On August 29, 2013, The Only Love Project’s Bill Murphy (BM) spent an enjoyable hour via Skype with Hollywood actor, stunt performer, director, and producer Tom Proctor (TM). What follows is the transcript of our conversation. Enjoy!

BM: Briefly tell us your background. What would you like others to know about you?

TP: Well, my background is I grew up a farm boy, raised on the family farm. And it was one of those, like, five farms together to make one little farm, so to speak. And so it was kind of funny, you know. I didn’t know until after I had moved away from home and until I was about 34 years old that we were poor when we were kids. I always thought we were doing great, because all our family, we’d run cattle up on the range, and we each owned like five acres that we’d come down to the river a lot, you know, there’s big-ass trout in the river right next to your house, so what was missing? [laughs] I didn’t know until I got older that we were basically poverty level. I said, “Really? Wow, I didn’t know that.”

BM: What effect did your childhood have on you?

TP: It really made the core of who I am. And at the end of the day, at the end of anybody’s day, I think the core of who you are is really all you’ve got. You got the world that has its expectations – especially when you’re in the film industry – of what you are and who you should be. And then you’ve got what makes you what you are. I’ve been a very competitive person; I’ve competed in motorcycle skill trials, drag bike races, I’ve been a competitive fighter, everything else. And I always felt like I won, because of where I came from. Because that was my family, and that was the way it was. And my mom was one that always managed to promote the positive. And my dad’s my biggest hero. Everybody thinks in Hollywood we’re all supposed to have some sad, abusive childhood. And I just really don’t. [laughs]

BM: [laughs] What’s a nice guy like you doing in a place like Hollywood? Continue reading →