Interview with Actor Chris Mormando

Hi guys, this is my super special Saturday episode of Cat on the Loose with a very special guest, this super, super, super talented actor Chris Bormandel.

Hi, Chris.

Hi, Kat.

Thank you so much for doing this.

You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Total pleasure being a part of this.

And it's so cool, like you're so game, you know that it's unedited, you know that it's very raw.

By the way, we're sitting here at the hotel where Chris is staying while shooting Graves End Season 2 in Miami.

First of all, congrats for the project.

Thank you so much.

I've seen a little bit about it and it's incredible.

And you have so many projects going on right now, right?

Yes, there's a bunch of them.

A bunch of them that I've done and a bunch that I'm doing now and some that are going to be in the future.

So you're like a super busy guy with a skyrocketing career.

So in case you guys hear some background noise, I mean, my listeners know that my stuff is...

very organic.

Sometimes like it's my dog barking.

Sometimes it's crazy.

We said should we move?

But it's such a beautiful day and he's sitting by the pool of his hotel and I'm like, I don't want to leave, make him walk around since it's your one day off and you're being nice enough to do this.

Although I would have walked.

I would have walked for her.

I would have walked.

You're so sweet.

So you know that Cat on the Lose is a podcast about dating, relationships and sex.

Okay.

And you told me off camera that you're willing to answer any question.

But after this episode, I know I'm going to get like dozens of other questions from listeners listeners and everything.

Maybe you'll come back to answer their questions.

So these are mine.

Okay, let's shoot.

The past few episodes, I've been asking all my guests their opinion on something.

You date a guy or you date a woman.

Okay, I want your man's perspective.

And you go on one date and the date is great.

And, okay, you get along and everything, blah, blah, blah.

Then the guy or the girl invites you on a second date.

And then the chemistry is amazing.

You kiss and you have sex.

A lot of people think don't have sex on the second date because it's a deal-breaker for the guy.

Like, I had a guy, yeah, I know, I know, you guys should see his face.

I had a guest expert, she's a dating and relationship relationship expert, and she was like, No, a man is never gonna take you seriously if you do that.

That's a horrible idea.

As a man, do you think that's a big no-no, or you think this is silly?

Just do whatever the hell you want.

Well, I don't think there's any rhyme or reason

I think it's really go with the flow I think it's the chemistry I think if you

if you're dating someone you could wait it out and that's fine or if you had it on the first or second night that's okay too it really depends on you know who and what you want what you want out of the relationship or what you want for the night or the future.

Because even if you hold out or you don't hold out, well, guess what?

It doesn't mean it's going to be better or worse.

I know.

It's amazing that you said that because all my guests that came after this relationship actually said the same thing, that this is baloney, that you're going to make a guy wait for sex for two, three months, he's going to go end up and go out to somebody else.

Well, and that's also

I don't know answer either for that one because

it doesn't mean that every man is going to be like, well, if I don't have sex, then I'm not going to be with the woman.

I don't believe in that either.

I believe that it's just a matter of the company you keep.

If you really have a great chemistry, guess what?

There's no reason why you can't hold out or not

wait it out.

There's nothing wrong with it.

It shouldn't be a timeline anyway.

I don't believe in that.

Before I ever met my wife, there was no timeline.

There was no, oh, it had to be this or nothing.

Right.

And when I met my wife, it was instant.

My look, my love, it started from sitting across from me.

So you don't know where love comes from.

You don't know where and how it's going to hit you.

But sometimes in life, you don't know.

You can be

the quickest and the fastest, or you can be the slowest and

the aging of it.

You know, like a fine wine, you age, you know, it gets better with age.

So there's no rush.

There's never a rush, and it doesn't mean that...

anyone is gonna have to run for the hills if they're not getting it or anything to do with that.

I completely agree with you.

I'm kind of like don't play games, right?

I think most men, most women nowadays, don't want these games.

I love your answer.

Now, you're an actor, obviously, you get tons of attention.

That's a question that somebody sent me when I said I was going to interview.

