Title:
Unscripted Success: Danny J. Gomez’s Tale of Transformation

Subtitle:
Beyond the Roles: Life, Acting, and Changing Representation in Hollywood

Transcript:

Alycia Anderson: Welcome to Pushing Forward with Alycia, a podcast that gives disability a voice each week. We will explore topics like confidence, ambition, resilience, and finding success against all odds. We are creating a collective community that believes that all things are possible for all people. Open hearts, clear paths.

Let’s go.

Welcome back to Pushing Forward with Alycia, I’m Alycia Anderson. We have a superstar in the house today, I’m so excited. We have a movie star, like a literal one, and a Broadway star.

We have, Danny J. Gomez, who is a professional actor known for his roles on hit shows like NCIS Hawaii and New Amsterdam. Impressive. He has become a leading figure in the disability representation community in Hollywood and beyond. Two time Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge Winner.

Congrats on that. And he recently was on a play off Broadway called All of Me, which is where my path crossed with him. I want to hear all about this because it reminds me of my marriage. I’m so excited to see this type of representation. Welcome to the show, Danny. It’s so nice to meet you.

Danny J. Gomez: Thank you. It’s so awesome to be here. Hearing that bio, I’m like, did I really do all that stuff? Life is so crazy and it passes by so quickly. You sometimes forget to look back and be like, Oh, I actually did , something cool and important. And especially in the slow times, it hits you It’s good to hear those things.

Alycia Anderson: I think that’s like in the business of entrepreneurship and climbing the ladder and achieving goals. I felt the same on my business where you’re always chasing the next thing. And I have to remind myself remember last week when you were doing this, sit with that for a minute, cause that was a great achievement and you definitely have a list like that and slow times, it’s challenging.

Danny J. Gomez: Exactly. It makes you feel like you’re not doing enough. Or there’s not anything going on in the future.

Alycia Anderson: Those the things that motivate you to keep going. I’m like,, I better work harder. You got to keep going. Anyway. Can’t imagine that you’re not in high demand with this resume and literally just coming off Broadway.

But before we talk about all of those things, can you just share, because I don’t know all the details to who is Danny? What is your journey with disability? Whatever you’re comfortable with, you mind just painting a little mural or a large mural of who you are?

Danny J. Gomez: Yes. My name is Danny J Gomez. I’m a Latino male with short to medium spiky hair, I gotta black Henley with brown buttons, a lamp behind me and my closet.

I live my life as a non disabled person until a later age. I’m not going to reveal my age when I got injured, but it was later in life. And I knew nothing about disability.

I was completely ignorant to everything disabled. You don’t get taught these things growing up. So when you see someone disabled, you get awkward and that’s how it was. Then out of nowhere, it was a Friday afternoon, I went mountain biking with my brother in law and my friend from work.

I made a split second decision to jump off a jump that I thought was going to be a nice, easy rounded jump. It ended up being more of a drop than I anticipated. I. landed so hard that I got flipped over my bike landed on my back, two vertebrae popped out of my back and instantly paralyzed me.

And I remember I did blackout when I hit the ground, but I came to, and I remember everything after that point. I did struggle with PTSD and, seeing mountain bikes or those videos where people are getting hurt on social, I told my friends, never send me that stuff again, cause I could literally feel their pain inside.

And so I was on the mountain and I had to get airlifted out, taken to the hospital where the excruciating pain kicked in. And, I was in a cat scan for I don’t know how long but they were putting me in and out because they had to know what was wrong with me before they could give me any type of drugs or medicine to ease the pain.

I remember every time they would take me out of the CAT scan, I would ask the nurse, am I going to walk again? And she would just be like, we have to know what’s going on. I can’t tell you that. Maybe the sixth time they took me out of the CAT scan.

I was in the tube and I’m screaming because I’m in excruciating pain. Let me out, please let me out. I can’t take it. They take me out. This last time I asked the nurse, please, can you tell me, am I going to walk again? She just looked at me and said, no, I don’t think so.

And that’s the last thing I remember before I got wheeled into surgery. I woke up, a day or two later in this room full of people that shouldn’t have been in the same room together. It was my mom, my dad, they’re separated. My best friends, people from other states, all in this one room.

