy, then it shouldn’t be me. So I think the sooner you let go of that pride that it’s about you, the better it is. It’s about the story, and you want to just bring your very best to the table.
Charan: Absolutely.
Corbin: I think, like I said, to get back to answering your question, I think I was just ignorant. I just didn’t know. So I was kind of like, “Oh, this is” … I thought it was a smaller deal than it was, and I just didn’t realize. I’m like, “Oh.” I’d go into a room and it’d be like there’s some hugely famous … I’d be like, “I’ve seen you in a movie.” It did not register the world I was entering.
Charan: Yeah. Well, that’s interesting, man. Because I started the industry off here in Utah, right?
Corbin: Yeah.
Charan: There just wasn’t a ton of opportunities for an Indian actor to do a lot of things.
Corbin: You’re Indian?
Charan: I know it’s shocking, but yes, I am from the East.
Corbin: Yes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Charan: Very far East, actually. But yeah, no, it was very interesting to start out here. I remember one of the last movies I did here in Utah before I moved to LA was called “The Miner.” Now it’s changed to “Abandoned Mine.” I was the only Utah actor cast. The rest of them were all LA, and it was an ensemble cast. The rest of them, they’ve all been in stuff, like Alexa Vega, she was in the “Spy Kids,” those type of things. So we all became good friends, and they were all like, “Charan, what are you doing in Utah?” I’m like, “I don’t know. I’m just hanging out, I guess.” They’re like, “No, seriously-
Corbin: You got to branch out.
Charan: … “you got to branch out. You’re not going to have opportunities here.” So I moved to LA totally clueless, totally clueless about how hard it is to get an agent and all that stuff. But somehow doors opened. It took a couple of years. I’m not going to lie about it. It was definitely challenging. Yeah, then once I got the ball rolling and got on a TV show, then it was just like new agency, new auditions, and then-
Corbin: Why did you stay?
Charan: Why did I-
Corbin: If it took a while and you came up against … I already know the answer. I mean, I know the answer for me. Why did you stay? Why did you keep grinding?
Charan: In LA?
Corbin: Well, no, not even just in LA, but why did you stay in this industry?
Charan: Yeah. It’s a good question, man. I think when it comes down to it, it makes me feel alive. I love that feeling of joy, of being present, of performing, of creating characters and telling awesome stories and motivating people. But it’s kind of interesting, and this is going to all circle back to what we’re doing right now, I loved it and I loved getting parts and stuff until I stopped liking getting, stopped liking auditioning. I remember those moments. I was in LA. I had achieved some great levels of success, for me anyway, I thought, and then all of a sudden auditions started coming through and I’m like, “Oh, dude, not another audition. I don’t want to do this again.”
Charan: Then that was a weird battle with my spirit. I’m like, “Wait a minute. But I came to LA to act. I want to act,” and yet I’m staring at this audition for some probably cool TV show and I felt my spirit crumbling. So I was going back and forth. What is it about it that is killing me? It goes back to what you were saying. I feel like this is not my story. Someone else is taking charge, and I’m the puppet in a story and-
Corbin: The meaning, the purpose changed.
Charan: The purpose completely changed, right?
Corbin: Yep.
Charan: And I remember the time when you took a hiatus from acting when you were like, “You know what? I want to go pursue medicine,” which might’ve been a crazy thing for some agents to say, ‘Are you nuts?” I mean, dude-
Corbin: Oh, man, I-
Charan: How did that go for your agencies when you had to tell them that?
Corbin: So I left and served a mission. The first time that happened, I left for a spiritual religious mission. I served a Latter-day Saint mission in Australia. We talked about this.
Charan: Yeah.
Corbin: With Charan, actually. I had prepped my agent and manager prior to this happening. I said, “Listen, when I get to be this age, chances are I’m leaving for two years.” They’re like, “Sure, sure. Yeah, you will. Yeah, you will.” Well, I had a TV show, leads in multiple films. My career was-
Charan: Booming.
