YCSC Actors Panel

 

Yale actors give tips, acting advice
12 January 2004

HOLLYWOOD - Yale actors and a casting director gave heartfelt advice to aspiring actors in our 7th Yale in Hollywood panel: Actors Panel. The panel was held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, just steps from the Walk of Fame and the fanfare of a red carpet movie premiere at Mann's Chinese Theater across the street.

Our featured alum speakers (all Yale undergraduates or graduates from the School of Drama) included:

  • Tony Shalhoub, star of the Monk TV series, Men in Black, Spy Kids
  • Amy Aquino, actress on Felicity, ER, Picket Fences, White Oleander, National Security
  • Sarah Halley Finn, casting director of Finn/Hiller Casting, having cast for movies such as Blue Crush, Scropion King, S.W.A.T., and Terminator 3
  • Robert Picardo, actor on Star Trek: Voyager (the hologram doctor)
  • Kathyrn Hahn, actress on Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and Crossing Jordan (schedule permitting)
  • Simone Nelson, actress, moderator, co-organizer

The panelists covered a range of topics, from how Yale helps them in Hollywood to what does it take to make it as an actor.

Yale Helps. Most of the actors agreed that Yale definitely helps them in Hollywood. The Yale name can help gain respect and give self-confidence. Also, the jam-packed life at Yale - classes, drama clubs, plays, etc. - forces aspiring actors to deal with an unstructured, busy environment and make choices, important skills in the acting world

How to do well in auditions. Own the role, be comfortable and confident. Don't talk too much. Show them something new about the character, something special that only you can bring to the role. Leave some mystery; leave them wanting more. Enjoy it. It helps to become a reader so you know what they're looking for.

Other tips: Get a good agent. Have a great tape - not some old reels where you don't like you, but really good performances. A good headshot is also important - it must express who you are, what type of person you are. It also helps to typecast yourself as a certain role in your photo to help casting agents/directors place you (e.g. the best friend, the hip chick, the prep kid, the moody one, etc)

Starting Out:When you're starting out, take any roles just to be on stage or be on film. You never know who may see you and pick you up. Don't be too snobby and think "I must do Broadway." Be open to TV, movies, and whatever else comes along. Also, work hard. Very hard. Be persistent.

What it Takes to Make It: A lot of hard work, luck, being open to many opportunities, being friendly and collaborative.

When You're Not Working: When you have gaps when you're not working, do something to occupy the time. Do hobbies, develop a routine, keep creative, do something unrelated to acting. Avoid negativity and paranoia - keep positive!

Thanks to panel organizer/actress Esther Chae, and co-organizer Simone Nelson. With additional help from Amy Aquino (venue) and Yale in Hollywood Chair, Kevin Winston (organization).

Attendee Photos:

Simone Nelson (far right),
panel moderator		 Esther Chae (center),
panel organizer
 
 

"I wanted to say that it was the best actor's discussion I've attended," said attendee M.G. "I was impressed by the amount of information, directness, and respect amongst peers. My respect for the Yale Drama School community has doubled. I think I'll start applying for grad school myself."

Melinda Ahrens shares some of her notes:

  • Be a collaborator, be gracious.
     
  • If at all possible, go to Yale.
     
  • Offer yourself as a reader to anyone and everyone who appears to be a casting director. At the same time, call them up, tell them you'd like to come in and do a "general" which you have prepared. They will not only thrill at your work, but also be happy to keep you around for light office chores.
     
  • Let them know you are a prize by having a good reel. No! Not footage of you on a stage as a grunion in junior high school. Footage of you acting, preferably for real. Yes, the paradox of the craft made manifest.
     
  • Go out on auditions...look for them in publications and on websites (not on telephone poles--I know this personally)
     
  • Stay positive, even if you, like me are older but look young, do not have any particularly notable training, only just recently got over the curse of acne, and read Kafka for fun.
     
  • If a woman, consider other work because as you age you turn into an invisible, yet occasionally "mom like" organism that can only be employed if she's as skinny as her many prerequisite golden statuettes.
     
  • Be confident, even if you, like me, have a constant "why am I doing this, I look like an idiot and my legs are heavy" tape running in your head.
     
  • Make the role interesting: If you are standing amongst pigs, perhaps there is a way to glean joy from that. Even a salad can be a meaningful part; there is a story I heard told by Dustin Hoffman about a famous actor who played a head of endive with convincing mastery.
     
  • Present your ideas positively. When you are going in to discuss your role with the writers, don't let it get in your way that you're an extra. Tell them that you think you would be more effective if you were not just mouthing words, but perhaps performing a little song. Not a song that makes you look like the center of the show--just a song that gives people, perhaps a sense of the ambience that you lend, maybe even just a quick dijeridoo solo.
     
  • But seriously, if one can imagine actually having a speaking part in something one day, one can imagine talking to the writers about that part. And at that time, one should be positive, complimentary, solution oriented, and not concerned about elevating one's own status, but rather with making the show better. Even if it is on the public access channel (like mine, which I have possibly broken this rule already, by calling, "The Melinda Show")
     
  • Don't be grumpy and turn down lots of auditions because if you're like me, you don't even have auditions, or an agent, or any of the confidence that is oft mentioned as the primary necessity for this brutal and demeaning craft.
     
  • Stay positive.
     
  • If you do decide to go to counseling, try limiting the time frame, because otherwise you might get a hit show and then you'll really have something to complain about.
     
  • Save your money. If you are lucky enough to land a hit show, and you feel like blowing all your cash, just think of Gary Coleman. I would mention others, but you can see them for yourself, on "Celebrity Mole".
     
  • Bug your agent was mentioned. hahahahaha! What agent?! The best way to get an agent is to stop wanting one. Just ignore them--eventually they will come to you, hardly allowing you a moment's peace, oh wait, that's the IRS. Well, anyway.
     
  • Make projects with people you like, but remember, in L.A., "people" is a loose term. Be sure of those you choose to trust, check scalps for repeating numbers, horns etc.
     
  • Don't talk too much. Leave some mystery. Think back on panelists for examples (heh heh).
     
  • At the end of the day, it's not who you know or what you've done, it's whether or not you can remember the names of your kids. Or, hm--maybe something else. Ah yes, whether they're alcoholics.
     
  • Surprise people with your strong choices.
     
  • Be about the work. The most important thing of all is, can you do the job? Show your skill. The rest will fall into place unless, like me, you are really a writer who thinks they want to be an actor but who can actually write really well, and will oneday be quite well known as an author, but will, like the young Woody Allen, also abuse pills.

Hope this is useful!

Tony Shalhoub, star of Monk
 
Kathryn Hahn is in Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
release Jan 23, 2004, and co-produced by Doug Wick/Lucy Fisher, who spoke at our Red Wagon Panel.
 
Robert Picardo played Star Trek: Voyager's holographic doctor for 7 years.
 
Amy Aquino played a psychologist on Felicity
Copyright (c) 2003-2004, Yale Club of Southern California