“Earlier than The Whale, I had every thing to show. And now, to be sincere, not a lot,” Oscar winner Brendan Fraser, 57, informed AARP The Magazine in an interview final month.
The 50-and-older segment is the fastest-growing demographic in the world, in keeping with Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s CEO. And three years in the past, Fraser—a Hollywood mainstay for 35 years whose profession has been marked by challenges like despair and work drought—was nominated for (and received) his first Academy Award for taking part in the lead in director Darren Aronofsky’s status drama The Whale. In his acceptance speech, Fraser thanked Aronofsky “for throwing me a artistic lifeline.”
Within the interview with AARP, he delves additional into his skilled journey, sharing excessive factors and private setbacks, as nicely formidable persistence in center age.
From Encino Man and George of the Jungle to The Mummy and The Whale, Fraser has lengthy been a number one man. However he flashes again to his first paid gig as a mascot for a storage unit firm in Seattle, making $14 an hour: “I’ve by no means been flipped off extra in my life,” he stated. Finally, he bought performing gigs and moved from roles like “Sailor Quantity One” to changing into a Hollywood megastar and blockbuster headliner.
Fraser additionally detailed fighting despair after an incident in 2003, when he alleged that the president of the International Press Affiliation groped him at an occasion. He talked in regards to the significance of safeguarding his psychological well being following the incident: “I’ve realized to verify in with myself and continually reevaluate what’s vital. And also you additionally have to ask for assist while you want it. Early on, I didn’t know you can ask for assist. I solely noticed the stigma of it. I used to be afraid to say, ‘I want a hand.’”
Fraser stated he once more discovered himself in a darkish place when, regardless of being a Hollywood A-lister, he ended up in a protracted profession lull for your entire 2010s (even if he by no means truly stopped working). The AARP The Journal article known as it a “much less star-studded” interval during which “he wasn’t connecting with audiences the best way he as soon as had.”
“The silence in a profession will be deafening,” Fraser informed the journal.
He expounded on his philosophy of perseverance: “For a very long time there, I felt like I disenchanted folks as a result of I hadn’t met their expectations,” he stated. “However I’m nonetheless right here, you recognize? That is what I do.”
This lesson in humility and gratitude can create confidence and higher well being. Actually, there’s research that shows gratitude’s heath perks, resembling better emotional and social well-being, improved sleep, decrease despair threat, and even higher coronary heart heath markers, in keeping with Harvard Well being.
“On this job, you reside in a continuing state of panic, and you’ll’t get too comfy,” Fraser revealed. “I’ve realized to verify in with myself and continually reevaluate what’s vital.”
Staying true to your values and your core objectives can maintain you targeted in your profession path, too. The intersection of values, ardour, and goal can culminate throughout industries, whether or not that’s working as an actor, a software program designer, an account govt, an legal professional, or a small-business proprietor.
In a Harvard Enterprise Evaluation article titled “Values, Ardour, or Objective—Which Ought to Information Your Profession?,” author Irina Cozma summarizes the precept: “Everyone knows following this recommendation isn’t as simple because it sounds,” Cozma wrote. This dedication to self-reliance is a continuing and evolving dedication. Incorporating these mantras might help you construct a profession that may be a mixture of feeling profitable, but additionally deeply fulfilling, she stated.
Lastly, supporting one another’s psychological well being is essential. Fraser touched on the significance of reaching out for assist—and the identical is true in skilled contexts.
A 2024 study by the College of New Mexico’s Anderson Faculty of Administration, revealed in The Journal of Social Psychology, showcases how receiving assist at work can mitigate exhaustion ranges for employees. “This analysis factors to the significance of us working collectively. With the ability to discover distinctive and inventive methods to nonetheless foster these relationships, even nearly, is extraordinarily vital,” stated affiliate professor Andrea Hetrick, the examine’s lead writer, in a press launch.
Fraser’s most up-to-date movie, 2025’s Rental Household, has him starring as an American actor doing stand-in work for strangers for a Japanese expertise company. It’s the most recent film in his decades-long profession—one marked by resilience within the face of extended dry spells and large psychological well being roadblocks in a brutally aggressive, age-conscious business.
He stated he depends on remedy, in addition to “reaching out to pals, getting the train you want, even having a little bit of breakfast. They’re small issues, however while you’re coping with these emotions, they’ll make a monumental distinction.”
