Interview: UK Star Ricky Whittle Tries His Luck in America and Comes Up a Winner

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:18 — 16.7MB)

A big star in the UK, Ricky Whittle decided it was time to take a huge gamble with his career.

He had been working steadily back home where he started as a model than transitioned to acting. He nabbed a starring role on the hit soap, Hollyoaks, and was there from 2006-2011. But, as he told me, he soon realized that there was “a plateau.”

“I could have happily have stayed where I was in the U.K.  I was doing very well.  I was working constantly,” he said. “There’s only so far you can go in the U.K.” So, he packed up and moved to Bever-ly. Or, Santa Monica, to be exact.

When he got stateside, he didn’t know anyone. He had a few meetings and by chance, met a manager and that’s when things started rolling. He was quickly cast in the feature Austenland opposite Keri Russell, Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Seymour and soon after, was asked to join the cast of the VH1 series Single Ladies which will premiere this summer. 

I talked to Ricky about what it’s like to come to LA after his years of success back home, the differences in shooting a show in the UK and the States and

For the full interview, click the audio link above or download from iTunes

Follow Ricky on Twitter! Read more

Los Angeles & New York Upcoming Dates: Casting Director Risa Bramon Garcia’s Advanced Master Class

Why aren’t you nailing every audition?
Why are you doing your best work in the shower or in your car?
How can you walk into the room and make it yours?
How can you come out of every audition feeling elated?
How can you own your audition?
Your preparation? Your performance?
In the room, on set, on stage?

Come join me for -  The Master Class
A full day devoted entirely to you, the actor.
It’s an intensive full day on camera workshop that will change the way you audition, the way you work, and the way you think about yourself as an actor.

Jun 3rd – Master Class LA – North Hollywood
June 9th – Advanced New York Master Class – New York, New York
June 10th – New York Master Class – New York, New York

We’ll work on how to:

• Prepare more effectively
• Know your audience
• De-mystify the room and make it a comfortable place to work
• Craft an undeniable piece of work
• Make your strongest, clearest choices with ease and impact
• Find your authentic voice
• Work out, stretch, take some risks
• Re-kindle and re-vitalize your passion for acting
• Be ready for anything…

Read more

Interview: Tony Nominee Jeremy Shamos Talks ‘Clybourne Park’ and His Dual Roles, How He Prepares For a Part and His Advice to Actors

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:40 — 21.1MB)

Jeremy Shamos, has been getting rave reviews for his performance in the new Broadway play, Clybourne Park. So good, in fact, that he was just nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play.

The show, written by Bruce Norris, was handed a total of 4 nominations (Best Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play, Best Direction of a Play and as previously mentioned Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play) and borrows some of the plot of Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun. The first Act takes place in 1959 Clybourne Park; a white couple has just sold their house to a black family as their nervous neighbors come over and try to convince the couple to stop the sale. ACT II begins 50 years later, with a young white couple about to buy that same house, raze it and start fresh. That idea is met with complete disapproval from the now African-American residents of the community.

Shamos, like each actor in the show, has dual roles. In ACT I, he plays Karl, the neighbor who disapproves of the sale of the house. In ACT II, he portrays Steve, part of the couple wanting to buy the original house. When I asked if either role was easier to get a handle on, he said that Norris’ writing was so specific that “both characters kind of came weirdly natural to me.”

Jeremy is a two-time Drama Desk nominee and Obie Award Winner whose prior Broadway credits include Elling, Reckless and The Rivals.  After talking to Jeremy, I can honestly say that he’s an incredibly nice, funny and talented guy and I sincerely hope he wins the Tony Award. 

In this interview, I talk to him about Clybourne Park and his dual roles, how he prepares for a part and his advice to actors.

Clybourne Park is currently play at the Walter Kerr theater. For tickets and more information, click here Read more

Trailer: ‘Your Sister’s Sister’ starring Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt & Mark Duplass

Mark Duplass is is on a role this year; writing and directing Jeff, Who Lives at Home and The Do-Deca Pentathalon and starring in Safety Not Guarenteed (my favorite film of the year so far), Darling Companion, People Like Us and now Your Sister’s Sister.

Your Sister’s Sister: Emily Blunt, Rosemarie Dewitt and Mark Duplass star in Your Sister’s Sister, a new comedy about romance, grief and sibling rivalry. A year after his brother Tom’s death, Jack (Duplass) is still struggling emotionally. When he makes ascene at a memorial party, Tom’s best friend Iris (Blunt) offers up her family cabin on an island in the Pacific Northwest so Jack can seek catharsis in solitude. Once there, however, he runs into Iris’ sister Hannah (Dewitt) who is reeling from the abrupt end of a seven-year relationship and finds solace in Tom’s unexpected presence. A blurry evening of drinking concludes with an awkward sexual incident, made worse by Iris’ sudden presence at the cabin the next morning. A twisted tale of ever-complicated relationships is set in motion with raw, hilarious and emotional performances from the all-star cast.

