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Zensteve

Zensteve

'sup, fellow actors! :cool:

The ActingTalk forum is still kinda new (great addition, btw), and while we've had a few threads so far I bet there are many more actors out there waiting for a chance to say hello.

Here's your chance! :yes:

Do you act?

Do you plan on acting?

Do you want to just pop in and introduce yourself?

Let's get together and make ourselves heard.

If you're an actor (or ack-tore, as I might poshly and pretentiously annunciate it), post a reply and tell us a bit about yourself.

Or heck, if you're plain super-shy a simple "Yo" will suffice. ;)

_______

If you want to plug your Headshot & Resume, follow these links >> here << and >> here <<

This thread is just to get all you actors rolling. :)
 
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To be or not to be, that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
and by opposing end them.
To die, to sleep no more.
And by sleep we say to end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks
the flesh is heir to.
Ay, tis a consumation devoutly to be wished.

That's as far as I remember. Is that even accurate?

I like acting- it's fun. Hate having to do other stuff like, Direct/produce and act, though. Too often the performance is stilted because I end up setting up lights instead of rehearsing, or dealing with problems in general.
I'd really like the chance to JUST act pretty soon. Almost had a gig this weekend, but I read the script and politely declined. There's a serious shortage of good scripts out there.
That's why I'm focussing on writing right now (and obviously not spelling), but I'd like to do a gig just acting before starting another project.

bah.

what's everyone's worst moment acting, that they wish they could take back?

Mine is in a little short we did called King Lear 2000. During a monologue I was wearing a fake beard, and ranting nonsensically about something, and stepped into the "rain" (a garden hose lit with a halogen) (which looked surprisingly good).
Anyway, long story short, my bread is held on with string and the water gets it wet, so it goes in my mouth, and mid-take, I look up, get a face-full of water, and then naturally re-adjust the beard. Problem was, it was a one-taker, and we could only use the first take, because otherwise I would be wet before I step into the rain.
Every time I watch it I cringe at the hokeyness of the "beard-tug". I learnt from King Lear 2000 that holding your head in your hands, or making large movements with your hands often detracts from the scene and looks cheesy.
It was a good learning experiment in how to make movement look natural on camera, which surprisingly does not look quite the same as in a mirror in rehearsal.

That's me story.
 
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I am a trained actor (sorry, always waned to say that)

In my final exam we were doing The Odd Couple, and I tried to get up from my chair but I tripped over my own foot and literally smashed the table into 3 pieces with my weight.
She gave us higher marks for improv.
Thats the English education system for you right there!
 
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I stumbled into acting, doing a few murder mystery dinner theaters with a friend. The productions grew in quality and we eventually met some "real" actors and through that connection, I heard about an audition for the Virginia Opera doing "West Side Story."

So I was cast as Officer Krupke, made pretty darn good money for a month, got to work with some very professional and talented New York theater types and had what I like to refer to as a "Whistle Solo". I take a tumble, everyone skirts off stage and for about 4 glorious seconds I am alone on center stage and I blow my whistle till my face turns red. One night during the fall, I busted my ass pretty good and had to take the same fall three more times that weekend. No one knows how we suffer for our art.

I also did some stuff for a local production company, New Dominion Studios, that produces "The FBI File" and "The New Detectives." They are always looking for warm bodies and if you like like a cop, a serial killer or a hooker, you're in high demand!

Eventually I became involved on the other side of the camera, directing a short film (www.forgottenstars.com) and while I had cast myself in a small role, I actually cut me because we made a script change that meant my scene didn't work.

I hated to do it (I'll admit to perhaps just a modicum of vanity) but I did learn the difference between being on one side of the camera versus the other. As the director, you'll cut just about anybody at any time to make the end result better. And cutting me made the film better (ouch!)
 
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I'm not sure if I count.

I've done professional theatre, but only because the play needed a rock climber who could act. My main thing as a performer was always character based stand-up comedy.

I do have an anecdote though.

I was asked to do a benefit gig, to which I said yes. I was the first act up and it wasn't my normal comedy club crowd, so I was nervous. Just before I went on the organiser stood up, took the mic and this is what he said, word for word.

"As you know we've got some entertainment for you tonight, which I know we're all looking forward to, but I couldn't start tonight's event without mentioning Roy. (points to Roy's wife) As Betty will tell you, not only was Roy the person who has looked after all the charity's money for the last seven years and made all this work possible, he was also my best friend. And I know that every single person in this room was shocked by his tragic death last week, so to pay your respects if we can all just rise and we'll have two minutes silence.
(everyone stands, silence apart from weeping at the back of the room)
Thank you, thank you very much for that ..... (wipes tear from the corner of his eye)
(pause)
And now ladies and gentlemen ... the comic!"

True story and the only time in my career it took me nearly five minutes of the act to get my first real laugh.
 
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I've done a bit of acting - stage and film. Nothing terribly glamorous - community theater and a couple of no-budget indie movies.

Acting was youthful ambition for me, what I wanted to do after high school. There was a long interval (about 20 years) before I became active in community theater. I have to admit regretting that long hiatus.
 
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YIKES Clive, that's like a comics worse nightmare come true. One of those sureal moments what the voice over says "Wanna get away?".

I acted in all four years of high school and two semesters of acting during my undergrad. I love doing theater. Haven't made any casting calls locally, too busy writing and enjoying my 3 year old boy as much as possible.
 
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I'm Lucy! I'm 16 years old right now and I've been doing community theatre for a little over 9 years. I was in my first play when I was 7. It was a musical so lots of singing and dancing- so fun!!