How do you deal?

You're a married guy, and yeah, you have this public life, you're on TV, or you're on camera all the time.

How do you deal with this female attention?

Does it bother you?

Is it harder because you're an actor?

Well, I don't know if I would say I really get so much female attraction or attention.

I'm the same way on the sets with everyone, guy or girl.

Everybody that I'll come across on any sets I work with, and they'll verify it, that guy, girl, doesn't matter.

It's the same.

So certain sets that I'm on, it's a real in-house La Familia.

It's a family.

And I have a lot of people on the set calling me La Familia.

Because I say the fam.

It's the family.

And I love that because even on the group that I'm working with right now, the cast include from A to Z, Z to A, guy, girl, they're all familiar.

It's La Familia.

It's really La Familia.

That's so cute.

I love that.

So did you ever do sex or romantic scenes?

No, I have never done that.

Would you if somebody asked you to?

Well, it all depends on, you know, I'm an actor.

It all depends on the role.

It depends on what's going to actually be the part.

I wouldn't just jump into something just to jump into something.

I'd have to really take into consideration what the scenes are, what the actual part is calling for, what the film is about, and then make my decision going forward from there.

I mean,

I'm a married man.

but I'm an actor, so if it's on set,

hey, that's also part of it.

Do you think it would be more difficult than any other kind of scene or you don't care as an actor

I don't think it would be any more difficult I think as long as I'm in the

long as I'm in the comfort levels and I'm doing something to that effect I think that's when it would be to the point of my benefit

So it would be to the point of what the project is calling for, but I don't think I would have any uncomfortableness as far as that goes.

Sounds good.

Do you think it's important for two people to have real chemistry when filming?

And I'm not talking just about like sexual chemistry.

Like if you are two, even two guys or something, do you think it's better?

It helps?

A thousand percent.

Oh, really?

Nothing to even figure out.

When I prepare in everything that I do,

whoever I'm doing the scene with, I am the first one to pick up the phone and say, hey,

let's play ping pong.

Let's play.

Let's go back and forth.

Let's see how we can make this the best scene.

Because I have also seen others in sets that I've worked on that don't take it that serious.

And I'm not a fan of that.

I'm a fan of, I believe, you cannot overprepare as far as I'm concerned.

When you're ready to do that scene, you make sure whoever you're doing it with, you know,

is got that camaraderie with you

so they can make the scene even better.

Yeah, but so have you had situations that you didn't like someone that you were filming with, and is it weird?

How do you react?

I'm actually one of the lucky ones, the blessed ones.

You get along with everyone.

I get along with everyone,

so I can't say that.

And it's not just to sound good, it's being honest.

If you even take a look at some of my Instagram posts that I've done on the sets that I've been,

there's a lot of camaraderie and a lot of love that

has come from the sets that I have gotten so close with,

with a lot of people on the sets, to the point of, one,

being the lead of the show, of the ABC show Called for Life, Nicholas Pinnock.

Yeah.

Nicholas became my brother.

That's amazing.

That's not to, oh, everybody, you know, he's the lead.

No, no, no, no.

Before he was the lead, when we worked on the pilot, I didn't even know where he was from.

I thought he was from the Bronx because he's playing somebody that is from the Bronx in the show.

He was a convicted drug dealer, but it was a false arrest.

But the show

has way more

than that.

But when I did the pilot with him, I did not know that he was from London.

Wow, amazing.

Amazing.

And I have to say, by the way, guys, I've been on many, many sets in my life and you are one of the nicest, most friendly.

And we were talking about that yesterday.

You're like so patient with the extras in terms of taking pictures and just being nice to everyone.

You're so approachable.

And we see that in this industry, but not all the time.

So it's amazing how nice you are just as a person.

Thank you.

Remember, I live it one life, right?

Yeah, one life, so we got to enjoy it and be humble and kind.

Now, do you think actors have a harder time maintaining a relationship, a marriage, because of the lifestyle things is baloney.

I think it's baloney.