And I literally thought Oh, I died. These are all my loved ones and I’m in heaven and they’re all with me. I was heavily medicated at that point. It was crazy to see all these people in the room. And there’s so many things that happened, but I got sent to a rehab hospital, Rancho Los Amigos.

And that’s really when it hits you because there’s, this is your time to rehab and there’s nobody around. Nobody can stay with you in the first few days. I remember that first night when my mom left the room, I just started crying. Because that’s really when it hit me. I was like, oh wow, my life is different.

This is it. And it was like being reborn. I had to relearn how to just sit up. I couldn’t even sit up on my own. I had to wear this white cage to support my body. And every morning it was, they’ll wake you up like super early, 6 a. m. or 7, and I’m not a morning person, so I would always hide under the sheets they would take me off to do physical therapy and teach you how to use the bathroom, teach you how to get dressed.

Things that you don’t ever think about. For me my journey was non disabled until this, and then, I don’t know how to put on my pants. I don’t know how to use the restroom

Alycia Anderson: I’m translating you starting this conversation with I was the non disabled person that had no clue .

I am at Rancho Los Amigos. a disabled person going, what the heck am I doing here? That has to have been incredible.

Danny J. Gomez: Scary, quiet. It forces you to think about life and how you took things for granted, which we do every day. Even now that I’m disabled, I still take things for granted.

Before I was really lost and this accident actually in retrospect saved my life because I wasn’t leading a productive life. I was a career bartender pretty much stuck in the business. I was acting way back here.

Alycia Anderson: Oh, really?

Danny J. Gomez: Acting was just a far gone dream.

That was just a whisper.

Alycia Anderson: Wow.

Danny J. Gomez: And that made me really sad and depressed I was in a relationship that wasn’t doing well. And it was like a lot of stuff was not going right around my life. And I literally I’m backtracking here, but before my accident, I remember I got home.

I think I was drinking from being at work. That’s how I would cope. And I remember being in bed and praying. And I just remember saying, God, like this isn’t my path. What, why am I suffering like this? I’m unhappy. Nothing in my life is going right. I always thought I was meant for bigger things.

And I was like, I need a sign, like anything, please. And then two weeks later,

Alycia Anderson: wow,

Danny J. Gomez: I jump off of that and I remember thinking this isn’t what I was talking about. It’s a little drastic, but the universe gives you what you need at the most. Opportune or most inopportune times.

And you just don’t know, but when you look back, you’re like, Oh, I needed that.

Alycia Anderson: I’ve met so many incredible people like you that have had specifically spinal cord injury. I was born with my disability, so I don’t have that lived experience, but there’s so many moments of this, of like my disability, saved my life changed my life or enhanced my life after you get through the trauma of it.

And so it’s such a cool. Way to depict disability when you get through all of the yuck and figure it out it is like the thing that has opened up my life, it’s so beautiful that you’re sharing that honestly.

Danny J. Gomez: People see disabled people and just see a sad life.

They see a difficult, like, how can I live life that way? What they don’t understand is that we’re so resilient we have to do everything double of what you do. we have to expend way more energy during a day to get our things done. I feel like I’m stronger because of this.

Alycia Anderson: Yeah.

Danny J. Gomez: It really forced me to think about how I was wasting my life, to what am I going to do now? It took me about a year and a half after the accident, I was living in a studio apartment by myself I went through the depression, the woe is me, what is this life?

Miserable. And then one day I just, I literally am looking out of the window and seeing people go about their day and I’m like, I’m tired of watching the world pass me by. I’m alive. I need to do something different. I remember I put on those YouTube motivational speeches, the compilations where they’re like, you are enough, you got to get up and grind.

You got to wake up, take charge of the day. I remember every morning I would wake up and put those things on and I’m getting chills because I remember the feeling it gave me. I’m like, okay, I got to do this. I can do it. And I remember I’m like cooking eggs and I’m crying into my eggs.

I can do it.

And it slowly started changing the way I thought. The mental aspect of this journey is the most difficult to get through. So when I got through the mental and I started working on the physical and I started going to rehab, this awesome gym, it’s called abilities recovery center now here in SoCal, they did amazing work for me.

