The truth about acting #2

"Unfortunately you weren't successful but they thought you were really lovely"

Disappointment.
If you told me that not getting a role didn't disappoint you, I wouldn't believe you. Anyone would feel slightly hurt at the very least, even for a minute.
I think that it's the feeling of hurt that's the secret to how it all works. The next time you feel the hurt, concerntrate on the feeling and remember it.
Method preparation, like method acting, only for real.

I'll have half a glass of wine, please.
We aren't drinking away our sorrows, we are being optimistic in a glass half full kind of way.
You see, by not winning the part you feel like you have lost. Right?
Wrong. The part was never yours to begin with so rightfully you have not lost anything.
Sure, you can see it as though you've lost to someone else, but acting isn't about competing with others, you are competing with your own personal best.
So, if you haven't lost, what have you done? Gained. You have gained audition experience, contacts, knowing that someone is interested in you hence the audition, and the bonus of experiencing "that feeling".
The key is "that feeling", you need to let it convince you that experiencing it isn't what you want and you need to do whatever it takes to limit its occurrence.  Use it to Drive you.

Kick me in the guts.
Remember how I said that you should remember the feeling of hurt? You are going to kick yourself and use it.
Make yourself feel that disappointment on the day you audition, or any day, and ... drive.

Drive like it's stolen.

After your audition.

There's one thing that I often wonder and that is what I could do after an audition to help myself, or push myself to be noticed just that little bit more.

I was recently in a CDs office when a delivery of mini cupcakes arrived from an actor who had booked a job. You know, just a quick little thank you and what-have-you.
When the hell did this start happening and WHY wasn't I doing it?
Eh, to think my hand written thank you cards have competed with way cooler mini muffins! I definitely lost.

As an actor you work hard for years in order to literally just get an audition. You have an expensive, professional headshot.  You take classes. You work for free to gain experience. You update your online profiles. You create your own projects. You analyse scripts for fun. You bust your ass trying to get an agent. You work for free some more. Then BAM.. You get an audition.

Im guessing that you prepare for that audition and apply every little technique you've ever learnt to your analysis and performance. Beg people to read lines with you. You think cleverly about your audition attire. Do a quick Google search on the casting director to see what they look like (dont judge, it helps me to feel more at ease, you know, familiarity). You pray - beg - the universe for just one bloody slither of a break, and then, you let it all go.

So what we have here is a lot of stuff going on prior to getting an audition, even more stuff to do once we get the audition, then after the audition you do...nothing?

This brings me to my question;

What can I do after my audition to help myself?

If you are anything like me then just sitting around and refreshing your email every ten minutes doesn't suffice. I want to be active, I want to know that I am doing the best for myself and that I am giving myself that one last push that might just see me cross that line.

I will be forever curious.

Say What?

I have never thought of myself as a model, I am five foot three for crying out loud! Last week I recieved a call that made me laugh - a faaaamous photographer was in Australia and had requested that I attend her casting for a global brand.
I had never attended a real model casting before with a vogue front cover photographer, I attend acting and presenting auditions... and that's where it all began.

I am an actor, I am an actor, I am an actor, is what was going through my head.
How the heck will I maximise this opportunity?
Of course, ill be an actor!
So, I walked into the casting as an actor playing the role of a model.

"25 clicks whenever you're ready" Bronwyn Kidd said.
Well, thank the lucky stars I had watched Next Top Model the week prior and from only that I knew what she meant and what I had to do.
Stand still and slightly change my expression and stature at each click. Dont forget to relax the jaw - something I remembered Alex Perry telling girls off about with steam coming out of his talented little ears.

With the hard part out of the way we chatted happily about wedding dresses and Bronwyn told me all about hers and the famous Australian designer that made it for her as a wedding gift.

What a pleasure it was to have my first BIG model casting with such a down to earth and friendly person.
What's strange, yet so fabulous, is that I have been shortlisted for another model assignment this week too!

I will forever hear the following being played in my head whenever I attend these model castings and jobs...

I'm a model ya know what I mean when I shake my little toosh on the catwalk...on the catwalk...

Back on TV screens

Today was just a bit exciting..hugely exciting actually! I just love being on a TV set - the people, the lights, the cameras - being in the midst of it all and working at a fast pace is what does it for me!

A nice and early call of 6am started the day, makeup and wardrobe was a breeze thanks to some very kind and talented ladies and it was all 'quiet on set, rolling, action' from there on.

We filmed inside Northland shopping centre mainly on the escalators just before the cinema. It's funny because the night before I told my sister I was a bit worried as I wasn't sure I remembered what I needed to do when in front of a camera (silly nerves). My sis reminded me that I do what I do because it comes naturally to me, and because I'm good at it. She was right, at the end of the shoot I realized something - there was a camera, entire crew, huge lights and booms right before me. Sure, I was aware and conscious of the where-abouts of all this but at the same time.. i wasn't. Some things just become second nature and this must be one of those things. You just learn how to move, position yourself and deal with cameras, people and light, so much so that you do all of these things on auto pilot.

This was my first job booked through Chameleon  Casting! Woo hoo! I've been auditioning at this casting office for more than five years now and FINALLY I broke through. I look very forward to many more auditions with the lovely Chameleon ladies, and hopefully a job or two!

Keep checking back as i'll upload the commercial once it has aired.

