Q & A: Anne Heche on Her New Religious-Themed Comedy, ‘Save Me’

After almost choking to death on a sandwich, Anne Heche’s Beth Harper claims she can talk to God in the new NBC comedy, Save Me. When she’s revived, Beth thinks she can see the Big Guy and starts to make amends to everyone she’s every shut out of her life… and it’s a lot of people.

Also starring Madison Davenport (Shameless) as her horrified daughter, Michael Landes as her skeptical husband and Alexandra Breckenridge (American Horror Story) as her husband’s ex-mistress, Beth eventually starts to win people over with her new optimistic views on life.

In this interview, Heche talks about her love of physical comedy, trying to quit acting when she was younger and how we all get “messages” from God.

Save Me airs on Thursdays at 8pm on NBC Read more

How To Become An Actor

You want to learn how to become an actor? Join the club! Most everyone at one time or another has probably thought about becoming an actor.

They watch their favorite shows and movies and think, “I can do that!” They think it’s easy and glamorous.

But what most people don’t realize is that it’s a lot of hard work. It’s a huge amount of fun but yeah, it’s work!

It takes a special kind of person to want to become an actor. They have to be determined, unafraid of rejection and willing to work hard to consistently get better at their chosen craft.

This isn’t a site on how to become famous. This isn’t about becoming a star because odds are, you won’t. Hopefully you’re here because you want to learn how to be the best actor you can be. Whether you’re in Los Angeles or New York, Ohio or Colorado, you absolutely can make this happen.

One thing you should know from the start though is that being an actor is expensive.  You’ll need money for headshots, headshot reproduction and acting classes. Eventually, you’ll need to market yourself with postcards and a website. You’ll also need to add your material to casting websites such as Actors Access. It’s definitely not cheap!

So, if you’re looking for steps on how to get into acting, you’ve come to the right place.

For links and more information on how to become an actor, check out our actor resources page. (coming soon)

The Basics

Headshots

One of the first things you’ll need is a headshot. This is not the place to skimp and be cheap because this is your calling card. If you submit an awful headshot, 99% of the time it’ll be filed away in the trashcan. Having a headshot that isn’t professional, it just automatically shows casting directors, directors and producers that you’re not serious about acting.

Your headshot needs to be shot by a professional and needs to look like you. Seriously, I can’t count how many times a casting director has told me that they’ve called in an actor for an audition and they either look 10 years older in person or their headshot was so photo-shopped that they had to do a double take. Your headshot must look like you, not what you want to look like. You should see my headshot… think I want to look like that?

What’s the cost? For New York and LA, paying $400 to $500 for a headshot session is the norm. Obviously, if you live outside of these cities, you should pay less. 

If you need to find headshot photographers near you, click on the link. 

Resume

The next thing you’ll need is an acting resume.

This isn’t like a resume you’d give to someone when you’re applying for a “normal” job. An acting resume is totally different. You can see examples here. (coming soon)

“I’m just starting out and have nothing to put on my resume!” I’ve heard that before and don’t worry. Everyone starts somewhere. You can easily fix that! Audition for small roles at your local Community, Dinner theater or join the cast of a Church or School production.  If you’re in school then join the drama club. All of these things can be listed on your resume.  You can even list any acting classes you’ve taken.

If there isn’t a role for you in the upcoming show, ask if you can help out. Theaters always need a good, responsible volunteer. This will get you in with the theater community and will make it tons easier when you actually do audition. They’ll already know you so it’ll be easier for them to take a chance on you!

Click here for more information on an acting resume. And if you need it, here’s an acting resume template. (both coming soon)

Learn Your Craft

Take a class! I’m sure there is some kind of acting class or acting program near you. I grew up in a small town and there were at least 5 acting classes within 20 minutes of where I lived.

If you’re still in school, try and find a summer acting camp. Usually, these are all day workshops that take place Monday-Friday. You’ll learn tons and walk away a much better actor. Plus, these are great places to meet people who are into the same things as you!

Go to college. There are a bunch of great schools you can choose for acting. You’ll be immersed in all things acting so how can you not improve? You’ll learn everything from movement, costumes, theater history, acting styles and techniques and best of all, you’ll be performing constantly.

