Stay ConnectedBeing an artist can feel lonely. We want to remind everyone that we’re all dealing with the same ups and downs. We’re all uniquely the same. We’re all MISMO.
Join actors, writers, and producers Mick Torres and Ashley Argota Torres as they talk about navigating their many endeavors while raising their son.
Copyright: © Mick Torres & Ashley Argota
We pulled questions out of the Bali High hat again, and the first one was a big one: how do you separate your worth from your work?
We get into it from the start:
- what we'd tell our younger selves
- the boundaries that protect our family time
- Mick retiring after nine years as Emcee of Burroughs on Broadway
- the worst career advice we ever got
- the comparison trap Mick finally climbed out of (hi, Tom Holland)
- making strong choices with thin sides
- what we wish we'd known about contracts
- how we think about juggling multiple income streams as a creative family
Got a question for the hat? Send it our way on Instagram.
New Mismo every other Monday.
Big dreams, a two-year-old, and a whole lot of no's. We get honest about the friendships this season is costing us, the theater and improv we've let go of, and the lifers who get it anyway. Plus a dislocated kneecap during Le Dindon, a zero-rehearsal Stranger Things put-in that led to a best friendship with Mathenee Treco, and our new HERNEST table.
We're trying something new this week — a Q&A episode pulled straight from the hat. Residuals and SAG-AFTRA pensions, protecting couple time as business partners and parents, audition habits that used to work against us, roles we've turned down, comedy vs. drama prep, and how we decide what gets our time. Plus a recap of our 5-year anniversary trip to Yosemite.
Send us your questions for next time!
Cortez burned his fleet so retreat wasn't an option. Michael Jordan packed one suit to Game 6. This week we'rasking whether "burn the ships" — the ultimate no-plan-B business philosophy — actually holds up for actors, parents, or anyone trying to build something with real stakes attached. We talk audition psychology, the 12-month rule, the year Ashley "scorched earth"-ed her way into a string of bookings, and end up at the zoo watching our toddler make his own risk-assessment call on a flight of stairs. Married actors, real marriage, real business talk.
This week's fit check gets honest — Ashley on falling out of motivation (and the psychology of why it happens), the story behind her wood-anniversary golf clubs, Michael's accidental takeover of the family's golf habit, and Mick's dislocated pinky toe, Hyrox sign-up, and overhead press PR chase. 💛
LA production is down almost 50% since 2022 — but this isn't another stats episode. It's about what happens when the job isn't down the street anymore. Ashley and Mick talk through the real, hypothetical logistics of booking a pilot out of town: preschool, training clients, local hire rules, per diem, and the actual math of deciding if a job is worth the distance. Plus: what filming Bali High in LA meant for them as new parents, and the financial reality of what it actually looks like to "book a pilot." ♥
New studio, new chapter. Mick and Ashley take the podcast into their living room for the first time — literally — with a full multi-cam setup, a couch upgrade courtesy of HERNEST, and our first Mismo guest of this version of the pod. :)
With new listeners joining all the time, they take this episode to properly reintroduce themselves: how they met, how Mismo Productions came to be, and where their acting careers actually stand right now — messy, unresolved, and still very much in progress. Plus: rapid-fire questions on their relationship, parenthood, and their creative partnership, and a first look at Mismo's (four-legged) team member.
Are acting classes actually worth it? Mick thinks yes. Ashley thinks… it’s complicated. Two working actors, one honest conversation about how to keep growing when the jobs aren’t there — and what Bali High taught them that no classroom ever could.
For five seasons, Mick's take was: skip school, get your headshots, get on set. Now, with more distance from USC's School of Theater - and a clearer view of what longevity in this industry actually requires - he's not so sure.
In this episode, Mick and Ashley revisit the theater school debate: what it gave him, what it didn't, and why the tools for the long game often look useless until they aren't.
Plus: they open with 12 minutes of NBA playoff chaos because Lakers + Knicks season is not a drill.
Back in February, we told you 2026 was our year. This week, the honest update: it's been slow. Really slow.
We get into what a slowdown actually looks like for two working actors who are also raising a kid, finishing a feature film, running a production company, and working day jobs. The existential "is it me or is it the industry?" question, Ashley's spiral about whether babies are bad for your acting career, Mick's brutally honest take on financial stability and why he doesn't trust Hollywood, and why the only way you actually lose is if you quit.
If you're in a slow season, this one's for you.
New episodes every Monday.
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