Joseph

New York... JFK Airport... my eyes are dry, my ears are still ringing, but there's a smile on my face. Last night's performance was a friggin' awesome closer. 24 shows in 11 days in 4 cities. I'm ready to go home. I look around... everyone looks like they've got somewhere to go, and needed to be there yesterday. Me, I'm feeling like I'm moving in slow motion, for once. This kid next to me is playing with her myspace profile. So I decide to do the same.Beyond the larger than life image of "Joseph Tran the Magician" seen on posters and marquees, I am, at heart, a nerd, I'm a dork, I'm a goof. I have strong convictions. I have strong ethics. I believe when desire and determination overcome fear and doubt, one is able to do what makes him happy. Still here? Read on...At some point in my life... amongst all the cynicism and disparaging views I have acquired, I realized that I had to follow the things that fuel my passion and curiosity. Despite my sometimes cold-hearted beliefs, it is within those passions where I find a sense of idealism within my cynicism... where I find a sense of purpose and direction... where I find peace of mind.Like many SoCal people, I am an actor. Like only a few SoCal people, I am a working actor. I've learned, the hard way, that acting takes a massive amount of discipline and commitment. I have an interest in people and the power of the human spirit. That is the main source of my work, and all the other work that I do are branches of this foremost craft.When I am not acting, I travel the country performing magic. What first started as just a hobby turned into a profession, which turned into a full scale touring production. There's truly something special about performing live on stage, and when the audience cheers in excitement, I can feel it in every fiber of my being.A teacher back in high school told me I had an instinctive eye for photography. When I began my study of theatre, I started doing event photography to pay the bills. Essentially I believe that photography is largely similar to acting -- it's about getting a glimpse of a person's inner spirit, about capturing that moment in time...Eventually acting and photography meshed together, and that's when I found filmmaking. I had already gained a lot of experience 'on set' as an actor, so after my Theatre degree, I spent the last couple of years studying film and production. To me, filmmaking is not simply about cameras and such... it's a balance between technical knowledge and the instinctive eye... a balance between the aesthetics of the five senses and revealing one's personal story.So that's where I am today. I work hard, I play hard. I belive that life is short and you must live it with a passion. Yes, I do a hell of a lot, but it's really all the same in my eyes. It's about people... about sharing, capturing, making moments within a lifetime.If you want to know more, you'll just have to ask me personally. Until then, I gotta get on the plane. I need some sleep.