Los Angeles based super model Jimmy Thomas recently granted a rare interview for the benefit of you, my blog readers. Born and raised in Plymouth Massachusettes, Jimmy studied architecture at college before moving to Tampa, Florida where he worked for the largest architecture firm in the state and studied Kenpo Karate. In 1998 Jimmy began his modeling career. From commercial print, retail ads, catalogs & magazines, he worked with companies such as Tommy Hilfiger, Dillard's, Disney, Sports Authority, & many fitness magazines. Selected Mr. Romance Cover Model in 2002 and appearing on numerous book covers opened other opportunities. In the spring of 2003 Jimmy relocated to Europe to entertain as "Extreme Bartender" and performer where he traveled extensively until his return to the states in 2006. He now lives and works in L.A. teaching personal fitness, weight training, kick boxing and self defense as well as employing his architectural talents to the benefit of third world development. His spanking new website featuring exquisite photographs ready for use on the bookcover of your dreams was recently launched. You can visit it at http://www.romancenovelcovers.com or Jimmy on http://www.jimmythomas.com
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What drew you to architecture as a course of study and how has your multifaceted modeling/fitness activities enhanced or detracted from this career pursuit? My father owned his own construction company, so I grew up building, designing and constructing, it was in my blood. So in high school, when you choose your elective classes, I chose woodworking and drafting of course and got straight A+'s in them, so when it came time for college I didn't have a LOVE/DESIRE for anything particular, so I went with the safe choice; architecture, to see if it was what I wanted to pursue. After college I worked for the largest architecture firm in FL (largest franchised architecture firm in the country) for 4 years and left as their Senior Designer with 2 awards of 'Best Designer' and went on to freelance. However, I felt it more to be a laborious type job, and my passions grew for martial arts and body building/sculpting during my time at the firm and thereafter. So I then got certified as a National Academy of Sports Medicine Personal Trainer, started fitness modeling, picked up agency after agency, booked shoot after shoot, magazine after magazine, until now... where I still do all the above :) Architecture is not my passion. My desires change every few years, and as my mind grows, I get more interested and involved with so many more ideas and projects, and can't let any of them go, so I work on all of them. It can get rather overwhelming, but I LOVE being busy, and each thing I do leads me to another :)
Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten? What are your ultimate goals? Five? Being self-branded and a household name, already banking it and living very comfortably to be able to easily pursue my other passions and new ones to come. Ten? Twice as well as five ;)
What is the most important thing in life? Your life? Other’s lives? Happiness! My happiness! Other's being happy! :)
Of all the places you have traveled, which is most interesting? Which the best place to live and why? Traveled to? Venice, Italy! It was absolutely GORGEOUS there! It is literally impossible to take a bad photo in Venice. I don't care if you dropped your camera and it went off accidentally... it would still be a great shot! ;) Then Egypt, for the fact that it's EGYPT! :) The pyramids are amazing! The size, the labor behind them, all the enormous temples created; Abu Simbel, Valley of the Dead, etc. Then there's Rome! The coliseum was incredible to walk through. You could actually feel what it was like in there back then! As far as living? Southern California! I love the weather here! The weather in Hawaii is better, and the landscape and vegetation in Hawaii is far more impressive as I love the forest/jungle, but to live? By far, out of everywhere I've been and lived, I love living in Southern California. San Diego is beautiful! And L.A. is where it's all happening for anything you want to do or pursue! :)
What about sport and fitness is important in your life/others lives? Being and staying healthy, active and fit is my lifestyle, and should be everyone's. It keeps you motivated, energized, uplifted, strong physically and mentally, emotionally secure and gives you great confidence in yourself in all ways of life. I'm walking proof as I've been living this lifestyle for the past 25 years! (did I just date myself? ;)).
Do you find physical good looks to be more an asset or a hindrance? In what ways? How important is beauty? Is your eye for it standard or do you have your own definition? For what? For modeling, an asset of course ;) A hindrance? Never. The only problems would be that women typically think you're arrogant, self absorbed and a player, as I guess from what they say, most good-looking men are. But hey, you have to take the good and the bad with everything, accept it, and make it work for you :) How important is beauty? It's important to the self esteem/ego (conscious awareness), as society has caused it to be, but beauty is always in the eye of the holder. My eye for beauty in photography I feel is pristine. Not sure if it's from my 11 years of modeling, or from the way I view life without boundaries, which allows me to see everything as it is and not have my perception clouded or swayed by individual things in a photograph that most focus on, thinking that those individual things make the image great, when in reality it's the subconscious that picks up on shapes, angles, colors and proportions that make an image in whole a great, marketable image. Just like how I listen to why someone says something, not what they say, as well as why someone does something, not what they do, as there is a reason behind everything, and the reason is the truth, not the facade.