Corbin: The trajectory was booming, and it just so happened to be … I kind of knew this. I feel like I knew in my heart that this would happen, but it happened literally right before … I had to make a choice. Was I going to neglect a desire and a dream and a goal that I’d had my whole life as a boy, which was to serve a mission? Was I going to not pursue trying to do some good as a member of my church and as a believer in my faith in trying to get out there and do something bigger than me? Or was I going to stay and just focus on my career? I don’t know that there was a wrong choice. It was just going to be an entirely different trajectory, and I honestly don’t believe I’d be who I am or where I am if I had gone the other route.
Corbin: Now, that happened once, and I said, “Hey, guys, I’m leaving on a mission,” and my agent was like, “No, no, no, no, no. No one does this. Wait, you are going to be gone for two premieres of your films? That’s when people see you and they cast you in the next thing. That’s how careers are born. That’s how you become a superstar, is you do these big films and then that spins into the next thing, into the next thing, into the next thing. You’re going to leave? No one does this. What are we even working for?” I mean, they were upset.
Charan: Of course.
Corbin: I said, “Guys, I’m sorry. It’s not about me, and it’s not about you. I have to go,” and I left. My career, would it be different? Sure. Could I be in a totally different place? Yes. But, man, heaven forbid I be in a different place because I’m … The family I have, the friends that I have, the work I’m doing, I couldn’t be happier. Now, when I left to go pursue medicine, I did that so quickly. So I got to a place, the same place you did. I went on an audition. I remember I was on 200 South La Brea.
Charan: I know exactly the place. Dude, I know. I know exactly where this is. It’s where you do most commercials, I feel.
Corbin: Yes. Yes. Right by the Petco or whatever it is, right?
Charan: Yes. Yeah, absolutely.
Corbin: So-
Charan: And you park on the street right behind it.
Corbin: Yes, and you’re going to get a ticket. So I was at 200 South La Brea, and I was sitting in this room, and I remember looking around. What you were describing a bit ago was I was losing myself. I was losing the reason I was doing it in the first place, and I fell into this thing like, “Oh, I’m just doing this because this is what I do” versus “I have such a deep passion for storytelling and influencing people’s emotions.” I mean, that’s why we tell stories. We influence emotion, emotion influences change, and change for the better is what we hope we can accomplish. That’s why I tell stories. I would go to this thing, and I’m like, “All I’m trying to do” … I’m sitting there and I’m hearing all these actors and I’m realizing I’m relating less and less to them. Everything that they were saying was that they were just talking about themselves. I was like, “I don’t want to be that. I don’t want to be so self-absorbed and talking about myself.”
Corbin: I’m like, “I’m relating less and less to this,” and I was starting to hate it. I wanted to say, “Guys, who are we kidding? We’re here auditioning for commercials so we can pay our rent. We are just picking up crumbs. We’re trying to survive this industry that was just a crushing industry.” I left then, and I had a great conversation with some family members, friends, and people who are very close to me and support me, and I said, “I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this medicine thing.” I’d been actually trying to go to school. I’d enroll and then I’d have to withdraw because I’d get a job and it would interfere. So I’m like, “I’m never going to go to school unless I actually”-
Charan: Like, leave.
Corbin: … “cut ties and go to school.” So it was literally over the course of a week. The semester was starting the following week. I was like, “Babe”-
Charan: And you were married.
Corbin: So my wife Mackenzie and I had one kid, Wyatt, at the time. I was like, “Babe.” I’m like, “I’ve got to do something. I’m losing my soul here.” I’m like, “I need to do something that makes me feel alive, and I don’t right now.” I’m like, “Will you” … My wife was heartbroken because she knows how much I love storytelling and love film stuff, but she loves me. She’s like, “I’ll go anywhere with you. I’ll live in a tent with you. I’ll live on a side of a mountain with you. It doesn’t matter. Whatever you need to feel” … It’s my anniversary today, so I hit the jackpot with my wife, let me just say. Sixteen years, and, man, she just keeps getting better. But I digress. So, anyway, I jump in the car and I load it up and I’m like, “I’m starting school,” and I’m driving. I called my agent from my car leaving Hollywood and left a voicemail.
Charan: Oh my gosh. Wow.
