From being bullied as a child to advocating for disability awareness on a global scale, RJ Mitte said he never let fear manipulate him on his path to becoming a renowned actor.
At the first lecture in the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Distinguished Lecture Series, actor and “Breaking Bad” star Mitte spoke about his experiences with cerebral palsy and how he used it to fuel his career.
Mitte said he came into the spotlight by chance. During a family trip to a waterpark, an agent from Los Angeles showed interest in his, at the time, one-year-old sister for an advertising campaign. Seeing no harm in an all-expense-paid trip, Mitte and his family went to Los Angeles, and Mitte ended up with a career.
“So I started working as an extra to meet kids my own age because if you move to Los Angeles and you don’t go to school, join a gang or act, you’re not going to make friends or know anyone,” Mitte said.
In an interview with The Badger Herald, Mitte said he wouldn’t be where he is without “Breaking Bad.” Seeing the role of Walter Jr. as an opportunity, he was able to learn and grow from the experiences that he gained from it. While there are times on set when he experiences the fatigue and other factors that come with cerebral palsy, he said it limits what he thinks he can do, but not what he knows he is fully capable of doing.
He said he cannot always completely overcome his cerebral palsy, but what he can do is learn to work with what he was born with and use it to make an impact in the world.
“I think everyone that has a disability has the opportunity to make an impact with what they can do and who they are. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today if it wasn’t for my disability and what it instilled in me,” Mitte said.
And he said the impact he wants to make is changing the mindset that people have when it comes to disability.
Experiencing past bullying as a result of his cerebral palsy, Mitte said he and his mother have also faced discouragement in the acting industry. But through his involvement with Inclusion in the Arts and Media of People with Disabilities, he wants to make it clear to the acting industry that there is no harm in having actors with disabilities in their productions. If anything, he said, it will bring awareness to disabilities and change what viewers believe and think about them.
Mitte is involved with organizations such as National Disability Institute, Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, among others. But he said he’s lucky to have the ability to bring awareness to disabilities on such a large scale, and he tries to optimize it the most he can. For his fans, though, he encourages them to not only get involved with organizations, but ones with causes they truly believe in.
“The main thing I can take away [from “Breaking Bad”] is being passionate about what you love — being passionate about what you’re doing. Nothing worth anything comes easy. The trick is to never quit working and to always be pushing forward,” Mitte said.
