We have found 19,308 posts across 4 actor forums:
UK union rules that self tapes for first auditions be no longer than two scenes by FicusWaititree • last post Aug 18th
There's also a rule about giving an actor more time to submit a self tape based on the length of the material. With self tapes being the norm these days, does anyone else have feelings about getting 4 scene self tape auditions? Comments? Opinions?
Film Studios in Toronto by No-Acanthisitta-3979 • last post Aug 18th
Hi everyone! I would love to know if you have any recommendations for actors looking for work at studios in Toronto with little experience. I am based in Michigan and about 5 hours from Toronto.
Can I turn down this audition? Do I look like a diva? by Regular_Geologist • last post Aug 18th
Hello! For some context, I am an Asian American actor. My agent has sent me an audition with attached sides that I find degrading and racist. The scene features a Chinese waiter (I'm not Chinese), and he sings Deck The Halls written in the script (verbatim) "and now I sing American Christmas song for you... deck the hall with bough of holly fa ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra" It is not sitting right with me at all, but I don't want to be labeled as hard to work with. The portal where I get auditions will not allow a decline without specifying a reason. Help?
How come for a long time in the USA, TV acting was seen as trash and acting in a TV gig for even a single season can greatly damage a rising star's career? Despite the fact throughout the world, TV actors successfully transfer to primarily cinema and movi by LizTaylorLover • last post Aug 18th
It seems an echoed belief on the internet that TV was seen as the backwaters of the entertainment and that only the losers of the acting industry go to TV. That it was backup for former movie stars whose careers were stagnating, the last spot for people who could not launch a career in film and live theatre, and the starting point for people with minimal, if no prior professional acting experience, esp children. And that for a long time acting on TV was so hilariously bad and that the gap with the acting of movies was very very wide. That the best TV actors were terrible if they tried feature length films or even just made for TV movies. And that the reason George Clooney was so significant to film history was that he was the first actor who came from a TV background to make it as a full time cinema actor in real Hollywood production and not just B movie roles as well as the biggest example of someone who made it to the top of the A List from the small screen............ However someone sent me a PM in response to a post on /r/Buffy I participated in. >Saw your comments along with others about SMG not having a great career post-Buffy and how she attempted Hollywoods s well as comments on Boreanaz trying movies out..... So I had to send this. >A lot of old Telenovelas (in particular from Mexico and Argentina) had a lot of movie stars acting in them including a few A listers in the Latin America region and British TV even earlier than the Charlie's Angels day had some top actors star in it (esp since it seems in the UK there is no dividing line between TV, live theater, and cinema as there seems to be in North America)........ >I mean Timothy Dalton was the leading Shakespearan actor for a time in his career (not to mention he later became James Bond!) and he gives a phenomenal performance in the 1980s Jane Eyre TV show, giving the best Rochester ever and god even relative unknowns like Anthony Higgins gives outstanding performances in various BBC roles (just go watch The Eagle of the Ninth which is available in full). Higgins and other primary TV actors have no problem getting good careers in cinema even if they did not make the A list and actually do both full time with some adding live theater in between. >Don't get me started on nationally produced TV outside of the West such as Japan's Samurai epics and the various stuff that are government sponsored in Turkey even around the same time The Brady Bunch was running. The acting is Oscar worthy and A Listers in the countries were given roles. >Even strictly TV actors in many countries where there is a big gap in quality (esp writing) have acted in serious movie roles and gave great performances even being at B and sometimes D list act and its more common before the 90s to see TV actors outside of English speaking counties to become full time movie stars or even A Listers..... >I mean did you know Salma Hayek started out in the 80s as Telenovela actress before moving onto Dusk Till Dawn when she immigrated to the USA? It seems she and her fellow co-stars on these cheap productions had no problems moving onto to cinema full time and actually dd a mix of both serious films and soap opera TV. >And indeed many Latinas who immigrated to the USA in recent years and are now popular as move stars such as Ana De La Reguera all stared as popular Telenovela stars before moving primarily to cinema in their own country just like Salma did (though they still continued acting on TV shows before immigrating to the USA as seen with La Reguera). I responded with a and he pointed me to an another conversation. https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/lam5cn/do_live_action_tv_actors_in_particular_ongoing/glqrd8y/ >I'm 37 years old and can remember when television used to show stuff from before I was born quite regularly. I'm also in the middle of watching a series from 1991 called GBH and the acting in it is quite excellent. >Every era has "good" and "bad" acting. Nonetheless, I am suggesting that proceeding on the premise that the past was bad based on literally the worst shows on television from one culture only is extremely faulty. >Your responses strike me as fairly ignorant of anything beyond your immediate context, so let me help you out. In Britain and Europe, we actually have a much longer history of producing quality television than the USA. In Germany