Tag Archives: Actor

Actor Interviews: Rakesh Dasgupta

Posted on by

Actor Interviews- Rakesh DasguptaWhat made you become an actor?

It all started while I was in school. I never really had any friends to talk during my school days. I was experiencing domestic violence almost everyday; I could not find anyone to listen to me. I was getting bullied at school. All these experiences started giving me depression at that age and I was so helpless. But I always loved to watch movies and I liked portraying those characters I saw in the movies. Its hard to explain but when I used to portray the characters in front of the mirror I used to (kind of) become those characters from within which helped me for that short span of time to forget everything surrounding me. I found this to be a very helpful technique to stay away from my depression and the unwanted ambience. As time progressed, I just got hooked up with this acting.

Did you train and if so where?

Sounds weird but I must say my initial training started in front of the mirror. Being a commerce graduate I never had any formal acting qualification. Until 2013 when I started taking informal acting and accent removal classes in Sydney with some of the experienced actors.

Career Highlight

Instead of taking names of some of the projects that I have worked on, I would like to consider my career highlight to date being given the opportunity to go to Hollywood and perform in front of the film directors and casting directors. Also getting representation offer from one of the leading agencies in USA during my first week in Hollywood was something completely unexpected. (Well its a different thing that I could not accept the offer for having no work rights in USA)

Lowest Point

Those first days in Sydney when I did not have a place to live and was visiting Salvation Army to ask for food as I didn’t have any money with me. I don’t want to speak too much on my lowest points in life as I think people who want to pursue acting, want to become actors and have big dreams would get discouraged and scared listening to my past. So I would prefer to keep this point short.

Hardest thing about being an actor

1. Getting job – you can be an acting degree holder from the best acting university in the world and you might have the best acting talent but you might not get any acting job. If you ask me why, I don’t have that answer. It’s the way it is. 2. Uncertainty of the future – as an aspiring actor you never know where you will end up in the next 5 or 10 years time; you can end up with stardom or you can just end up with nothing. 3. No financial security – In the early stages of acting career, it does not pay you much, if at all to make both ends meet. It’s very likely that you might just end up with one meal a day as that’s all you would be able to sometime afford being an aspiring actor.

Do you make enough money from acting, if not, what else do you do?

At this stage of my career I do not make enough money from acting to pay all my bills. As such I have to do other stuff like working in supermarkets, gas stations, doing gardening work etc etc. I prefer these kind of odd jobs instead of a full time desk job because they provide flexibility to attend auditions and shoots.

Best and Worst audition

Best audition – When I had four days time to practice my lines which is quite unusual to get such a long time to prepare a script. I knew my lines and moves to perfection and was very satisfied with the way I performed in the audition room. The casting director appreciated my performance and I was so convinced about getting that role but guess what, I didn’t get the role.

Worst audition – I was driving to this audition and my car broke down in the middle of the highway. I had to get my car towed to the nearest gas station and then I got a cab and was able to reach the audition venue just on time. It was summer and I was profusely sweating. I went to the audition room and I couldn’t recall half my lines; I left the script in my car which made me look so unprofessional. I came out from the audition room dejected with no hope. Two days later my agent informed me that I got that role.

Advice for other actors

Firstly you should only pursue acting if you enjoy the actual art; If your reason to pursue acting is to become famous, you got a bad news coming – you are in the wrong business. Do not have a back up option because if you have a back up option you are basically preparing for failure. Acting is a business in which ‘YOU’ are the product that you sell, so maintain yourself (a good physique is always an asset in the acting business). When you are an aspiring actor you will get naysayers coming by default who will tell you that it cannot be done – just ignore them. Most importantly, you have to honestly believe in yourself that one day you will become a successful actor; Well, if you don’t believe in yourself, who else will.

What is the most important thing for actors to do to improve their career?

Practice Practice Practice! Practice your art, work on your art whole year, not just two days before going to an audition. Doesn’t matter if you practice lines in front of the mirror in your room, in the middle of the beach or in an acting school, but do something everyday to improve your confidence level.

Role Models

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Johnny Depp

 

Rose McGowan Fired By Agent For Calling Out Hollywood Sexism

Posted on by

rosemcgowanfiredbyagentRose McGowan has been fired by her agent for pointing out how sexist a casting was. The casting was for an Adam Sandler movie she auditioned for. The script notes stated “push-up bras encouraged,” and the name of the male lead rhymed with “Madam Panhandler.” The Charmed star tweeted:

She went on to say “It was just so dumb. I was offended by the stupidity more than anything… This is normal to so many people.” She then said she was “not trying to vilify Adam Sandler,”

Unbelievably, the tweet made her agent fire her. She went back on Twitter to say: “I just got fired by my wussy acting agent because I spoke up about the bulls— in Hollywood. Hahaha. Douchebags… Bring it… The awesome thing about being an artist? You can’t be fired from your own mind. Freedom.”

