Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Written by Gywn Gilliss

Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Creating a Successful Marketing Campaign

I love reading about adventurers, explorers, those who dared to strike out and accomplish something major. Even if they didn’t change the world, their stories are worth hearing about… inspiring to say the least. And there’s a lot to be learned in reading biographies of these extraordinary people. You can apply their choices to your life as a Warrior- Actor.

For example, THE SOUTH POLE. A story of two adversaries. Amundsen and his counterpart, Scott, were both extremely courageous men, two very different (and probably difficult) personalities. Jim Collins, best selling author who wrote Good to Great, and Great by Choice, explores the personality traits of highly successful CEO’s and of each explorer. Because that’s what it gets down to in life- PERSONALITY. PERSONAL TRAITS. Read more

Biography: Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey is one of Hollywood’s most sought after leading men whose films have grossed over a billion dollars at the box office. He is a Texas native who, while attending the University of Texas in Austin, planned to be a lawyer. When he discovered an inspirational Og Mandino book The Greatest Salesman in the World before one of his final exams, he suddenly knew that he had to change his major from law to film.

McConaughey began his acting career in 1991, appearing in student films and commercials in Texas and directing short films. It was a chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer, Don Phillips, who introduced him to director, Richard Linklater where he was cast as Wooderson in the cult classic Dazed and Confused. Since that time McConaughey has appeared in over 40 feature films, and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist all the while sticking to his Texas roots and ‘jk livin’ philosophy. Over the years, he has portrayed an athlete, a police officer, a football coach, and a lawyer, and has worked with Hollywood greats such as Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemekis, Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Sandra Bullock, and Al Pacino to name a few. Read more

Biography: Chloe Grace Moretz

Chloe Grace Moretz has emerged as one of the film industry’s most sought-after young actresses. Last year, she starred in the award-winning fantasy adventure Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, winning a People’s Choice Award in the category of Favorite Movie Actress Under 25. In addition, the National Association of Theatre Owners just named her the Female Star of Tomorrow Award, presented at the 2012 CinemaCon.

In 2010, Moretz starred in three very different films, including Matthew Vaughn‘s hit actioner Kick-Ass, based on the comic book by Mark Millar, and also starring Nicolas Cage. For her performance as the ferocious Hit-Girl, whose toughness belies her young age, Moretz won two MTV Movie Awards, for Best Breakout Star and Biggest Badass Star. She was also nominated for dual Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Young Actor, for her role in Kick-Ass, as well as for her performance as a young vampire in the thriller Let Me In, written and directed by Matt Reeves. In addition, Moretz won an Empire Award for Best Newcomer, recognizing her work in both films. She was also seen that year in the family comedy Diary of a Wimpy Kid, adapted from Jeff Kinney‘s popular children’s book series. Read more

Biography: Jackie Earle Haley

Jackie Earle Haley has had one of the most interesting career trajectories in the industry. He started out as a successful child actor before virtually disappearing from Hollywood.

After 15 years, he made an almost unprecedented comeback in back-to-back 2006 feature releases: Steven Zaillian‘s All the King’s Men and Todd Field‘s controversial drama Little Children. Haley’s courageous performance as convicted sex offender Ronnie McGorvey in the latter brought him numerous accolades, culminating in an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He was also honored with a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination and won Best Supporting Actor awards from several critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle and the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Haley then appeared in the Will Ferrell basketball comedy Semi-Pro. In 2009, he joined the ensemble cast of Watchmen, Zack Snyder‘s ambitious film adaptation of the seminal graphic novel, earning acclaim from critics and fans alike for his portrayal of the enigmatic Rorschach.

The following year, Haley co-starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in the dramatic thriller Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese. Also in 2010, Haley took on the role of the monstrously terrifying killer Freddy Krueger in the reimagining of the horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street. On television, Haley starred for two seasons on FOX’s action series Human Target.

Haley first came to fame in the mid-1970s with his scene-stealing performance as Kelly Leak, the cigarette-smoking, motorcycle-riding hellion, in Michael Ritchie‘s comedy hit The Bad News Bears, reprising his role in two sequels. He again won praise from critics and audiences for his role as the romantic but short-tempered Moocher in Peter Yates‘ Oscar®-winning 1979 sleeper hit Breaking Away. In 1983, Haley played the sex-obsessed Dave in Curtis Hanson‘s Losin’ It, with Tom Cruise. That same year, he made his Broadway debut, starring in John Byrne‘s play Slab Boys, with Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Val Kilmer.

