KeyNote in Nova Scotia

This was a very unexpected treat in my life.

I was taken back when I got the call that not only will I be the Keynote opener for an Indigenous Entrepreneurial Program but that I’ll be speaking in Nova Scotia.

Like most people in Canada, being able to see the East Coast one day was definitely on my bucket list. I only heard about how amazing and beautiful the scenery is on the East Coast and they were right.

The fresh air from the ocean, the calming peaceful energy and the photographic landscape was a sight I’ll never forget. It was a photographers dream and I made sure to drive around and take in as much as I could.

It’s moments like this that I can’t help but stop and think about the pay off it has been to pursue my dreams. It’s all such a struggle and discomfort at the beginning. Wondering if this will all be for nothing in the end or if it’ll have some sort of payoff. Careers in the arts and public speaking are never guaranteed and there is lot’s of competition.

What I’ve come to realize is it’s not about the destination but the journey you take to get there. Life goes so fast and it’s so important to take in every moment. The moments you create and the moments that are an unexpected treat. This was one of them.

I thought if my public speaking career were to end soon I would look at this magical moment as a moment of triumph. To experience something like this as someone flies me down, puts me up in a hotel and I share my story with an audience in hopes to inspire them is something I’ll never take for granted. It’s a luxurious feeling from all the hard work and sacrifice I’ve made to build this career.

Of course it doesn’t hurt when the place they fly you to is Nova Scotia. That’s just the icing on the cake. Congrats to all the Indigenous Entrepreneurs that were there and I wish you luck and good fortune on all your endeavours. Stay awesome and keep creating!

Vison Quest Conference @RBC Convention Centre

This event was a jammed packed weekend of Indigenous entertainment, education and celebrating culture. This was an amazing event to be apart of.

“VISION QUEST CONTINUES TO PROMOTE INDIGENOUS BUSINESS COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.”

I was asked to be a Keynote speaker, train in a break out session and MC for the final gala. I had my work cut out for me but it was worth every second. The amount of people who showed up ready and eager to learn new skills and take themselves to the next level of business was very inspiring.

Events like this are proud moments for me. Any time I get to be apart of anything that promotes, educates and uplifts Indigenous people and communities I am always excited to be a part of.

The turn out was huge and the laughter was just as big. Any time you get us Indigenous people together in a group you always hear laughter somewhere. So many Indigenous and non Indigenous people came out to show support, market their business and/or learn the next skill sets. I had a tremendous amount of support from people and fans who came out to see me and I was grateful to have time to engage with them.

The team of people who put on this event should be very proud. It’s so full of positive energy and community. It’s a weekend to look forward to for a lot of us and I wish their were more events like this.

Thank you to all the brave participates who attended my break out session. I say brave because my workshops are very interactive with acting and auditioning scenes. It takes a lot of courage to get up in front of a crowd to perform. The workshops turned out to be a lot of fun, filled with laughter and entertainment. Thank you Vision Quest for this uplifting experience and keep inspiring!

KeyNote @Bell MTS Place

It was almost an out of body experience….

Ok, maybe not quite but felt pretty close! I was so nervous lol… Getting ready to speak to over 10k people is something I don’t do on a day-to-day bases. The crowd was loud and interactive, full of energy and eager to listen. So I knew I had to bring my ‘A’ game.

The WeDay events are always so entertaining and up lifting so I knew I had to bring a lot of energy with my speech. The few moments before in the makeup room was solely focused on getting my breathing right.

If I lose control of my breathing before I go out there than my mind takes over and panics. That would end up being very bad. When that happens my heart starts pounding, my voice sounds like it’s stuck in my throat and it reads on my face like the worst poker face.

Good thing I’ve had a lot of practise with calming my nerves. Auditioning hundreds of times in front of different film directors who could cast you in their film has helped a lot for this.

It’s all about focusing on the breath coming in and out and following it all the way down into your stomach. When it’s comfortably settling in the stomach and not shooting back up to your throat you’re at a good spot. Now it’s about keeping the breath down there.

For me that means shorter breaths pushing the stomach out so I look half pregnant. Good thing is I can get away with this underneath a suit without looking weird lol. Now all that’s left is shutting the mind off by telling myself you’ve done all you can. You’ve prepared all you could and there is no more time that you can devote thinking about it. All that’s left is enjoying the moment and being present because if I enjoy the moment it’ll come across that way during my speaking. Everyone wins.