It's an excuse, right?

I think it's baloney.

My wife and I are married almost 10 years.

I love her as can't even love is too small of a word.

I am in love

when we're apart.

It's you miss, you know, but when you're working around the clock sometimes like I am now,

you get

you get the chance not to really be thinking about it until you have some downtime because you're always on the go.

As you saw when you were working at the poolside,

we're non-stop.

Yes.

And then, like, that night, we didn't get up to set until 1:32 in the morning.

Yes, it's tough.

It's tough.

People don't understand how much work goes into like one scene.

They think, oh, you just get in there and you get out.

And there are hours and hours and hours of preparation behind that, right?

Yes.

And people don't understand.

They think, oh, I'm going to go on set and I'm going to shoot in two minutes and I'm out of here.

Usually a scene takes like four or five hours to shoot, right?

Yes.

Some could take less and some can take more.

More.

Yeah, some could take more.

One scene took two days.

Oh my god.

Okay, two days.

And I still don't have the answer for the why.

I don't know why.

So all your listeners, I don't know why, but that's called the perfectionist in the director.

Yes.

Yes.

And the studio and whoever is.

Yes.

In this case, by the way, guys, William is the

director and the creator of Gravesend.

And I've been on set with these guys, they're amazing, and I noticed that he's a perfectionist.

He is.

He's like all over the place because he's acting, he's directing, he's taking care of like all the cast.

He's wearing many hats, but he is amazing.

Yeah.

And his production is amazing.

Yeah, and you guys are incredible.

It's great energy.

So since you said, yeah, you're working and

you're working in Miami, you live in New York, your wife stayed in New York.

Do you have any New Jersey?

Sorry.

suggestions?

Like, what do people do in this long-distance type relationships?

How do you make it better?

It really depends, because I'm not really on set or on location, really.

Majority of my work is local.

Is New York, New Jersey,

Pennsylvania.

Oh, okay.

So it's mostly my area.

So the studios I work at, ABC, NBC, CBS, they're in Queens, they're in Brooklyn.

So I don't really have that, but then there's times like my wife would normally be down here with me, but she's a speech therapist, so she works with children, so it just didn't work out where she can get down during this time.

But for the most part, I've not separated too long.

There's times I've been in Florida and went 11 days, 12 days on a set.

This will be the longest,

six weeks down.

Six weeks is a long time.

Yes.

And I'm going to make maybe two pops.

I'll go back a couple of times.

But for the most part, no.

You can last and you can figure it out.

Yeah.

Well, you just said you're going to go home to see her, take a super quick break and come back to work.

So if people really want to make it work, it's sometimes an excuse like, oh, I'm so busy.

I check her.

You're so busy.

Yeah.

But I say, listen, I go back for two days and come right back.

You make it happen, right?

Absolutely.

Well, congratulations on all your projects.

So what do you have going on?

So people get to know about your work.

You have Gravesend.

By the way, guys, the first season is available on Amazon video.

Gravesend.

Gravesend.

You guys are filming the second season here in Miami.

Yes, mm-hmm.

And then you go back to the show For Life.

Well, For Life is we've completed two seasons for Life.

Wow.

And now we're waiting to see if a third season is picked up.

So there are two seasons.

I know people can watch it on Hulu.

Yeah, ABC, Hulu, it's streaming on Hulu.

And it's a fabulous show, so let's...

I'm really hoping they pick it up because it's one of the nicest shows out there, guys.

You guys got to watch it.

And it's very, the the best part that grabs me on this show is sometimes when you see somebody

that gets a rook gets totally railroaded for something they did not do

and then they fight

He fought seven and a half years in prison.

Really?

He became an attorney.

Oh my.

He overturned his own case that he knew he was innocent.

See, that's life to me.

That's the beautiful part about the fight.

Because you could get a total railroad,

and then guess what?

Sometimes you don't win, you don't get it back.

Yeah, and then what, 20, 30 years they say, oh, by the way, we were wrong, you were right.

Oh, here's some money.

I know.