Corbin: And I said, “I’m out.” I said, “Thanks for everything you’ve done. I don’t mean any disrespect, but I have to … This is for the salvaging my soul and my psychological wellbeing.” I called and I said, “I’m leaving. I’m leaving, and I’m enrolling full time. I’m a full-time student.” We didn’t know where we were going to live. We didn’t know what we were going to do. I didn’t know how I was going to support my family, none of it. I was like, “But I have to do something that makes me feel alive and it feels like I’m doing more.” So I left. I never heard from that agent, didn’t call me, nothing. It was obviously some bitterness, but I get it. I get it.
Charan: Totally.
Corbin: Unfortunately, the reality is for that agent, it wasn’t about them either. It can’t be. So I left and I did school and pursued healthcare. But the crazy thing is my life has evolved so much now that I feel like my experience in healthcare, working in emergency medicine, the way my family has evolved and grown and some of the challenges that we’ve faced as a family, has just lent itself to me being a much better actor and a much better storyteller. My life experience is so much more rich, and I get to draw from that when I’m telling stories now.
Charan: Well, you know, it’s interesting because I knew when I left LA … Because some people are like, “Oh, it was too hard, huh? You gave up.” I’m like, “No, it’s not even about that.” I literally wanted to create my own stuff. I had such a powerful desire to create my own stuff because I knew that was what was going to make me feel alive. That concept of being alive, I think, that’s an important thing, because so many times we choose to do things because other people tell us, “That’s what you should be doing.” You have a narrative in your head, and you’re like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, I should be doing this. I should be doing that.”
Corbin: “I’m an actor, so I’m supposed to do this.”
Charan: “I’m an actor, so I got to go do these auditions because that’s what my manager or my agents want me to do.” And I don’t know-
Corbin: Right. And if you do stop, everybody was throwing the “quit” word at me. They’re like, “Oh, yeah, he quit the business.” I was like, “No, no, the business isn’t going anywhere and my ability to perform as an actor isn’t going anywhere, to tell stories isn’t going anywhere. I’m not quitting anything. I’m building my life experience. I am trying to enrich my life. I’m trying to feel more alive in my life. That’ll make me better in every spectrum, yeah
Charan: In every capacity. Well, it’s interesting because … Yeah, even when we reconnected, because it had been years since we’d chatted from Corbin Allred the actor to also doing medicine and everything, but it was interesting because I remember reconnecting with you and having a conversation and thinking, “Man, the Corbin Allred that I know now, not that he’s a better person, he’s just much more full, has a much deeper sense of life and a sense of purpose and a sense of understanding,” right? That was, excuse me, that was a really beautiful thing.
Charan: It’s interesting, though, because when I came back to Utah, I came back fully for the reasons of I want to create my own show. I’m going to do it. It’s just been amazing in that feeling of coming alive and drawing upon friends and family and people that I love to work in projects and stuff. It’s just been an incredible blessing. But what has been really great is the chance that we’ve had a chance to work together, first in this movie, “Alien Country.” It was so fun working with you, man, and just seeing you do your thing. It was just awesome. I loved it.
Corbin: Feelings were mutual.
Charan: No, seriously, it was so great because we hadn’t ever acted before or [crosstalk 00:30:28]-
Corbin: No, it was the first film we did together, yeah.
Corbin Allred Talks About Acting Out
Charan: Yeah, exactly. I remember it was a great experience, and we had a lot of fun and did some really cool things, and excited for that movie to come out. But I remember … And when I was working at the Lemonade Stand and doing podcasts, Greg Trimble was telling me, he’s like, “Charan, online courses are the next thing. You’ve got to create an online course.” He’s like, “Have you ever thought about creating an acting course?”
Charan: That night was just monumental for me. I remember exactly where I was sitting when he asked me about that, and as he told me that, I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” It was just like everything in me came alive, okay? It just came alive. I said, “Yes,” and I said, “But I’ve got a couple of people I need to bring on this course immediately.” He’s like, “Oh, really?” I said, “Yes, Corbin Allred and Jasen Wade,” and their first things were like, “Wait, do you know them?” and I’m like, “Absolutely.” I said, “Those guys have already created something, and I don’t know if they’re actually continuing because of COVID. I’m pretty sure Corbin said that COVID had stopped them.” But can you talk a little bit about that night or when I reached out or what happened?
