12 Burning Questions with Max Burkholder

Max Burkholder knows what kind of movie his life would be right now, but it probably isn’t the one you’d expect.

The actor, who grew up on screen in Parenthood and now appears in Ted, has a way of making the ordinary feel oddly revealing. A childhood memory becomes a key. A favorite piece of media becomes a worldview. A small decision becomes a second life. Even the things he admits reluctantly, the habits, the obsessions, the private rituals, start to sketch a person who has spent a long time being watched and is still figuring out what parts of himself are best understood off-camera.

For American Studies, Burkholder answered our questions about growing up, getting older, the media that shaped him, and the strange little details that make a life feel lived-in.

1. If someone watched your life right now as a film, what would they think it’s about? 

They’d think it was a little bit about ennui, a little bit about equanimity, a little bit about friendship, and a lot about trying to make various different kinds of large batch stew dishes from around the world. Right now it’s African Groundnut Stew. I’m not very good yet. 

3. What’s something from your childhood that still quietly shapes how you move through the world? 

I think it was observing my grandpa growing up. He was a heart surgeon and always supremely devoted to his work and his patients, but no one in the family ever questioned his love or dedication to us either. Something in his bearing that’s hard to match that I want to emulate. 

4. What’s a piece of media (movie, show, song) that feels like it raised you a little? 

One Piece! The manga, not the anime. It started serialization three months before I was born, and it’s still going on (mostly) weekly releases. I started reading it when I was about ⅘ years old, and I’m always waiting for the next chapter. It also informed a lot of my leftist sensibilities, which shouldn’t come as that much of a shock to people who follow the story. 

5. If someone wanted to understand you through one memory, what would you show them? 

I’m not sure about “understanding” me per se, but the single memory I would show someone if I got a chance would be when my grandpa took me to a golden retriever breeder when I was probably around 7 years old. I got to run around acres of forest with 10+ golden retrievers who were all bigger than me. Bliss. 

6. What kind of kid were you when no adults were around? 

I worked as a series regular on Parenthood from 10-17 while also going to school on the off days. There were never “no adults around” to be honest. The time I could carve out to be by myself would be spent with my head in a book or plugged in to a video game. 

7. What’s a small decision you made that ended up quietly changing your life? 

Deciding to audition for plays in college. I had never done live performance before and wasn’t sure if it would be for me, but I fell in love with it immediately. 

8. When did you last surprise yourself? 

Did a fucking awesome cartwheel in the park today. Legitimately. 

9. What are you avoiding that you know would actually move things forward? 

A writing practice. It’s soooooooo tough it’s like pulling teeth. But what little I have written I’m proud of and want to take further.  

11. If someone followed you around for a week, what would they learn about you that you’d never say out loud? 

How much dried mango I eat. How little I listen to music (almost never, I know I’m a psychopath). How stupid the baby voice I use for my dog is when we’re alone. 

12. What was the first important item of physical media that you owned? 

Pokemon leafgreen for the GBA. 

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