Creative Minds Profile #10: JOEL HABERLI

Happy New Year! Today, I bring you Not Even Joking’s 10^th Creative Minds Profile. Today’s creative mind appeared in my short plays MISSED EXIT and TEXT MISDIRECTED, and directed the original production of my 10-minute play for youth, ERASING THE BRAIN. I couldn’t get rid of him, so I decided to marry him…and I’m Not Even Joking!

Joel Haberli

Joel Haberli has been in “the business” for more than thirty-years. He is an actor and voice talent who can be heard, well, pretty much any time you turn on your television or radio. He also occasionally appears on stage and on film, and he recently shot roles for GOTHAM, PERSON OF INTEREST and A CRIME TO REMEMBER.

Joel, you recently appeared on GOTHAM and you have an upcoming appearance scheduled on PERSON OF INTEREST. Can you tell me a little bit about what it was like working on these shows?

I can’t say too much about PERSON OF INTEREST as it has yet to air, but I can say that it was an enjoyable, active shoot.  The director was Tim Matheson who played Otter in ANIMAL HOUSE and the Vice-President on THE WEST WING as well as a lot of other roles over the years. It’s kinda cool when someone well-known addresses you by your first name!  It should air this coming Spring or Summer.

GOTHAM was shot at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn and for me personally it was a bit nerve wracking.  Small roles don’t really allow for any rehearsal… you’re expected to know your lines and have an idea as to what the character is about when you’re called to places.  Series lead Ben McKenzie was already there and was totally focused on the scene so he didn’t even look at me!  As I say a bit nerve wracking.  But after the first couple of takes we started talking and turns out we had something in common… he went to UVA and I lived in Virginia for 20 years so that broke the ice.  A nice guy and a good experience.

Joel with Ben McKenzie on the set of GOTHAM.

You’ve appeared on screen, on stage and in many, many voice overs. Which projects from your past are you most proud of and why?

Funnily enough some of the projects I’m most proud of have never been seen!  I shot a short film back in 2009 called TRUNK about a down on his luck guy who gets paid $100.00 to lug a trunk across Manhattan for delivery to people unknown.  He has no idea what’s in the trunk but it’s implied it may be a body.  I got a rough cut from the director and thought it was brilliant but they never finished it.  In my opinion it would have done well on the festival circuit.  I also did a commercial for Jamaican Tourism a few years back that was funny as hell and very clever but the client never signed off on it.  It’s disheartening when this stuff happens because you think it may be your big break!

Conversely, I did a short film two years ago called WHAT’S EATING DAD? directed by Michael Goldburg (whom you’ve also interviewed) that has just killed on the festival circuit and is still going strong.  It’s the film that won’t die!  It’s gratifying to be part of a project that is well done, well liked, and successful.  You can see clips from all of these projects on my website:  joelhaberli.com.

Production still from WHAT'S EATING DAD? Photo by Peter Olsen. Joel Haberli and Barbara Miluski pictured.

You also wrote and performed in your own solo show a few years ago. What was that like and do you plan to do any more writing in the future? (Why or why not?)

It was a great experience.  My friend Jeannette Bonner took Matt Hoverman’s “Create Your Own Solo Show” class, and after seeing her show I decided to sign up.  I had never written anything long form before (my writing was limited to :30 and :60 radio commercials) but I did have an idea of what I wanted to write about so I started there.  Matt offers input and pretty much changes everything… for the better!  About a year later I was accepted into the Plus 1 Solo Show Festival and worked with my acting teacher Rob McCaskill to tighten up the through line and make it a little more solid.  I performed it twice and that’s the last time I did anything with it.  For some reason I enjoyed the writing part of the process better than the performing part!  But I don’t have any plans to continue writing at this point… in some respects I think I only had one good story in me!  But who knows… I could change my mind tomorrow.

What else gets you up in the morning? What are you passionate about? And how does this influence your creative life? (or does it?)

I’m pretty passionate about my 18 month old daughter!  My wife usually puts her to bed so I get her up in the morning so my wife can sleep an extra hour.  I change her diaper and feed her breakfast… I make coffee and we clean the cat box!  I really enjoy the bonding time we have, just the two of us.  Does it influence my creative life?  I don’t know.  I’ve had a lot of good things happen career wise in the last year and sometimes I think it’s because I became a father.

And, my standard drama teacher question: What advice would you give to a young performer who is considering a career in the biz?

Keep plugging away and approach it as a business.  Prospect.  Take classes.  Network.  Don’t be afraid to look foolish. Be a joy to work with.  Be on time!  I’ve been doing this a long time and in many respects feel like I’m just hitting my stride.  Stay focused, have fun, enjoy the ride.

Thank you so much! And thank you for letting me sleep that extra hour each morning 😉

You can connect with Joel on his website JoelHaberli.com, on IMDB and on Facebook.