A career, frame by frame

Photo
Stories.

Six photographs. Four chapters in a career still unfolding.

Sedly Bloomfield in costume as Charlie Blew Eyes
Chapter 1

Charlie “Blew Eyes”

I wore this hat while playing a gangster in Hell’s Kitchen The Musical, performed in New York City and Fairfield, Connecticut. The character was originally named Charlie Blue Eyes. I obviously didn’t have blue eyes, and I wasn’t going to wear blue contacts against my dark skin. With Jon Montgomery’s permission, I changed Blue to Blew. Charlie “Blew Eyes” could blow out your eyes with his .45 caliber.

Before the later Off-Broadway production opened, I was replaced by an actor with more established credits. The published announcement named Chris Farha as Charlie Blue Eyes. It hurt—but this photograph preserves the character I had already created.

Career hurts and upsets are part of the journey that makes you strong.
Chapter 2

Resetting the Inner World

Karl Hofheinz of Synergy Talent wanted this look and sent me to a Los Angeles photographer whose name I no longer remember. Before photographing me, he had me take ten Dragon Breaths: a deep inhalation through the nose followed by a strong, audible exhalation through the open mouth, with the tongue extended and a forceful “hah.”

The exercise helped me “defrag my inner being.” That session changed how I understood photography: the camera doesn’t merely photograph the face. It photographs the condition behind it.

The practice becomes invisible when the actor gets lost in the performance.
Sedly Bloomfield in a dark suit, blue shirt, tie, and glasses
Portrait of Sedly Bloomfield in a dark suit and pink shirt Portrait of Sedly Bloomfield in a blue shirt
Chapter 3

Troy Opened the Door

In 2009, I performed a one-minute monologue as Troy Maxson from August Wilson’s Fences in the Clay Banks Studio Monologue Contest in Los Angeles. I placed second, and part of the prize was a free professional photo shoot.

These Santa Monica portraits came from that prize. They were admired because they felt more like portraits than conventional headshots, but they also worked professionally: they later helped me book a co-star role as a Medical Examiner in Torchwood, part of the Doctor Who universe.

Troy led to the contest. The contest led to the photographs. The photographs helped open the next door. Thank you, August Wilson.

Chapter 4

The Actor Road Trip

My greatest acting buddy, Karen Silvernail, and I took a road trip to be photographed by a prominent New York photographer whose studio was far from us. Karen and I were both photographed during the same session.

The photographs created two contrasting casting possibilities: open warmth and professional authority. The photographer’s name has faded from memory, but the journey—and the images we made—have not.

Sedly Bloomfield in a dark suit and patterned yellow tie Sedly Bloomfield smiling in a light blue shirt