Corbin: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, so getting back to what you said about you wanted to make your own content, I think that’s an important … You knew you wanted to make your own stuff. I think that’s where we’ve all kind of come to. We’ve realized that A) I think there’s so much stuff that is waiting to come out of us that is going to bless and build and lift the lives of other people that we knew that those stories were never going to be told if they were kept within us. So there’s a million things in each of us that are just waiting to come out, and they won’t exist. The world is going to be barren of those things unless we put them out there. So-
Charan: Can I just tell you.
Corbin: Yeah.
Charan: I got a side note. Just working with you and seeing how your imagination works, it’s unbelievable. Every day, it’s like, “Charan, I got this thing for you,” and the next thing I know, there’s the script. The script is written for this idea that you had in your head just hours earlier, and I’m like, “What? This is unbelievable.” It’s an endless supply. It’s an endless supply of stories.
Corbin: It is.
Charan: It’s unbelievable.
Corbin: It’s endless. I feel, though, it was not coming to light in my other life. In my life in Hollywood, I was grinding and I was waiting for validation to be given to me by other people. I was waiting to be needed by somebody that needed my acting ability versus me having these ideas, this gift for storytelling, whatever, being an actor, being a director, being a writer. Now, it’s now it’s blowing up to where every component of the story I’m a part of. But I think it was interesting. So Jasen Wade, who’s a dear friend of mine, we actually met originally at my wedding reception years and years ago. He was dating somebody that came with one of our friends-
Charan: That’s so amazing.
Corbin: … which we didn’t remember until just recently, but Jasen and I did “Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed” together, amazing actor. I remember hearing that he was doing the film and I was like, “Oh, great, I got to compete with this guy.” He’s just so talented, so good. We became very good, long, fast friends, and we did another film together, “Out of Liberty,” quite recently, which was just amazing. Long story short, I relocated from Portland, Oregon, where I went to my medical program. I went to a PA program out there, and I practiced out there for several years but knowing that I wanted to get back into storytelling, back into film, back into content creation and just really just bringing joy to people, feeling alive myself. I think bringing joy to others is the only way we can feel alive ourselves. So I moved back to southern Utah to get back in the industry here. I know everybody. I have contacts. I was like, ‘This is where I need to do it.” Well, Jasen relocates back to Cedar City, which is 45 minutes from me.
Charan: Unbelievable.
Corbin: Right? Charan moves back to Utah.
Charan: Yeah, exactly.
Corbin: All of this happening in fairly tight, tight parameters. In fact, that film, “Out of Liberty,” is where you and I reconnected-
Charan: Reconnected, yeah.
Corbin: … had this incredible conversation that was something that I needed more than anything at the time, I mean, life-changing, monumental. Charan had some insight, just things that he’d learned about life and about spirituality that I needed to hear because I was going through some hard, challenging things in my life and my extended family. But, anyway, we’re all in the same state. We’re all close to each other. So Jasen, I reached out to Jasen. I was like, “Jasen” … I texted Jasen, and I said, “Jasen, have you ever thought about teaching an acting course?” Jasen’s like, “Dude.” He’s like, “All I needed you to do was say that.” He’s like, “I’m too unsure of myself to just do it by myself.” He’s like, “I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.” His wife Holly, who’s just amazing, she’s like, “Yeah, let’s do” … My wife is so supportive. So Jasen and I put this thing together.
Corbin: Well, it’s very small-scale. It’s southern Utah. We basically just did a little ad, we blasted it out to people locally. We said, “Listen, we’re going to … Jasen Wade, Corbin Allred, we’ve done a few films. We have some experience. We want to share what we know. We’ve got this bottled-up information about acting that we’d love to share.” We put together this beautiful class. 20, 25 people signed up, but we couldn’t have gone any bigger. We were capped, and we got two classes into a five-week course, and COVID shut us down.
