Not only is Joseph Baena’s career taking off, he’s really making a name for himself in the acting world.
It all started a few years ago when Joseph Baena starred in a two-minute short film that was a shot-by-shot remake his father, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic “T2” scene where the cyborg steals a motorcycle, takes the owner’s rifle and snatches his shades. Since then, Joseph has appeared in the John Malkovich sci-fi thriller Chariot (2022), as well as Bully High (2022), a coming of age drama that tackles some of today’s more controversial issues, including religious prejudice, sexual orientation, and bullying. His other projects include Called to Duty: The Last Airshow and Lava, both of which are in post-production. Most recently, he joined the cast of Gunner, an action thriller from the creator of The Fast and the Furious and starring Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth. The production is scheduled to start filming in Alabama this spring.
Check out our interview with Joseph!
It’s no secret that your acting career is taking off? What sparked your passion for acting?
Joseph: It all started when I was a little kid. It sounds so funny saying that, but it all started when I was a little kid. I grew up with my mother and, I didn’t really grow up with my father per se, but I grew up with my single mother and a lot of my older siblings are much older than me, so they all showed me and made sure that I was well aware and cultured, I guess, with the classics that the 80s the 90s the 2000s movies. So, I grew up watching all kinds of films and I always looked up to all these hero figures and all these different characters in movies and just had always had a dream of doing the same thing and affecting people in the same way of inspiring and, you know, kind of showing that as like my art. So, that’s kind of where it all started. But it wasn’t until I was already in college, when I had started taking different kinds of acting classes than the theater classes I had taken before, ones more catered towards film and doing student films with some friends and, you know, lower budget feature films. I just fell in love with it and then it just reassured me that that’s really what I wanted to do.
That’s awesome. I love it when you try something and it’s like it just gives you that internal validation of I’m meant to do this.
Joseph: Absolutely. It really clicked and, you know, the first time with anything that you try out, it feels weird. It’s different. But, you know, with acting, it was weird at first and the first day of shooting, I was a little insecure, not knowing how everything works and kind of just figuring it out on the way. But by the second day, and, you know, especially the second shoot as it kept going, my confidence just kept going up in front of the camera. I knew what I was doing. I knew how to do what I needed to do to prepare for the films and getting prepared was just becoming a lot easier for me and it became more of a passion than anything.
You’ve been in a few projects recently. I absolutely loved Chariot and Bully High. But you have a few that are coming out soon, specifically Called to Duty and Lava. Who do you play and what can people expect from both of these?
Joseph: Yeah, so I kind of play like a leading hero man in both films, so Lava is more of an action thriller, kind of a horror thriller, and so I kind of play, in a sense, like a cliche Hero Man that saves the damsel in distress. But it was such a fun film and it was so fun to shoot in Hawaii and go to all these really native spots and just really know and figure out the local Hawaiian culture. It was great to experience that. The character in that film, his name is Alex and he’s like the young stud of this professional freediving team. And, you know, after this group kind of messes with the local folklore, it’s on him to kind of get himself and the main female character out of harm’s way. And then in Called To Duty, I play the captain of the pilot team that needs to complete this mission, kind of like Maverick and in Top Gun. That was really fun because I’ve always been a fan of Top Gun and I’ve always been a fan of fighter pilots and watching air shows when I was growing up. That was always like a big thing for me, and I fell in love with flying. So that was just a great experience and it was great to get into the cockpit of a fighter plane and, you know, experience that and be kind of like that team leader.
That’s so cool. I love air shows as well. Would you ever try your hand at being a pilot in real life?
Joseph: So thankfully, I have a really good friend, he’s one of my best friends. His name is Sebastian. He actually is a pilot and so he takes me every once in a while, whenever I go and visit him and see him, he takes me flying. It’s always fun getting in the cockpit and doing maneuvers and kind of being like a second hand pilot. So, I feel like I have a couple hours under my belt so far.
It was also announced recently that you’ve joined the cast of Gunner with Morgan Freeman and Luke Hemsworth. How excited are you to join this project?