I went to college in Baltimore, Maryland and loved my time there. I met some wonderful teachers and made some great friends that I still keep in touch with to this day.

For a list of acting schools and colleges, click here. (coming soon)

Audition for Community Theater. Like I said in the resume section, auditioning for Community Theater is a wonderful way to get started. I did a handful of musicals for my local Community Theater when I was in high school and I loved every minute of it. Plus, I learned a lot in the process.

Start off as an ensemble member of a large cast (every town does Oklahoma or another huge production at least once a year).  Again, by getting involved, you’ll get to know the local theater companies and the people involved. The more they get to know you, they easier it’ll be to nail a part in one of the upcoming shows – especially if you’ve started off with no experience.

Audition as much as you can. Audition even if you don’t want the part. The more you audition, the better you’ll be at it. Learn to love auditioning because chances are, that’s all you be doing the first couple years once you have decided to become an actor.

Start Your Own Play Reading Group. Get a couple of friends together once every couple of weeks and read a play. Give yourself the lead role!  The star of Beautiful Creatures, Alden Ehrenreich does exactly that. When I interviewed him, this is what he told me: “Just invite friends over to read a play. Like, me and my friends do that a lot and it just… it promotes that energy and that energy only builds, but you have to get the… you have to start the engine. You know?”

Don’t know what to start off with? Try something from Christopher Durang or Martin McDonaugh. Or, how about something that’s currently playing on Broadway?

 

What Next?

Acting Agents and Managers. At this point, you might want to start looking for an agent. Do you have to have one? No, not at all. Especially if you’re not a member of any of the acting unions (SAG-AFTRA or Equity).

Don’t ever pay an agent or manager a fee for joining their agency or company. There are actor scams out there where you’ll be asked to pay an “agency fee” when you sign up. Don’t do it. Ever. The only time you should pay an agent or manager is after you’ve received payment for an acting job you’ve booked and already worked on.

Will you need a manager? Odds are you won’t. You’ll only need a manager when you have a career that actually needs to be managed. Typically, managers to 20% of what you’ve made on each job. That’s a lot of money to give to someone when you’re only working a couple times a year.

If you’re in Los Angeles or New York City, check out our actor mailing labels. We have sets of casting director mailing labels and agent mailing labels updated monthly.

Auditions and Casting Calls. How do you find auditions and casting calls? If you’re not in LA or NYC, check your local paper or their website. Google – auditions ‘my city’ – and I’m sure something will come up. Also, check out Actors Access or call your local SAG-AFTRA office. Most either have hotlines or audition information listed on their site. That’s how I found out about the audition that got me my SAG card.

Also, take a look at our post, Top 11 Reputable Casting Websites.

 

Acting is a Business

You have to treat acting as a business because that’s what it is, a business.

When you’re called in for an audition, be prepared. Know your scene, monologue or your song. Come with your headshot and resume (stapled together!). Be professional. You might only have one shot with that casting director. Make it the best and show them you have the goods!

Casting directors, directors and anyone who can hire you want to know that you are the answer to their casting “problem”. They need you and they want you to be great! They are rooting for you.

Keep up with what is happening in the entertainment industry.

Don’t go into this blind. Nothing irritates me more than meeting an actor who doesn’t watch TV or isn’t up to date on what is going on in film, TV or theater. This is your job!

My favorites are The Hollywood Reporter and Variety for film and TV news. Backstage is good as well. And of course, Daily Actor (shameless plug) – we feature interviews with actors, articles where actors talk about the craft of acting. We also we have a huge actors resource page. (coming soon)

This Won’t Happen Overnight

I did my first play in Elementary school, did the fall and summer productions in High School and then started to do shows at my local community theater. When I went to college, I moved onto Dinner Theater and found other theater companies to work with. While I was doing that, I auditioned for an industrial film, got the part and was lucky enough to get my SAG card. I’ve been acting for years and I’ve loved every minute of it.

Some people get lucky right off the bat. Some don’t… it could take them years. But, if you work hard, it’ll happen. If you’re prepared, it’ll happen.

Trust me.

