Battling Ron Burgundy

Battling Ron Burgundy

Battling Ron Burgundy

Fred Galle
Fred Galle
10 years ago

Hello Stage 32 fellow industry professionals my name is Fred Galle and this is my first ever blog about my journey and adventures to become one of the rising actors and models in the southeast United States. I'm excited that the movie I’m currently in, Vacation, directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley is now in theaters. I play the role of a guy who has a run-in with Ed Helms and Christina Applegate on their way with their family to Wally World. This was such a fun movie to work on as an actor, but I took an interesting path to get there.

Let me backtrack just a bit. Growing up in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania I was “discovered” when I was younger by a friend of my sisters while I was cutting the grass. No 2 paths in are the same, and yes, that’s where it started for me. Next thing you know my summer job during college becomes being a model in Philadelphia and New York City for the likes of Prevention, Bicycling and Men's Health Magazines and for Aspen cologne. After graduating from the University of Pittsburg and playing baseball for four years I moved to Washington DC to continue my acting studies while pursuing a business career in fiber optics, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals for 26 years. Telecommunications wasn’t exactly the same creative rush that I got from modeling and acting, but, much like most of us here, it was my 9-5 to really pay the bills.

Turns out I was an excellent businessman rising through the corporate ladder and even taking one company public while creating other companies. My goal always was to retire from the corporate world by age 50. Through solid financial planning I was able to do it by the age of 48 and continue to create my own businesses. I now Own Galle Entertainment and Media and I am also a national director for the Mrs. America organization running the states of North Carolina and South Carolina along with my wife Wendy who was Mrs. North Carolina 2002.

Life turns in unexpected ways and sometimes a little luck can help you achieve your dreams. While attending the Coca-Cola 600 doing charity work with my wife and two of our beauty queens I was approached by a female executive from FOX Studios. She was there with the team that was filming Homeland in Charlotte and instantly my mind brought me back to my passion – acting and being on set. She ran up to me and said “we need you for a movie!” I thought she wanted to work with my beauty queens or my wife, so I called her back about a week later and she said “I want you tomorrow east of Raleigh for the movie Ironman 3.” Wait, what? Me? Not my beauty queens? My acting passion was fully ignited once again from that minute forward.

I showed up on set of Ironman 3 and got into wardrobe, hair and makeup. Being on set again was like riding a bike - I remembered how to do it and I loved every second of it. They took me to set (which is an interior scene of the White House) and Shane Black gives me my line. Yes, the Shane Black. I was in awe that my step back into acting was on such a grand scale. That was it. I was done. I was an actor again. Nothing could be more satisfying. That's how I got back into it, which led me to a great agent and greater opportunities as an actor and model.

Fast-forward another year and I'm working as an actor/model 3 to 4 days a week every week. I met up with the casting director Macon Georgia on a movie set and she told me that she had the perfect role for me. My professionalism and eagerness to keep working and getting back into acting was clearly showing. Macon was casting for a new comedy and she wanted to present me the director to be part of the principal cast. Come to find out it's for the movie Anchorman 2 and the role is to be on the opposing team to Ron Burgundy's news team led by James Marsden. Even thought I had an “in” to audition, I still had to compete against 500 other actors. I’ve learned that no matter how successful you are, nothing is ever handed to you. You always have to work for it. I worked my butt off and I got hand selected by director Adam McKay who said “if you're not an anchorman or weatherman you should be!”. So I got the part, shot for 24 days on Anchorman 2, and got to work with some of the top comedic geniuses and A-listers.

The experience was incredible and I made sure that all 24 days I came ready, prepared and a consummate professional to work with. That got me noticed and I then got cast as a police detective in the movie Captive (which comes out September) with Michael K Williams and David OYelowo. While filming Captive I got to work with the legendary director Jerry Jameson.

Now I finally feel that my career is really rolling. I branched out, auditioned for and got national television commercials with Sysco, Holiday Inn and Blue Cross and Blue Shield among many others. I then get cast opposite Mena Suvari in a thriller called South of Hell in an exciting episode out later this year. I don’t stop. I don’t give up. I keep working my tail off for every opportunity. I come prepared, I remain open to all opportunities and it’s paying off. This past year I'm feeling very lucky grateful and blessed to finally be able to do what I really want to do. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.

The moral of this blog is to inspire you, my fellow Stage 32ers, to pursue your dreams with commitment and passion and through hard work, great planning and a little luck wonderful things can happen!

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About the Author

Fred Galle

Fred Galle

Actor, Director, Producer

First Wives Club Doom Patrol Irresistible Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 Captive Let's Be Cops Ironman 3 Need for Speed Homeland Banshee Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues East Bound & Down Under The Dome Witches of East End The Remaining The World Made S...

