Justin Breault (pronounced “Bro”) is an American/ Canadian citizen who has led a life full of rich experiences and diversity. He began his life in Trescott, Maine and currently resides in Vancouver, Canada. Justin also attended the Atlantic Police Academy where he was Valedictorian of his class before spending 3 years in the field.
In 2006, Justin set out on a soul-searching journey which took him to Australia. During his time on the Gold Coast he decided to give some acting classes a shot. He began training at Tom McSweeney’s studio on the Warner Bros lot. At the end of 2009 Justin returned to North America and continued to develop his craft. Justin has trained with several well renowned acting coaches including Ben Ratner, Andrew McIlroy and Joe Palese.
Justin’s acting experiences include several lead roles in award winning short films, television series appearances and numerous roles in television commercials.
Justin is also a stunt actor and a certified personal trainer.
(from Justin’s IMDb file)
AN INTERVIEW WITH JUSTIN BREAULT
Louis introduces his friend. Listen to the sound clip here:
LF – Okay, so my dear friend, Justin Breault, Breault as in Bro, the ultimate Bro. The ex-police officer with a desire to become an actor from The Maritimes, Canada.
I met him at one of the Maureen Webb Project Limelight sit-downs. And then Justin and I have since ventured off onto our own friendship adventure and I consider him family at this point. He’s just one of these wonderful, beautifully hearted, soft spoken, gentle men who I adore simply because he’s kind and he’s authentic. We really have developed a strong friendship and bond. He’s someone who is kind of in the beginning of his career and his journey and reminds me of all those things that, at that point, that you have, as an actor.
The desire and the wanting and the struggle and all of that stuff, and someone who’s just tenacious in his approach, and disciplined, and so many wonderful qualities. So I can’t say enough about my friend Justin.
And we should all support him on his run with his dad when he’s out there in England, on that beautiful journey, because it’s pretty cool and it’s a great cause that he believes in and wants to support, so I’m behind him in that, obviously.
And so, without much further ado, here is the interview with Justin!
FF – Hi Justin, this is Bea from Ferreira Fest, and we’re so glad to have you with us today for this month’s interview, and let’s start by you telling us a little bit about yourself. So, who is Justin Breault, what do you do to pay the rent, and what gets you up in the morning?
JB – I am Justin Breault, I’m from the East Coast, America and Canada, I’m a dual citizen. I have been living in Vancouver for about six years. And I am in the film industry. I’ve done a lot of different jobs. I used to be a policeman. Now I work in film, I audition lots and book some work here and there.
And right now, I am very focused on trying to help raise some money for the Innocence Lost Foundation. And it’s kind of subsequent to a trip that I won, I felt karmically it was the right thing to do – to try to give back.
FF – So, that gets you up in the morning right now.
JB – Yeah, yeah, I’m very excited. I’ve been very fortunate in life, and blessed with good health and great friends, great family, and the older you get, the wiser you get. It’s just the right thing to do to try to help others when you’ve been blessed yourself.
FF – You’ve already touched a little bit on Innocence Lost, and we’ll get to that in just a second, but speaking of your many other jobs that you’ve had, and particularly the policeman past and your acting career, what is the role or project that you’re most proud of, and why?
JB – You know what, it’s kind of funny. I’m taking a little break from auditioning right now actually, something I did last year that has… Usually when you do a role, by the time it gets produced, it goes to air about three to four months later, on average… but something I did last year is actually going to air this Friday, and it’s called The Family. And the people that made the show also made Grey’s Anatomy, so it’s the biggest role I’ve booked thus far, so I’d say that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of, yeah.
So, but I mean, having said that, I will tell you sometimes things get edited out of shows, but I feel like this is pretty integral to the story, so I don’t, I cannot see that happening. But you never know, but that’s the thing I’m happiest with this far.
FF – That sounds fantastic. Let’s talk a bit about your participation in Innocence Lost. How did you get involved in this project, and why is this project so important, for you, and in general these days?
JB – About a year ago I went to a meeting just because I had some interest in this project. The people, the founder is actually involved in film as well, his name is Fazineh Keita, and I wanted to do something but I wasn’t sure yet.
And so I went to this meeting and his story really touched me. He is a surviving child soldier of the civil war that took place in Sierra Leone, and he was such a kind-hearted person, especially for what he went through. Being a person who loves stories, obviously, you know that’s why I want to be part of film, you know, I was touched by reading books and watching movies, and his story, which is a true story, really touched my heart, and he’s such a nice person, him and his girlfriend and I just really wanted to join in.
They’ve already got everything off the ground, so all I have to do is jump on board. Their story really touched my heart, I guess is the answer to your question.
FF – Right. In the grand scheme of things, why this particular project, and why do you think is it important for everybody to know about this, what’s going on there? And especially with the way that politics and world politics are shaping up these days.
JB – Aside from the political part of things, the thing that touches me about this story as well is that it involves children.
They’re at the whim of the decisions that adults make. As an adult I felt an onus to become involved with the project.
I feel that my privilege at being lucky, having been born in Canada, I feel like I owe that to other people who could use that help. And I’m in a position to do so, I felt very obliged to do so.