there is Heimat, Berlin Alexanderplatz, World on a Wire, and even network shows like Tatort. Britain has had countless, including its full Shakespeare revival from 78-85 and multiple 'TV play' strands, where the best writers from theatre and television would work with the best actors and directors that would go on to fame in cinema (Loach, Greengrass, Watkins, Clarke, Leigh, Frears, Kotcheff, Apted, Joffe, Ove). Poland produced Dekalog for approximately $10k per episode and it absolutely kills anything made today on practically every level. >If you want to argue that American network television has improved in some measure then go ahead, but that doesn't speak for the world. Personally I don't see a whole lot of difference between something like The Blacklist or Chicago Med and their antecedents in network crime and hospital dramas of yore, save the superficial aspects of technologically-enhanced production, the method of shooting and the era-specific conventions in performance style. Ultimately they're soapy, kitsch, and shot according to the standard rules (30 degree rule, 180 degree rule) of television shooting. So I really have to ask....... Richard Burton not only acted in a few American TV films but miniseries was some of the main work he did in the UK after his rocky relationship with Liz (see my username!). Despite that, he was able to easily be casted in movies anytime he auditioned and he still remained a pick for more serious roles. Acting on TV at all did not hurt his movie career (even if he was already past his prime while he was doing TV stuff). It as just seen as another day's work according to his diaries in the same way he continued live theater productions to pay the bills. So I'd have to ask. In addition to the two quoted texts examples and Richard Burton how come America had such a gigantic divide between TV and movies and even theatre before the 2000s? While in the rest of the world since the advent of Television in their specific countries, A Listers continue doing all 3 throughout their career and TV stars transition to primarily cinema all the time and even small time TV esp on genres seen as trash like teen soap operas and action superhero monster of the week act in real movies released in theaters and not just cheap daytime made-for-tv films and VHS B Movie releases? I mean since I got the PM as a result of chatting on /r/Buffy one of the lead stars of the show Anthony Head (Giles in Buffy) had done stageplays and or the bulk of his career actually acted in movies including serious roles and genres back in the UK for much o his acting resume before he came to America in 1997. His actual fame in the UK is not Buffy but a few BBC shows including Doctor Who and some local commercials. Compare that to the rest of Buffy's main cast who were small time TV extras and support or models or even outright nobodies aside from Sarah Michelle Gellar herself and maybe Seth Green for the later seasons. And except for Anthony Head, Seth Green, Dave Boreanaz and Alyson Hannigan they all practically struggled to have vibrant acting careers after Buffy (some of them like James Marsters focusing on endeavors outside of acting to continue their career elsewhere). So I really have to ask this obsession of divide before HBO kicked off TV standards with The Sopranos? Even high budget production miniseries are not exempt from this in the pre-90s US TV industry. Aside from Peter O'Toole a lot of high budget production miniseries had to settle for full time movie actors who weren't on the A List or import British actors in. Perfect example is North and South which despite its cinema level production values settled for people who are still unknowns like James Read and had half the main cast as British actors. Even the mos famous name Patrick Swayze was seen mostly as a borderline twee B movie and proper Hollywood productions at the time. Why did America stratify the TV and movie industry as well as stage plays? How come in the rest of the world even you have top bill local names like Toshiro Mifune and De La Reguera acting on TV alongside cinema and live stage performances? How come TV acting was seen as something harmful to someone who is still at the early stages of his career in North American industries while for example in the UK small TV gigs and even doing full time acting on a few seasons is seen as nothing significant by itself in the UK and is done all the time by full time professional no-name movie actor swell beyond the B list and had done serious movies as well as full-time Shakespearan actors? How come someone can do full time TV actin in a Latin American country for about yet transition to the A List no problem in not only their own country but even abroad? As seen with Salma Hayek (i was just shy of 10 years of her entry into acting via Telenovelas when she did Dusk Till Dawn and overnight catapulted into the A List of Hollywood)? Or even smaller names like Ana De La Reguera quickly entered primarily cinema profession without much difficulty in as little as 5 years after doing nothing but TV stuff? Seeing how in the rest of the world it seems a systematic pattern that TV actors later on become movie actors and a noteworthy amount of A listers had their start on TV as well as country's top names doing a mix of film stage plays and television, why was North America the oddjob in this, creating a real divide between TV and cinema (and cinema and live theatre as well I might add)? George Clooney's successful jump to full time movie actor and making it as an AAA list actor seems less impressive when you have guys like Ricky Gervais doing feature films released in theatres and Ian Mckellan juggling in TV,Theatre, and film productions and in at least 2 or 3 years of his career doing a mix of all 3 within a single year. So I have to ask why people jumping Clooney style to Hollywood was almost unheard off before 1995 and even today its still difficult to make the jump full time in the USA contrasted to the rest of the world?