Felt like within a blink it was over. What a rush that was. I remember during my speech I shared some truth about my healing journey and over coming addictions and the audience let out a shocking gasp. Hearing over 10k people let out the same sound effect was echoing and beyond gratifying.

It gave me reassurance that they were engaged with what I was saying and it felt great. I’m so glad I was able to be calm through it and enjoy the view from the main stage. As much as I loved the adrenaline rush of speaking to a crowd that large I have to say the best part was them announcing me to the stage “now put your hands together for Winnipeg’s Own, Kyle Nobess.”

Hearing that line “Winnipeg’s own” was a proud moment for me and it set the tone for my excitement which I poured into my speech. Thank you WeDay for inspiring so many and giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Enjoying the WeDay Box post speech. Time to relax and enjoy the rest of the show!

Indigenous Day Live @TheForks

Hosting this show in my home city of Winnipeg on multiple occasions was an event I looked forward to all year. The show is so full of jam packed entertainment.

“APTN’s Indigenous Day Live (IDL) is the nation’s largest event in recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day. Through cultural and musical performances, Canadians are brought together in celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ unparalleled contributions to Canada.”

https://www.indigenousdaylive.ca/about/

I was given the amazing opportunities to work with amazing talents and artists on this show and one of those talents was the hilarious Winnipeg Director, Janelle Wookey.

Janelle and I worked together over a decade ago for APTN’s ‘Friday Night Flicks’ where we were the informative and funny duo in between commercials of the weekly movie APTN was showing. It was a great learning experience getting comfortable in front of a camera and building the memorization muscles as we had a lot of scripts to read.

Fast forward over a decade and Janelle and I hosted the National Live show Indigenous day live at the forks. It was a cool surreal experience to reconnect and share the screen with her again. It’s a challenging career and to see someone you worked with years ago still working on their craft and pursuing their dreams is always an uplifting and inspiring moment.

We continued right where we left off, laughing, razzing each other and bringing the energy to rock the show!

Stay Awesome Janelle.

Hosting the Indspire Awards

I was given the amazing opportunity to host the Indspire Awards on multiple occasions from Winnipeg, to Calgary to Ottawa. The show focuses on celebrating Indigenous achievement with awards, music performances and hilarious entertainment. The writers, the producers and everyone involved work so unbelievably hard to make this show the success that it is and it over delivers every year.

Getting the chance to work with a variety of different Indigenous stars has been an unexpected treat in my career. I’ve been able to watch and learn from veterans in the game and see how they do it. The show is so full of humour and gratitude that it sets the positive tone for the show, so it made working with hilarious talented stars a very easy and smooth process.

Hosting is very similar to live theatre. It’s a scripted show but the more memorized and prepared you are the easier it is to not only enjoy it but to feel comfortable through. It can be quite debilitating knowing it’s live and if you mess up you are messing up in front of a live audience and Nationally televised show.

So for me I make sure I am over prepared so that my mind doesn’t panic and take my focus away from the moment. Breathing techniques help as well to keep my energy calm and grounded other wise the adrenaline and anxiety could get out of hand and sometimes uncontrollable. Yet no matter how hard the challenge may be, I am excited for it every time!

I never got to pursue live theatre as I was always focused on film training so any chance to perform in front of a live audience, especially on a stage this large, is always an opportunity I gladly accept and look forward to. Thank you Indspire.

https://indspire.ca/events/indspire-awards/

Playing the Villain in a Cartoon

Now this is something I never would have predicted…

Years ago I went in for an audition to play the Villain character Skarra in the Cartoon Series ‘Supa Strikas’ which was being aired across seas. It was a little hard to believe looking at a screen and seeing myself as a cartoon. Playing the voice of a cartoon character was something I never imagined participating in. The whole process was cool. Standing in the sound booth and looking at a screen to match your voice to the cartoon was very surreal.

