Let It Go
Ikigai lessons from a Disney Villain
Photo by Jordhan Madec on Unsplash
You can hear the energy and passion when Santino Fontana shares his story.
If that name doesn't sound familiar you may know him as the voice of Prince Hans in Frozen. I heard his story when he gave the commencement address at my daughter's graduation.
The connection to Ikigai was his incredible drive to keep going and the multiple ways he worked to express his purpose.
He has an incredible story and for this format, I'll share he struggled for a long time to get his career going.
He finally got his break to be in a play on Broadway only to be injured when, this is no joke, a stage sandbag they use to raise and lower the curtains landed on his head.
Stage sandbags like the one that landed on Santino Fontana
They were still in rehearsals and he hadn't even been on stage once.
He had concussion syndrome and spent years recovering before getting a break by doing voice work, which of course is different from stage acting.
Here is what he said about being the unique you...
"Be limitless, definitionless. Be a pain in the ass for whoever has to write your obituary."
Santino kept going, kept looking for different ways to live out his Ikigai. The voicework led to what is likely his most famous role, the despicable Prince Hans, and opened other doors.
He ultimately made it back to Broadway and his career is now going on his own terms.
This gives me and maybe others as well the peace of mind that leaning into the ambiguity of it all is such a fruitful way to go. You never know quite how the future will unfold, so be open to whatever it looks like.