'I starred in Thunderbirds alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, now I show business leaders how to use an actor's toolkit'
In his mid 20s, Dominic Colenso flew in a spaceship in Hollywood, starring in the 2004 Thunderbirds film alongside North Yorkshire-born Sir Ben Kingsley. These days, he’s a York-based international speaker, author and communications expert, having spent ten years working as a professional actor for both screen and stage, before swapping performing for coaching.
"At the beginning of my career I was a little movie star, flying around the world signing autographs, getting chased by paparazzi and all that sort of fun stuff,” the 44-year-old says. He now works with clients across a range of industries, helping business leaders to “be more confident, increase their influence and know what to say under pressure”.
Among his latest recent projects is his recently-released book Cut-Through: The pitch and presentation playbook, designed, he says, for people that “want to know how to engage their audience”. “If people read it and follow the steps, then they're going to see real improvements in the way that they communicate in general, but more specifically in the way that they pitch and present,” he claims.
“That doesn't have to be standing on a stage delivering to hundreds of people. That's talking up in a meeting and getting your boss to understand what you've been doing on a project or structuring how you're going to ask for your pay rise or whatever it might be. There are so many of these moments in our lives where having this skill set really pays dividends.”
According to Dominic, three factors are key. Simplicity and being deliberate in conveying key messages; steering the energy of the room; and tapping into emotion. “People tend to think that logic is the most important part of a conversation,” he muses. “They think I've got to get the facts right, I've got to get the figures right, I've got to know exactly what words are going to come out of my mouth…But the way that we engage an audience is actually through their emotions.”
In his previous career, Dominic appeared in period dramas, performed in theatres including in London’s West End and directed shows throughout the country. It was an industry of highs and lows, of “feast and famine”, he admits. “One day you were on a movie set and the next day you were sitting around waiting for the phone to ring hoping that you were going to get an audition for a TV commercial.”
He draws on his storytelling experience for his work today, maintaining that an actors’ toolkit is valuable for businesses too. “I trained and worked in those arenas, but what I've been at real pains to do is try and make it applicable in the real world,” Dominic says. “No one wants to pretend to be a tree, they don't want to do some kind of daft improvisation exercise. They want to know about these tools and techniques that actors, writers, and directors use to influence and engage an audience and how they can apply those in the real world.”
- Cut-Through: The pitch and presentation playbook is out now, published by Practical Inspiration Publishing.