I am hoping to get more opportunities to perform. I'd really love to be a part of a professional theatre production. Those are always so beautiful! (but I still love community theatre!!!) Maybe some film, but I don't know. I've only done some low-buget (er... no buget??) short films, and it was wierd. I could probably get used to it though. I don't plan on studying acting after highschool because I'd really love to do english or mass communications or something. However, I do want to keep acting as much as I can! Well, I better go. Bye!

Love,
Lucy
 
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Actor here. Been doing it for over a decade--unpaid. I'm not even on IMDB yet (but I soon will be).

Favorite actors: Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walkin, Noah Taylor, Meryl Streep.

Favorite movies: Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys, Alien, The Shining, The Black Balloon. ;0)

Favorite Directors: Terry Gilliam, Ridley Scott, Kubrick.

I'm from the self-made school of natural acting (not to be confused with underacting, dry, or bland acting). Michael Caine said it best when he said: "If you consider stage acting as being an operation with a scalpel, than film acting would be an operation with a laser." This is why I prefer film acting. Subtle beauty.

Films I've worked on-- www.pentaworks.org
Recent [bad] full-lenths I've stared in: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mattcash/evilgenius/LDW/main.html

Glad to be a part of the community.
 
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I'm an actor

Hey... I graduated from Bowling Green State University of Ohio, with a Theatre major, want to act in film and tv more than stage. I also desire to be a director and videographer but I first started off as an actor. Have little exp. but a willingness to work and get paid for it :D. I have a deep desire for high quality work, not simple emote and vomit out lines. I'm looking for people with film interest in ohio who want to act also and who have more technical exp. to do some find and start a project. I do own, myself, Adobe Premiere Pro with Audition and Encore on my computer, i have shot, personally, 2 of my friends weddings/receptions and i'm trying to create my own production company. On a side note i was wondering what people think of the name "Blank Pictures" for the company? Anyways... later all
 
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Ac-tore! w00t!

As I kid I had more of a singular interest in acting, but now I'm fascinated with the entire filmmaking process. I act wherever I can get a gig, and I try regularly for that.
I plan on making my career off of my media abilities, and if that includes acting, (God, I hope it does!), I would certainly jump on it.
In my sophomore year of high school I was doing a romantic short, and I was director and actor. I wasn't the writer of the scene, though, and when the writer came up to me with this idea, I played with it. We shot that scene so many times it died before it ever got in the can.
The scene was two "lesbians". One is the best friend that breaks to the other that she loves her. Her current "boyfriend" is in the back of the cut, looking on in horror. Then, the best friend tells the other that she wants to bear latter's children. The boyfriend, a stocky boy who looked like a biker dude, had enough. He asks "what the crap?" and storms off, but not before all burst up laughing because we were doing the WORST romantic acting ever, on purpose because the scene was so cheesy.
XD, there's my anecdote.
-Ruse
 
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Actor here. Been doing it for over a decade--unpaid.
Click to expand...

That has got to be considered a long haul! Most people seem to be doing a year or 2 for free, but 10 is a long time...Do you work with the same people or do your collaborators vary a lot?
This is not so much a stab at your efforts, but if the guys hiring you know about this then it's hey time to bring in the money.
If someone's putting together a film for sweet f*ck all, and you're not getting paid, then it's only fine if EVERYONE is going without money. I did this as I started out. We all have. I've also dropped people right in it (joyfully so) when I'd been asked to work for nothing (I'd worked with him on something previously -- he was a 3rd) only to later learn that the DoP was taking in a handsome rate from the "no-budget" film.
Money needs to start talking, or you need to start walking (out)!
Good luck.
 
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I've been a member of SAG (and AFTRA) since 1995. Worked mostly in TV... commercials, a couple of pilots, a few tv shows. I have done a few low budget movies too.

Robert
 
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Brandee Sanders ~ Actress

Here's a link to my personal acting website and information:

www.brandeesanders.20m.com

I've been acting and performing professionally since 1994, and have worked in film, TV, musical/straight theatre, and radio. I've trained in NYC, at reputable studios, as well as within LA in multiple facets of performance. I currently reside in NYC, but spend a good deal of time shooting outside of it, including a few LA stints. That's my .02 cent intro! Hope everyone's faring well! :lol:

KIT~
Brandee :yes:
 
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samurai said:
That has got to be considered a long haul! Most people seem to be doing a year or 2 for free, but 10 is a long time...Do you work with the same people or do your collaborators vary a lot?
This is not so much a stab at your efforts, but if the guys hiring you know about this then it's hey time to bring in the money.
If someone's putting together a film for sweet f*ck all, and you're not getting paid, then it's only fine if EVERYONE is going without money. I did this as I started out. We all have. I've also dropped people right in it (joyfully so) when I'd been asked to work for nothing (I'd worked with him on something previously -- he was a 3rd) only to later learn that the DoP was taking in a handsome rate from the "no-budget" film.
Money needs to start talking, or you need to start walking (out)!
Good luck.
Click to expand...


When I say I've been doing it over a decade unpaid...I'm counting Highschool and on. I've been doing community theater and indie projects since then...Sorry, I suppose I didn't make myself clear. I've done several things where I've gotten paid. Some of which I'm the only one getting paid (along with the DP). I started getting heavy into acting when I was 17...so I'd say that's over a decade.

I'm certainly ready to be a working actor now...that's why I moved to the city.
 
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Donald C. Foley

Hi All,

Thanks for this thread it is a great idea. I have been acting in the indie movie scene for about 2 and half years now, and really enjoying the journey. I have been in 30+ films, and every one has taught me something new. I think I would go insane if I had to return to a life without acting, I just can't imagine how I lived so long without it. The three actors who inspire me the most are Michael Caine, Johnny Depp, and Patrick Stewart.

I also love music I play Fiddle, Mandolin, Guitar, Drums, Fife and bamboo flute.

Kind Regards,
Donald C. Foley

Home: www.donaldcfoley.com
IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm1975841/
 
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