Joseph: I mean, part of me can’t believe it, and part of me is just extremely grateful to have the opportunity to be in a film with these two great actors. Morgan Freeman has been around for so long and I’ve looked up to him and his work for as long as I can remember really, so it just means a lot to be able to share the screen with both these actors. It’s gonna be great. I’m excited. I’m up for the challenge. And, you know, I’m just ready to learn from these guys that have so much more experience than I do.
Are you able to say anything about this project, or is it still very much under wraps?
Joseph: I’m not 100% sure where my jurisdiction lies with talking about it, but I’m just going to play it safe and say that I can’t really talk too much about it.
That’s fair. I won’t press you on it. So in addition to acting, you’ve also been incredibly successful with bodybuilding, fitness modeling, and now real estate. How do you manage all of this with your acting career?
Joseph: It’s difficult. It’s something that– it’s definitely been a learning process. And, you know, thankfully, I’m a young guy and so I have time to learn and kind of figure out how to maneuver all this. But so far, it’s really just taking it one day at a time and time blocking everything, learning how to time block and making sure that I make time each day, if not, then weekly, for each section of my life. It’s the working out, it’s my real estate work and this new real estate company that I’m starting, practicing my lines, doing my script work and going to the acting classes.
That’s a lot.
Joseph: Yeah, yeah. And then on top of that, I mean, I gotta keep a social life at the same time. So, that’s where DJing comes in every once in a while. I still have time to have some fun, and enjoy it a little bit.
So, I can see how bodybuilding and fitness modeling complement each other. How does all of this help your acting career?
Joseph: Well, it helps in different ways, I think it just depends what roles I receive. I think the vast amount of training that I’ve done and all the experience that I’ve had with dieting and preparing my body for shoots or gaining muscle, losing muscle, losing weight, all that kind of stuff kind of has prepared me for different roles in the sense of if I need to lose weight for a role, if I need to slim down, I know what to do to do that. If I need to gain weight, let’s say, God willing, I get a superhero role which, you know, I would love to play a superhero. Then I know how to gain weight or shred so that my abs look tighter, that everything looks tighter, and that I have that superhero physique. Or if I need to be a fighter or something, I know exactly what to do to train my body to kind of take that shape, or at least, depending on how much time I have, get as close as possible to that. So, I think that’s the main way that it helps but in another way, it keeps my brain clear. It keeps me focused, it keeps me dedicated, it keeps me disciplined. And so, you know, that’s something that I look forward to every day, is the training and whether it’s in the weight room, swimming, playing soccer, you name it.
Have you ever considered doing stunt work?
Joseph: Yeah, so stunt work is fun. It just depends on what it is. But actually in Lava, I did all my own stunts. I did all the cliff diving. I did the freediving, holding my breath underwater for minutes at a time, which was pretty wild and then rock running and doing all the fight choreography and the fight scenes, which was another great learning experience. And yeah, so I mean, stunts are great to elimite, I don’t know if I’ll be, you know, flying out of 10-storey buildings that are on fire or something, but who knows? It’s just a fun thing to do.
That’s awesome. So with bodybuilding, do you do the competitions and all of that stuff too? Or is it just for working out?
Joseph: No, it’s more just for working out. In the beginning of my training– so I used to be really overweight and it wasn’t until I joined my swim team, my sophomore year, that I started losing weight and kind of seeing a little definition. And as a teenager, you know, that’s like all you care about is like, oh my gosh, I’m getting a little definition! I can see a vein on my arm and yada yada… But when I started weight training, it was all about just gaining muscle and, you know, being that kind of late teen early 20 year olds, I just wanted to gain muscle and be kinda like a stud. Now it’s kind of evolving. I’ve never done a bodybuilding competition. I don’t know if I ever will. I mean, I’m not saying that I would never do it, because I would love to try one, but right now it’s all about kind of doing a little less weights and a little less bodybuilding and more of the athletic training and keeping my my hips loose and keeping my my joints ready for action, you know, whatever stunts or whatever role is coming up next.
