Les Weiler

Writer, Actor, Host, theunstuckcreative.com

Austin

When Les Weiler was a kid in Paris, Texas, he wanted desperately to be a Disney animator. That path looked impossible from the vantage point of the mid-80s, and that dream mellowed. By the end of high school, he just wanted to "paint weird stuff." It felt expected that he would starve at that, so he quickly jumped toward anything half-artsy yet also respectable. Playing it safe lead him to graphic design work. Les graduated UT Austin with a degree in painting, but always hewed closer to the office than the studio. Over those years, he did some video game graphics, some websites, and several logos of questionable merit... anything but real art that might reveal his real self. He helped publish one friend's comic book, helped write screenplays with another, but did little that was both truly artistic and truly him. After 14 years providing graphics and pre-press services at a salaried office job, Les was a miserable worker-bee. He gathered up everything in his 401k, had a heart-to-heart with his partners, and stepped away. For a year, he tried to pretend he wanted to do freelance graphic design. He did not. After getting his confidence in order, he got serious about writing. Now, Les splits time between a work-from-home tech support job, podcasting, voice-acting roles, volunteer work and screenwriting. He's finally excited to have his life.