And, I still go there. Then when I started venturing out into the world and challenging myself and little things like the one of the biggest challenge that hurdles that I went through was going to the post office two blocks away, because I was scared to use my wheelchair, and I remember like If you saw me, you’re like, that dude doesn’t know how to use a wheelchair, because I really didn’t.

It was horrible, but I got through that, I got home, and was like, oh wow, I did that.

Alycia Anderson: Wow.

Danny J. Gomez: Little by little, I started going through these challenges, and then acting found me again, in a really random way.

Alycia Anderson: Okay. So we need to hear that because how do you go from acting, being on the back burner, like slinging drinks, doing the nightlife, like all that you go through this life changing experience.

Now you’re the new and improved Danny coming soon. And what happens, how does acting enter?

Danny J. Gomez: something that we talked about before we jumped on camera was I was saying yes to things. .

Alycia Anderson: And

Danny J. Gomez: before started feeling better about myself. I would say, no, I don’t want to go to that dinner.

I don’t want to go to that event. I didn’t wanna leave the house. when I started changing my mind, it was like yes, I’ll do that. Yes, I’ll do that. Let me make myself uncomfortable, challenge myself, face my fears, basically. So I had a random occurrence of getting these text messages.

That were opportunities. And the first one was a friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in years sent me a message. Hey, I don’t know if you’re still acting, but I have an agency and I submitted you for this wheelchair role for a commercial. if you’re interested, I submitted your picture off of Instagram and they want to see you.

That was my first crossroads. I hadn’t thought about acting in years and it wasn’t something I thought I could do. So I just said let’s see what happens I got sent to the audition. for a commercial for Apple, before my accident I was terrified of auditioning. It was the scariest thing ever. But then now I’m like, I just almost died. And these people in this room who are about to judge me for what I can do, aren’t going to scare me. So I remember I rolled in, I was like, what’s happening. I’m here. I’m alive. You know what I mean?

I went in there with that energy. I left with that energy, a lot of actors will tell you That’s not how you do it. I wasn’t very professional about, but I think it was The difference that they saw I ended up booking that commercial and I got to set I was playing a computer worker at my desk and I remember looking around Feeling the energy of being on set and thinking to myself danny this is it this is why you came here in the first place and look now you’re on set After this accident, you never thought it was possible.

And I told myself, give it one more chance, but really give it your all this time and focus and be determined and make this your life and see what happens. then I left that set and for months, nothing happened, then the second text message came from a random number.

It said, Hey, are you free this weekend? there’s something called a disability film challenge where they’re going to shoot a movie in a weekend. Are you free? I had no idea who the number was but I said, yes. And without even asking them who they were, I was like, yes, I’ll do it. And then on that Friday, I was talking to the director. This is what we’re doing. We write, shoot and edit a movie in a weekend.

I had no idea what I was doing, so Saturday I wake up get the script and I’m driving to the set, and in the middle of the script it says my character is sitting there naked.

I’m like, wait, what am I doing? And as soon as I parked and got to the set, the director came over, my name’s Carl, I’m the director. Listen, I know you read that part about, you’re not gonna be naked, it’s just implied, we just need you to take your shirt off. So it ended up being this really funny comedy movie about these two guys going for an apartment and I was terrified, but I got through it and I had the best time.

And then a few weeks later, we’re nominated for best film festival. I had the Hollywood story of the agent Gail Williamson coming up, giving me her card. Hey, call me. I’d like to represent you. And I’m like, what is happening? then we go into the award ceremony and we ended up winning best film.

from there the doors were open.

Alycia Anderson: Oh my God.

Danny J. Gomez: That’s how I got my agent. That’s how people started recognizing me and reaching out to me and from there, I started the acting journey I really put all my eggs in that basket and was full steam ahead.

And little by little things started happening bigger, the bigger project started, didn’t come to a few years later, but I did a lot of short films A great way to get started or to get seen is to do the Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge in April, I highly recommend that.

Alycia Anderson: Do you know Josie Scott? We’ve had her on the show.

