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Off Camera with Sam Jones

Sam Jones

Off Camera is a podcast hosted by photographer/director Sam Jones, who created the show out of his passion for the long form conversational interview, and as a way to share his conversations with a myriad of artists, actors, musicians, directors, skateboarders, photographers, and writers that pique his interest. Because the best conversations happen Off Camera.

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20 episodes
Avg 1 hr 6 min
English

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#6
Nov 24, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
Ep. 6 Tony Hawk (first aired Nov. 25, 2013)
If pro skateboarders have resumes, Tony Hawk’s is undoubtedly among the longest and most envied. Though he’s the most decorated skater ever with the highest contest win percentage of any sport and a $1 billion video game series, Hawk has arguably given more to the sport than he’s received. Watching Hawk skate is testament to creativity and artistry as much as athleticism, as is his autobiography, which required a glossary to catalog the tricks that are his legacy to the skateboarding lexicon. Hi
#5
Nov 21, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min
Ep. 5 Robert Downey Jr.
ORIGINALLY AIRED NOV 24, 2013 For an actor who has starred almost simultaneously in three of today's biggest action blockbusters, Robert Downey Jr. is an unlikely hero, though his journey from an early run of flops and personal troubles to the Iron Man franchise has been epic. The very human RDJ goes beyond that well-chronicled ride and talks to Off Camera about lessons learned over his long career, why he's both skeptical and enamored of his art, and his ability to bring mass-market aspects to
#4
Nov 20, 2025 · 1 hr 28 min
Ep. 4 Aimee Mann
ORIGINALLY AIRED DECEMBER 2013 A wall of bad presidents, German lessons, and touring on her own terms: this is what happens when the artist whose reputation was defined by fighting with her record label doesn't need a record label anymore. Aimee talks about her approach to song craft, her obsession with comedians, and her early days as a reluctant video star.
#3
Nov 19, 2025 · 1 hr 8 min
Ep. 3 Blake Mills
ORIGINALLY AIRED NOV. 22, 2013. At 26, guitarist/producer/ songwriter Blake Mills has racked up what would constitute a lifetime of career experience for any musician. The low-key virtuoso has worked with Band Of Horses, Lucinda Williams, Conor Oberst, Fiona Apple, Kid Rock, Nora Jones and Danger Mouse. Mills discusses his musical influences, how music is changing for performers and fans today, and making the personal universal with his gripping solo album, Break Mirrors.
#2
Nov 18, 2025 · 1 hr 33 min
Ep. 2 John Krasinski
ORIGINALLY AIRED NOV. 15, 2013. Walking out of a college basketball practice might have been the smartest career move John Krasinski ever made. On the cusp of leaving his show The Office behind for the unknown, Krasinski discusses his surprisingly accomplished resume, co-writing his newest film with Matt Damon, and what not to say to George Clooney.
#1
Nov 18, 2025 · 53 min
Ep 1. Val McCallum
Whether or not you’ve heard of Val McCallum, you’ve heard him play the guitar. He discovered the instrument at age eight and hung on to it for dear life through some tough twists and turns to become one of today’s most in-demand studio musicians.Val talks about growing up in a famous family, his experiences backing many of the industry’s most iconic musicians, and why it took him 30 years to release his first-ever solo record.
#220
Dec 31, 2020 · 1 hr 3 min
Ep 52.5. Sam Jones 1
Producer Chris Moore puts Sam Jones in the hot seat!
#220
Dec 17, 2020 · 1 hr 5 min
Ep 133. Danai Gurira
The talented and worldly Danai Gurira has been bridging the gap between disparate worlds ever since her family moved from Grinnell, IA to Africa when she was a toddler. In school, the self-described Zimerican (Zimbabwean-American) was the “African kid with a twangy American accent” who got along with everybody regardless of race and class. That ability to cross borders both artistic and geographic has defined Danai’s career. On the blockbuster side, Danai inhabits the character of Okoye in the
#220
Dec 10, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
Ep 7. Dave Grohl
Being a bona fide badass is the price of entry for a career in rock and roll; and if you ask Dave Grohl, it’s the key ingredient for just about anything worth doing. His approach to life has fueled the Foo Fighters’ 20 year,11 album career and garnered him a following of very stoked rock fans, many of who gathered at this year’s SXSW music conference to hear Grohl’s keynote address. The hipsters, rockers, start-uppers and next-big-thing developers packing the room were no doubt curious to hear
#220
Dec 3, 2020 · 1 hr 3 min
Ep 156. Awkwafina
Awkwafina (also known as Nora Lum) is having quite a moment. She’s a part of the impressive cast of female icons (Sandra Bullock, Rihanna, Cate Blanchett, and more) in Ocean’s 8, and she’s so hilarious in Crazy Rich Asians that you’ll barely hear her next line over the sound of your own laughter. What does this moment in the spotlight feel like? Awkwafina likens it to this: “I compare it to a wall opening up and transporting you to an alternate dimension where there is no gravity, and everything
#220
Nov 26, 2020 · 1 hr
Ep 140. John Goodman
