Photographed by [Mitchell Nguyen Mccormack](http://mitchellmccormack.com).
Rising star Will Ropp is well on his way to becoming a household name. Garnering the attention of Hollywood’s most prominent film houses, Ropp’s personality, confidence and drive are pushing him from humble beginnings to the A-list.
Beginning his career at just 12-years-old, Ropp continued to study theatre at the University of Michigan where a fateful evening led to his transition to Hollywood. Fast forward to 2020, he’s cast in Warner Bros “The Way Back” alongside Ben Affleck as premiering March 6 and the indie drama “Silk Road” with Jason Clarke. With various productions and production credits under his belt, Ropp is using all that he has, to get all that he’s earned.
**Where are you from? Did you grow up with a creative family?**
I was born in Connecticut and grew up there until I was about 16. I switched high schools after my sophomore year and went down to Jacksonville, Florida where I finished out. My family was pretty split between the Jacksonville area and Connecticut, but now they’re in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, California. I’d say my family is very creative. My grandmother, Louise, taught music in high school for years. She’s an amazing piano player and choral singer. My dad played the sax, my mom played the clarinet, my sisters’ played the violin and the bass, my brother is a singer and I played the trombone. Our family could probably start a band one day. I guess that would be a pretty weird band though. Also, my stepmom studied acting at the Yale School of Drama so she added to the creativity, but also brought the specificity to acting that I’m drawn to.
**What was the decision to take acting seriously and to Hollywood?**
I always loved theatre growing up, but I also loved baseball. When I went to school in Florida, I realized that I was really not that great at baseball and the kids in Florida ran circles around me. However, I also realized that I had even more interest in theatre. I had done musical theatre since I was a little kid, but never thought it could be my profession. That changed during my senior year of high school when I decided to apply to college acting programs. I ended up at The University of Michigan and was able to explore film acting for the first time. Up until that time it was all theatre and stage productions. I fell in love with the nuanced nature of film, the slice of life on a screen. I knew that LA was the place to be for film, so that's where I ended up.
**How do you find the emotions to tap into character?**
I think once you talk about "finding the emotion" it's difficult to be authentic. I view emotion as the end result of your objective or goal, so it's kind of the product, not the objective. I usually focus on want I want in a scene and what I'm trying to obtain. In doing that, the "emotion" tends to find its way into the scene. It's like if you're a concert and you're trying to have "fun" the whole time. All you're thinking about is "having fun" and how if you don't have "fun" it's going to be a waste of money. If you do that you're guaranteed not to have fun, but if you focus on your objective, listening to the music, hanging with your friends etc., the "fun" will naturally happen. That being said, a lot of actors tap into their real life experiences to add depth to their performance. I think that can be helpful to get you into the right state of mind, but it's something I don't actively try to do during a scene. I feel it's best to separate your work from your personal life.
Photographed by [Mitchell Nguyen Mccormack](http://mitchellmccormack.com/).
**What’s the best part of acting?**
I think the best part of acting is how it effects the audience. I know that I appreciate acting the most when I'm super moved by a film or it gives me a different mindset than I originally went into it with. Acting is capable of real change, and it's cool when that change is seen after a film or performance. I remember sitting in the movie theater when I was a little kid watching Toby McGuire as Spiderman and how no matter the odds, he always seemed to come out on top. I was 8 years old and really thought that he was Spiderman. I knew that he was an actor, but to me, Toby McGuire was the real deal. I got out of the movie theater that day and went straight to a Little League game I had to play. I remember thinking, “how would Spiderman play this game?” That really got me amped and it made me play harder. It had a real effect on me. I don't know if I played any better, but it made me excited to play.
**What role got the Hollywood agent’s attention?**
When I was a junior at The University of Michigan, I did this play called “Good Kids.” It's based on a true story about the Steubenville rape trials. It's pretty graphic, but these high school kids sexually assaulted a girl at a party and video taped it. They put it on Youtube and Twitter, and it went absolutely viral. It's a really disturbing story, but a very important one. I played one of the assailants who was super vulgar and gross. After the performance, an agent that worked in LA came up to me and told me she loved my work. I promised her that I was actually a good person in real life and she took my word for it. I started taping for auditions right away. I then took my second semester off that year to move to LA and audition with her agency. That's pretty much how I got into the business.
