It’s no surprise to hear that every day, thousands of wide-eyed young people step off of busses, trains, and planes, and take their first step in a big city. Young actors come from across the world to try their best at making it in the industry. Being an actor is a hard business, and the millions of other aspiring actors can make it nearly impossible to be seen or noticed. This week’s Featured FearMaker has had the odds stacked against him. Nevertheless, Jimmy Dempster has stayed true to his passion and has formed a life around his family and his career.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Jimmy Dempster had always been interested in pursuing an acting career. As a child of the 80’s, Jimmy was instantly hooked on horror. He considered this time to the golden era of horror, with HBO showing horror weekly, and mom and pop video stored were in full swing. “very weekend we would go there and order some pizzas and grab the craziest looking movie we could find; cover art was huge!” Faces of Death, Evil Dead, I Spit On Your Grave,TheExorcist, and of course, the slasher franchises of Freddy, Michael, and Jason all led Jimmy towards a career in the film industry, with a particular focus on horror.
Living in Detroit, there isn’t too many opportunities for actors. Jimmy Dempster and his wife made a bold decision to move to Florida, where he could find more opportunity as an actor. He tested the waters with some work in short films, commercials, and occasional feature film roles. While finding work, it was too seldom and not rewarding enough to stay living in Florida, so he once again relocated to Georgia, home to a bustling and ever-growing film industry.
Since moving to Georgia in early 2016, Jimmy Dempster has been working almost non-stop. He has had co-starring roles on television shows like Swamp Murders and Devious Maids. Jimmy has received praise for his powerful performances such as his portrayal of real life Killer John Barrett on the Swamp Murders series and his role in The Last One playing the father of the Cannibal Family who interestingly co-starred along side his real life wife Cherie and oldest daughter Audrey. He has also proved to be a leading man as well for his role of Rob in the feature film One Night Of Fear showing range as an actor as he plays a man just trying to do the right thing to protect his friends and girlfriend.
Being an actor means sacrificing a lot, and for Jimmy, he knows he has to in order to be a successful actor. When it comes to advice, he has some real gems to share. “Don’t quit your day job. This isn’t something you can do once in a while you have to give it everything you got no exceptions. If that means driving 300 miles plus for an audition, or leaving your family for multiple days you do it. Any kind of success doesn’t present itself at an opportune time or when you are relaxing at home. Almost every high profile gig I have gotten has come with a price. I’ve either had to leave 3 am to fly or drive to another state just for the audition and almost every time it was last minute.”