Ian Verdun Interview by Carol Wright Photographer: Ryan West Photography
LA native Ian Verdun is an actor who doesn’t just wait for opportunities to come his way. Instead, he creates them. After attending art school and having the chance to study Shakespeare in Oxford between semesters, he wrote a play every year and has now carried that work ethic from college to the small screen. Verdun can be seen on the CW show “Siren” playing Xander McClure, a deep sea fisherman who finds himself enmeshed in a battle between land and sea. You were able to attend art school through the generosity of a friend. How did your experience in art school put you on the path you’re on now? Actually, I went to art school by way of the tenacity of my mother and a patchwork of student loans and grants, which made for just enough money to go to school....with crazy debt, of course. But things like eating regularly every year was a veritable tightrope walk, lol. However, a friend was indeed very generous in offering to help me go to England to study Shakespeare in Oxford between semesters, which was definitely a transformational experience for me, not only as an actor but as a person. I was 18 at the time and it was my first time out of the country. The whole thing was magical and eye-opening at such an impressionable time, so I’ll always be grateful to my friend for so selflessly giving me that gift. As for how art school put me on the path I’m on now? I’d say I was always on this path and art school gave me the tools and the vocabulary I needed, so that I could walk that path with intention. In school, I was incredibly focused, I didn’t party or drink, which kept me pretty isolated from most of my class on a social level. I really over-scheduled myself; I wrote four plays in school, one play a year. While everyone else was getting wasted, I was at the computer, buried in a sketchbook, or up late in rehearsals for a play I had written over the previous summer. I made a decision early on that this was what I was going to do with my life. I didn’t care how long it took and didn’t really concern myself with exactly how I would get there. I just knew I wanted to be good at what I did, and hopefully, leave a mark that would inspire others to walk their own paths with conviction and confidence. What about “Siren” interested you? Definitely the prospect of getting paid to act, lol. You have to understand that for most actors, no one considers whether they’re interested in a part; we’re all just trying to pay rent like everyone else. I don’t come from wealth, indeed we were pretty poor, 71