Corbin: So we started to feel like … We’re like, “Oh my gosh, we have so much material.” There’s so much stuff, so much stuff we know that we don’t even remember we know, we don’t even know we know. It just comes out of us because we’ve been doing this, Jasen and I together, 40, 50 years we’ve been doing this, and we just get shut down and COVID … We’re like, “When do we start back up?” I’m working in the ER. I’m seeing COVID patients. We’re like, “When is it fair to get back together?” You can’t really do a remote Zoom acting course. A lot of this work has to be intimate. Basically, our dreams were dashed. We’re like, “Gosh dang it.” Now, we were still working on other projects. There’s still other things happening. Then in comes Charan Prabhakar. Charan’s like, “Hey, guys,” and he’d … You knew when you were doing the acting class.
Charan: Yeah, I knew. I knew you did a course, yeah.
Corbin: Greg Trimble, who I hadn’t known before and I met now, and Derek, Lemonade Stand, man, these guys are the real deal. When you were talking about Greg saying, “Hey, courses, courses are the thing,” it’s not because courses are these crazy lucrative things. It’s not about money at all for these. Courses, people are wanting what … They want their lives to be blessed by experiences, stories, skills, whatever they can learn. They’re doing it from home. They’re doing it from their office. They’re doing it, and so, really, the reason to do an online course is to just bless and inspire people who would not otherwise be able to do that or may not have access that could be in a small town, their acting classes are shut down, whatever it is. So-
Charan: Or maybe they’re a little self-conscious. They just want to do it from home.
Corbin: Yeah, they’re just too shy. They just want to do it at home. So Charan’s like, “Guys, I’m working with these guys at Lemonade Stand. They’re awesome. You’ll never meet better guys on the planet.” If Charan says that, it’s saying it’s legit, you can take it to the bank. He’s like, “They want to do … We’re thinking about putting an online acting course together.” Jasen and I, we were like kids in a candy shop.
Charan: Oh my gosh.
Corbin: We were like, “Dude, we have it all. We already have the curriculum.” Then it just-
Charan: Dude, it was the most massive, amazing [crosstalk 00:38:25]-
Corbin: It was like the heavens opened and we were like-
Charan: Unbelievable. Yeah, it was so great, because I knew for sure you guys already had it mapped out and planned and all that stuff. I’m like, “Okay, how do we make this happen?” I knew what my skills were, which was I knew I can help produce this thing, I knew I can help edit this thing.”
Corbin: Of course. Well, you’re an actor, too.
Charan: And I’m an actor as well.
Corbin: You have a ton of credits.
Charan: Absolutely right. But-
Corbin: It’s not a bunch of slouches teaching an acting class.
Charan: Yeah, and that’s the thing. It’s like, I’ve done shows as well. But I knew that with the three of us, first off, I knew we’d have so much freaking fun. It would be unbelievable.
Corbin: Oh, chemistry’s there. It’s easy.
Charan: Yeah, it was definitely there. So it was hilarious because I think I hit you and Jasen up separately, actually, the very first time or whatever it was, and Jasen was like, “Dude, I’m in. I’m totally in. We just have to convince Corbin.” I’m like, “I don’t think that’s going to be that hard.” So I remember talking to you, and you were like, “Dude, I’m all in. I’m totally all in. We have to do it.” It’s just been so much fun putting this whole thing together. It was crazy, because we were kind of coming down to the wire, and I went to Cedar City to come see you guys, and we were so excited to see each other that-
Corbin: That we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.
Charan: We did not do what we were set out to do. We talked about aliens.
Corbin: Aliens for about four hours.
Charan: For four hours, and then we were-
Corbin: When we were supposed to be buckling down doing work.
Charan: Completely. So that did not happen.
Corbin: We were like, “We’re never going to get this done.”
Charan: No, and so there was a part of me that says, “I know it’s going to come together, I have no idea how,” because we only had a week more and then we were going to be filming. Then Jasen was a little unsure. He’s like, “Do we need to push it back? You’re like, “No way, we’re going. We’re going for it.”
Corbin: Nope, we’re going.
Charan: I just remember the last week, it was like blitz week, right?
Corbin: Yep.
Charan: You guys came over to my house two days before we were shooting till-
Corbin: Till the wee hours of the morning.
