Who are you?

  Woah. Loaded question. I don’t think anyone truly knows the answer to who they really are. But I’ll give it my best shot. My name is Leo Amadeus, although recently I have been experimenting with the name Luna as well. Not as a replacement name but as an additional one or a nickname. Call me Leo all you like.

Why do you have two names?

  I think you’ll find most people have at least two names. So there’s your answer.

…

Oh. I see. Well, it’s because I identify as genderfluid. Sometimes I identify very masculinely and sometimes I identify very femininely. I don’t care what you call me when, but I think it’s fun going by either Leo or Luna. Luna might get you brownie points, though. Unless you’re lactose intolerant.

So do you prefer Luna?

  Not necessarily. Depends how I’m presenting. Professionally, in marketing and credits I will be Leo Amadeus. As I said, Luna is a nickname. It’s not becoming my new name. And I do want to keep the masculine side so I can play male-presenting characters. And also this may change! It’s new. It’s exciting. Nothing lasts forever though. This could be one of those things that lasts for slightly less than forever.

Are you a boy or a girl?

  Yes, next question.

Let’s pivot to something else. What do you do for a living?

  God, not this again. I’m an actor, writer and musician.

…And do they pay you for that?

  Who is “they”??? And yes!!!

Which one are you going to choose as your career?

  Ooh, that’s a tough one. I reckon actor, writer and musician.

How do you make money?

  By actoring, writering and musicianing.

How do you really make money?

  …I teach actoring and musicianing to kids.

How do you really truly make money?

  ……By depriving myself of my wants and saving the little money that I make from teaching actoring. Also I work at T2.

Do you care what people think of you?

  Of course I do. Everyone, to some extent, cares what people think of them. Do I care if people think I look silly or do silly things? No. Do I care if people think I’m a bit weird? No. Do I care if people place false projections upon me based on incorrect assumptions and start thinking I’m something or someone that I’m not? Yeah. A bit. Do I care if people think I’m a cold-blooded murderer? Yes, because humans are all warm-blooded.

Who are your influences?

  There’s a lot of them. In my songwriting, I am very much influenced by Stephen Sondheim and Tim Minchin. They’re both lyrical geniuses. Other musicians that I have frequently listened to in my development as a composer are Sammy Rae and the Friends, Couch, Frank Sinatra, dodie, Lizzy McAlpine, Jacob Collier, Laufey, Olive Klug, Louis Armstrong, and many others that I can’t think of at the moment. In my acting, my Dad is probably my biggest inspiration, because he’s so, so, so good at acting. Although he probably disagrees with me, I think he’s one of the best actors that there are. Critics genuinely have raved about him. He was in a production of Waiting for Godot last year, and people in our city still talk about him being the best thing about it. Another actor I admire is Brendan Kelly, who was a fantastic actor, filmmaker and teacher that I have known all my life. My favourite actors to watch are David Tennant and Benedict Cumberbatch. Also any character actors (like my Dad!). In my writing and comedy, I am very much influenced by the likes of Monty Python, Lewis Carroll, Rob Sitch, Lee Mack, the entire team of Dropout (but particularly Zac Oyama, Jess McKenna, Erika Ishii, Anna Garcia, Jacob Wysocki, Vic Michaelis, and at this point I’m just going to be listing everyone…), and many others.

What is your ultimate goal in life?

  My ultimate goal in life is to eat as many pistachios as I can.

Really?

  No. Of course not. That would be ridiculous, someone else can do that. My ultimate goal in life is to have fun in a way that is safe and healthy, and to drag as many people along for the ride as possible.

Really?

  Yes, really. I’m not going to try and fake you out twice in a row.

Do you like what you do?

  Nah, I’m going to give up everything and become a baker.

What?!

  Just kidding. I’m going to be an insurance lawyer.

Surely you’re kidding.

  Yes, I am kidding, and don’t call me Shirley. Yes, I did shamelessly steal that joke. Of course I like what I do. I pour my heart and soul into music and performing. I am going to spend the rest of my life doing this. That’s right, the next two years are all performance-focused, baby!

Why do you make art?

  Psh, who knows? It’s a mystery. Why does anyone do anything? And who says it’s art? Are we just calling anything art these days?

Are you worried about people finding out about your sexuality or gender identity?

  No. People can fucking deal with it. As someone who just experienced their first proper harassment today by a total stranger, I can say that while yes, it is scary for a man twice my age to offer me a can of beer to get me in the “right mindset” to suck him off (while we were on a bus surrounded by people, mind you!), with the classic “you know you want it” bullshit, that’s not what I’m going to focus on. Nor am I going to focus on the fact that none of the other people on the bus bothered to say anything or try to intervene with this clearly older man attempting to prey on someone who looks a little bit different. Nor am I going to focus on the fact that my mother would be horrified if she ever read this and would try to convince me to take it down, as she does whenever I post or make something even vaguely objectionable or personal, no matter how seething with irony or important to me it is (see The Marvellous Cafe, You’re As Sweet as My Coffee, So Many Boys, That’s Absurd!, I Just Wanna Be Pretty). I am going to focus on making who I am more acceptable and recognised as a real thing in society.

That sounds like a big deal.

  It shouldn’t be.

What was These Past Few Years about?

  Me. Didn’t you listen to it? If you want to know the story, it was just about me learning more about myself and who I am. There’s a subplot about suicide. But really, it’s not that deep. It’s actually quite shallow because I sucked at songwriting compared to my ability now. Just you wait for the release of Just A Little Bit Mad.

What was That’s Absurd! about?

  Hell if I know. It’s all a bit of a fever dream, now. I’m pretty sure a lot of the jokes are stolen and the bit about AI sort of aged really badly. The whole AI thing has since been blown waaaay out of proportion since I wrote it and now the scene doesn’t make much sense at all. Not that anything in that film made any sense, anyway.

What are your plans for the future?

  Immediate plans? Release Just A Little Bit Mad. There’s a week until I have to get it done because I need to make sure it’s all ready for processing and distributing and whatnot. Near future? Sydney comedy festival. I’ve got a one-person show to write featuring all of my comedy songs. Also planning to do a series of comedy sketches. Distant future? One-person musical featuring only a singer and the piano accordion. A suite of choir pieces. A horror short film. That’s Absurd! 2 (shhh!!). Many years down the line, a remaster of These Past Few Years. Super-duper distant future? Die.

Final question. What are you going to do right now?

  Post this and then sleep. Goodnight.