Actor Radek Lord enjoys life in Southern California. He has just finished filming two movies, and when he isn’t busy shooting films or commercials in Hollywood, he’s either attending the famous Groundlings School of Improvisation, auditioning or playing the drums and the piano. Time for an interview to find out what the busy young actor has been up to and what’s in store next!

Radek’s professional film career started in Central America, at a very young age. “I was born and raised in Costa Rica,” Radek explains. “And when I was five years old, my mother took me to a recording session for a bank commercial. A while later I heard it on the radio and I realized I really liked it! So I ended up doing quite a lot of Spanish radio commercials in Costa Rica, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”

Living in Europe
From Costa Rica to Antwerp (Belgium) and then from Cincinatti to California. Radek has lived in various places, but has been living in Southern California for almost two years now. “When I was younger we moved to Europe because of my dad’s job,” he says. “It was awesome in the city of Antwerp, I remember the people there were very friendly. I also got to travel to relatively nearby cities like Amsterdam and London. Right now I’ve got a pretty hectic schedule with filming and college, but I hope to get a chance to travel back to Europe in a few years.”

A Kind of Murder
After moving to California, Radek’s career took him back to his former hometown Cincinatti (Kentucky), where the filming of the thriller A Kind of Murder took place. “I had such a great time working on this movie and everyone was so welcoming,” he recalls. “We filmed it almost two years ago, but this spring it finally comes out at the New York Tribeca Film Festival, with Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson and English actor Eddie Marsan in the lead roles. The main scenes I was in, were with Eddie and it was a really cool experience.”

Bonding over the Beatles
“The first day of shooting was rather memorable for me. I remember sitting in a van with Eddie Marsan, being driven to the set early in the morning. Eddie had flown in from London the night before and had a bit of a jet lag,” he laughs. “He was listening to music with his headphones on and I decided to strike up a conversation, like ‘hey, what are you listening to?’. ‘The Beatles’, he said. I got enthusiastic, because I love their music too. So we spent the rest of the drive singing and listening to the Beatles together!”

Girlfriend’s Day
Another movie Radek has been working on is called Girlfriend’s Day, starring Natasha Lyonne, Bob Odenkirk and Amber Tamblyn. “Working on this movie was very different from A Kind of Murder, but equally fun! Most actors on this movie are comedic actors, so that sets a different tone. I could control my laughter when we were filming scripted scenes, but when some of the actors started improvising it became almost impossible to keep a straight face!”

Steve Carell
“One of my role models when it comes to acting is Steve Carell, who plays in the US comedy series The Office and recently in the movie The Big Short. He is very convincing in his roles. In everything I’ve seen him in, he’s like a chameleon! I admire comedy actors the most, because in general comedy is a lot harder to do than drama. I think you either have to be naturally good at it, because timing is extremely important as well as simply knowing what’s funny, or you have to be trained to become good at it.”

Tough business
“Many famous comedians have studied at the Groundlings School of Improvisation, where I’m studying at the moment. A few people of the Saturday Night Live cast for example graduated there. Although SNL isn’t something I particularly aspire to, it would be amazing to be a part of it! But for now my focus is on movies, television series and commercials and I’m doing quite a few auditions for different roles. I try not to get too hung up on a certain role, because film is a competitive and tough industry, but I’m really lucky and grateful things are looking pretty good for me right now!”

Fingers crossed! I’m sure there will be many great roles coming Radek’s way! If you’d like to know more about Radek Lord, check out his official website and follow him on Twitter: @RadekLord and Facebook.