Depressing. It seems that Hollywood still has a way to go when it comes to equality.

 

Interested in acting? Read Catherine Balavage’s book on acting, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It has gotten numerous five star reviews and has been called the ‘best advice available’ by numerous sources.

 

 

Five Things Aspiring Actors Should Do

Posted on by

acting tips, acting career, acting, advice, book, how to be a successful actor, quit, Catherine BalavageTake Advantage of Your Novelty Value.

You are new and shiny. Take advantage of this. Casting directors will give you an audition just because they have never seen you before. Not so much after you have been auditioning for years. Getting noticed when you are new can really give you a foothold into the industry as every agent, producer and casting director wants to discover the Next Big Thing. You have about six months until the next wave of graduates enter the ring. Sounds brutal and unfair? That’s because it is.

Get An Accurate Headshot.

I cannot stress this enough. Get a headshot that looks like you. I have been on the other side of the casting divide and have always been shocked when an actor comes in with a headshot that is either ten years old or airbrushed into oblivion. You are an actor, not a supermodel. The key to a good headshot is to look like yourself, only better. Have spots and dark circles removed, nothing else. Actors are hired to play real people, not robots (usually). Not looking like your headshot is also the quickest way to upset a casting director. They will look bad in front of the producer or director. Many productions also cast from pictures and, if like the women who was hired to play 1980s era Madonna on a production I was also cast in, you now look completely different than you do in your picture that casting director will never hire you again.

Write To Every Casting Director Who Ever Lived.

Slight exaggeration but you get my point. Start your research. Watch TV and film and write down who the casting director is. Do the same for theatre. Do not just throw mud at the wall however, don’t contact casting directors who only do kids TV shows if you are 30. The key is to contact casting directors who cast your type. Be concise and to the point and remember to include your headshot and contact details. This brings me to my next point…

Know Your Type.

I know, I know. You are an actor dahling. You can play any role. But the acting industry does not work like that. Casting directors have to put you somewhere and the brutal truth is that the acting industry is probably the only industry that can actually discriminate on how you look. And it will. Catherine Zeta Jones may be a lass from the Welsh valley but she is frequently cast as Italian or Spanish because, in a superficial stereotypical world, that is what they think she looks like. I get cast in period roles a lot because I am slim and pale. So work out your type. Ask friends and family. Make a list of who you are and who you are not and market yourself accordingly. It is not all bad however, getting typecast means getting work, and you can always branch out into other roles later.

 

Catherine Balavage has been an actor for over ten years. Her book on acting, How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur, has gotten numerous five star reviews and has been called the ‘best advice available’ by numerous sources.

 

 

Frost Editor Catherine Balavage Interviewed By Writing Magazine

Posted on by

If you have ever been curious about Frost Magazine editor Catherine Balavage’s writing day then grab a copy of the April 2015 edition of Writing Magazine. Catherine is interviewed by Lynne Hackles. She talks about Frost, writing books and her acting career.

Catherine Balavage, my writing day, writer, writing, magazine, interview, acting,

Catherine is not the first Frost team member to be interviewed by Writing Magazine, contributing editor Margaret Graham was also interviewed about her writing day in a prior issue.

Head down to a newsagents and get your copy now. Available at WHsmith.co.uk, Waterstones.com, all good newsagents or the Writing Magazine website.

 

 

Why The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Acting Career Is To Quit

Posted on by

acting tips, acting career, acting, advice, book, how to be a successful actor, quit, Catherine BalavageI know what you are thinking: what? That makes no sense. But bear with me. I have been acting for a long time. Since I was a teenager and in that time I have had some amazing parts, met amazing people and worked on projects that I was proud of. Also in that time I worked with a lot of jerks, had some terrible auditions, worked on awful projects and had some really awful experiences. My hair was always in a state of recovery because some over-zealous make up person had gone to town on it, my breasts were always being taped down by gaffer tape because costume people ‘didn’t know what to do with them’ and I was working too damn hard in an industry where the pay had not only not risen, but was actually the lowest in fourteen years. I kept almost getting the life-changing parts but lost out at the final hurdle. To put it frankly, I had had enough.

