Courtesy of IMDb

Despite now mostly working as a writer, Mandell has acted in various productions — most recently, he starred in the self-written one-man-show “It’s a Phase” in 2022.

More than a decade after graduating from Saratoga High, Class of ‘11 alumnus David Mandell was starting to settle into his acting and writing career in Los Angeles.

While the COVID-19 pandemic upended plans for countless others in Hollywood, Mandell reached new heights. He was signed onto two major projects with massive studios; in late 2022, he wrote and starred in an original one-man show, which he planned to transform into a limited series.

But less than a year later, a historic 6-month-long double-strike in Hollywood turned his world upside-down: Projects going smoothly were suddenly in turnaround — being sold to other studios after productions stalled. Mandell, like many other entertainers, found himself out of work for two and a half years. 

As he struggled to maintain the momentum his career had found, Mandell eventually found himself embarking on a journey of self-discovery to re-evaluate his goals, passion and identity.

These days, Mandell is jumpstarting his career once again, with projects slated for the coming summer. In an interview with The Falcon, he discussed his journey through the world of film and television and what the future holds for his work.

From speech captain and drum major to actor, director and writer

When Mandell graduated from Redwood Middle School, he was afraid that he had peaked in life. While pop culture and those around him told him that middle school was supposed to be the worst time of his life, he had loved it and found himself wondering if life could get any better.

Luckily, his four years at SHS proved him wrong. In particular, Mandell recalls moments like sneaking off with his friends to bungee-jump in Switzerland during the music department’s tour through Europe and performing in Carnegie Hall with the school’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble as some of the most formative experiences of his life. 

He was deeply involved in speech and debate, marching band, ASB and theater, making countless memories during his time in high school despite remaining studious — he described himself as a “square” who never showed up to parties. 

During his senior year, he took his lifelong passion for acting further than ever, performing the two-man play “The Woman in Black” with his best friend, Jay Lee, another successful alum who would go on to star in shows like “CSI: Vegas” and “Looking for Alaska.” The two went on to be roommates at the University of Southern California (USC). 

As a self-described narcissist, Mandell found acting as a way to revel in the attention of others; more importantly, in his journey to discovering his own identity, acting was an easy way to perform while staying true to himself.

“When you’re becoming someone else and [the audience] rejects you, it’s at least not yourself that’s getting rejected,” Mandell said. “It’s this version that you’re putting forward. Weirdly, that’s what got me into it, but then the love for the craft is what made me stay.”

After graduating in 2011, Mandell attended USC to study acting and continue the journey he had started in high school. However, he quickly realized that being an actor meant auditioning for roles that were often few and far between, so he turned to writing as a way to have a more sustainable career. Soon, he fell in love with the craft, discovering that writing allowed him to express himself in even more ways than acting could. 

Although he doesn’t conform to any genre within his writing, Mandell finds that he particularly likes exploring complex characters, tackling the aspects of the human psyche beyond the binary of good and evil.

He likens a lot of his film scripts to those of writer and director Charlie Kaufman, whom he holds as an inspiration alongside others, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Russell T. Davies and Michaela Coel.

“The ability to have a singular voice, especially as a writer and performer, is such a rare and special gift,” Mandell said. “To be able to embody something like that is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Unfortunately for Mandell, being a writer didn’t translate immediately into more work or a bump in his pay. While he continued to explore his passion, he held odd jobs such as working at Starbucks, driving for Uber, working at Disneyland and even becoming a TMZ bus tour guide as he lived paycheck to paycheck in his LA apartment.

Between his first project, a short film he wrote, produced and starred in as a senior in college, and the major works he would eventually sign onto, Mandell wrote and directed a number of short films. Despite not launching him into the spotlight, these projects were crucial learning opportunities.

“It was making great art with friends that I enjoyed spending time with. I’m very proud of all of the projects that we’ve done,” he said. “Obviously I hoped something would lead to more jobs, but eventually we got to where we needed to be.”

For Mandell, “where we needed to be” included the success he saw in the coming years. 

By October 2020, while the pandemic was forcing other film projects into stasis, Mandell had $20,000 between him and his best friend Monet Clayton to buy the rights to adapt “Every Note Played,” a best-selling novel by Lisa Genova. Soon, the project was acquired by a major film studio, had a director attached and was set to star Oscar-winners Angelina Jolie and Christoph Waltz.

In December 2020, Mandell was leading yet another project — Amazon’s limited-series adaptation of Bill Konigsberg’s novel “The Bridge” — as an executive producer and writer.

But for Mandell, the most important project he pursued during this time was an original one-man show, titled “It’s a Phase,” which he wrote and performed in November at the Dynasty Typewriter in LA. Directed by Mandell’s close friend Jack Tynan, the dark comedy explores a man’s sexual reawakening and how people shield their true selves through a variety of masks.

“It felt like being a kid again with a ball, just hanging out and playing,” Mandell said. “It was just so fulfilling to bring this to life — it was such a personal piece of mine.”

Mandell planned on adapting the show for TV and taking it to the market, looking forward to his blossoming professional career. But months later, a joint strike between SAG-AFTRA and WGA — the actors’ and writers’ unions — put all of those aspirations on hold. Whether they emerge as viable projects in the future is anyone’s guess. 

Staying afloat in a struggling industry

With his scheduled projects stalling and the momentum of his career coming to a halt, Mandell realized that finding work would be nearly impossible. After two years of trying to hold on, including participating in the strikes, he moved back to his parents’ house in Saratoga last year to make ends meet financially. 

While staying at his childhood home, Mandell came to terms with the turbulence that had rocked his career. He understood that there were factors out of his control that would inevitably determine his success — no matter how hard he worked, luck and timing could make or break his plans. 

And even though he continued to chase a vision of that success, he realized that each goal he achieved would only be met with another one further away. Without an end to his pursuits, he shifted his focus toward the journey rather than the destination, saying: “I’m here for the craft — the extraneous success that could or could not come is gonna be out of my control.”

So he turned back to his craft, choosing to share his story with the rest of the world. Writing on the online blogging platform Medium, he shared all of his recent experiences — both the highs and the lows — for others to read.

“It’s always scary to show your true nature to people, because you never know how they’re gonna react,” Mandell said. “But once you take a breath and put it out there, you just have to surrender and say: ‘take it or leave it.’”

He continued to save money, eventually moving back to LA in late 2024 with a new mindset and new goals. 

Even though the city was met with devastating wildfires, which only compounded the chaos of the film industry, Mandell persisted — his schedule now includes a movie set to be filmed this summer in Portland and another at the beginning of 2026.

Looking back on his time in high school and college, Mandell wishes he had focused less on fulfilling his mimetic desire — the urge to conform to others’ perceptions of oneself.

“No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to control how people perceive you, so stop trying to become someone you think other people want,” Mandell said. “Until we find authenticity, we’ll never be who we truly are and never be happy.”