Internet with Voice Actor Charles Martinet Voice of Super Mario by NintendoAcademyMike • last post Aug 18th
20’s Japanese/Viet Actor looking for an agent in LA by da_vinhcee • last post Aug 18th
Hi I’m a 20’s Japanese/Viet Actor looking for representative to audition for Netflix Japanese Series Live Action. I’ve lead only in Student Films, but hopefully receive an opportunity to audition for this project that I’m extremely passionate about, as well as fit the character description. Anybody with an agent that could help reach out would be greatly appreciated.
Hey all! I've been making an animated Dnd show on youtube and was thinking of doing a trailer for it. Looking for voice actors to do the narration, (PAID) by Raghavarumugam • last post Aug 18th
Has anyone here gone into an agent/ agent’s assistant role? What is it like and what do you do? by hxllywd • last post Aug 18th
I have a few friends who are also actors and have been applying to work at an actors agency. Has anyone here made that transition, and if so what is it like?
Why are the paths to becoming a professional voice actor so limited? by mayo-clinicy • last post Aug 17th
If you want any real professional work you have to go through an agency, so if you’re starting out that leaves you with ccc, acx, fiver which is apparently looked down upon by some agents, and some pay to play sites. I wish there were more options for open auditions to various projects
MOVIE VOICE-OVER!! 2021 WHO IS HE?! by marisoldrama • last post Aug 17th
WHO IS THE VOICEOVER announcer in 2021? I've been trying to figure out who this actor is? It's a super deep male-sounding voice. He's the voice movie commercials in 2021. He currently has multiple spots for movie commercial trailers on TV for HBO MAX + In Theater's movie promos. Here: Toward the end. 0:45 seconds [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktvCS7QaHk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktvCS7QaHk) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DBwMEhYLg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3DBwMEhYLg) ​ I want to know mainly because I love movie voice trailers, but I can't seem to identify this actor's voice for announcing movie commercials.
What deems someone a ‘professional actor?’ by MCKtheMan • last post Aug 17th
I’ve seen people, both in and out of the arts, define professionals differently. My mother says I’d be a professional if it was my main source of income. I always assumed that a professional was someone who was trained and/or has no issue knowing what to do when handed a script or is in rehearsal/on set. What do you guys think?
Scared I have to quit the business simply because of self-tape turn around times? by iluye1 • last post Aug 17th
Okay, so I feel like I have a really unique situation... I'm with a top tier management company in LA... a very recognizable one. I'm not a series regular or making crazy residuals on anything (yet), I work a day job while auditioning. That being said, I have to tape 3-4 times a week, for series regular roles or leads on films. Every single audition I get is 8-12+ pages of dialogue. I just signed with this manager a couple of months ago, but I've had reps before this for years. It was the same situation, the majority of what I auditioned for was all for series regulars or similar, but I have NEVER experienced the audition turn around being as fast as it is! The caliber of auditions I get is incredible, but... for example... I received 12 pages of dialogue last night at 8pm and it's due tomorrow at 9am. That's just a little over 24 hour turn-around time, and I had to work today.. (my rent depends on it). It has to be done in a British accent (I am American). I wouldn't have time to hire a dialect coach if I tried. This isnt an every-once-in-awhile thing for me, this is 3 or 4 times *weekly* where this much dialogue is due virtually overnight. I don't have time to work to pay a single bill anymore, I don't have time to sleep or to go to the doctor's or do anything with my life, really. What happened to productions easing up on us due to Covid? It has never been this bad. I dont want to complain about these opportunities, but my acting is really suffering from this. I don't have the luxury of being on one show, dealing with one character, not having to factor in my side job(s). I am struggling so hard to balance my life... I've been sick for a couple weeks but too afraid to go to the clinic because it will cut into trying to learn lines. I'm not sure how *any* actor is making this work? I'm scared to broach this subject with my manager, just because I think 90% of her other clients are series regulars already. None of them are having to work in unrelated industries to pay their bills, nor are they getting as many auditions as I am since they're contracted to shows already. She's at a top company like I mentioned... so I'm scared she just won't understand and drop me. Is there any advice you all would be able to give me? What would you do in this situation?