John Goodman wasn’t always the imposing presence he is today, but he’s always had his charisma. As an eighth grader in Missouri, John charmed the “hard guys” in school with a spot-on Gomer Pyle impression so they would protect him. As he explains, “I was a little fat kid. I had the glasses with the tape in the middle. I was nerdy, man.” Heavily influenced by Marlon Brando and captivated by the language of Shakespeare, John discovered his dream to become an actor and left the Midwest to make it
#220
Nov 19, 2020 · 1 hr 4 min
Ep 50. Aubrey Plaza
When the notoriously poker-faced Aubrey Plaza says that she’s wanted to be an actor since she was 13 and thus isn’t surprised it’s happening, or that perhaps the universe responded to her acting daydreams, you have to wonder, does she really mean that? Understandably, Aubrey Plaza used to hate the word “deadpan,” as associated as it’s become with the detached, almost unreadable delivery she’s cultivated as characters like Julie Powers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Darius in Safety Not Guarant
#220
Nov 12, 2020 · 59 min
Ep 134. Common
Common is a man who is anything but, and he’s been evolving as an artist since the start of his three-decade-and-counting career when he was a young musician rapping about his love for hip-hop. These days, in addition to being a Grammy-winning artist, Common is an established actor, known for his work on AMC’s Hell on Wheels and films like American Gangster, Selma, and Just Wright. Common is what you’d call a conscious artist—someone who uses his platform to encourage social and political chang
#220
Nov 5, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
Ep 25. Jessica Chastain
What does it take to feel confident that you’ve made it in Hollywood? “Coming from nowhere with no connections” and going almost overnight to A-list status with leads in a string of the most highly acclaimed films in recent history would do the trick. So would a modest but steely belief that acting is what you’re meant to do, and always will do. Jessica Chastain wasn’t always certain of her path, but she never questioned her destination. That helps when you find yourself going to audition after
#220
Oct 29, 2020 · 1 hr 1 min
Ep 46. Joseph Gordon-Levitt
One of best ways to enter and appreciate the original, prolific brain of Joseph Gordon-Levitt is through the lens of hitRECord, the open, collaborative production company he founded in 2005, and one of the most creative and inspiring uses of the Internet ever. Its nearly 100,000 members submit projects – films, stories, songs, drawings, you name it – for other members to edit, build on and evolve. Gordon-Levitt credits directing short films on hitRECord with teaching him what he needed to know
#220
Oct 22, 2020 · 59 min
Ep 72. Mindy Kaling
Much has been made–justifiably so–about the anemic diversity represented in film and television, most problematically when roles originally written for people of color are rewritten for white actors. So consider if you will the concept of a 5’ 4” woman of Indian descent writing and playing the part of a famously strapping white male actor – in 2002, no less. The off-Broadway play (that would be Matt & Ben, in case you were wondering) hardly seems like the breakout opportunity of a lifetime for a
#220
Oct 15, 2020 · 58 min
Ep 96. Courteney Cox
So no one told her life was going to be this way. Except Friends director Jimmy Burrows, who took Courteney Cox and her fellow cast members to dinner in Vegas, telling them to enjoy the last time they'd ever be able to go out together in public without causing total pandemonium. For Cox, who never had a master plan, it was the start of what was arguably the most successful 18-year run on series television, after which some actors might welcome a break and a margarita or two. Others might freak o
#220
Oct 8, 2020 · 1 hr 5 min
Ep 168. Matt Damon 2
For those of you watching this week’s Off Camera episode, do not adjust your sets…that is me sitting across from Matt, humiliatingly dressed head to toe in a Red Sox uniform, having lost a bet to Matt when my beloved Dodgers lost in the world series for the second year in a row. And for those of you listening or reading, well, just imagine my shame. For as long as Matt Damon can remember, he wanted to be an actor. So much so that he started his college essay with those very words. But before al
#220
Oct 1, 2020 · 57 min
Ep 164. Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s first true love was the ballet, but her body had other plans, and she grew a bit too tall for the grande jeté. Luckily, her favorite parts about ballet—performing, telling a story, playing different characters—are all essential tenets of acting, and Mary found herself in love anew. Her early experiences acting reinforced her love of the craft, but as she got older, she struggled to find her artistic place in an industry where women are often saddled with objectificatio
#220
Sep 24, 2020 · 1 hr 21 min
Ep 89. David Oyelowo
David Oyelowo has a favorite phrase from St. Francis of Assisi. “Preach the gospel, and every now and again use words.” You could see why. One of the most remarkably talented film and stage actors working today, he employs words to stunning effect, but it’s between syllables that one sees his real power. There’s something in his being that telegraphs a certain dignity, a deep human awareness and an underlying joy that he seems incapable of turning off, on screen or in person. “He’s kind of an am

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