Becoming Sweet Pea

With just days in between auditioning for Sweet Pea and getting on set to truly become him, I wanted to know all about that first day and what it takes for Jordan to get into character. As it turned out, his first day didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped.

“The first day on set was kind of crazy. I had hair down to my shoulders at the time and when I booked the role I had this attitude of, “They’re not going to cut my hair! I’m keeping this hair! This is the character!” Like actor stuff, you know. Then I get to set and they say, “Okay, we’re going to cut your hair.” My attitude was right out the window. I was like “Yep. Please. Okay, great. You do whatever you want. I’m happy to be here,” he tells me, laughing at the memory. “We spent the first three hours on set cutting my hair and figuring out what Sweet Pea was going to look like, doing the makeup tests and everything. But I was also shooting that day, so everything felt very rushed because we had to make it on set in time for the scene.”

As the nerves of this hectic day settled in, Jordan continued to work with the team to figure out the look of his character. Between haircuts, makeup, wardrobe and the application of his temporary tattoos, it was getting closer and closer to his first scene. “I had this big monologue in the scene that was towards Jughead. I was kind of challenging him because he came to the Southside school and I’m the ringleader of the gang there. They were all ready by the time I got there because we took so long to prepare my look, and I was holding my sides and my hands were just shaking. We did the blocking and we did the rehearsal and I screwed up all of the lines. I kept thinking, how am I going to do this?”

It was in this moment that Jordan had to put into work everything he had learned in training over the last five years. It was crucial for him to get out of his own head and into the head of his character. This scene also meant so much for him as an actor. “I realized that I just had to do what I know, what I had spent all of those years training for. I was supposed to go through this door at the start of the scene, so beforehand I was standing on the other side of the door taking some deep breaths and I reassured myself that I know what I’m doing. I got into Sweet Pea’s headspace and told myself that I’m the king of this school, that this is MY school and someone is intruding on my turf and I need to defend myself.”

“This shot really paralleled my life. This one scene would determine whether or not my character would grow or die. So, as Sweet Pea was reassuring his strength, I was also reassuring my strength as an actor. It was a very defining moment for me where I said to myself, “I can do this.” As much as I was stressed out, I had to put that aside to do my job and I think that paid off.”

Keeping up the good work

This experience taught Jordan a big lesson and reassured his constant practice and training. Having this coaching has carried him a long way and has given him the confidence he needs to know that he’s doing his very best on set. Even with his experience, Jordan spills that he isn’t always calm, cool and collected on the job. “There are still days where I’m nervous as hell. I’m a season and a half in and I still get times where I think, Oh crap...and have to take deep breaths to calm myself down and get it together.”

Never wanting his skills as an actor to become dull, Jordan puts an emphasis on always putting in the work before it’s time to be on set. Whether that’s by training or by simply running lines with your castmates, it’s imperative that actors stay sharp on or off set. “I always make sure I’ve done all of my work so that I’m not winging it. I don’t believe that there is ever a day as an actor where you take a day off because it shows. You always need to put that work in, go the extra mile. Talk to your scene partners and block the scenes out, make sure you’ve gone over everything. I think when you start to get lazy is when you lose sight of where you came from and how hard you worked to get where you are. Nerves even seem to help me! If I’m nervous, I know I’ll work hard. If I’m too relaxed I’ll think I’ve got it and then I’ll screw it up.”

Jordan also always tries to keep his creative juices flowing. While theatre is a constant source of training, it also resides as a passion of his, taking up much of his free time. “When I’m not acting, I’m still always working on something. I own a theatre company with some friends and we did four productions last year. We’ve slowed down with it, but we are hoping to do a big one this year.”

Once discovering that investing time in the things he loves brought forth so much joy in his life, Jordan would tell any new actor to do the same. “I worked so many jobs in the past. I worked office jobs, marketing jobs, I was a server, all of that. I think I was filling my time with stuff to do because I wasn’t booking actor rolls, but I was still always working on my craft. I was always working on a play or something similar to keep me on the path of doing what I loved. Even if I wasn’t loving what I had to do for money, I took the time to invest in things I did love.”

This habit of continually bettering himself has created a lifelong impact that he attributes his future successes to. “I think it’s a big lesson that I can keep with me now because even though I’m currently making money from acting and I have more free time, I still need to put effort into my craft and keep working on what I want. My life isn’t over, my career isn’t over, and there is still so much that I want to do. Keeping that hunger and keeping that level of determination going while I’m not working is going to be the thing that helps me get my next job.”

“Always keep working on something. Even if it’s not directly related to acting, realize that it will be. Acting is an all-encompassing art form. I also love travelling and being outdoors in nature. Getting out there and experiencing new things is so helpful for actors. Getting out of my comfort zone and experiencing something out of the box gives me so much more insight to different types of people and the lives they live.”

Jordan knows that there is no end to the things you can learn that will help you grow as an actor. “Play an instrument, learn to sing or take a dance class! I was never musically inclined as a kid, but I’m learning guitar now and sometimes I’ll take singing lessons. A violinist has a violin and an actor has their body. That’s the number one thing you need to take care of and develop because this is your instrument.”



The next thing Jordan said was perhaps my favorite. “Even if you suck, keep doing it. I suck at guitar. I suck so bad, but I’m trying.” You never know unless you try, and being that no one is born perfect at anything, the only way we can get better is with practice.