Month: June 2009

Keep Working, Keep Healthy

June 24, 2009 teresac The Working Actor Comments Off on Keep Working, Keep Healthy

When I was but a naive, young thing still in acting school, I came down with a long-term, emotionally and physically exhausting illness.  One particularly difficult day, as I was on the verge of tears and really lamenting about how badly I was feeling, one of my very favorite teachers took me aside to impart some words of wisdom, some encouragement, some hope.

“You’ve got to keep working,” he said.  Huh?!  I sniffled.

“I know it’s a hard time,” he said, “But now is when you have to work.  Now is when you show up, and you do your job, and you use every ounce of your strength to get it done.”

WHAT?!  Why wasn’t he telling me to go home and rest my weary body?  Why wasn’t he pouring me chicken soup?  Why wasn’t he picking up the new releases at Blockbuster for me and sending me flowers and telling me I was the greatest actor ever and I was allowed to take as many days off as I needed?!!  Clearly, he didn’t make me any soup.  And, clearly, I never forgot it.
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ACTING 123 by Linda Stuart

June 19, 2009 linda The Working Actor 2 Comments

ACTING 123
by
LINDA STUART

I learned from a top acting teacher that an aspiring actor must take a minimum of 3 actions per day, every day, to advance his or her career. It could be emailing 3 pictures and resumes. It could be making 3 cold calls. It could be setting up 3 auditions. If you don’t take at least 3 critical actions per day to help yourself as an actor, you are severely undermining your career.

Not everyone is born Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn’s daughter, who hit big-screen stardom at a very early age.

Other young screen stars today – Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Nikki Reed, Amanda Seyfried, and Ellen Page – are more the rarity than the norm.

So, you’ve got to work your career. If you don’t have an agent or manager, if you’re not in SAG or Actors’ Equity, you mustn’t let a day go by without aggressively tackling these obstacles.
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Headshot Extravaganza Part 3: How to Make the Most of Your Shoot!

June 17, 2009 teresac The Working Actor 1 Comment

Congratulations!  You’ve figured out what kind of headshots you want, you’ve you’re your research, you’ve found your killer photographer, and now…all you have to do is actually shoot the darned things.  The irony of the situation is, of course, we get our pictures taken all day long.  We have digital cameras, camera phones, video cameras, security cameras, web cams…the list goes on.  We’re constantly seeing photos of ourselves on Facebook and twitter, and submitting our portraits on casting websites.  It should be a piece of cake to take some headshots, right?  Wrong!  For some annoying reason, taking headshots can be super stressful and/or nerve-wracking, which is why you should find a photographer who is relaxing and fun; isn’t that how you want your pics to look?  So, let’s talk about what you can do to maximize your Zen-like calm during your photo shoot, both before and during the big day.
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