Flanery plays Mickey in Born a Champion, and his performance was hailed as “transformative” by Digital Journal, and the film was praised as “riveting.” “It was a joy,” he said. “I wrote that back in 2007, and it’s a testament to how much I wanted this done. I am grateful that I got the opportunity to do this.”
“Born a Champion is arguably one of the most important things that I’ve ever done in my life,” he added. “There were comfortable measures of blood, sweat, and tears in this film.”
He had nothing but great remarks about working with director and writer Alex Ranarivelo. “Alex was wonderful. The whole process was great,” he said. “I worked with so many amazing people such as Reno Wilson, Katrina Bowden, Maurice Compte, and Dennis Quaid. They all just delivered stellar performances.”
“As an actor, you try your best to surround yourself with other great, incredibly talented actors since they make you shine,” he added. “A lot of things went right in putting these puzzle pieces together.”
Particularly impressive about Born a Champion is that it features both of his real-life sons (Charlie and Porter) in it. “They had their acting debut and their retirement, all in one film,” he said. “This will go down as one of the most special moments for me since I was able to include my family in this movie. This was very close to my heart. To have them with me on set was nothing short of amazing. It will always be a highlight of my career since the entire family did a movie together and my boys saw it happen for the first time.”
“This film is so important to me as a legacy. It’s a film that I want to leave behind and give to my kids,” he added. “I want my kids to look back and say ‘hey, my dad made this’. I hope it translates to other people as well.”
In the high-octane Lady Driver, directed by Shaun Paul Piccinino, he played Tim Lansing opposite Grace Van Dien who starred as Ellie Lansing. “One of my favorite people, Shaun Paul Piccinino, directed that and he is a great dude. Also, I think you are going to see Grace Van Dien everywhere,” he predicted. “I think Grace is a huge star coming up.”
Flanery also starred as Kane in Acceleration opposite Natalie Burn as Rhona and Chuck Liddell as Hannibal. “Natalie was great. I’ve been friends with her for a while,” he admitted. “I loved playing Kane in it.”
He also recalled his acting work at Ty Garrett in The Bay, where he starred opposite Eric Nelsen as his on-screen son, Daniel. “I had a great time doing that. I would do that every day if I could. What a great cast,” he said. “Two of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on were The Bay and The Young and The Restless, where I played Sam Gibson.”
Flanery won the 2019 Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Guest Performer in a Digital Daytime Drama Series” for his acting performance in The Bay.
He defined the word success as “significance.” “If you’ve achieved significance, then you’ve lived a life worth remembering and that’s my goal,” he said. “I would like to be significant in my kids’ lives and my wife’s life. I want to leave behind a better version or a couple of better versions.”
Born a Champion is available on Amazon Prime Video. “I hope everybody gives it a shot and gives it a watch. It has a message that truly comes from my heart. I put everything I have in this film,” he said. “If they do give it a shot, I hope they reach out to me on social media and let me know what they think of it. I would love to hear their thoughts about it.”
For more information on Sean Patrick Flanery, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