FF – Right, well, it’s weird, we often take that for granted that our children, for the most part, are allowed to be children. And that’s really not the case in many parts of the world where child labor is rampant and being a child conscript, for that matter, or a child soldier, it’s unfortunately the norm rather than the exception and we often don’t realize how privileged we are that we don’t have to go through these kinds of things.
JB – Absolutely.
FF – So, how can Ferreira Fest readers help?
JB – Yeah, so there’s a couple ways. On my social media, either my Instagram or my Twitter or my Facebook, there’s some links on there, there’s a Go Fund Me campaign which is over a thousand dollars right now. So you can just make a direct donation, then we’ll give you a social media shout-out saying thank you. If you are a corporation or business looking to get some advertising, we’re selling advertising on our shirt, in the race, because being the winners of this prize we’re probably going to get interviewed, as well as that the marathon is going to get some media coverage, so it’s a good opportunity for a potential sponsor to advertise on our race wear. And, so one of our sponsors is actually [Nicole Gowan of] Arbonne Canada.
And they are doing a thing for the next month, if you go to this link, 35% of all money made in the next month will go to our fund. Basically by going to my social media and following the Go Fund Me link, you can make a direct donation.
FF – Great. Once the money comes to Innocence Lost, what does the organization do with it, what do they do to actually help these children?
JB – All charities do great things but some have higher administrative costs, the money isn’t going directly to the funds because they’re such a corporation. With this, all of the money will be going directly to the cause and, because a lot of the people involved are contributing time, they have such a great plan. That’s another thing, when I went to this initial meeting, that really got me on board.
So, what they want to do is get to a million dollars, and I think they have a ten year plan to get to that point, which will build a community center and a few out buildings, [a water well, a medical clinic, a kitchen, gardens, classrooms, a computer lab and a library].
It’s basically the beginnings of a community and then to build around that. So it’s a catalyst to get to regenerate the community there.
FF – Oh, fantastic. That sounds great. Your desire to help others certainly rings a bell with all the friends of Louis Ferreira, let’s call it birds of a feather and all that, what’s in it for you, why do you do that?
JB – If, as an individual, you’re lucky enough to be born to a certain privilege you should definitely give back, we should all help one another, we’re all sharing this big world, and if you can help another person, it helps them and it makes you feel good.
It’s a little bit of a selfish thing, to be honest. It makes you feel good to help others.
FF – Oh, absolutely, absolutely. We never do anything for others without doing something for ourselves, at the same time, it goes hand in hand. We’re almost at the end here, so let’s talk a little bit about Louis and how did you meet Louis and how did you become friends?
JB – So, it was actually at a charity event. In Vancouver there’s a casting director who’s really sweet, her name’s Maureen Webb, and she has a charity called Project Limelight which helps under-privileged children in the Lower Eastside.
FF – Which is actually one of our featured charities, at Ferreira Fest, too.
JB – That’s great to hear because Maureen is such a wonderful person and she does some great things, and that’s a great thing to be backing. So, at these events they always have local actors or directors or writers or people involved in film or lots of different arts. And one night Louis was one of the people that came in. At the end of the event, he actually came up to us and started talking to us. He had a really kind, genuine heart.
And I remember, we were going to have a beer afterwards and I said, why don’t you come along. And he came and we played darts for a little while and we hung out and we really hit it off, and then I was actually headed back to Australia for a while, at the time, with a friend, and then on the way back through we went through L.A. and he said, why don’t you stop by the house. And I think that’s when the friendship really started to flourish, that was when we really spent a week together.
FF – Incidentally that’s where we met, too. For the first time.
JB – Yeah, exactly and you bought me that fantastic stack of pancakes, I really appreciate that.
FF – Best pancakes ever!
JB – Yeah, so that’s where I met Louis, and then he came back to Vancouver, he does Motive here. We started hanging out.
FF – Fantastic.
FF – So now, last question, well, at least interview-pertaining. If you could describe Louis in four words, what would they be?
JB – Genuine. Kind. Compassionate. Outrageous.
FF – Those are perfect words, Justin. Thank you so much! This is great, this was really fun.
JB – Thank you, Bea.
FF – Let’s just go over, real quick, how can people keep up with you?
JB – Yeah, through social media. I guess the best ones are Instagram or Twitter, those are the best ones.
FF – Okay.
JB – As far as everything that’s going on, if someone follows me I usually follow them right back.
FF – Great. Fantastic. So, thank you so much, Justin, for being with us for a little while today. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. And we wish you and Innocence Lost all the best. And we’ll talk to you soon.
JB – Thank you so much.
FF – Okay, bye-bye.
JB – Bye now.
Thanks to Casey for the transcript!
Photos by Justin, Bea and Innocence Lost unless noted otherwise.
Follow Justin on Twitter.
Keep up with Justin on Instagram.
Help Justin raise funds for Innocence Lost at GoFundMe!
For more information on Innocence Lost please visit the links below:
Innocence Lost Foundation Facebook
Innocence Lost Foundation Twitter
Innocence Lost Foundation Website
“Louis is also very fun! It always just starts with a walk around town (with Billie Holiday, of course!) but we always seem to find something interesting happening and interesting people to talk to. Hanging out with Louis is like hanging out with that great friend you had when you were young. You know, the one who was inquisitive and mischievous and whose energy everyone fed off. That’s Louis.”
– Justin Breault