Danny J. Gomez: Yeah. Yeah. Josie that’s how we met. I believe, through the Rollettes. She’s been doing well, her films are doing well, and a lot of people get recognized and go on to do bigger things. the first big thing that happened to me I booked a guest star in New Amsterdam.

It was on NBC at the time. I got flown out to New York for three weeks and it was an amazing role. It just showed me that I was on the right path that show was amazing because it brought disability forth and they cast disabled actors. They were all about inclusion and representation.

And that one was really like the first big credit that, I booked. It solidified to me that I was doing the right thing and that I could act.

Yeah, you need that boost confidence. You need those signs that you’re doing the right thing and that you belong there.

Alycia Anderson: I find that with speaking, I doubted myself, am I actually good enough to do this? from a speaker perspective, it’s the audience engagement and it’s the impact afterwards that you can like, it’s literally palatable.

You can see it. And yeah, those things boost you to go, Oh yeah, I’m good. I’m actually really good at this. What’s next? What a cool story. Congratulations.

Danny J. Gomez: Thank you. The crazy thing about that is it was the beginning of 2020. I flew to New York with my sister.

They brought my sister on as my aid free trip She had her own room and ended up being my biggest helper. She was like my assistant on set. When we left, she’s Danny, have you heard about this virus that’s going around? We were about to get on the plane and she gives me a mask.

I’m like, I’m not going to wear a mask. But, she’s Danny, we got to do it. So we’re the only two people on the way to New York. with masks on. On the way back, everybody had a mask on. And we got our episode in right when we left New York. The world shut down. we literally got our episode in before the quarantine.

if we had just missed it, I wouldn’t have been on the show. If it was a week earlier.

Alycia Anderson: Talk about another sign that you’re in the right place at the right time.

Danny J. Gomez: Yeah.

Alycia Anderson: So you mentioned representation. in this work. What’s the state of affairs? how are things going?

What’s the importance of it? Can you talk about it a little bit?

Danny J. Gomez: When I said that I didn’t know anything about disability being non disabled is because we learn a lot from media and what we consume and what we watch. And you don’t see a lot of disabled people on screen. You don’t see them as main characters.

If you do, they’re the depressed person in the corner. Or the super inspirational person, which those stories are still being told. But when I started acting there was in a lot of roles. And I see that now slowly, getting better, but then we’ll take a step back and cast a non disabled person in a big role it’s very, political in a sense, like big stars.

Get the big roles because movies need to make money. And a lot of the time it comes down to financial. So I’m trying to get to a point where myself and a lot of other actors, we’re trying to get to a place where we can make the finances back. I think that’s the goal because it’s important to show the world that we belong at this table and that we’re talented and that we could help productions.

Alycia Anderson: The talented piece, number one, whatever industry we’re past, Up a lot because we’re looked at as not as talented. I agree. if we see it, we believe it in our society. And when we’re not seeing it from a real perspective, it’s hard to believe it’s real. So that work that you’re doing is incredible. And what I also like about you I like that you have a play in all of it with humor and lightness and bringing, there’s a part of this that you’re allowing people to laugh and feel good and engage and be comfortable in that way.

I think that’s pretty powerful in itself.

Danny J. Gomez: I find a lot of humor. I brush things off that are really serious by finding humor in them. I wish I was better at social media, my team and my friends are like, dude, you need to be more active on social media and share your story.

My generation, I grew up not being like that. If I was in high school and I had social media, it’s a different story. I need to do more of it.

Alycia Anderson: I’ll wish we were like Cassidy So we need to find somebody that’s maybe a little bit more, right?

I’m in the same boat. you and I are probably the same age So don’t worry, you’re not alone in that. But I do think you could be out there more because you’re very interesting and you’ve got an amazing story,

Danny J. Gomez: I just have to find my niche, what I’m comfortable with and how to do it.

But I wanted to tell you a quick story when I got hurt, when they put me up into the helicopter, they, the paramedics put me in the gurney and we’re flying away I remember looking around going, Hey guys, they look at me and I go, this is my first time in a helicopter and I’m dying, but I found a way to make it like, oh, wow, this is cool.