**How was it working with Ben Affleck, did you learn much from each other?**
I can't say enough great things about Ben. He's just a really good dude. He became such a mentor to us throughout the process. He's a guy that has been in this industry for so long, seen so much, done so much, had his ups and downs. He really gave us so much valuable insight. It's weird to think about, but he also learned a lot from us, the team. He told us that being around young kids who are early in their careers and eager to perform reminded him of why acting matters and brought him back to his early days. This project really reignited the passion he has for performing and he tells us that he's grateful for us and the project because of that. I'm a little bit of a filmmaking nut, so for me it was cool to pick his brain as a director and creator. He has such a good vision for story and shared so much with me about what makes a good director. I admire that he's both an extremely talented actor AND director/producer.
Photographed by [Mitchell Nguyen Mccormack](http://mitchellmccormack.com/).
**Love that you smoke your own meats. Was this something you grew up learning to do.**
Actually, I didn't really get into it until a few years ago. Me and my younger brother, Tommy, bought an old fifty dollar smoker from Craigslist. It was rusted and busted, but we made it work. When we picked it up from the guy’s house, we could barely fit it in the trunk of my Prius. We pretty much just googled “how to smoke a brisket” and followed it step by step. For the first brisket we smoked together, we stayed up through the night and took shifts. One of us had to stay up and poke the fire, the other got to sleep. The next morning, after a 16 hour smoke, we had the greatest brisket we had ever tasted. To this day it's probably still the best smoke we've had, but maybe because it was our first, it added to the magic. Now we smoke a brisket for our family every Thanksgiving. We've upgraded our smoker now, but we still get up around 4am to get it started. It's delicious and is also a fun bonding experience.
**Can you please give us your recipe as well as any photos of your dish to post.**
Okay this is how you get it done. You gotta smoke the brisket for 1 to 1.5 hours per pound of meat. If it's a 12 pound brisket, you're looking at anywhere from 12 hours to 16 hours of smoke time. You need to keep the temperature of the smoker at 225 degrees and it needs consistent heat to cook smoothly. You can add different types of wood to the fire to get different flavors- pecan, apple, etc. My brother and I only prepare the brisket with salt and pepper, that's kind of our tradition. That is the way to do it to let the taste of the brisket do the work. After about 5 hours, the brisket hits a “stall,” where the temperature of the meat will stop increasing because of some fancy science explanation. You have to then wrap the brisket in aluminum foil once it hits this stall to keep it cooking. It's called the “Texas crutch.” Once the inside of the meat hits 190 degrees, you take it out and let it sit for 30 minutes before you slice it up and enjoy!
**How did you get into beatboxing and what have you learned in your progression of the**
I got into beatboxing when I was in about seventh grade. My family and I would watch “American Idol” every week. One of the contestants, Blake Lewis, did a lot of scatting and beatboxing in addition to enhance his singing performances. I don't know why, but for some reason it seemed really cool to me and started researching beatboxing on YouTube and practicing on my own. My family and friends started getting really sick of me making random noises with my mouth so I mainly did it in the shower. I did a few talent shows and when I got to college I beatboxed for an acapella group, The Michigan G-Men. It was a lot of fun and made me a much better performer.
**Tell me about your character in “The Way Back” - Kenny Dawes**
Kenny is an interesting guy. He's a little bit of a player, both in basketball and in the dating world. He is the team's “resident Romeo.” That is kind of the phrase he's been coined with, but I don't think he has any malicious intent. He has a heart of gold, but sometimes he just isn't very socially aware. He doesn't think that his actions have consequences, but he's a great team player. When the team starts to figure out what system works for them, they realize that Kenny has a great three-pointer, it's his thing. By the end of the film, I think he grows to be a better person and player.
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Photographed by [Mitchell Nguyen Mccormack](http://mitchellmccormack.com/).
Styled by: Lisette Mora.
Hair: Dylan Ambro.
Makeup: Robert Bryan.