You're not going to get back your life.

Never.

And it's an incredible story about human resilience.

Absolutely.

A lot of people are now feeling bad about their lives because of cold.

I think this is a fantastic

to keep fighting and to not realize, not give up on what you think is, oh, I'm down and out.

No, you're not.

I agree.

Yeah, there is always, as long as you're alive, like kick some ass and keep fighting.

And you also have a production company.

Yes, started a production company called No Curfew Production.

No curfew.

I love that.

I love it.

And my daughter was the originator.

Really?

We were, we, when I say we, my family, we always come down here for Easter week.

Uh-huh.

And the one, we go to the airport and they canceled our flight.

Uh-huh.

So I looked at my wife, I looked at my daughters, I go, you know, I ain't stopping me.

I'll get us right in the car and we go right to Florida right now.

And that's what we did.

We drove down, took us 18 hours, we drove down, we had a beautiful week.

The weather was phenomenal.

All friends and family, we had our Easter dinner.

And then on the way back, I said, all right, girls, let's figure out a name.

And I'm like, but it's got to be something like what daddy's about.

like

and we're not gonna say the word shit but not no shit

but something that we don't take any garbage we're not bothered nobody's gonna scare us my daughter and I go something and my daughter goes dad no curfew I go oh my god she nailed it she nailed it she nailed it and I remember going her name is Nicole Marie I go Nikki you nailed it

There's nothing to figure out.

You nailed it.

That's the name of our company.

Well, congratulations.

Are you producing anything fun soon?

Yes.

That

you can talk about.

Yeah, no, on my Instagram, I gave a sneak peek.

Okay.

It's right now

the working title is Chris Boy.

That's my nickname is Chris Boy.

Cool.

But we're going to change the name, something to the effect of like, judge no book.

It's because

it's about

not judging the person.

And given you, for instance,

this character comes home from jail after doing 14 years.

And it's more of a modern day on the waterfront with Marlon Brando.

So I'm filming it in black and white because I want it to be known that color does not enhance beauty.

So black and white, authentic.

Wow.

It's old school.

It's what it started from.

And I believe in that, and I'm very old school.

But what the show is going to show, what's going to be, is it's going to be a human interest drama about a certain individual being myself and the trials and tribulations he faces.

But the more important it's about his purpose

I mentor people

not many I mentor maybe five six people and their whole time that they sit and talk with me it's about a purpose and some don't feel they have purpose and that cat as you can tell that will break my heart

because everybody has a purpose But when someone doesn't feel like that, that's when it saddens me because I got to try and give them a word to realize.

That is so nice.

That's amazing.

You put so much heart and thought into everything you do.

I'm so honored to be doing this.

Thank you so much.

Because by the way, guys, yeah, like he said, these guys have been working until 1 o'clock in the morning every day on set, 10 million hours.

And today is his one day off.

And I come here to annoy him.

And he was game.

I'm like, I want to do it today.

I'm honored.

I'm honored.

I mean, I cannot thank you enough.

And you deserve like all the success in the world.

Guys, follow him on Insta because this guy is like all over the place, and everything he does is so much fun.

I know there's a lot of crazy fun stuff coming up that he can't even talk about.

Not yet.

Yeah, his

Instagram is Chris underscore Mormando.

If you guys look on my Insta,

I'm gonna put all these videos there, and I'm gonna put

his Insta there too if you guys want to find it.

And watch

For Life and watch Graves and

season two coming out.

This is gonna, I'm gonna, I gotta say a little card.

This is gonna kick ass.

Yes, it is.

It is from the leader I've been on set.

Yes, this is gonna kick ass.

Thank you so much, Chris.

This is such a pleasure.

Thank you.

Thank you for watching, guys.

Thank you for listening.

This was a very for you.

No, are you kidding me?

I'm telling you, they're gonna send me like 10 million questions.

I want to answer that.

That's what I always have.

And enjoy your beautiful Saturday here in sunny Miami.

Thank you so much, Chris.

Thank you so much.

God bless.