And some guys laugh and some guys were like, oh, this is serious. But being disabled is difficult. And I’ve gone through some really awkward situations with how my body works. And in the moment, you’re like, this is miserable. But then later on, you’re like, Oh my God, let me tell you a story real quick.

Cause it’s a doozy and you can laugh at it. We’re so serious in life. Like we have to be able to look at the positive things and that’s what I’ve tried to lead with. unfortunately, like the roles that come aren’t very comedic. my first role was a veteran, and it’s very, it’s sad,

He’s fighting and those are like the type of roles I do, but there’s other roles where you’re just depressed and you want to kill yourself. And I understand that people go through that, but these aren’t the stories that we want to be told. we want to show the people who sometimes are just living their everyday lives.

Like going about their day, their disability has nothing to do with it. Because if we normalize that, then people like me who prior to my injury would be like, Oh there’s a guy in a wheelchair. There he goes. You know what I mean? It’s not Oh my God, what I do, and the second role that I booked was the big one was show called All Rise where I played a lawyer and I just rolled in, we did our case. And that was it. my disability was not mentioned one time. No one ever asked why was he in a wheelchair? he uses a wheelchair and he was doing his job.

Alycia Anderson: that reminds me, I went to Broadway to see Ali Stroker and that was my first time I’ve ever seen any Broadway. And it was so powerful for her to do the same thing, right? Like they never said anything about the disability. It was just adapted into the choreography and the show.

And that alone, that piece alone as like a disabled person was so powerful The lawyer’s rolling in. doing his job. rolling out. Nothing fancy So is that what attracted you about All of Me too? it was about love class disability and relationship, but you were who you were, can you speak to that a little bit?

Danny J. Gomez: This little play called All of Me started off as, a self tape from New York. They wanted to see me on tape and it, started off they wanted to do a small reading in New York and it was something that I was scared of.

I’m like, theater. Oh, I don’t know. But it was just a reading, literally with 30 people in this small room. I booked the reading, went to New York and that was another learning experience. And it was so different because theater, there’s a theater lingo.

And there’s a lot of things that I didn’t know that people were like, what, why are they saying that? And I was terrified. we’re just reading, literally reading off this page. But that went really well. We had a 30 person reading and it was well received I just went about my day because at that point it was just another job, just another way to make money.

You don’t ever think that things are going to go where they go. the next year, I got invited back to do another reading and it was a little bit bigger. the year after that, another reading, it was a little bit bigger. then finally the playwright won an award and this theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts called Barrington stage.

They wanted to put it on. I forget the year, but we did that there. It was right after COVID. so it might’ve been 2021. And that was a great experience. We put on the play for about a month and a half there. It’s a small town in Massachusetts, so there wasn’t a lot of press, but we had a great time and it was really well received.

And then, a few years later, they were trying to put it on the next year, but something happened. then we get an email saying, Do you want to do a Zoom reading for All of Me? I’m like, sure. The next email is, Okay, so we’re going to have an actress, her name is Kira Sedgwick, wants to be on the zoom reading that zoom reading was really interesting Kira’s on there and she really wanted just to hear her saying the words as a character and to see how she liked it.

And you could just feel the tension from the other actors I’m just sitting here like she’s a legend, right? A few months pass, we don’t hear anything, and then we finally get the email Kira is in, you’re gonna be doing Off Broadway. I never even thought theater was in my path.

But you never know what the universe sprinkles into your life sometimes, right? I had to say, this is something you had to say yes to. next, I’m in New York off Broadway in Manhattan, seeing the craziest people coming attending our show? all of me is just a story about two young people who meet, they fall in love. Their families clash because of the class aspect. And, they have to navigate their way through that. They also happen to be disabled, both of them. And they also happen to use AAC devices to speak and communicate.

but at the heart of it, it’s just any story of finding love and fighting for it.

Alycia Anderson: And how was that received by the audience? This is a rare story about two disabled people using assistive technology to communicate their families are clashing because they come from different classes.

What an amazing story. how does that change perspectives.