I grew up watching cartoons and never thought it would even be possible to be apart of one. Skarra was the villain on the opposing soccer team of the Supa Strikas. His mission was to not only beat the Supa Strikas but to beat them at any cost. If that meant cheating, distracting or harming the players, Skarra was the man for the job. He was a high energy, manipulative fun character to play and I looked forward to working in the sound studio every time.

Check out the fun show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTerX6jDp-c&t=815s

Home Town Webseries leads to Toronto

Windcity was a gift that kept giving.

It started out as a cameo appearance. The show asked for me to play a silent cop in the pilot episode they were filming. I ended up playing the character a little more comical than they expected.

When the series got picked up for a 6 Episode Web Series, they casted me as a bigger supporting role playing Sam, the Red River College Intern.

The show was an amazing homage to the City of Winnipeg and being born and raised here, it was a show I felt proud to be apart of. The characters were hilarious and gave us Winnipeg Actors a chance to work together and star in a show that was completely ours. It felt like a tight nit family having a blast making a show.

Than when I thought the fun was all over they not only casted my character again for Season 2 but they asked if I would be open to filming in Toronto for a few days. So a few cast members and some crew packed up and headed for Niagara Falls. Any time I get a chance to act in a show I am beyond ecstatic never mind flying to a different city to do it. The show was already filled with high energy and great laughs and in Toronto the laughs kept coming. Needless to say it was blast.

The icing on top of it all was coming back home and after a few months, getting a picture sent to me by a friend of mine in College. It appears my character Sam was not only an intern at the Red River College but he ended up being a cut out cardboard mascot for the college lol.

Thank you to the cast and crew for years of great memories! Winnipeg, let’s keep rocking and if you guys ever want Sam back for another episode, I think he would be overly excited to do it again lol

https://www.youtube.com/user/windcitytvseries

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil

This was one of the most surreal experiences yet in my Acting career and here’s why.

So, years ago when I was just starting out in the Acting industry, my first ever experience on a film set was being a back ground Actor for the movie “Full of It.” This movie was about a new kid in school and one of the challenges he had to face was this bully and his friends. I remember standing a few feet from the Actors as they did their scene.

That’s me on the right in the film “Full of It”. This was the moment that changed it all for me.

I remember watching the bully character and I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I loved the intensity and energy he had behind his eyes and performance. I remember feeling at that moment I was hooked. I knew this Acting career was what I wanted to pursue and I wouldn’t stop until I landed some roles. I needed to experience what it would be like to play a character like that.

Fast forward 4 years later and I got casted as “Bailey”, the school bully in the hit series ‘Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.’ I distinctly tried to walk and mimic the actor who I got to watch years ago. I based my character on him. It was a moment in my career that I realized the power of manifestation or at least it felt like it was.

Working with Martha MacIsaac from Super Bad

It was quite surreal walking onto the western set of “The Pinkertons” as the villain of the show. Looking over to see the detective who will be investigating me is no other than Martha MacIsaac from “Super Bad.” It was an exciting introduction to the show to say the least. Getting the chance to work with these top Actors right in my home city of Winnipeg was beyond amazing. It feels like you get to participate in the big leagues while you play on the home field.

The Film set was so elaborate and detailed. It felt like I was warped back in the 1800’s with the western saloons, horses and western wardrobe everywhere. It was quite the sight to see and I made sure to take in every moment.

One major tidbit I took away from this experience was realizing how much preparation and daily focus it takes to be a lead in a TV show like this. I got to watch the leading detectives and see just how hard they had to work to keep up with the pace of the show. Every day they filmed multiple scenes, multiple episodes and scripts were changing regularly.

It was entertaining to watch them and how they kept their stamina up and ready, taking rests when they had the chance to let their brains shut off for a second. Than before they knew it, they were right back at it.

I made sure I was over prepared so I could not only deliver on my end but also show respect to these hard working actors. Still though, wearing the top hat, sitting in the Actors chair was still my most favourite part lol… It always is.

Prosecuting Casey Anthony

Filming on this set was the first experience of being surrounded by a variety of professional star Actors, from Oscar Nuñez from the Office, to Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost to the legendary Art Hindle.

I had multiple days on this Film set playing the character of “Mario.” He was apart of the lawyer team so I was able to watch many performances from top Actors. Studying their preparation and how they got themselves ready for when the director yelled action.

