The Alumni Connection – November 2024 - Brooks Indergard - Class of 2021

A star-studded film hit select theaters and Amazon Prime Video last month — and the cast list includes 22-year-old Brooks Indergard (‘21) as the young Moke Munger (played by John Brolin) who along with his brother (played by Peter Dinklage) embarks on a drama-filled road heist that threatens to lead the two to self destruction.

After graduating from Vanguard, even as the COVID-19 pandemic was still ravenging the film industry, Indergard decided to postpone college while trying to further his acting career. But it wasn’t an easy road, to say the least. He’s had to face not only the pandemic, but also film industry challenges and his own self doubt along the way.

“I think I knew that acting was what I was going to do deep down, but the uncertainty of success was daunting enough to make me doubt myself,” he said. “On the precipice of quitting, I auditioned for a role for a movie called “Brothers” that had some huge names attached.” 

Indergard said he was convinced he wouldn’t get the part. 

“But I did,” he said. “That movie is the movie that [was released] October 17, three years after I originally filmed it. Despite having this amazing credit on the horizon, I didn’t get confirmation of the movie’s release date until earlier this year, so I spent fall of 2021 to spring of 2024 wondering if it was even going to come out.” 

During that time, Indergard said he didn’t work much, waiting on this credit to come out and give him the momentum he needed to keep going, wondering if the movie would ever come out. 

“I was again faced with wondering if I was doing what was right for me,” he said. 

In January of 2023, Indergard moved to Los Angeles, hoping that doing so would energize his career, but he found more challenges instead. 

“The film industry was still recovering from the effects of COVID-19–but right after I moved there,” he said. “The industry also faced the writers’ strike and the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) strike, which meant that all productions were put on hold and no one was working.” 

Hollywood was intimidating, Indergard said. 

“I ultimately decided to call it quits in May of 202,” he said.  “Not quitting acting, but quitting LA. I returned to Texas as a blank slate, unsure of where to go. On a whim, I joined my younger sister Juliet (‘24) as she toured different colleges across the country.” 

One of these colleges was Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

“I did enjoy my time there, for the beautiful city, the friends I made,” he said, “but there was a part of me that felt that I wasn’t growing as an actor. These feelings were validated when during an end-of-year assessment, my acting teacher there told me that my time would be better spent back in LA. This was a slap in the face, but a needed one.” 

So, he moved back to LA and has  found himself having an entirely different experience than the one last year. 

“Things just had a way of clicking into place in a way that they weren’t before,” he said. “I now live there in Burbank, where I’m supposed to be, and couldn’t be happier.”

Indergard has been an actor since he was a kid.

“I played pretend a lot as a kid, as is common with most actors,” he said. “But I think it all started when I learned that I couldn’t be a superhero in real life, so I settled for wanting to be one in a movie.”.

His path since high school has been nonlinear, for sure, but

“No one’s path within the film industry looks the same,” he said. “There have been several times that I’ve thought to myself ‘This job is just so hard.’ However, I can look back and trace every time I thought it was over, only for it to work out. You can’t see it when you’re in the middle of a crisis, but looking back, the dots connect so easily, it almost seems inevitable that things work out.” 

Indergard said he’s certain this phenomena applies to life in general life.

“As cliche as it sounds, all you have to do is not give up,” he said.” If you can wire your brain to just keep going and commit even when you can’t see the finish line, you will win. You will reach that light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when,’”

Storytelling is what Indergard said he loves most about acting.

“It’s fun to dissect a story and a character’s role within it, like solving a big puzzle,” he said. “I write a lot too. I just love stories and the messages they convey. Stories have the power to change people, and I think it’s important for them to be shared, fiction or nonfiction.”

Family and community theater have played a big role in Indergard’s success, he said. His sister, Arabella, is a freshman at Vanguard.

“Growing up, I would fight with my sisters a lot, but now I’m closer with them than anyone else,” Indergard said. “I started really pursuing acting at about 12 when I auditioned for the musical “Les Miserables” at the Waco Civic Theatre, and that got my sisters into acting as well. It also got my grandfather back into acting. He had done theater when he was younger, but my entrance into it sparked a return to it for him too. My family have been my biggest supporters of my career and my journey from the start, and I am forever grateful for them and their help.”

Indergard said the film industry has seen major changes over the last four years. 

“It used to be that actors would audition for projects in person,” he said. “You would drive to a casting office, establish a rapport with the casting director, do the scene, maybe get some redirection, do the scene again, thank them and leave.” 

Since COVID-19, all auditions are online. 

“[It] is a double edged sword because it makes the industry super accessible,” he said. “However, you lose the ability to make an impression on the casting department outside of the scene, and you don’t get the chance to be redirected.” 

Indergard said the most valuable skill Vanguard instilled in him is the ability to adapt. 

“While the workload is heavy there, it taught me to be able to confront an urgent situation with confidence and focus,” he said. “So much of my career is about making changes big and small at the drop of a hat, and without the skills to ride out the waves I would cave.”

English — and specifically Sarah Lieber’s class — was one of Indergard’s favorite and best subjects, he said. 

“She was personable and conversational in every class while still teaching us what we needed to learn,” he said. “She’s one of the greats.”

Indergard’s advice to the students is: “Just be kids.” 

“You have so much time to figure out what you want,” Indergard said. “I was very fortunate to figure out what I wanted to do at a young age, but I know people my age that are still unsure of what they want now. You don’t have to have it figured out by 12, 16, 20. You are on your own clock. You are not late, you are not early, you are on the right path and it will take you where you’re meant to be.”

“Brothers” on Amazon Prime and, besides Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage, the cast includes Glenn Close, Brendan Fraser and Marisa Tomei.