Writer/Director: Lynn Shelton
Cast: Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass, Mike Birbiglia

In Theaters: June 15th Read more

Trailer #2: Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway & Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The latest trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was released last night and it looks appropriately moody, dark and I, for one, can’t wait to see it.

The Dark Knight Rises: As Batman deals with his new status as a wanted vigilante, he must also contend with two new enemies, Bane and Catwoman.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

In Theaters: July 20th Read more

Thoughts on the 2012 Tony Nominations

First of all, congratulations to all the 2012 Tony Award nominees!

The Tony Awards are my absolute favorite of all the award shows so getting up this morning to see who had been nominated was the very first thing I did. What, you didn’t think I’d actually get up at 5:30am LA time, did you?

Since I didn’t make my regular April trek to New York to see the shows, I can only rely on what I saw this past December, my love of the actors in the shows and all the buzz surrounding them. Will I know what the hell I’m talking about?

Absolutely not.

And with that, let’s begin! Read more

Nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards (with video)

Best Play

Clybourne Park
Author: Bruce Norris
Producers: Jujamcyn Theaters, Jane Bergère, Roger Berlind/Quintet Productions, Eric Falkenstein/Dan Frishwasser, Ruth Hendel/Harris Karma Productions, JTG Theatricals, Daryl Roth, Jon B. Platt, Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons

Other Desert Cities
Author: Jon Robin Baitz
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett

Peter and the Starcatcher
Author: Rick Elice
Producers: Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Greg Schaffert, Eva Price, Tom Smedes, Disney Theatrical Productions, Suzan & Ken Wirth/DeBartolo Miggs, Catherine Schreiber/Daveed Frazier & Mark Thompson, Jack Lane, Jane Dubin, Allan S. Gordon/Adam S. Gordon, Baer & Casserly/Nathan Vernon, Rich Affanato/Peter Stern, Brunish & Trinchero/Laura Little Productions, Larry Hirschhorn/Hummel & Greene, Jamie deRoy & Probo Prods./Radio Mouse Ent., Hugh Hysell/Freedberg & Dale, New York Theatre Workshop

Venus in Fur
Author: David Ives
Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Jon B. Platt, Scott Landis, Classic Stage Company Read more

Vito Vincent: A Cat Trying to Make it in Hollywood

After appearing on shows like 30 Rock and The Colbert Report (as Christianne Aman-Purr), Vito Vincent decided it was time to take his career to the next level and move to LA.

Since moving to LA last year though, Vito, like a lot of actors, has had a hard time breaking into the LA market. So, he and his manager, Michael LeCrichia, decided that they needed to pound the pavement.

Literally.

If you’re in Beverly Hills, you might see LeCrichia walking Vito in his harness hoping to draw the attention of casting directors or anyone who can help in Vito’s quest to be the most famous cat this side of…. I can’t think of another famous cat. Garfield? The cat from Pet Cemetary?

I think they should get Disney on the phone. I can totally see a remake of That Darn Cat.

Check out the video below. Read more

Creating Your Network – Doubling Your Income

Written by Gywn Gilliss

First of all what is a network? How does that relate to being an actor?

“A network is a large group of people who communicate, are interconnected and work together as a system.”

If you create a network you double, triple, exponentially multiply your work opportunities a gazillion times. The more people who know you, like you, want to work with you, the more work you will get. Then, the process of submissions, auditions and trying to get work is reduced to zero. Offers come out of nowhere from people who know you, have been referred to you, have seen your work. It’s like virus marketing or the internet which is a humongous network. Career-wise you can then focus on just doing the work-a film, a play, a new prime time series. Read more

Trailer: ‘Hide Away’ starring Josh Lucas, Ayelet Zurer, James Cromwell & Casey LaBow

I saw this film at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival when it was called A Year in the Mooring. I thought it was great and Josh Lucas was wonderful in it. I hope the only thing they changed was the name.

Hide Away: Directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals, Edge of America) and an audience favorite at SXSW festival, HIDE AWAY is a stirring drama that follows the story of a successful businessman (Josh Lucas) attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards the dilapidated sailboat, Hesperus. Disturbed at night by unsettling dreams of his past, the boat becomes a beacon of hope as he begins the challenge of bringing back the shine to the tarnished vessel–and to his life.

Director: Chris Eyer
Cast: Josh Lucas, Ayelet Zurer, James Cromwell, Casey LaBow
Writers: Peter Vanderwall

In Theaters: May 25th  Read more

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