LOS ANGELES — It’s the last thing his dad ever wrote him, and the first thing he reads every day. Written on a post-it hanging in his bathroom: “Love you forever. Dad.”

“We don’t have a lot of time. It’s scary because we take it for granted. I used to. But not anymore,” Eric Olsson said. 

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When Olsson’s dad died of cancer about six months ago, his whole perspective on life – and acting - changed. 

“I think so many people come to L.A. with ideas of winning an award. The journey is the most important part for me. Nothing is guaranteed,” he said. 

For him that means staying process-oriented not just goal-oriented. 

“I want to become the best actor I’m capable of becoming. Using that to service stories that can serve our communities and the world and have an affect on humanity I don’t know if other forms of art can,” he said. 

Its why he wanted to become an actor – to bring people together. The same way him producing a play two years brought his whole family together – the day before his dad told him he had cancer.      

And so to become the best actor he can be, he reads - a lot.

He truly studies his craft of acting –sitting at his desk reading for hours every single day. As he studies to grow as an actor, he is also a filmmaker - editing trailers for movies and shooting documentaries.

He is living, breathing filmmaking every day. That includes constant meetings with his agent, always in his dad’s leather jacket, ready..in case that role of a lifetime comes.

“It’s like coming off the bench. Are you warm or are you not? I know so many actors who sit around and don’t actively keep their instrument warm. They are expecting to get work,” he said. 

But even if it doesn’t come - the journey is his Hollywood dream. 

“I wake up every morning and pinch myself. I live in L.A., I’m studying acting, I’m healthy. I make a living doing something I don’t hate,” he said. 

And he knows up in heaven...

“He'd be proud,” he said. 

Olsson feels the love…from the last thing his dad wrote him – and the last thing he reads every day.