The last straw was working on a film on which I sustained a serious back injury. I damaged a disc and also had nerve damage. Over a year of painful physiotherapy followed. It was a nightmare. It was the last straw. ‘I quit’ I told my husband. ‘I just can’t do this anymore’. But it was only then the moment of clarity came; ‘Don’t quit’, my husband said, ‘You are too talented and have too much to offer. Take a break and then go back to it’. Cue the previously mentioned moment of clarity. He was right. Quit, but then go back.

The truth was, I just wasn’t into it anymore. I hated auditions, I hated working, I hated all of the BS that came with acting. So I quit, wrote my acting book, and by the time I was ready to go back I was in love with acting again. I wanted to make films again. I wanted to be on a television set. The break gave me the distance needed to realise why I had become an actor in the first place. I rediscovered all of the things I loved about working in the entertainment industry, which is the only way you can deal with all of the stuff you don’t love about it.

When your heart isn’t in something it comes across. You just have to take a break and go do something else for a while. Get a good-paying job and build up your bank account, travel, learn a new skill. Do anything but quit acting. It just might be the best thing for your acting career that you ever do.

 

If you are an actor then check out my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It is available in print and in all eBook formats on both Smashwords and Amazon. 

 

 

Sarah Parish on Acting: It Can Turn You Into a Monster

Posted on by

Sarah Parish has given a rather excellent interview to the Radio Times. Here are some of my favourite quotes from it.

On starting acting: “I had no confidence. I think because I started so low. I had quite low expectations. I felt one step behind, and it’s always been, ‘I can’t believe they actually chose me’. I went for small parts because I thought that was probably the only thing I would get. I never auditioned for leads. I just assumed I wouldn’t get them.” That is said with so much self-parody that I feel like I’m allowed to ask: “Do you think you missed out because of that?” Huge eyebrows: “Well… ya think? But you live the life you’ve lived, don’t you? I didn’t have that God-given confidence you get from going to a public school and going to Rada. I went to a comprehensive and felt lucky if I got a job in the chorus. But the upside is I was never disappointed.”

hatfieldandmccoy

If the industry has gotten better for women in the past 20 years: “I did hear something alarming the other day, I bumped into a friend at an audition, another girl my age. I asked if she was still doing this show – I can’t tell you what it is – and she said, ‘No, it was cancelled. The reason they gave was that they already had a female-driven programme.’ Wow. Because you can’t have two female-led dramas on telly. How awful would that be! So we’re still not there. I don’t know if we’ll ever be equal. We’ve still got an old-fashioned way of receiving female characters. They’ve got to be the wife, or they’ve got to be nuts.”

On the charity she and her husband, James Murray, set up; the Murray Parish Trust: “It’s in memory of Ella-Jayne, our first daughter.” [She died of congenital heart failure at eight months old] “It’s a terrifying and traumatic time [when your child is ill], you just want to be there all the time. They really, really need this hospital. The accommodation they’ve got for parents at the moment is so sad. £70 million it’s going to cost. Our charity is the little Jack Russell that goes down the hole and scoops everybody out. The big money willcome in afterwards.”

Second daughter Nell gets in the way of her career: “My agent will say, Darling, you’ve got to do a play’. I don’t want to do a play. Why do I have to do a play? You have to go off and do your time in a play to remind a certain genre of people that you’re still an actor. It’s a ball ache. I don’t want to have to leave my daughter and go to London every night.”

On pilot season: “If there was a little room you could go in beforehand where you checked in your dignity, your soul and your pride, that would be fine. But unfortunately you have to go into pilot season as a whole person. Every day you drive around with your clothes in the back of the car, you sit in rooms full of people as sad and as desperate as you are, with so much make-up on they could sink the Titanic, tiny little thin people. Sometimes casting directors might look at you, sometimes they might be on the phone, sometimes they’ll talk over you. And more often than not, you’ll hear nothing. I have got jobs out of it before, but it’s just not worth it. We tape all our [audition] stuff in our garden shed, now. Having a shed in our back garden has made us a lot of money, me and Jim.”

