Phil Valentine has worn a lot of hats over the years. He’s worked in just about every capacity in show business you can imagine, both behind the camera and in front of it, all across the U.S. Valentine has been ...
Casting Directors can certainly tell if you’re serious about acting. Your audition is one of the most important steps in your career. There are many layers of auditioning — there are in-person appointments and cattle calls, self-tapes and group auditions. ...
So let’s talk self-taped auditions. The ability to make a good self-taped audition will affect your Acting Career from Now till the End of Time! These days, with the proliferation of high-speed internet, not to mention the fact that everyone carries ...
As every seasoned actor knows, there’s nothing like learning by doing. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to learn how to do: you can read all the books in the world, you can take all the classes, you can watch ...
As with any job, frustration is a big part of show business. Being an agent comes with many frustrations, but one of the most under-the-radar frustrations is when a client forgets to book out. Booking out is when you tell ...
From wrestling alligators to casting “The Truman Show,” “Contact,” and “Birdcage,” Jacoby has seen it all As actors, we all know about the challenges we face when it comes to casting. But have you ever really considered the challenges faced ...
Often when we think of the acting business, especially the Hollywood variety, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking everyone is completely self-obsessed. Sometimes it seems like it’s all “me, me, me,” with everyone only thinking about their ...
Most anyone who had the opportunity to learn something about acting when they were a kid would agree: there is no experience in the world that can match it. For helping a youngster gain confidence, meet new friends, learn valuable ...
Auditions are a mysterious beast. If you talk with any five casting directors, you’ll get five different takes on what makes a great audition: It’s a job interview. Be professional. No, it’s more like joining a family. Be warm. No, ...
“What I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.” – Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills in “Taken” (2009) When ...
If there’s one thing that becomes abundantly clear after you’ve been around the acting business for a while it’s that no two roads are identical. Everyone from MFAs to people who stumbled into the business after giving a best-man speech ...
We’re all aware of the great collaborations that seem to crop up again and again when it comes to acting, directing, and creating in general: Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart, Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. ...
Every one of us who is a professional or aspiring actor has had those auditions where we just felt off. You can do everything perfectly in technical terms – rehearse, get a good night’s sleep, get there early and be ...
We all know the feeling. Every actor who has ever set foot on stage or stood in front of a camera, no matter how big a star they are, no matter how talented they are, every single one of us ...
“Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art, be it acting, writing, painting, or living itself, which is the greatest art of all.” – Ray Bradbury It’s difficult to explain to one’s non-actor friends just what a weird tight-wire act we ...
“I’d love to be a diva. But I’d then have to send so many apology notes for my abhorrent behavior.” –Amy Adams We talk all the time about what we are striving toward as actors and performers, how to present ...
There is a great deal of mystery that goes into the process of acting, a great deal of unknowable connection and subjective emotions and hard-to-explain technique that can often be seen, but which are difficult to quantify. All this, as ...
There’s nothing like that feeling when you walk out of an audition feeling great, knowing in your bones that you killed it. You remembered the lines, you were funny and charming with the casting team, they laughed at your stupid ...
Technology is king, let’s face it. And barring some massive disaster that launches us all into some Mad Max-type post-apocalyptic dystopia in which we can’t access our Instagram accounts (my GOD, think of the CHILDREN!) tech is here to stay. ...
“I remember that Jack Lemmon, who is one of my favorite actors of all time, says that the day he stops being nervous is the day he should leave the business.” –Kim Basinger Let’s be honest: acting is a very ...