What would you change about your life if you could? Not a single thing. I am who I am and I am where I'm supposed to be for a reason. We grow and learn from everything in life; good times and bad. The hard times, difficult times, tough times, and unexpected times are the times that teach you the most. They tests you to dig deep, use the tools that were provided to us, and reach that holes' edge way above that looks unattainable. When times are smooth sailing, that means it's time to get adventurous and try something new and challenge yourself ;)
What wouldn’t you give up for anything? I wouldn't give up anything. I have zero regrets, would never wish for a single thing to be different in my life, whether past, preset or future, as I wouldn't be who I am, or where I am, today if any one thing was different. My life will present itself to me day by day, and I will take it, embrace it, and ride it out with passion, drive, and determination to improve, help others, and be happy.
What is the most rewarding thing about modeling? About personal training? About martial arts? About architectural design? About inventing? About writing? To help others and give to others. Everything I do revolves around making others happy, helping others, teaching others, while also making myself happy, helping myself learn and grow by teaching myself while I teach others.
Who/What inspires you and why? I've never had a hero or someone I looked up to or followed. I've always been myself and have done what I've always wanted to do, because I've wanted to do it. I take after my father with my creativeness, strong mind, and a go get em' attitude, so my father would be the only one who has inspired me.
If you had to limit your energies to just one of the many areas in which you are involved, which would it be, and why? Wow, you may have stumped me, lol. That's a tough one, which is the same tough question that eats away at me everyday, as all my ideas/creations, inventions, concepts, businesses that I'm working on I love! Each one needs so much more attention, which has me feeling bad when I'm working on any one of them, because I'm more focused on the ones I'm not working on, lol.... Seriously, I'm trying to pick one and I honestly can't! If any one of them weren't a GREAT idea, I wouldn't waste a minute pursuing it.
What advise would you give to up-and-coming models? Don't think that just because you get a few photographs taken of yourself, that you are now a model. Until you get paid for being shot, you are an aspiring model, which is when you need to work hard and pursue, pursue, pursue, think, make contacts, network, self-market, don't expect agencies to make you into a working model. While you're aspiring, think of it as being in college. You won't make a lot of money while in college, a little here and there, but you'll do a lot for free, which is gaining you experience, a network, referrals, a portfolio and a resume, which is what gets you in the door when you graduate and hand them your degree/resume. A casting director at CBS Studios during a Toyota commercial audition I tried out for, saw my resume and said "Wow! You have a bigger resume than God!" THAT impresses directors, clients, producers, photographers, ANYBODY! Now do they know how much I was paid for any of those jobs? Imagine if I did them all for free? It's the final result that wins in the end... what I call "The WOW factor" ;)
Do you think you are or others find you intimidating? Why or why not? Yes, because I'm told so, lol. I don't see why though.
Who do you admire and why? Anyone who works hard at a passion of theirs. Not at a job they are told or simply paid to do, but something they love, want, desire, crave, live and breathe the thought of it becoming real. Let me share with you my favorite quotes that I've collected over time from hearing them in movies, or reading them somewhere, and I show these at the end of my signature in my emails for all to see and hopefully inspire:
"Don't think you are, know you are" - Laurence Fishburne, The Matrix
"Nothing is real unless you believe in who you are" - Sylvester Stallone, Rocky III
"It's the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you" - Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Theologian Pierre Tielhard de Chardin
"Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will learn." - Chinese proverb
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." - Bruce Lee
"If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always be what you've always been." - T.J. Jakes
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” – Paolo Coelho, The Alchemist
"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"One who lacks courage to start has already finished" - Unknown Author
When you are eighty, what do you hope to be able to look back upon and smile? First of all, I never look back, always forward ;) unless it is to smile about something, which is everything about my life. There isn't one thing that outweighs another in my life, everything has been equally important to mold me into who I am today, and who I will be when I'm 80 :)
Of all the photo shoots, videos, commercials and promotional activities you have done, which was the most important? Most enjoyable? Why? The most important one? The first one :) It's what gave me the acceptance in the modeling industry to tell me "I can do this" :) The most enjoyable one? Are you kidding me, I've now shot with 70 female models for 90 portfolio 'sensual couple' shoots and you have to ask me what has been most enjoyable? Lol, need I answer that one? You saw my live cover shoot at RT in Orlando right?... enough said ;)
What do you hope to be your legacy? I don't know yet. I'll get back to you when I'm a grown up and things slow down ;)
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Thanks so much for sharing a bit of yourself with us, Jimmy!