Charan: … yeah, 1:00 AM working on this thing. But then we got together, and we filmed, and it was like magic, man.
Corbin: Oh, it was awesome.
Charan: It was so unbelievable.
Corbin: Well, and we wanted to approach this in a way that was going to be that everybody can feel comfortable joining us for this. This is a place where you better feel pretty darn safe, because we mock each other unmercifully. We mock ourselves unmercifully. Because one of the things that I think is the biggest turnoff, I think, for all of us about the film industry is how elite it may seem and how pretentious many people are, and how we want to create an atmosphere of safety, where people can just feel safe being themselves and pretending, just make believe and get into that flow state that we talk about in the course. It was so fun. We got into it because we burned through-
Charan: Oh my gosh, okay. There were about four … No, no, there were almost 500 slides that were on the teleprompter, and I think we got through most of those.
Corbin: Three times, though.
Charan: Yes. Yeah. Right. We had to do it multiple takes, and we did it in one day.
Corbin: One day.
Charan: I mean, it was unbelievable. It was a long day, but, man-
Corbin: Lesser men would have taken much longer.
Charan: Yes, yes, yes.
Corbin: Or quit early or succumbed to the fatigue.
Charan: Which we almost did-
Corbin: Yeah, that’s true.
Charan: … multiple times. No, it was unbelievable, because by the end of that first day we looked at each other and we’re like, “Wait a minute. Did that really just go down? Did we really pound those out?”
Corbin: That and did we really have that much information-
Charan: Yes.
Corbin: … that came from just life experience. This isn’t us jumping into a bunch of textbooks and teaching theory and doing this. This is like, these are the actual things we do as actors when we’re getting ready to play a part or when we’re playing or when we’re doing improv or whatever it is or when we’re just having fun at home.
Charan: Yeah, absolutely. So I remember it took us three days to film the course. That third day, we were actually … It was a little bit nerve-wracking because we were in another stage and we had a bunch of students and we’re like, “Oh, crap. Now, are people going to listen to our shenanigans?” The fun that people had during that time when we were filming, it just flowed so quickly, so much so that I remember my friend Rochelle came up to me and she talked to you about it as well.
Corbin: Yeah, Rochelle. Yep. She was great.
Charan: She was just saying, “You know what? I have been to acting classes before. I’ve done improv games, and I hate it. I hate them. I came only”-
Corbin: “I feel so uncomfortable,” or, “I don’t know why I’m doing it.”
Charan: “I feel so uncomfortable.” “Don’t know why I’m doing it.” But she’s like, “I just came to support you.” Then, all of a sudden, she’s like, “But I had so much fun. I felt totally safe.” She did say that. She said she felt safe. She said she also felt she understood the purpose by why we were doing what we were doing, which is huge, dude, which is so huge.
Corbin: Well, and it also transcends just acting. It translates to our life, our interpersonal relationships and the way that we interact with each other. If you and I talk and you weren’t privy to something that I experienced, the only way I can share it with you is through telling a story.
Charan: Absolutely.
Corbin: And we’re just trying to create an atmosphere where people can share and feel connected. I mean, it’s all about connection, right?
Charan: Absolutely, yeah.
Corbin: That’s what I felt from her when Rochelle spoke about it, is she felt like she connected with the information. She connected with why she was playing the games, why we were doing these activities. She connected with the other actors. She connected with us. Man, when she said that, I took that straight to my heart, and I was like, “Okay, I think this’ll be something special, and hopefully people love it.”
Charan: Will resonate with them. But I remember … It’s interesting because Jasen kept coming to me. He’s like, “Charan.” He’s like, “Oh my gosh, dude, I’m so sorry that you have to edit all these things.” I’m thinking to myself, “Are you kidding me? I freaking stoked I get to edit all these things.” A, because I love editing and also because I just knew that now I can see the birth of what we created. The truth was I didn’t know if it was going to work. I still didn’t know, because I felt that there was great chemistry when we were performing and even when our dear friend Eve, who was doing makeup and everything, she came to us and she’s like, “Yeah, Charan, you guys have great chemistry. It’s really fun.” It made me feel good, but to edit that and then to send it to you guys and just to see the amount of text explosions on my phone from you like, “Dude, this is it, this is amazing,” it was so great.
