Aliens, Rock Stars, & Monsters

As told by Adam--

There will always be opportunities for me to be a performer, but things change.

My first acting job was when I was 10 years old. 

From then on I wanted to chase down an acting career. I studied theater, got a headshot, an agent and started auditioning. A year later I booked a job that led to a niche career in motion capture for video games.

As a performer for that work, you put on what looks like a black wetsuit. They put reflective markers on it to create a skeleton of the character. Every motion I do is recorded creating the character virtually.  I played aliens, rock stars, monsters, and all the characters in the video game world. I was hired by a company that produced the phenomenon, Guitar Hero, a music simulation game where the gamer plays along with the band. They put markers all over my face to record motion for me to lip-sync the song. My facial movements animated the characters in the game.

I performed in more than 30 video games. 

That was the foundation of my success. I moved me from L.A. to Chicago where they built studios. We would work eight hours a day with me oftentimes playing multiple characters. In addition to Guitar Hero, I did Spider Man, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat and Yeah.

And, of course, like any actor I also worked in restaurants, hotels, catering, and all types of other hospitality work. That led to a job as the Food & Beverage manager at a Marriott Autograph property. At one point a group from the financial company Synchrony came in for a few days of corporate training. Synchrony is the bank that finances a product called Care Credit, a health and wellness credit card. I threw them a party with custom playlists on the sound system. They had a great time. The guy running the event pulled me aside and said, “Hey, you'd be a really good fit for our company.” 

I'm like, “I don't really know anything about finance.”

A year later, I met the love of my life. We wanted to start a family and be near our folks and siblings all living on the West Coast. We decided to move back to California even though I didn’t have a job.  My wife and I loaded our pets into a rented minivan and started to drive across the country. At the time I was offered a Food & Beverage manager’s job at a country club in the Bay Area. But I decided to re-look at the Synchrony offer. One of my Zoom interviews with them was when I was parked outside a truck stop.   

Even though I wasn’t yet accepted by Synchrony’s Care Credit department, I turned down the country club job. I decided to start over and try something completely new. Fast forward, I've now been with this Synchrony’s Care Credit for three and a half years. I have a 401K. We own a home. 

And I'm a dad to a two-year old son.

Moving to California was a crossroad for us. And things just fell into place when we made the decision.The Synchrony job with Care Credit just dropped into my lap. I hadn’t seen it coming, but it was there when I needed it. Now I have a job where I can help people with a health care industry that is challenging to navigate. I am full of gratitude.

Performing? Halloween my son and I will be Spider Man.