Accents: Part 1

In general, most of us who take on the acting profession will find ourselves, one day, presented with the challenge of doing an accent.. or two.

One of my recommendations to you is to saturate your ears with the sound of the given accent. Watch movies, documentaries and TV shows with the dialect you are looking for. I would also make your search era-specific. I’ve heard of acting schools teaching young American actors the English dialect by showing them episodes of Upstairs/Downstairs. While a funny show, unless those students are preparing a play/film set in that specific time-period (and depending on if they can tell the different regionalisms apart) listening to U/D will render them with a very mish-mashy, old English dialect. Rather, students should be shown current day shows so that their accents can be up to date. In the same vein, there is an across-the-board “go-to” for American’s when it comes to the cockney accent - Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Again, while a fantastic movie, his accent is dreadful. It’d be far better to search for an authentic cockney accent rather than go to an American imitating it badly. This advice is not just for the US -> UK accent change. It applies to every accent you intend to do. The more you listen to it, the better you will be at mimicking it.

Continued: Accents: Part 1 | The NYC Actor

Ask Me!: A Moral Dilema?

What do you do if you get an audition/job for something you fundamentally disagree with? Morally speaking?
For example I once went out for a Malboro commercial. I didn't want to support the tobacco industry and didn't give my best performance in the callback because I didn't want to book it. The money would have been really good, but I just couldn't stomach the karma of it. Is that crazy?

Anonymous

Continued: Ask Me!: A Moral Dilema? | The NYC Actor

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ASK Me!: Reviews?

Could you help me with my "Reviewer/Critic Theory?" I go by the 50% rule. Only 50% of both positive and negative reviews are honest. The other 50% are either trying to get on your good side at the ground floor or are trying to look good and get more hits on their website by making you look bad. Am I off base here? How should you treat your theater reviews?

lettersofdispleasure

For the answer: Ask Me! - Reviews? | The NYC Actor

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Resume

For the full article: The Actors Resume | The NYC Actor

Building the Perfect Website

These days an actor website is a MUST-HAVE. It's really important. Primarily because the industry that is not connected through your agent (if you have one) is online. There are so many casting websites that an actor should be linked up to and one thing you'll find you need is a link to a website.

There are many ways to do this and many of the casting websites out there offer you hosting and a page on their site. However you do it, if you have a website on your resume and/or business cards you are making it THAT much easier for a prospective employer to see your work - which'll make getting hired easier.

Read more: Building the Perfect Website | The NYC Actor

Know Thyself

Getting comfortable with your "type" - or, in other words how the rest of the world sees you - could be one of the most important things you do as an actor. So many of us are confused, even deluded, about who we are and what type of roles we should be playing that we can waste a lot of time working against ourselves.

When I first moved to New York I was 20. And I was deluded about my type. As an actor, I was told that I had a natural talent and a great "look." I was tall, thin, had a decent body and occasionally people would tell me to model. When I was a teenager and looking out into the world for successful female role models Kate Moss and the other supermodels of the 90s saturated the market. So of course, being associated with a model inflated my ego and made me feel VERY good about myself. I assumed that I was an ingenue and immediately set out to secure the roles that would reflect this: Juliette, Desdemona, Olivia, or anything commercially that had the words "young" "beautiful" and "ingenue" in the breakdown. 


Read more: Know Thyself | The NYC Actor

How to Succeed in the Entertainment Industry? D.I.Y!

I've been hearing some depressing facts from the industry, lately. So I thought I'd share them with you.

Apparently, if you are over the age of 28, whether female or male (but let's be honest, especially if you're a lady-friend), the current movie/TV/Theater industry couldn't be more over you.

The word on the street is that if you are over 28 and you haven't "cracked" it yet, then there must be something wrong with you. And, just to brighten your day it seems that agents, CD's and producers these days are only really looking for new tweens (Robert Patinson, Kristen Stewart, etc) to invest in - and only tweens.

Read more: How to Succeed in the Entertainment Industry? D.I.Y! | The NYC Actor

An Actors Toolkit

As an actor who wants to be taken seriously in the professional world (aka entertainment industry, y'all!!) there are a few things you should have handy. Here is a basic checklist if you're just starting out:

HEADSHOT

RESUME

WORKING PHONE WITH VOICEMAIL

EMAIL ADDRESS

WEBSITE

MONOLOGUES

REEL

AUDIO DEMO (IF DOING VOICEOVERS)

ACCOUNTS WITH ONLINE CASTING SERVICES

APPROPRIATE WARDROBE

POSTCARDS FOR SHOWS

PENS

BUSINESS CARDS

For a detailed breakdown and to read more: An Actors Toolkit | The NYC Actor

The Unions: AEA

AEA (Equity)

How do you join AEA (Actors Equity Association) - You can also buy into Equity if you are affiliated and listed as being "in good standing" for one year with one of the other unions. Although, as I am currently non-equity, I will have to come back and tell you more as I learn it. You can, as applies to all the other unions, also join by booking an AEA job.

Read more:  The Unions: AEA | The NYC Actor.

The Unions

There are 3 main actors unions. These are the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Actors Equity Association (AEA or Equity). In NYC there is all kinds of work you can book. Some of it will be listed as non-union and some of it as union. Joining the unions is pretty important if you plan on making the decision to become a professional (i.e "paid") actor. They can make you look more respectable on paper - I have heard many different agents and casting directors say that if an actors resume is light on the training they will overlook it if they are represented by a union - especially SAG and Equity (AEA). Less so with AFTRA - I will explain in a sec. The unions are also there to help actors get paid appropriately and in some cases...

Read more:  The Unions | The NYC Actor.

From Angela's Ashes - some helpful insights (I hope!)

Hello there,

Welcome to a blog designed purely for actors. I am very green at this whole blog thing so firstly I really have to prepare you for the fact that I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. But I am passionate about sharing information with you, so I will do my best to be clear and concise.

As an actor living in New York, I have begun to work more and more on higher-paying jobs, and auditioning/meeting with some of the biggest hitters in the industry. What I have realized is that there is very little information out there to assist a conscientious actor in their quest to become a truly successful business person in the field. There are tonnes of books and websites on how to be a good artist, which is brilliant, but what happens when you find yourself on the front-lines, as it were, of this gigantic and new business world? How do you make the right steps? What are the right steps, even? What do I need to be prepared for? What does a professional actor need to have to get their foot in the right doors? How do I get, and keep a good agent? What type am I? How do I write a cover letter? What should my headshot/resume look like? And so on and so forth.

My goal here is to answer as many of those question as possible in the most straight-forward way I can so that you as an actor can glide into success with grace - rather than fumble around blindly hoping and praying that you don't screw up and piss off the wrong person or team of people, etc., etc.

By sharing with you my experiences as they happen, you'll be able to sift through the ashes of my successes and failures and hopefully find your self a couple of diamonds to help you on your way.

And, as I mention in my title's intro at the top of the page, this is not the Holy Grail, "be-all, end-all" of the industry. It's just one woman's guide. Hopefully, this can be a place where people will share their experiences; correct me when I'm wrong; offer alternate approaches; or just offer their opinions/agreements/disagreements in the comments sections.

Ultimately, Francis Bacon said it best: Knowledge is Power. So here is a little knowledge from me to you. I hope you enjoy! Good luck in your life as an actor!