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17 Comments on Fred's Article

Michelle Hickey
screenwriter
An enviable journey. In some ways I wish I had the dedication to the day job, to have cleared the space to then switch to a deep felt passion, such as your journey. I think you may have been blessed with multiple skills and passions. Well done.
10 years ago
Yeah, Fred! Thanks for your blog post, especially knowing that big success coming a little later in life is AWESOME!
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Sarah I always knew it would happen. Just had to manifest it!
10 years ago
Thomas J. Herring
Illustrator, Screenwriter, Storyboard Artist
Great article. I always knew it took hard work and perseverance to get anywhere especially in the media. It's a reminder for me as a screenwriter to keep at it. Thanks.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
It's rewarding to push yourself & grow keep it up Thomas!
10 years ago
Argenis Pirela
Screenwriter, Actor
Great journey Fred! I'm sure you're having fun.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Yes Sir I am working hard staying focused
10 years ago
Brian Shell
Author, Musician, Screenwriter, Director, Editor
*Love* your blog's title Fred... instantly, it drew me into clicking on it to read your blog. Glad I did. Brings a wide smile to me this fine summer day near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Best to you always! :-)
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Thank you Brian keep working hard! Just got off new set fun & exhausting!
10 years ago
Stage 32 Staff
Director, Screenwriter, Editor
What a fun ride you've been on Fred! I'm interested in the part where you talk about your agent. Can you lend advice to other actors who might be searching for agents? Any advice, tips and tricks?
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Persevere Adrienne! I am already on the road acting and exhausted and it's only Monday! Dreams aren't easy. But so worth it!
10 years ago
Thank you Fred for the inspiration to persevere. Best, Adrienne
10 years ago
Wanda Nobles Colon
Actor, Assistant Director, Costume Designer
Thanks for the inspiration Fred. Keep moving forward!
10 years ago
Wanda Nobles Colon
Actor, Assistant Director, Costume Designer
https://www.facebook.com/WNCBfly
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Enjoy every second of your life and chase that dream you have!
10 years ago
Bhavnisha Parmar
Actor, Voice Artist, Screenwriter
Fred, thank you. It really reminds me how to learn to embrace the unknown in life. The most fearful, maybe. But the most exciting... definitely! Good luck!
10 years ago
Bhavnisha Parmar
Actor, Voice Artist, Screenwriter
Vert true.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
My fav thing I tell people is to be fearless
10 years ago
Eric Schneider
Songwriter, Singer, Musician
I love it, Fred. Good for you, following your heart! I am majorly happy for you. My version of your tale is that - in 2011, at the age of 64 - I discovered that my wife of three years was retired from being a "successful street musician" in Boston and San Francisco, dubbed "The Space Lady" (TSL) by her street fans. After hearing her play, and force-closing my dropped jaw, I persuaded her to come out of retirement, and let me manage her to be a Club musician (www.thespacelady.com) rather than a street busker. I had tried and failed to start two former musical wives on that same path, but Susan went for it; playing and singing for people is HER dream. As of last year, we've toured the world once, and - at age 69 and 67 respectively - have started again. We flew from Denver to Stockholm today, for a 2-week, expenses paid Scandinavia music tour. This fall we'll be back in the UK and EUrope - and possibly Israel, too. Along with TSL's unique act, we have an LP (with another LP, plus a 7" single, on the way), CD's, t-shirts, beanies, and original-painted posters, for her thousands of previously-in-the-woodwork fans. And as of this year, I'm her sometime opening act, playing/singing my "songs of awakening" - one of my dreams (along with writing screenplays & other stories for the world). I played in Berlin last February, May on our eastern U.S. tour, and I'll play in Oslo on August 22. And we have a new item for sale - my CD: I FORGAVE MYSELF and Other Songs of Awakening. So I got it, Fred. I totally got it.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Nice Eric!
10 years ago
Stage 32 Staff
Director, Screenwriter, Editor
Eric - what a cool story.
10 years ago
Great stuff! With all the crap swirling around us, it's good to hear the good.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
And be the good!
10 years ago
Linda Perkins
Screenwriter
Congratulations, Fred and thanks for the lift.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Copy that!
10 years ago
Great work Fred! Mission accomplished with your blog- I am inspired!
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
I try to inspire and connect w everyone I come across you never know who hands you the keys to the kingdom!
10 years ago
Charles E. Brown
Screenwriter
Awesome story! Truly inspiring...
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Thx!
10 years ago
Chris Tremblay
Actor, Screenwriter
Thank you for sharing Fred, very inspiring! Congratulations as well!
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
You bet! More blog to come!
10 years ago
Such splendid insights, Fred. You're making the world a better place through your effort and outlook.
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
Thank you! Blessed
10 years ago
Michele Lyman
Actor, Singer, Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Songwriter
Thanks for sharing. This is a wonderful illustration of what can happen when you don't give up and go all in!
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
I am definitely all In! It was scary but challenge yourself to be great every day and be on point!
10 years ago
Amanda Toney - Next Level Education
Director of Operations, Producer
What an incredible journey, and all from mowing the lawn! Really inspiring to pursue your passions and work hard. Thank you Fred!
10 years ago
Fred Galle
Actor, Director, Producer
I still mow my own lawn but know w a nice tractor and every time I do I think about that day I was scouted for modeling pushing the mower at 17. Keep the good karma going!!
10 years ago
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