Danny J. Gomez: Laura Winters the writer did an amazing job of creating the story she literally created the story. This is how you do it. She’s not disabled. She wrote a story about disability. She cast, disabled actors and got their feedback.

a lot of what we went through in our life is in the story, so it makes it really authentic. Plus, she wrote about stuff that, about class and stuff that happened in her life. when we would hear about the audience’s responses, the disabled people, it touched them in a way that they saw these disabled people living their lives and finding love.

And then the non disabled people were like, Oh my God, I relate to that family member. That was my mom. we struggled like that. We talked like that around the dinner table. So it was just a universal story everyone could relate to. Madison Ferris, my co star always hates when I say education, but I’m like, we’re educating people because they see what we go through as disabled people.

we would talk about medical care and stuff like that. the non disabled people would see the play, they would like, I learned so much. I learned so much about what it’s like to be disabled, how it affects your family, how it affects a relationship.

And at the end of the day, they’re like, Oh, you’re just two people who are struggling with all the same things that we struggle. It’s just that you have a disability.

Alycia Anderson: I hope it comes back. Like I am dying to see it in person. my husband’s disabled. So when I saw the image of you too, I’m like, Oh my God, there’s a story about us off Broadway.

Is this happening? I think it’s amazing representation. And I love the inclusivity piece of the writer, director, putting her pieces of her life, your pieces of your lives intersecting them together and all these identities come together, which is what life is everybody can relate. That is such a cool story. It’s amazing.

Danny J. Gomez: It was incredible the whole team Laura Winters, the writer, Ashley Madison The director they took our stories and made it authentic, and we were on the front page of the New York Times art section.

Alycia Anderson: Wow.

Danny J. Gomez: We were on CBS Sunday morning, getting interviewed for all these papers and it was an awesome experience for sure.

Alycia Anderson: So what’s next?

Danny J. Gomez: Right now I got back and we’re post strike and we thought things were going to get busy, but it’s been pretty slow.

There’s been a handful of auditions coming in and there’s a lot of competition in the world of disabled actors, which a lot of people don’t know about. There’s a lot of talent. So don’t think just cause I’m talented and I have a great resume that there’s an another person who also does.

For me personally I’m creating my own stories. I’m working on another romantic comedy feature film. This time I’m the disabled person and the other girl is non disabled.

I’m really excited about that one because it’s going to be really funny and it’s a feature film. Hopefully by next year we’ll start filming that.

And I do have a feature film that is coming to streaming soon called Martina’s Margaritas and Murders. it’s like a comedy thriller horror movie, Very unique and quirky that should be coming out soon. And I’m just staying busy learning ASL.

Alycia Anderson: I want to thank you so much for your time. I think you’re incredible. I think the stars are the limit for you. It sounds like the universe is guiding you in every one of these beautiful opportunities. It gives us all hope that if you’re open to the universe, it’s going to lead you a little bit there.

So congratulations. I think you have made one of the biggest impacts of representation in 2024 in the disabled community and beyond. I really appreciate you giving time. We’re going to leave all of your information so everybody can follow you, hire you, all the good things.

I hope you and I stay in touch because you’re really awesome.

Danny J. Gomez: Thank you. I would love that. I have been going through a hard time because of the stuff that I’ve accomplished and sometimes you forget about those things and take them for granted, Thank you for letting me be on the show and for reminding me that, we’re doing good stuff.

Alycia Anderson: We wrap up with a pushing forward moment. Do you have a little advice, a mantra, a little nugget of something that you live by that motivates you to keep going for your dreams.

Danny J. Gomez: It’s actually on my wall. I’m looking at it right now. it’s a quote from one of the Rocky movies. my mantra is keep moving forward. I believe in not giving up. I almost gave up before my accident. just imagine where my life would have been.

So now no matter what happens, how hard it gets, I don’t give up. one of the things he says is you, me, or nobody’s going to hit as hard as life. it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

And if you don’t know it, look it up, because it really exemplifies what it is to be disabled. We get hit every day. Some people have an accident. Some people are born with it. But we are the strongest fighters.

Alycia Anderson: I love it. Thank you, Danny, so much for your time today. Thank you for our community for showing up. I know for a fact you love this episode, so I can’t wait to see you next time. And this has been Pushing Forward with Alycia. That is literally how Danny and I roll on this podcast. We’ll see you next time.