Corbin: It’s going to be fun.
Charan: It was so fun. Then I remember you shared it with your family, Jasen shared it with his family, and, granted, they are family, but it’s like they were all stoked about it. But then we’ve been showing it around to other people, and people are just dying laughing.
Corbin: “Yeah, I’d take this course.”
Charan: That’s exactly what they say. They’re like, “Dude, I would totally take this course, right?” I’m like-
Corbin: Please take the course.
Charan: Yeah, guys, seriously.
Corbin: Please. Make it worth it.
Charan: Seriously. “Acting Out.”
Corbin: Acting Out.
Charan: How did you come up with that name, by the way, because you came you with that name, right?
Corbin: Well, we were blasting-
Charan: We were.
Corbin: We were blasting names back and forth to each other. We’re like, “This, that, this, that.” I think Acting Out, we were talking … We wanted to make sure that it was very clear that it was an acting course, but we also wanted to make sure … Acting Out, to me, I’ve got kids, everybody knows people who act out, and Acting Out’s one of those things that it implies that you’re taking what would be an acceptable emotional disposition and you’re acting outside of it. You’re stepping outside a comfort zone.
Corbin: So if you act out, if my kids act out at the store, they’re drawing attention to themselves. They’re being themselves, and they’re just whatever. It might be that they’re being playful, they’re running around, they’re screaming, whatever it is. So Acting Out, I think, for me, it means not being afraid to draw attention to ourselves, not being afraid to step outside, to make the outside of our comfort zone right now the inside of our comfort zone. So that’s where I feel like Acting Out, the name Acting Out, means to me. It’s like let’s just all act out a little bit.
Charan: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got you.
Corbin: Let’s take the norm. Let’s take what we do every single day, and let’s just do something a little bit more rich, a little bit more fun, and make ourselves feel a little bit more joy, a little bit more alive, right?
Charan: I love that. So what is your hope with the course?
Corbin: Man, I would love for … Well, a few things. I would love for acting to feel accessible to everyone. Right now, I think sometimes we feel like if you’re acting and you aren’t working, if you aren’t in a movie, a TV show, auditioning, if you don’t have an agent, a manager, if you’re not in play, if you don’t have head shots and you’re getting out there, then acting is not an outlet for you, that acting really isn’t going to be a therapeutic thing that could bring you joy. I want to dispel that.
Corbin: I want to make sure that people know that I don’t care if you’re an actor or not. You can do some of these things, and it will help you be a better communicator. It will help you tell a story better. When people tell stories better, there’s much more connection that goes on. We connect with the people we’re telling the story to. We connect with the people who the story’s about. So I want everyone to understand that there’s actually something in this. Yes, it’s an acting course, but there’s something in this for everyone.
Charan: Absolutely.
Corbin: I would love it to be a place where maybe people who are feeling more intimidated, you brought that up, feeling intimidated, feeling too scared to actually do it … I would love to have it be a start for them, and there’ll be more. We’re going to hopefully put out a bunch more material, and you can continue with us. But hopefully it will crack people out of their shells a little bit in a safe environment and let them experiment with acting, let them experiment with that sort of storytelling.
Corbin: Then people in smaller towns and places where they can’t get into an acting class or COVID shut your acting class down, it’s over, like it was for us, our students. Now we can say, “Oh, guys, I know our course is done, but you can take this. You’re still going to get this material.” So I’d love for people in a smaller town who may not have an outlet or a theater company or somebody that they can play with, improv company, that they can just create it in their living room with members of their family, with their friends. Play it with your kids. Do these things with your kids. Do these exercises with your kids. I want people to understand that creativity and storytelling, to me, it’s one of the most powerful things we can do as human beings, and that’s what I want to share with this.
Charan: Dude, that’s so great. The purpose behind it all, right, is ultimately to bring joy to people-
Corbin: That’s it.
Charan: … and to have a lot of people feel that positivity and kindness because-
Corbin: Build and bless.