Like they say there is no better training than in the field. Being on set is the field for an Actor. It’s like being called up to the big show. You get to join a team that you normally wouldn’t get the chance to join. A game you don’t normally get a chance to play.

So for me it’s about the whole show. I love the dressing room change in my trailer and the makeup trailer, I love the pre game warm ups where actors joke and get ready and than I love the show time where lights turn on, camera’s go on and the crowd goes quiet. The stillness in the echoing room as the only sound we hear are from the Actors bringing this story to life. It’s in those moments I also get to be a by standard audience member sitting front row to some amazing talent.

The whole experience for me is amazing and I am honoured to play in the big leagues any time I get the call up.

From watching Chucky to sharing the screen with him

So my character get’s in the car as he hesitantly accepts a ride from Charles aka Chucky. I get in the passenger seat and say ‘Thanks Charles.” He turns his head to me and smiles as he replies “My friends call me Chucky.” It was at this point I slightly broke character inside to realize how giddy i was and just how cool that felt lol.

I grew up watching all the Chucky movies. My horror movie fanatic cousin introduced the films to me at an age I probably shouldn’t have been watching them lol but hey I looked forward to it!

I remember the films feeling so real and I was always a fan of the Chucky series. I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would grow up to play a character in a Chucky Movie and to share the screen with the Star Actor behind the character.

It’s amazing what you can manifest if you stay focused and determined towards your dreams.

A LEADING ROLE ON "MOHAWK GIRL"S WAS A GAME CHANGER FOR ME.

One of Kyle’s biggest dreams growing up was being able to travel to a different city as an Actor in a Tv show or movie.

“It seemed like something so legit and professional to say as an actor, to be able to have travel, accommodations paid for and getting paid to do something you love was just an incredible stage to reach. Mohawk Girls was the first Tv show to give me that experience and it was everything I could have imagined.”

Fun Fact: Kyle got to work along side the leading lady of the show Jennifer Pudavick who is from Winnipeg as well. In fact they even trained together in the same Acting class when Kyle first started out. He always saw her as a super star and knew she would excel in this industry. “To have both of us Winnipegers as leading roles in this National Tv show was a proud moment for sure.”

Kyle also got the privilege to work with his younger brother Jesse Nobess on the set of Mohawk Girls. Jesse was casted in the second season and they even shared the small screen in a scene together.

“We’ve been acting and creating short films together since we were kids. To have our trailers side by side and to share the make up trailer getting ready to film a scene on a National Tv show was beyond amazing. It felt like we were living a childhood dream trying to soak up every moment. It was hard to keep a straight face lol. One of the best memories of my career.”

A Hollywood Experience

“This experience was definitely a dream come true.”

Living in Winnipeg Kyle was always told he needed to be living some where else in order to act in the big Hollywood films. He always thought how cool it would be if he could prove them wrong.

“Being apart of the “Cold Pursuit” cast was very surreal. I got to work side by side with credible Hollywood & Canadian Actors who’s work I’ve watched for years.”

So when Kyle got the call that he was casted to play “Simon” in the Liam Neeson movie he couldn’t believe it. They were going to fly him down to Vancouver & Calgary from his home city, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada.

He always wanted to experience flying to the Hollywood north Vancouver BC to be apart of the movie industry.

“I was a kid in a candy store. I remember looking around on set at the star studded cast and couldn’t believe I was apart of it. I normally don’t like sitting in my trailer by myself because I like to be around the film sets where I can watch and learn from everyone.

I love to watch how actors get prepped and perform, I love to watch the film crew set up the next shot. I love to watch how the director and assistant director plan the next move. I just love every step of the process. I try to soak up as much of the experience as I can because I always keep in mind that this could be the last. The film industry is a wild ride of ups and down’s and because the downs out weigh the ups I make sure to get everything I can out of these short lived experiences.

This film especially was a learning experience because of the magnitude of it. This was a 70 million dollar budget movie, filmed in Vancouver and Calgary with big working actors from the US and Canada. To see such big named actors work their magic was very inspiring. There were two gangs in this film and because my character got kidnapped I was able to work with both groups. I was able to sit on set and watch their scenes. I was able to act along side all of them. It made me feel officially apart of the industry I so passionately loved. It was everything I always wanted to experience all in one.”