Today is December 27 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “how often do you allow someone to take charge of you entirely?” For some who navigate the chaos they understand the necessity of becoming vigilant as they travel life’s path. Following the intended, normal, or traditional course of action is, for such individuals, too painful. Charting a new path is the only possible strategy for some to navigate the chaos.
One such person was Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. As de Beauvoir proclaimed: "I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself."
Actors who withstand the test of time understand today’s strategy well. Facing one rejection after another is part of show business. Actors struggling to break through might stop chasing their dream because they allow others to take charge of their life.
Others, however, have the ability to remain in control of their life and refuse to let others take charge of their entire career. Three such actors who emerged in prominent roles in 2023 and who used this strategy to navigate the chaos are Meg Bellamy, Matt Bomer, and Alan Ritchson.
Meg Bellamy played the part of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, in the sixth and final season of the award-winning Netflix series The Crown released in 2023. After graduating high school Bellamy applied to several drama schools but got rejected by each one.
As Elizabeth Paton wrote in a December 7, 2023, New York Times article “In 2022, and with no professional acting experience, she was working as a performer at the theme park when she spotted a casting call on Twitter for the role of Kate Middleton. Competition to play one of the most famous women in the world during her college years was fierce. Thousands of young actresses were posting videos about their auditions. But after a neighbor remarked on her resemblance to Britain’s future queen, Ms. Bellamy decided to try out for the part and a few months later received an invitation.”
According to Bellamy “I never really believed I would get the role, not in the beginning anyway. But then with every round, I started to feel like I had a real chance, and that it might be mine. When it was, I was completely shellshocked.”
In 2023 Matt Bomer had prominent roles in two major projects: the Netflix film Maestro and the Showtime romantic drama Fellow Travelers, set during and after the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, in which gay men and women were denied and purged from government jobs. Such prominent roles were the result of 20 years of Bomer refusing to let anyone take charge of this life or career. After graduating from the prestigious musical theater program at Carnegie Mellon University, Bomer had to take a role in the soap opera Guiding Light, which he felt was beneath him.
As Alexis Soloski wrote in a December 20, 2023, New York Times article “a few theater jobs hadn’t gone anywhere, and he had recently lost a bellman gig at a midtown hotel” so Bomer signed on. A year later he asked the producers to write him off since he found out he was “the director’s choice for a new movie. Then, he believes, the movie’s producers discovered he was gay. That movie was never made.”
Bomer “took from the experience a painful lesson. He couldn’t be himself and have the career he wanted. Around the same time, a producer told him that if he came out publicly, he would never play leads.” By never allowing anyone to take charge of his life or career, however, Bomer eventually realized he could be himself, have the career he wanted and play leads. He would go on to marry the publicist Simon Halls and find consistent work in movies and television shows with 2023 serving as his breakout year.
In 2023 Alan Ritchson starred in two films Ordinary Angels and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and played the lead role in Prime Video’s Reacher which released its second season. Growing up in a strict household with limited money for food and necessities, Ritchson worked odds jobs to buy himself a used pickup truck, his insurance, food, and a phone. He would go on to attend Northwest Florida State and major in theater arts but dropped out after two years.
He then tried modeling with limited success for a few years. In 2003 Ritchson auditioned for the third season of American Idol. In an interview with Marc Myers for a December 26, 2023, Wall Street Journal article, Ritchson reflected upon this time in his life and said “I made it to the second round of Idol in Los Angeles. Even though I was cut, I was enamored of the passion people had there for their art. I decided to stay and landed TV commercials and auditions. My first break was in 2005, when I was cast in The Butcher, a cheap horror film. Then came Smallville, which ran until 2010. The series opened the door for me.”
Actors Meg Bellamy, Matt Bomer, and Alan Ritchson each had other people tell them they were not good enough yet never let anyone else take charge of their life or career.
How often do you allow someone to take charge of you entirely?
How often do you allow the rejection of others derail your career or your dreams?
How often do you take a chance even though there is no guarantee of success?
Have you ever taken over someone else’s life? If so, why?