Actor Growth

So I went to the Jeep Compass commercial audition today and there were a few other Asians there as well.  There wasn’t that many people overall though which makes me think that this was a pretty specific call.  For the audition I was suppose to be one of those workers at a store in the seafood areas where they grab the fishes out of the tank if you would like to purchase one.

To do this they had something that resembled a small tank and inside of it was this shiny dolphin doll.  At first when I saw it I thought it was pretty funny considering it had all this glitter on it.  For the scene, I was supposed to pretend that I had extreme trouble trying to get the fish out when a customer asked me for it.

So yeah…..I was basically pretending to struggle and wrestle with this doll and the casting director would give me cues on when I was suppose to change my emotions.  My final moment was that I was supposed to embarrassingly hand the fish over to the person who requested it.  I decided to just go with this dumbfounded expression on my face and the camera guy couldn’t help but to crack up and comment how anyone would be confused carrying a shiny dolphin.

It was short but very fun I thought.  Like always, it’s a wait and see game.

Where the heck did this come from? I was just heading to my martial arts practice today and then out of nowhere I get a call that a casting director from the casting workbook has requested to see me for a commercial audition tomorrow. I just got home now and checked my e-mail about the breakdown.

It appears it is a commercial that is intended to air in foreign markets about the Jeep Compass. This really messed up my schedule with such short notice. That’s the life of an actor I guess though as you have to be very flexible with your time. Let’s see how it turns out.

So the other day I read this posting about some people who wanted to shoot a commercial in regards to a shopping centre here and I happened to fall under the look range that would be suitable. So I figured I would simply submit myself and today I received a reply where they were interested in auditioning me.

I must admit that it seems a little awkward as if it is for a commercial to help advertise a shopping centre or mall shouldn’t there be some kind of budget to pay people? Although, it did mention that it was a community shoot of some sort though.

For myself I don’t mind too much at this point as I haven’t exactly done a professional commercial before and figured this would be a good way to get some experience and again meeting new people.

Recently I was talking to an older gentlemen who happened to be an actor and I was telling him where I received my training and all as I thought he could give me some advice since he was experienced in the field.  My very first acting training was from high school and the theatre program was run by a gentleman named Jim Crescenzo at Templeton Secondary.

When I mentioned his name, the person immediately knew who he was and mentioned that he saw him all the time at auditions that he was in as well.  I was a little dumbfounded by that response as I remembered that during classes Crescenzo would often tell us that he gave up his attempt to work full time in the film industry as an actor as he really wanted to teach and inspire kids to be their best which personally made me respect him more and work harder.

I distinctively remember that there was also a news report about it as well where the media actually came into one of our classes and interviewed some of us to talk about the theatre Temp program and his dedication to the students.

So what I did was that I went to the IMDB site and found this listing for a James Crescenzo.  It looks like the same person too based on the bio I read on the site.  Afterwards, I looked at his filmography and sure enough it looks like he has done a lot of roles well throughout the time I was attending that school and beyond.

That was just so weird I thought…..I feel so deceived now…….kidding of course.  I learned a lot from the program and was glad to be one of the first Asians to really push the envelope.  He definitely didn’t take it easy on me either as he had one heck of an expectation from me.  Wouldn’t that be funny if I actually bumped into him one day on a set.

Okay, you have got to be kidding me.  I got this e-mail and the first thing I thought was “What?”.  I often received similar types of solicitation from different industries, but this was the first time I have seen one that targets actors specifically.  Here is a copy of the e-mail:

From – Sat Jul 26 19:57:22 2008
Return-Path: <actorwalkoffame@yahoo.com>
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Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:51:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: J R <actorwalkoffame@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: actorwalkoffame@yahoo.com
Subject: You’ve been nomintated! Internet Walk of Fame (Acting)
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Message-ID: <934626.89409.qm@web59916.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>

Greetings,

Congratulaitons, you have been nominated to be included in the first round of nominees to have your star on the “Internet Walk of Fame” for your contributions as an actor.  The internet Walk of Fame is to honor those who excel in the arts including radio, television, film, and recording artist by awarding the artist with a personlized star such as that on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In additoin to having your own star as a member of the Internet Walk of Fame you will have access to 1,000s of industry contacts such as casting directors, talent agencies, production companies, and producers through our extensive network.

It is important to understand the a nomination does not gaurentee you induction into the “Internet Walk of Fame”.  To accept your nomination please answer the following questions below and return them to this address.  After completion of the questions below a second round of judging will take place and the inductees will be informed by August 16, 2008 for the launch and induction of the Internet Walk of Fame September 1st.

Thank you very much and again congratulations on your nomination!

Sincerely,
Internet Walk of Fame Induction Commitee

QUESTIONS:

1) Full Name (To be printed on your star)
2) How long have you been acting?
3) Most notable project?
4) Interest Hobbies?
5) How did you get started?

Similar to all the other types of e-mails along this nature I have to question where if this is legitimate and they want to recognize someone then why do they need us to tell them what we have accomplished? Speaking for myself too, I have yet to land an opportunity to work on a large film production and so that alone should make you wonder about this “nomination”.

I’m personally not going to respond to it as my assumption is when you give them your info they then pitch you something where you have to pay for your recognition. Too bad as the last time I won an acting award/recognition was for my theatre work and this would have been nice as I have yet to achieve a similar recognition within the film acting field.  I’m definitely keeping my wallet closed.  No personalized star for me.

I mentioned last time that I didn’t feel creating a resume on the IMDB site was worth it for me at this point and I still believe that. For the subscription in general though I was thinking how one of the point of documenting my experience was to help enlighten other people about the challenges of this industry and I thought there would be a ton of aspiring actors who would be wondering whether or not that Pro subscription is worth it.

So, I have decided to subscribe to the site for a year which costs $99.95. I figured at worst I could use it as a way to research about agencies and its talent rosters here since I am still looking for the right one.