Charan: Build and bless. That’s the message of Lemonade Stand, right? We know that last year and this year, they have been some very tough times-
Corbin: Absolutely.
Charan: … for people. I actually want to wrap things up and ask you a couple of questions about that. It has been a tough year for people, last year and this year.
Corbin: Definitely.
Corbin Allred Talks About Finding Joy
Charan: How have you found joy in your own life?
Corbin: I’ve found a lot of joy with this. I’ve found a lot of joy in writing, in creativity. I think the way that I’ve found the most joy is the sooner I forget myself and I try to make my life’s purpose about helping other people find joy, that is how we find joy. It is a very difficult thing to be self-absorbed and selfish and satisfied and feel joyful in life. I don’t think that’s the way we’re meant to live. Whether you’re religious or not, it’s very difficult, I think, for people when they’re engaging in an act of service for someone in need, when they’re doing something kind, when they’re being a friend to people who have few, it’s very difficult in those circumstances to not feel joy. Hopefully, people that see our course will feel like they’re our friends. They’ll feel like we are giving them a thumbs-up just on who they are. Be yourself, and we’re giving you two big thumbs-up to just be yourself and be okay with it and love yourself.
Corbin: But I think joy, for me, comes by and through giving of myself to others. I try to do it in the emergency room. I try to take care of people who are having their worst day. That brings me joy, when I feel like I can make a difference. My family brings me joy, just their existence. My wife and my kids are the greatest thing that ever happened to me. But when I’m the happiest with them, it’s when I’m doing things that I know are going to help them and bless their life. So I think forgetting yourself is the thing, forgetting myself is the thing that brings me joy, and that’s why I love doing things like this and giving of myself to others.
Corbin Allred’s Advice to His Younger Self
Charan: Dude, we could talk forever. This is unbelievable. I’m getting so much information that is blessing my own soul, so I appreciate you sharing all the things that you’re sharing. If you could go back in time and talk to a young Corbin Allred, the one that’s barely getting into acting, life is full of dreams and whatnot, what advice would you give that Corbin?
Corbin: I would give that Corbin the exact advice Charan Prabhakar gave me.
Charan: Oh, gosh. I don’t remember what I gave you.
Corbin: I would say … And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. I would say to myself … And I’ve played this game. I’ve had times where I’ve been able to glimpse myself and picture myself as a little boy with all the insecurities and all the things that I was going through in my life and the trauma and the experiences that we all go through as children. I would tell that young man … I still struggle with it now. There’s still days where it’s easier than others. But I would tell that kid to quit searching for fulfillment. Quit searching for validation. Quit trying so hard to measure up and to be enough.
Corbin: I would tell that little guy, “Listen, you’re already there. You can’t be more valuable than you are. You can’t be more validated. You can’t be more important, more special. You can’t. The only thing you can do is add upon yourself. The only thing you can do is build yourself. Then, with that, all you’re doing is giving of yourself to bless the world. You don’t need anyone to tell you to be more than you are. You are already there. You’ve achieved this.” This is for everybody. You’ve achieved it. So I would tell myself to quit trying so hard and instead of trying so hard, just love yourself, accept that you are already infinitely important, infinitely loved, infinitely valuable, and then take that, feel empowered by it, and then take every talent you have and give it away. That’s what I’m hoping we can do with this.
Charan: Dude, can’t think of a better note than that to end this podcast. This has been amazing, dude, seriously.
Corbin: Thanks, man.
Charan: I really appreciate you taking the time.
Corbin: Of course.
Charan: Yeah, I’m really excited for Acting Out to go and bless the world. It’s going to be amazing.
Corbin: Absolutely. Acting Out.
Charan: Acting Out. Thanks so much, man.
Corbin: Thanks, brother.
Charan: Thank you for coming to the Lemonade Stand.
Corbin: Love you, buddy.
Charan: Okay. Take care. You, too. Love you.
Charan: Thanks so much for listening to the Lemonade Stand Podcast, and we hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you use to be alerted when we release new episodes. We’d also love to hear your feedback and reviews, and if you or someone you know has an awesome Lemonade Stand story, please reach out to us on social media and let us know. Thanks so much, and have a great day.