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  • - To me, walking upside down on all fours

  • is as easy as walking on two feet.

  • It's not scary or frightening to me in the least.

  • I've always been flexible.

  • But not just a little bit flexible, I'm really flexible.

  • Little did I know that this ability was, in fact,

  • the talent that would change my life completely.

  • I'm Troy James, and I'm a creature actor.

  • I play creatures on TV and movies

  • that move in ways that make the audience squirm.

  • My talent is that all of my joints-

  • my legs, my arms, my shoulders, my fingers-

  • they just bend however I want them to.

  • So if you need an alien, a demon, or a nonhuman creature

  • that doesn't move in the ways that normal human people do,

  • that's when you call me.

  • It looks like what I do is extremely painful.

  • Really, it doesn't hurt at all.

  • I don't know why I am as flexible as I am.

  • It's just something I was born with.

  • I'm the only one in my family

  • who can bend his arms and legs the way I do.

  • I didn't think it was that strange

  • until other kids told me it was,

  • but they weren't very nice about it.

  • And I remember being very embarrassed and I hid it away

  • because what makes you different when you're growing up

  • isn't something to be proud of.

  • I hid it for a long time.

  • But that all changed when I got a job

  • as an amusement park ride operator.

  • It was a hot day,

  • the ride was down for some reason or another,

  • the guests were getting kind of ornery,

  • and I thought, why don't I show them what I can do?

  • And I went up and down the line

  • making really cool shapes with my body, and it was a hit.

  • And that was the first time

  • I'd gotten that sort of positive reaction from other people,

  • showcasing my talent.

  • I never thought my ability

  • was anything more than a really cool party trick.

  • My friend put his camera up to me and said,

  • "Show me something cool."

  • Then he posted it on the internet,

  • and all of a sudden, my phone started ringing.

  • I started getting calls to be cast in TV shows,

  • and I didn't look back.

  • If you had told me a year ago, I was going to be an actor,

  • I would've laughed at you.

  • But after some of my performances,

  • people have told me that it's not just the way

  • I move my body that's effective, it's the acting behind it.

  • I bring a reaction to the audience.

  • I can thrill them, so to speak.

  • Coming from a place where you were ostracized

  • as I was as a child, I can bring that out as a creature.

  • It's interesting that something that I hid for so long

  • is now taking me places that I never imagined I would go.

  • I believe everyone has a super power.

  • And you may not know it's a super power,

  • but if it's something

  • that you're passionate about that makes you happy,

  • I think sharing it with the world

  • may not be such a bad idea after all.

- To me, walking upside down on all fours

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