On the pressure on men: “You have to have a six pack, you have to have a pair of glutes, you have to wax your chest. You have to sign a contract saying you will show your bum. You see these poor guys right before a scene, doing press-ups, when they should be thinking about their character. That’s what we’ve come to expect from men on screen now. It’ll be from up there [she gestures to some nameless authority]. Hot, young people with perfect bodies. That’s what people want to see. And of course it actually isn’t what people want to see. I want to see interesting faces. I want to see different bodies. I want to see people I can relate to. There’s nothing attractive about knowing a man has been flexing in front of a mirror five minutes before a scene. When did that become sexy? And I don’t want to see a woman looking starved to death. When did that become sexy? These are first world problems, It’s very easy as an actor to live in a bubble and think that life is about acting, and of course it’s not. It can turn you into a bit of a monster.”

Isn’t she awesome? I think so.

If you are an actor then check out my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It is available in print and in all eBook formats on both Smashwords and Amazon.

Olivia Colman Calls For More Diversity In The Film Industry

Posted on by

Olivia ColmanThe amazing British actress Olivia Colman has said that diversity is not just about race and that there must be more opportunities for all in the film and TV industries. Colman told her views as she was appointed as a judge for the TriForce Short Film Festival. She said that it was important that a wide range of people had a chance to tell their stories.

Colman said: “This is not just about race, it’s about diversity in all its forms. TV and films are fundamentally about storytelling and it is important that as many voices as possible have the opportunity to tell their stories.”

The TriForce Short Film Festival will be held at BAFTA on November 22nd. TriForce is a networking firm which has been set up to raise diversity in the industry. Colman said it has been working for years to improve opportunities for people from “truly diverse” backgrounds. Which can only be a good thing. We see the same people over and over again on the TV.  We should also hear more different accents. I have been told many times to pretend I am not Scottish to help my career. I understand changing my accent for a role but denying I am who I am? It is just not right. So lets hope for more people from all walks of life.

What do you think?

 

If you are an actor then check out my book How To Be a Successful Actor: Becoming an Actorpreneur. It is available in print and in all eBook formats on both Smashwords and Amazon.

 

 

A Day In The Life of Paul Vates

Posted on by

I am an actor and writer.
No two days are the same.
That’s part of the lifestyle I accept and face-up to.

paulvates

Most people, I am sure, abhor routine, but I strive to find little routines amidst the randomness.
Take yesterday, for example. I was up with the lark – well, the chattering gang of long-tailed tits that seemed to have included my garden in their morning constitutional route. Ablutions completed, healthy fruity breakfast absorbed, I sorted through a few emails, scanned Facebook, chased a few unpaid invoices and was then ready for a good long sit-down in front of mindless television.

But, no! I slipped into my jogging attire and hit the streets – well, gracefully ran the fifteen minutes to my Pilates session. An hour later, after much groaning and fake-smiling, I jogged far less like an athlete back home.

All this because I am in training to complete a charity run – five miles in mud, with various obstacles to surpass, for a local hospice. Seemed like a good idea at the time…

paulleaping

Shower and shave. Quick light lunch, then to the tube for a casting in London. I spent the journey reading Stella Gibbons’ Cold Comfort Farm – have never read it and am now intrigued by its style.

Then into the West End. Not many people realise it is littered with tiny rooms and spaces that producers and casting directors hire for the day to cast their latest projects. I had been instructed by my agent to attend the RADA Studios, near Goodge Street station. Once inside, name checked, smiles all round, I sat and waited.

Jim, a grinning, bespectacled director, greeted me and I followed him downstairs into a basement room that had the distinctive aroma of old sweat. We chatted, then I auditioned for him. ‘Very funny’, he said. (It was supposed to be, but I don’t know if he meant it…) The footage will be handed to the producers who will decide whether I am suitable to play a maniac in a Business To Business instructional internet video.

Oh, the glamour.

I headed to the tube and back home. Different reading material this time. Henrik Ibsen’s classic play A Doll’s House which a colleague is aiming to direct late next year. He has told me to look carefully at a certain part and to let him know if I’d like to play it.

Home in time to eat before visiting my local cinema/theatre, which was showing Nebraska. Such a beautiful film.

That was yesterday. Today I am writing – editing the fifth draft of my play Voltemand And Cornelius Are Joyfully Returned.

paulwithscript

Tomorrow I work – that miracle: paid work. I am going to West Middlesex Hospital to assist CASC (no, I don’t know what it stands for, either) in their exam training for forensic psychiatrists. I play a variety of characters – some with health issues, some relatives of patients – all of which test the candidates.

It never stops. Thank goodness.

hopenadanchor

*Paul’s blog regarding the performance of Voltemand And Cornelius Are Joyfully Returned at the Hope Theatre, Islington, can be read in April’s www.wordsforthewounded.blogspot.co.uk