How to make creative choices by cryoncue • last post Aug 17th
Below is a piece I wrote that inspired a lot of conversation about making creative, strong choices. Let me know what you think. ============================= Why I was such a cruel prick “I never paint what is. I only paint what I imagine could be.” Degas Want to know how to fully explore your character - and dare to make choices that feel uncomfortable...even possibly get you in trouble - so you can DISCOVER the true ESSENCE of your character? Here’s the dealio, YOUR imagination is one of the best ways to ILLUMINATE the TRUTH of the character. The reason why your imagination is so important is because too often actors get stuck working from their “rational brain.” And what that means is...you’re not working from your instincts. Here’s the real truth: your rational brain stifles your creativity and forces you into making GENERIC and PEDESTRIAN choices. I remember having an audition for a violently abusive husband on a short lived ABC series. Anyway, once I walked into the casting office, I was told the audition would be an improvised scene... Then I was told my character is none too happy about how my wife has cleaned the house. In fact, I leave sticky notes around the house detailing how she failed to clean something properly.
I STILL don't feel adequate by Rainingsun15 • last post Aug 17th
I wrote some of this in my journal yesterday (my birthday!) and I just want to share/vent here and see if anyone else feels this way? Here's my acting story (abbreviated): I auditioned and was accepted into Chicago College of Performing Arts for class of 2024. I deferred because of the pandemic. I took my first on-camera acting class on May 6th, 2020. I trained really hard at a bunch of different studios remotely during COVID to develop my craft. I booked my first student film last August. This past year I've worked on 15 (non-student) short films. Some of them were out of state with big budgets. I've signed with two agencies. I booked a dayplayer in a feature in my area last November. This June I was in Georgia for the month shooting a lead in a mid-budget period thriller feature. This July I spent 2 weeks in Oklahoma working as a major supporting character in a coming-of-age movie. I am consistently going out for TV co-stars and mid-sized supporting roles in films. I am being seen in Atlanta for recurring guest stars fairly routinely. I am my happiest and most content self when I am working on set. I make a conscious effort to be pleasant, present, and professional (my 3 Ps lol) and never say one negative thing. I feed off of the energy and I know that acting is what I was created to do. Everything that I’ve accomplished this year is so so fantastic and objectively I know that I’m lucky to have had so many opportunities in what was basically just a year. But here I am sitting with this unshakable feeling that I'm not good enough and people don't like me/don't want to work with me. Once I wrap a project or send an audition in I always spiral into an insecure mess. Leaving set after working on a film leaves me with a few days of melancholy ecstasy followed by questions of “why did I say that to them”, “he doesn’t think I’m talented”, “was too annoying during lunch”. You guys get it. I usually end up convincing myself that I was a burden to everyone and that production regretted hiring me because I’m untalented and annoying. Don’t even get me started on the looks. Please let me know if anyone else feels this way? I’ll send in a tape where I look great because of the lighting and then when I get to set, I am convinced the director/production thinks I catfished them and look nothing like my audition video but they don’t want to tell me because it’s too late to find someone else. Another example is if I didn’t have to film a full body slate, I feel like they think I’m fat when they see me in person. Also I am personally confident in my acting abilities but I feel like the people in video village are whispering to each other that I did terribly (this is after I wrap, not during production). Social media just feeds into this. When I see former castmates interacting with each other without me via posts on Instagram, I feel like they don’t want to hang out with me because I’m too ugly, or too annoying, or too untalented. When they comment on other people’s pictures and not mine, I feel like the odd man out. Another facet to this is that even though I truly am happy when other people book projects, I feel like I’m falling behind when I see their posts. My family doesn’t really help either. When I feel the slightest bit of pride in what I’m doing, they make sure to knock me down by reminding me that I didn’t actually make any money (because I worked local hire) between my plane flight and Airbnb. They ask when I’m going to start working in TV. The few times I’ve told them about auditions, when they ask about them later and I say I didn't book, they tell me “that’s disappointing”. They really mean no harm but on top of the other stuff, it’s just a little extra salt in the wound. Lastly, I overthink every little mistake that I’ve made and beat myself up over it. For example, I accidentally posted a reel with unreleased clips on my IMDb and got a stern email by production on one of my films and on another project, I made another stupid mistake that might have lost me the ability to work with that director again too. Those are literally the only two things I can think of where I have blatantly messed up but they still haunt me to this day. I just want to stress that overall, I am content with my life as an actor. I have a great support system consisting of family, friends outside the industry, and other actors. I love my acting classes and self-taping. Like I said, being on set is like heaven for me and I can’t see a life where I don’t pursue acting until the day I die. I just wanted to vent about this part of my time in the industry. I feel like I've accomplished too much to feel this way when other people wish they could do some of the stuff that I've done but at the same time, I wish I could do stuff that other people have done. I feel like I can't even have the feelings I'm having. I guess I would just love to know if anyone else gets these feeling so I don’t feel so alienated in my experiences and if anyone has any coping techniques for when these feelings start to creep in.