Time is of the essence

Last minute auditions have always been my favorite, when I find out about an audition on the day my stress levels seem to be a lot lower and I generally have a more successful audition. I think it's due to the fact that I am aware that I haven't had a great amount of time to prepare and thus I tend to just "let it all go" and present a lot more naturally. I tend to trust myself and my ability a lot more and it's this trust that allows my natural, creative and personable personality to shine through without anything blocking (aka over compensation) my talent or ability. 

For me, the actual shoot is the easy part where I am easily who and what I need to be - minus the nerves.

In the case of my latest audition the "last minuteness" helped me a great deal... As my natural and stress-free self booked the job. 

See you on the TV x

The truth about acting #1

They say the best actors, or the more employable actors, are those with the most life experience to draw upon.
In other words: actors who have experienced life; is this even true; is this what a casting director or director considers?

Here's a question that would surely cause a stir at your next dinner party;

At what stage have you actually 'experienced life'? Like hell I'm waiting until age eighty to book a decent acting or presenting role, man.

For me personally; I went to primary school, got a sister, started acting classes, went on loads of family holidays, rode my bike until all hours, played under the sprinkler, played softball, did karate, regularly collected & sold my neighbors mail back to them, my favorite movie was The Wedding Singer and My Best Friends Wedding (i was eight or ten), lost my grandfather, went to high school, still doing acting classes, got severely bullied, spent my summers waterskiing and winters snow skiing, changed high schools from public to private, stopped getting bullied, dabbled in modeling, travelled with my family, had my first boyfriend, learnt to ride a horse, sucked at maths but got an A in drama, got bullied by a teacher, became part of a social scene, graduated high school, started university, still acting, travelled, met my 'now' fiancé, partied, made new friends, travelled again, started working in Human resources, went through social traumas, grew up a whole heap, started a business in fashion, got a new more advanced job in Human Resources, had lots of money, wore the miss corporate crown and rocked, graduated, decided I couldn't let go of my acting aspirations, moved to LA, lived on my own & had not many friends, worked twelve hours a day 7 days a week, discovered I was a good presenter, got accepted into Chubbucks classes, continued to travel around and work hard, missed my man decided to head home, started a new business in recruitment, finally confident and comfortable with who I am, channel 7 discovered me, started caring for my grandmother, worked hard on producing my own work, got booked to play the lead in an Aussie-Viet film, hello world this is me, picked up a whole lot of presenting work, kicking goals, booked my first TVC, started producing & writing, bought a house, got an agent, welcome to Korean food was born, still working on my own stuff, lost my other grandfather, renovated my house, became a voice over artist, he proposed, still acting and presenting, still running my own business, organizing a wedding, busting my ass to be prepared for when the right person calls me with the right role for the right project, still training, still acting.

Voice recordings

This week I was in the studio to do my first three voice recordings for the Marco Polo Project.
We were at Salt Studios in Brighton for the most part of the day and even though I have done some VO work previously I still felt a little nervous as I walked into the sound booth. Our sound engineer Matt Hadley is such a lovely guy, as soon as I heard his voice filter through the speaker I immediately felt at ease.
Two days prior Matt, Nghi and I had gotten together over brunch in Brighton to discuss the recording and run through the readings, in between that I had worked on the material myself familiarizing myself with difficult vocabulary, learning to how to pronounce many chinese words and of course finding the meaning and objective to assist me in driving the material.
Even though I had practiced my Chinese I still fumbled on many of the words but there were lots that I actually pronounced very well too.
There were no real hiccups on the day, apart from the lighting in the sound booth not being completely adequate, which of course poses as a slight problem when you are required to read in order to perform your role! As they say, the show must go on and we all made do with the light we had, it just meant a little more concentration and emphasis on attention to detail - and a splitting headache on the way home!

I'll be back in the sound studio in coming weeks to record more!

The truth about acting

As an actor I find that my performances almost always need to be pulled back for tv.
I began studying acting when I was 5 and continued with theatre studies until 18 and I find that I struggle just a bit with bringing my performances back down to reality. I don't need to hit the back row when on a tv or film set and it would be wise of me to keep that in mind.

My most recent audition was for a speaking role on a TV commercial and again I got the 'pull it back, make it smaller'. I can do this perfectly well but I can't help but wonder - does my tendency to begin with all guns blazing hinder my chances of booking a job? Or, does my ability to take direction and give the director what they've asked for during my audition overshadow my blazing gun and work in my favor?

I need to remember to keep things small. While studying in LA I really mastered this and was never really told to pull things back, in fact, in LA the overall reaction to me as an actress was so much more positive compared to here in Australia. Someone once told me that could be due to me being a minority in LA - but really - the place is literally crawling with kids from Oz!

What I need is a role similar to Elaine from Seinfeld, Fran from The Nanny, Rachel from Friends, or even Penny from The Big Bang Theory.

R is for radish

I've been slack on the cooking band wagon of recent and I have no shame in admitting that I have thoroughly enjoyed dining out during this wonderful summer period. I don't really know anyone who actually enjoys turning the oven on and standing over a stove in this heat, and if you told me that you do I'm sorry but I would just have to call your bluff!

It's no secret that I would prefer to spend my time baking cakes, however I was recently told by the man that I live with that we just cannot survive on cake. What planet is he from?

So here you go Michael, my darling non cake surviving fiancé, these are radishes and we will be eating them tonight.
No cake.
Just pork, sautéed raddish and a fresh cucumber and chicory salad.