The Snapshot of Adam Moryto: A Life Of Mayhem, Recovery, Movies, And Fishing

Adam Moryto's journey to acting has undoubtedly been less traveled. Growing up in Canada, America's northern neighbor, he had a comfortable upbringing in many ways. His grandfather, Milos Strapec, became a Canadian lumber titan after escaping communist Czechoslovakia and learning how to speak English working at a gas station. However, on Christmas vacation when he was ten years old, Adam knew something was very wrong with him. "I remember him being unable to walk from the kitchen to the living room without sitting down to recover for at least 20 minutes. It was like he just ran a marathon, and all he did was take a couple of steps," Adam says.

A few months later, Milos died from lung cancer at age 65. But, he adds, "that messed me up for a long time. I didn't realize the trauma it had caused me until I was in my 20s battling addiction." The emotional toll it had taken on him, coupled with his family splitting up at an early age, led to the suppression of emotions and unhealthy coping strategies that continued for decades.

Quite a clever student, he achieved high marks and multiple scholastic awards in high school, even though he admits he could have tried harder. He graduated from St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario, before attending Western University, where he studied Sociology and Business. "Western was the best time of my life, or so I thought because I felt free for the first time being on my own. But I didn't realize that I was drinking and drugging myself to the point of making my prison," Adam says. "The 9-5 at Western was flipped. You started drinking at nine and didn't stop doing cocaine until five the next morning." He had one roommate battling addiction; the other, his late friend Carson ship, died tragically of an epileptic seizure.

During the rinse-repeat cycle of partying, class, bottle service, partying in style and doing the Western production of spring awakening, in which he starred as Melchior Gabor. Drunk, he managed to also act in and exec-produce the films "Pawn," "Stuck in Love," and "Amnesiac." A real test of his character happened early in his adulthood after college graduation when he suddenly came into an enviable amount of money that did him more harm than good. He developed 'imposter syndrome,' where he lived a life he felt wasn't his. During this time, he also became addicted to opiates. He confesses, "I remember taking my first Percocet in college and thinking, where has this been all my life? This is the answer. And man was I wrong."

He tells us, "opiates did much more than just numb any physical pain. All my emotional problems and stressors were relieved in an instant. If life could constantly be what it was like in that moment without any downside or consequences, everyone would be on them. But that's not how life works."

By the time he graduated from Western, he had developed a complete mental and physical addiction to Percocet. He moved into The Ritz-Carlton Toronto, and things quickly spiraled out of control. In 2015, he was taking nearly 1000 mg of oxycontin a day. He partied seven nights a week in Toronto and quickly garnered a negative reputation. His favorite spots were Amber, Early Mercy, Louis Louis, Harbour 60, ONE, Citizen, Lavelle, and The Shang Lobby. But 'fun' can be a relative term, and he thought epic enjoyment was brute misery. "Toxicity attracts toxicity. The people who hung around were takers and users, and my delusional thinking at the time was all this was cool, and I had it under control, and I could stop anytime I wanted," he explains. "It wasn't until my mother found my bottle of pills and caught me in the act that I realized I saw myself was not how everyone else saw me, and I needed serious help." And so began his sober journey through multiple detoxes and rehabs.

He tells us that withdrawing from opiates was "wishing you were dead without ever dying." Most of us can't handle a bad hangover, let alone detox from one of the most dangerous substances in the world for three weeks straight. Adam didn't sleep for four days at one point because the night tremors and bone pain were so bad. He admits that finding and working the 12-step program of alcoholics anonymous was challenging at first because of all the religious connotations associated with it. It was hard for him to separate religion and spirituality. But all he had to realize in the end was that his way wasn't working anymore, and doing what others had successfully done to achieve sobriety was what was needed. So he did deep work confronting his demons around childhood trauma, abandonment, pain, anger, and self-worth.

Since that harrowing experience, he has been sober. When asked what he attributes most to his sobriety, he says his acting, fishing, his mother Ludi, his family, and his fiancée Caitlin. "I'm fortunate to have amazing women who love me and never give up trying to help. I owe them my life."

He also praises Ethos House, a sober living in Culver City, California. He says it's a place where he learned true distress tolerance. When asked why it's different from other places, he states, "Ethos isn't ritzy or bougie. It's tough. It's all guys, you have no phone, no money, no contact with the outside world for a minimum of 30 days, and you're doing chores, writing words, sitting through feedback dinners, and going to AA meetings 16 hours a day. It's exhausting, and it works. If you can get through 30 days at Ethos, you'll be able to handle anything. They DON'T baby you there. So, toughen up and get going. I got more out of my time at Ethos than I did out of all my other places combined.

Chris Howard, the owner, tells you what you need to hear. What do you want? He's the best at analyzing people, and there's no way around it." (Find Chris on TikTok @realchrishoward). The other thing Moryto attributes to his sobriety is fishing. It's a lifelong passion that began with his grandfather taking him on glass-bottom boats in Barbados when he was a kid. He has since caught some of the rarest and most exotic fish in the ocean and has competed in numerous big-game and marlin tournaments worldwide.

In 2018, he placed 9th out of 227 competitors at the Offshore World Championship in Quepos, Costa Rica. The thing that interests him the most about fishing is the mystery. He says, "you never really know what's on the other end of your line." So he is starting his extreme fishing show targeting the rarest fish in the most remote places on earth. He wants to fish in areas where, in his words, "are barely even listed on maps and indexes."

He looks up to Jeremy Wade, host of the hit show River Monsters, and his dear friend and Canadian legend Bob Izumi for inspiration. Aside from his fishing obsession, he began acting in films "The Baker," starring Ron Perlman, Harvey Keitel, and Elias Koteas, and "The Retirement Plan," starring Nicolas Cage, which was shot during the covid pandemic in Grand Cayman.

He also co-starred in the sci-fi thriller "Littlemouth" starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Dennis Quaid, Josh Hutcherson, and David Thewlis, Arnold Schwarzenegger's new Netflix series over the summer in Toronto, and most recently in collaborator friend Rob Budreau's "Queen of Bones" starring Martin Freeman. Up next, he is in talks to co-star in a biopic about Guns N' Roses in the days before they were famous. As insane as his life used to be, it's become apparent Adam can draw from a well of experiences that not many others have had the privilege, or regret, of enduring, and they add a basic, personal level of authenticity to each performance he hopes to carry throughout his career.