Working Man

With no experience or Hollywood connections, William Mark McCullough built an acting career from the ground up

If you pitched a movie in which a lawyer gets in a car accident in Nicaragua, re-evaluates his life and ends up co-starring in a movie with Tom Cruise, it might get rejected as far-fetched. But that’s exactly what happened to William Mark McCullough.

“I spent five weeks in the hospital, but it ended up being one of the most fortunate things that happened to me,” McCullough says. “It gave me the push I needed.”

McCullough has been pushing himself ever since, showing up in various films and TV shows as cops, criminals and cowboys. He put on the writer and director’s hat for A Savannah Haunting, a supernatural horror film shot in Savannah under the strain of the pandemic. He also makes time to teach and coach aspiring actors on how to make a real living out of their dream.

“When one of my students books an acting job, it feels the same as when I book a job for myself,” he says. “I get that same joy.”

Catching Fire

McCullough was born in Savannah and grew up first in Effingham County and later in the small town of Midway. As a child, he wanted to be a doctor, but changed his mind in college and ended up on a law school track instead. At one point in undergrad, he had to take an arts elective. He chose an acting class, and his expectations were low as he prepared to do a monologue from Doctor Faustus, an Elizabethan tragedy.

“It was just a classroom with about 11 other students there,” McCullough recalls. “There was no stage, no theatrics. But as I finished the monologue, my whole body was on fire. I just loved it.”

McCullough found a hint of that feeling as a prosecutor in Washington, D.C. But the car accident, along with a candid talk with a patent judge who had let his own dream of being an actor slip away, made McCullough realize that the only way to be an actor was to act.

He moved to L.A. and began what he calls his “Ramen noodle years.”

“I didn’t know anybody, and I made every mistake a new actor could make,” McCullough says. “The first being that I was still trying to be a theater actor, which is different from film and TV.”

Though he initially saw himself as the clean-cut hero type, McCullough found work in more rough-and-tumble roles, often in crime dramas and thrillers. As he embraced this tougher side of his persona, he landed more auditions and co-starred alongside stars like Nicolas Cage and Glenn Close while being directed by the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Ron Howard. In 2017, he co-starred in American Made with Tom Cruise, playing the co-pilot to Cruise’s drug trafficking and gun-smuggling anti-hero.

“Watching Tom Cruise work affected me deeply,” McCullough says. “He showed appreciation and respect to every single person on that film set, no matter what their job was. And everything he does is about making the best film he can make. I’ve worked with some stars who are only focused on what kind of experience they are having. That’s not how he thinks.”

As an actual qualified pilot, Cruise was literally flying the plane that they were filming in.

“At one point, I just thought about the 8-year-old me, and what that kid would think if someone told him that not only would he be in a movie with Tom Cruise, but also in a plane that Tom Cruise was actually flying,” McCullough says with a laugh.

It’s Your Life

McCullough is ready for whatever other wonderfully crazy moments await him in this life that he chose. He would like to direct more projects and will continue to guide new and inexperienced actors through his classes. And once the actor’s strike is resolved, he is ready to get back to work.

Part of that work is staying physically healthy through a sensible diet and regular exercise. Most actors need to be careful about what they consume, but for McCullough the issue is much more personal.

“My mom passed away from fatty liver disease two years ago,” he says. “She was diagnosed a few years prior, and of course they told her to eat right. But she didn’t really know what that meant, and I think that’s an issue that a lot of people face, especially now.”

In a time when certain fats—such as unsaturated fats in foods like fish, nuts and avocados—are healthy, while foods like pasta sauce and orange juice can be loaded with sugars, finding the best diet for you can be a real challenge.

“We all lead very busy lives, but it’s simply a matter of being accountable to yourself,” McCullough says. “I keep track of what I eat and do my best to make my diet cohesive. At 19 years old, I would eat whatever I wanted and then try to work that all off in the gym. I don’t do that anymore, and I’m in better shape now than I was then.”

McCullough suggests using your doctor or registered dietitians as resources as you find your way.

“Work with the professionals if they are available, but also understand that it’s your life,” he says. “Figure out what works for you.”

Discipline, rather than motivation, is what McCullough believes is the key to success.

“Plenty of times, I get up and don’t feel like exercising—but I go anyway,” he says. “And then I always feel better once I’ve done it. Even if it’s not a great workout, it’s still a win. And actually, it’s the same thing with acting. It’s all about the accumulation of little wins. I tell my students, ‘Don’t wait to be motivated or for the chance to do big things only.’ Keep doing little things, achieving small wins—that’s how you work toward your dreams.”

To learn more about William Mark McCullough’s acting classes, visit www.WorkingActorLab.com 

To learn more about McCullough’s film, A Savannah Haunting, visit www.aSavannahHaunting.com

To keep up with him on Instagram, visit https://www.instagram.com/wmarkmccullough/