Name: Thor Sigurdsson
Major: Screen Acting
Year: Freshman
Hometown: Encinitas, CA
Why did you choose to come to Chapman?
Ninth and tenth grade I was really set on doing a music major, so I was looking at schools based on that. It was hard because I wanted to do a singer-songwriter thing. A lot of musical programs would make you do guitar and pick classical or jazz, or if you choose vocal, you do classical or opera, and that’s not really what I was looking for. My friends were going up to Chapman, so my mom and I went with them. This was one of our first college tours, when I was in tenth grade. We go to the music building, and it’s really classical oriented. I didn’t really get too good a feel for it, and my mom says “why don’t we go just check out the theater department?” I had been doing theater for a long time, so we quickly ran over to the theater department, and I immediately fell in love with it. Chapman as a school through its theater program is what made me want to study acting in college. Chapman is the thing that made me realize that, so that’s really cool.
Are you in any clubs?
I just joined Surf Club, so I haven’t gone surfing with them yet, but I’m hoping to do that. Trestles, a world-renowned surfing spot, is only like 30 minutes away, so that’s exciting.
What kind of music do you like to listen to?
I really like either indie folk music, or if you know Chet Faker, that type of folk singing with more electronic beats with it.
What instruments can you play?
I can play guitar, bass, and ukulele.
What inspires you to write music?
Usually it’s just whatever’s going on at the time like if something’s upsetting happening. Or if something really great happens. I visited my dad over break, he lives in Iceland, and I hadn’t seen him in six months and it was nice to see him and I was really happy about that and through that I wrote a song.
Are you more focused on acting or music?
I’m trying to do both. A creative producer got in touch with me and is trying to help me figure things out for my music, but it’s hard because I’m a college student as well. Right now, I’m working mainly on the platform of Instagram, creating content, and generating a following. For acting, I’m going to start auditioning for senior thesis films and APs, whatever I can get my hands on.
Describe one memorable experience from acting or music.
It was junior year and we were doing Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, and I was the lead in it. It was opening night and we finished school around noon, and all my friends were going to go surf. I love surfing and surfed competitively in high school. They all went surfing and I asked my theater director if I could go, and she thought it was a great idea. I called my mom and she wasn’t sure it was a good idea because before a performance, I really just check out. I’m usually at home, in my room, until I have to go be there, just so that I can calm down and not stress out. I said I’ll be fine, I really want to go do this. We go surfing and the waves are a lot bigger than I was expecting them to be, but that was fine. I was duck diving under a wave, but someone was on the wave, and as I came up, they basically went over me with their board, and it split my head open. I’m in the middle of the water, waving my friends down, but none of them see me. I take a wave in, laying on my board. I went to the nearest person and asked to use their phone and call my mom and tell her I need to be taken to the ER because I just split my head open. So we go to the ER, and I get three or four staples in my head, and then go straight from there to the show. So it was pretty crazy.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
If everything works out, I’d love to have a career with both music and acting. This is a broad comparison, but Jared Leto is the singer of 30 Seconds to Mars, but he’s also an amazing actor. It’s possible; it’s hard, but that would be the dream: to have a music career and acting and have them both separately.
Be sure to check out Thor’s music on his Instagram @thorsigurdssonmusic.