My TED Talk on Misha Collins
It would be the simplest thing in the world for @mishacollins to have a comfortable and private life as a successful actor.
But that’s not who he is.
photo by : Light Grace Media
It would be the simplest thing in the world for @mishacollins to have a comfortable and private life as a successful actor.
But that’s not who he is.
The AIM of his position as a celebrity is, and always has been, to help others. He’s said so many times and he lives it every day.
In case anyone didn’t already know it, Misha started acting professionally relatively late. He did it as a creative hobby, and was surprised to find success. His lifelong ambition was not “fame.” It was politics. He got a degree in Social Theory and interned at the White House. Despite not finding it a good fit, because it didn’t represent the real-world change he dreamed of, let me reiterate. He earned an internship at the WHITE HOUSE under Clinton. Do you understand how competitive that would have been? What it represented about his passion and skill?
So Misha decides not to pursue politics because it doesn’t feel like he can do enough good there. When this hobby of acting actually starts paying the bills, he changes tack. He gets ambitious there, based on the idea that if he has a voice as a public figure, he can make change.
He has spoken openly about all of this, many, many times. Look it up. It’s all there. He has shared his history, shared intimate truths about his past. He has lived below the poverty line. He has been homeless himself, in his childhood. He is now more successful than people could ever hope to be, and the driving force behind his success is entirely based in the chance to have a big enough platform to facilitate change in a hands-on way. He’s a fantastic actor, but in bald terms, it’s a vehicle for his activism. Misha is probably - I’m not doing the specific math - responsible for the saving of more actual lives than any celebrity in history. Top ten for sure. His efforts are tireless, vast, and FULFILLED. He has put into place REAL change, from inception to execution, in countless ways.
And it’s never just one thing, one pet project.
It’s everything.
It never stops.
It’d be a great honor for most people to achieve the kind of change he does ONCE, on a project. ONE school built. ONE forest saved. ONE family housed.
It’s his life.
It’s his blood and guts and soul.
Misha’s impact on the world around him is so fascinating and unusual and positive that I followed him on social, as a human being, for YEARS before I ever even saw one episode of SPN. But he doesn’t need this credit from me - or from anyone - because that’s not why he does it. At JIB, Jared told us that Misha had a 501©(3) registered before even starting on Supernatural - Misha corrected him and said it was right after, but that’s the impression of him that people closest to him have. That’s where his head is at. That’s why he’s here.
Misha is entirely accessible. No airs and graces. He gets his hands dirty and puts his money where his mouth is. He speaks out about what he believes without any concern for public image, and uses his pedestal to enact the change he wants to see in the world.
The man spends every waking hour dedicated to being proactive about something. If it’s not charity, it’s community. If it’s not community, it’s craft. He does not know the meaning of idle, and he seems dedicated to sharing this connectedness of the world with his children.
Nobody on this planet is perfect, but if anyone could find fault with the way Misha chooses to direct his energy, I’d be taking a very long look at how they themselves choose to live and what good they’ve put into the world. Somewhere, Misha is probably picking up their slack.
If Misha wants attention drawn to something, you better believe that even the silliest publicity stunt has a higher purpose, whether it’s for a charitable cause, or personal development and interconnectivity. He puts himself out there and pushes people because he has that power. His mind is blown wide open. He grows forests from the seeds of possibility. He uses his pedestal to pull others up and steps down from it just as often. He’s an inspiration to anyone whose life he touches in any capacity.
He’s a hero, and history is going to remember him thusly.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
This was taken from Natalie Fisher’s thread on twitter x with permission x. As stated in her Twitter bio, Natalie Fisher is a writer for @Hypable and host of @NATWPodcast.