And you’re very much making a name for yourself already in the acting world. But I just want to ask a few questions about you and your father, who has also navigated bodybuilding and acting. Do you ever go to him for advice? And is it more advice for acting or for working out?
Joseph: You know, I go to him for advice every once in a while and it’s more for like smaller specific questions. But it’s always been kind of the same thing as it’s all about the work. It’s all about the reps that you put in, not only in the gym, but also for acting, it’s all about the preparation and doing the reps of studying the lines over and over again. I don’t really go too much to him because, in a way, I love the process. It kind of sounds cliche, but I really do love learning and figuring that out on my own. And so, as much as it’d be great to just ask him everything. I think it’s nice that I’m figuring it out and taking it step by step and not trying to rush anything and I think that’s what I’ve been doing so far in my career, you know, going from classes to student film to low budget film to, you know, middle budget film and now I’m moving up the ranks into these these bigger films like you said with Morgan Freeman and more to come!
Yeah, you’re definitely on the right track of doing this on your own because your resume is speaking for itself, but would you be open to acting in a project with your father?
Joseph: I would love to. I would love to work with my dad. I mean, we haven’t worked on anything yet. It would just be so much fun and I think we both have big personalities, especially on set. I’ve only seen videos of how he acts on set and heard stories, so I would love to share the screen with him and love to be on set with him and just see how he works. It’s one thing hearing the stories and, you know, getting advice from him, but it’s another thing being there and watching and learning from that kind of aspect. So, sharing the screen would be amazing and I would love to do that.
That would definitely be something cool to see. So with everything that you’ve got going on, I just have to ask how does real estate fit into all of this?
Joseph: Well, as many know, the life of an actor is pretty tough in the beginning, especially if you’re not working as much. And I mean, really, you have to just work and make money somehow. So, this is my way of working and making money. But really, the main thing was that I wanted to start a real estate investment company. And that was one of the big things that I tried learning when I was going to university at Pepperdine and studying business. And so getting my real estate license was kind of me putting a foot in to learn as much as possible about real estate, about the housing market, and about everything that goes into real estate. You don’t need to do that, but I learn best by doing things hands-on. And thankfully, I’ve worked really hard at it and it’s been pretty successful so far and I’m moving on to creating this new real estate company that I’m excited to launch pretty soon.
That’s awesome. So in your adult life you’ve tackled so many different crafts and trades and all kinds of stuff. What’s something that you want to tackle next?
Joseph: I feel like I’m juggling all these different things that I can’t even think about adding another one but there’s just so many crafts that I’d love to learn. I’d love to learn how to speak German. That’s a big thing that I’m trying to learn right now. I have Spanish down, so German is next and, you know, after that I’d love to just be able to play some instruments because all I know is to play guitar, but I want to get something else into the books.
What is your goal for the future?
Joseph: My goal really is to be just a great actor. I want people to, like I was saying from my dream as a child, I want to be an actor that people look up to and that people get inspired by when they watch me on screen. That I can portray these different stories in a great light and that people can take away things from the films that I do. So that’s my main goal. And other than that, I really just want to help people get into a healthy lifestyle, that’s why I promote so much fitness on my page. Maybe I could do it a lot better, you know, maybe I can do it in a different way but yeah, those are my main goals: to become a great actor and inspire others.
What advice would you give to other budding actors?
Joseph: I think the main thing is that regardless of what anyone says, the work shows. No matter who you are, who you know, the work does show and when you do have opportunities to be on set and work, take advantage of it. Be nice to everyone on set and, you know, just kind of be a light on set because people remember that. Even PA’s, the cameramen, the lighting guys, the sound operators, I remember those guys. I remember everyone that was nice to me, that was pleasant to be around and I remember even more so, the people that were not so pleasant to be around. So anyone that’s getting into the entertainment industry, really take advantage of those moments on set and just be a light when you have those opportunities.
Joseph Baena can be seen next in the action film Called to Duty and the thriller Lava!
