From Marine Corps to the big screen, how a Beaverton veteran found his path to acting

Published 1:45 am Sunday, November 10, 2024

(BEAVERTON) — When Jeremiah Washburn joined the U.S. Marine Corps, he didn’t think he’d make a career of it. But after more than two decades in two branches, he’s proved his past self wrong.

Washburn joined the Marine Corps in 1993 and originally planned to serve for four years and then use education assistance from the G.I. Bill to study acting at Portland State University. His four years came and went, and he realized he missed being in the infantry — leading to his 24-year career in the U.S. Army National Guard. He deployed twice each to Iraq and Afghanistan and did three of his four deployments during a four-year period.

“I think the biggest thing I learned was leadership,” he said. “The things about leadership are: surround yourself with good people and take care of your people regardless.”

At the end of his career, he spent time in a program to help him transition out of service, where he taught ROTC students at PSU. Through this role, he got involved in the Telling Project program, which asks veterans to tell their stories onstage. His participation in the show ended up being a pivotal moment that would set him on his second career path.

“If I hadn’t been teaching ROTC, I would have never ended up in that show, which kind of reignited my original plan in life,” he said. “That’s how I ended up in this whole acting thing.”

A friend Washburn made through the Telling Project introduced him to his agent, and his acting career jolted ahead from there. He booked a commercial for the Oregon Lottery, appeared in a music video for the Foo Fighters and played a role in the television series “Grimm”.

That friend is now a co-owner of Washburn’s production company — Enfilade Entertainment.

“Enfilade is one of the four types of machine gun fire with respect to the target,” he said. “There’s frontal fire, flanking fire, oblique fire and enfilade fire, and enfilade fire is the most effective and best type of machine gun fire with respect to the target.”

He said he looks up to creators like Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh (and has complex feelings about David Mamet).

“Those are the four horsemen of my writing, the kind of stuff that I looked up to in terms of storytelling and narratives and definitely dialogue,” he said.

He’s also developing a feature film that will be filmed in Aloha. It’s a feel-good comedy with a hero’s arch set in a game story, he said.

“I was in theater class for sophomore through senior year, and it was something I really enjoyed doing, and it felt natural,” he said. “But then somewhere along the line, I just kind of fell in love with doing the infantry thing and ended up taking this weird route back to acting.”

Washburn has some initial words of caution for those considering joining the military today.

“I know every Viking, every Dane has to make his own fortune,” he said. “But this is not the … time I would want my kid joining the military.”

It’s a personal reality for Washburn, whose own son is now in the process of enlisting. So, for those who have their mind set on a career in the armed forces, he advises taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves.

“Even if you have no interest in ever going to school, make sure you’re enrolled in the G.I. Bill,” he said. “Go to every school you can, volunteer for everything you can, learn as much as you can in the first enlistment because you never know if one day you’re going to make a career out of this, and it’s best to get all of that upfront.”

That initiative made Washburn’s career and brought him to where he is today.

“I was not going to be a lifer,” he said. “I made it almost three decades. You never know.”

Community: Beaverton/Aloha

Service branch: U.S. Marine Corps and Army National Guard

Rank: First Sergeant

Years of service: 1993-2020

“I think the biggest thing I learned was leadership. The things about leadership are: surround yourself with good people and take care of your people regardless.”

— Jeremiah Washburn

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