When the transition to more adult roles proved difficult, Haley turned his focus to directing. He began helming industrial videos, which eventually led to commercials. He had been off the screen for more than a decade when, in 2004, Steven Zaillian tracked him down for the role of Sugar Boy in All the King’s Men. That, combined with his work in Little Children, resulted in the resurgence of his acting career.

Later this year, Haley portrays Alexander Stephens in Steven Spielberg’s historical drama Lincoln, opening in December 2012.

This Biography/Filmography of Jackie Earle Haley is courtesy of Warner Brothers

Q&A: Leonard Nimoy Talks ‘Fringe’, Voice Acting and ‘Big Bang Theory’

After announcing that he was retiring from acting, the great Leonard Nimoy was thankfully lured back to work. Tonight, you can catch him once again as William Bell on the season finale of Fringe.

How was he convinced? “I’m a sucker for a good role and J.J. Abrams, the Executive Producer of the show, is a friend of mine,” he said in a conference call earlier this week.

I’ve loved Nimoy for years and any chance I can see him on-screen is a treat. In this Q&A, he talks about Fringe, his character William Bell, if he’s coming back for the show’s final season and voice acting.

The season finale of Fringe airs tonight at 9/8c on FOX

Follow Leonard Nimoy on Twitter! Read more

Professional Voice Over Actors Facing Increased Competition from A-List Stars and Amateurs

You’ve probably noticed that an increasing number of big-name actors and actresses are doing commercial voice-over work.  Whether it’s Jeff Bridges pitching for Hyundai or Robert Downey Jr. pitching for Nissan, major Hollywood stars are much more willing to do voice overs for commercials than they were even a few years ago. 

For audiences, it allows them to connect a recognizable voice with a product, so it seems like a win-win for the company and the consumer.  Of course, there are some who don’t like the new trend: voice over actors.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, a number of veteran voice over actors speak about how the new trend affects them.  Some of the actors point out that the Hollywood stars’ voices aren’t distinctive enough to warrant the extra expense for the company and the loss of work for them.  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

Why Did Justin Long Make ‘Seminar’ His Broadway Debut? “Because I was asked to!”

Actor Justin Long is currently appearing in Seminar, a production that will thrust the actor for the first time into the world of Broadway.  Making his big debut on stage at the Golden Theatre, Long will portray the character Martin, a student to Jeff Goldblum‘s Leonard, a relentless teacher that believes he knows what it takes to be the best author. 

The comedy comes from writer Theresa Rebeck and is directed by Sam Gold.  Sitting down to talk about his foray into the world of theater, Long says he took on the role for the simplest of reasons.  “Because I was asked to! I would have done it any time. As far as my own level of confidence, I think it was helped by the fact that I’ve been dipping my toes back in the theater the last couple of years. It’s also a play that I was familiar with and really love, since I had done a reading of it the summer before.” Read more

Peter Dinklage: “I hate that word — ‘lucky.’ It cheapens a lot of hard work”

A large part of the phenomenon of Game of Thrones, the fantasy series on HBO, can be credited to Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion, one of the series’ major characters, a role for which Dinklage was awarded an Emmy and a Golden Globe. 

But it took many years for Dinklage to land such a major role, and the 42 year-old actor spoke to The New York Times about his recent success and how he views it in comparison to his early life as a starving artist.

Though Dinklage stars in Game of Thrones, which is based on the novels series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, he admits that he had only read the first book, A Game of Thrones.  Though Dinklage enjoys the surprise of getting each new script for the HBO series, he believes it was necessary for him to at least read through the first book to learn about his character.  He explains, “I need to know the back story, obviously, to figure out who this guy is. But the . . . front story? Is that even a word?” Read more

Vincent Kartheiser Explains Why He Enjoys Acting So Much

For Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser, being on television’s most celebrated drama means being able to step away from everyday life and seeing the world from a different perspective. Kartheiser, a real-life minimalist who has sold or given away most of his worldly possessions and is extremely concerned about the environment, plays a backstabbing young advertising executive on AMC’s period drama.

“Anytime we can do something that’s so different than ourselves, it gives you a head start into finding parts of yourself you can explore. That’s the fun part of my job — pretending to be someone I’m not,” Kartheiser recently told Advertising Age. “It’s nice to have things that kind of kick-start you away from yourself, because you’re used to making the choices you always make. At least I am.” Read more

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