Celebration - First audition opportunity for a Supporting Role! by ragesbastardson • last post Aug 17th
I've been a long time lurker and have been acting since 2012 down in Australia. This board has been one of the few place that has kept my head in the game. Australia is a very, very small market, with large barriers to auditioning for a tiny amount of roles across the states. It's super competitive. I've really wanted to make the move to UK / US / Canada and last year was supposed to be the year yet it didn't happen for obvious reasons. ​ The last few years have been exceptionally rough as I've struggled with bouncing around from not having agency to having agents who have treated me like a number, to dealing with COVID, to losing my abillity to work as a full time film maker (which pushed me into my fall back career to pay the bills). The final hardship was rejected by an Academy Award winning director from a shortlist of actors after the writer pushed me for the role as hard as he could - but still I didn't land it. I really thought this was my break out role and spent over $3k preping for the audition, and spending 20 hours a week over 6 months working on that character and script, only for the role to go to someone who spent 2 weeks working on it. The demoralising part of it really messed me up harder as I had nothing else to look forward to. No other big auditions coming my way. Despite that, I decided to create my own shot, riding off the momentum of being shortlisted, even with the heartache of rejection to keep pushing onwards for a decent agent. I probably received over 80 rejections email out of the 120+ emails I sent looking for representation. I ended up getting interest from an agent who was unavailable and asked me to contact them back in a few weeks time. After a long and rough few weeks of mental stress, dealing with life & bills, I ended up having that chat with them, which went exceptionally well and gratiously accepted them as my agent. After 1 day of joining on their books, I've received my first TV audition for an actual supporting part. This has been over 9 years in the making. At 31, I feel excited and grateful to finally be able to work hard at a serious acting opportunity for a large and important audition, after years of working on my craft. I do not care if I get this role as I've won already. It's validated a lot of my insecurities, heartache and pain that I've had to go through, with numerous times where I've contemplated quitting due to the sacrifices not being worth it. Now the final place I want to work on more is my mentality & mental health. Having the security of proper representation really takes a lot of the sting of rejection out, as I know that if I continue to work hard on the auditions, I'll be sure to continue to find opportunities. If anyone is doubting themselves right now, it's natural to feel that way. Just keep continuing. Even if you have to take a break, you're still an actor, and the work you've put it in along the way isn't going anywhere (just like when Daniel Day-Lewis takes years off acting) all your talent & instrument is there, waiting for you to come back to it.
I want feedback by DatTolDesiBoi • last post Aug 17th
So, the first thing I should clarify, is that I'm not a professional voice actor. [I just saw this video, and thought it would be fun to voice the characters.](https://youtu.be/rHu15tk8RJI) For reference, this is an animation of a fight in the manga/webcomic One Punch Man. If you want to look up the characters, look up Garou, Darkshine, Gyro-Gyro, and Puri Puri Prisoner. Since I don't speak Japanese, I tried to emulate their English Dub voices. [This is how it came out.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitcc4ujeN0) What do you guys think?
How much to charge for private acting lessons? by worldtraveler9700 • last post Aug 17th
A mom approached me and asked about a lesson or two for her daughter to prepare for an audition but I don't know what to charge. I have a degree in Theatre and am a professional working actor, and 25 if that makes a difference. I'm thinking of charging $40 for an hour? Is that reasonable or am I lowballing myself? I live in the Washington DC area and am in an affluent county as many people make a lot of money due to their government work, thanks!
Armenian Voice Actress Needed ($64) by chwippy • last post Aug 17th
Our team is working on the pilot episode for an anime series we plan to pitch to some networks. One of the characters is Armenian, so we would like her VA to be Armenian as well. She is a rich and popular high school senior who is mostly likable but somewhat stuck up. The series is takes place in America and is in English, so it is NOT necessary to speak Armenian. Simply being of Armenian background is sufficient. Having an accent is okay, as long as English is fluent. The character has 16 lines in the episode, some shorter than others. The rate is $4 per line for a total of $64. Hope someone who fits the criteria is interested!
VA discord by ItsJordy__ • last post Aug 17th
To any voice actors who wanna be in a community with other voice actors join the voice acting discord! (This is NOT the discord for this subreddit!) [VA discord!](https://discord.gg/voiceactingcentral)
Blurry actors access thumbnail by skay28 • last post Aug 17th
Hey guys! So I’m trying to add new pictures to my account but the thumbnail isn’t as clear as the actual picture. When I click on the headshot and it opens up, it looks great though. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?