Links and Resources Coming soon

Keep the Drama on the Stage: How to Get Along with Your Fellow Actors

Written by Dallas Travers, CEC

What do you do if your longtime actor friend gets her big break before you do? You’re happy for her, of course, but it might bring up major feelings of “compare and despair” for you at the same time.

Obviously, it’s not always easy being friends or roommates or lovers with another actor. There’s some ego involved. Sure. You’re only human. And this industry has an undercurrent of competition flowing through it.

So how can you turn those debilitating feelings into ones that help you progress both in your relationships and in your career? I’ve got 3 suggestions for you. Read more

Benedict Cumberbatch Asked Meryl Streep for Acting Advice and Didn’t Get It… But He’s Happier That Way

I think just about any actor would love to pick the brain of Meryl Streep, who is widely recognized as one of the best actresses of all time. 

Benedict Cumberbatch admits that he approached Streep on the set of August: Osage County, which is due out later this year, to ask her about how she would approach a multi-layered character like his Star Trek Into Darkness villain John Harrison.  Unfortunately, Streep didn’t have much advice for him — but as he tells New York magazine, that was oddly exactly what he was hoping for! Read more

Lake Bell: “The most difficult thing about acting and directing in a film is acting and directing in a film”

Lake Bell has worked steadily in film and television since appearing in her first major role as Alicia Silverstone‘s character’s best friend in the short-lived NBC series Miss Match (which I do not remember ever existing, but apparently it did).  She has also branched out into writing and directing, but she still remains an actress.  She stars in the horror movie Black Rock alongside Katie Aselton, who co-wrote and directed the film.  Bell spoke to Interview magazine about the way the film was shot and how she feels about working with other directors now that she is a director herself. Read more

Writer Throws Cell Phone of Nearby Theatergoer Who Refused to Stop Using It

Next time you see a play in New York City be very sure not to use your cell phone during the performance… not only because it’s really, really rude, but also just in case you are sitting next to Kevin Williamson.

Williamson, who is the Deputy Managing Editor for The National Review and writes about theater for New Criterion, was in attendance at a performance of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, a cabaret-style musical adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.  The production takes place in a tent and the audience is seated at small tables, which led to an incident in which Williamson was thrown out for throwing another close-sitting patron’s cell phone across the room. Read more

Trailer: ‘Last Vegas’ starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman & Kevin Kline

Last Vegas: Billy (Academy Award®-winner Michael Douglas), Paddy (Academy Award®-winner Robert De Niro), Archie (Academy Award®-winner Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Academy Award®-winner Kevin Kline) have been best friends since childhood. So when Billy, the group’s sworn bachelor, finally proposes to his thirty-something (of course) girlfriend, the four head to Las Vegas with a plan to stop acting their age and relive their glory days. However, upon arriving, the four quickly realize that the decades have transformed Sin City and tested their friendship in ways they never imagined. The Rat Pack may have once played the Sands and Cirque du Soleil may now rule the Strip, but it’s these four who are taking over Vegas.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub

Written by Dan Fogelman

Starring Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman & Kevin Kline

In Theaters: November 1st Read more

Michael Douglas on ‘Behind the Candelabra’, Steven Soderbergh and the “Guts” of Matt Damon

It’s been a while since Michael Douglas really had a role he could get into.  With Behind the Candelabra, in which he portrays Liberace, Douglas might have his best role in over a dozen years.  He gave a lengthy interview to New York magazine about the HBO film about what was so different about playing such a campy real-life individual and what it was like acting opposite Matt Damon, who portrays Liberace’s young lover Scott Thorson.

Playing the flamboyant Liberace exposed Douglas to a new aspect of acting that his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones is far more familiar with — sitting in the makeup chair and then hours of costuming.  Douglas explains, “I was the girl on this movie! The hair and makeup for Liberace took two and a half hours.  I’ve never done elaborate hair and makeup before. Up until now, my entire career has been contemporary.” Read more

Sibel Kekilli on Working with Peter Dinklage in ‘Game of Thrones’ and Her Secret to Acting

The international cast of Game of Thrones is one of the highlights of the series.  One example is Sibel Kekilli, who plays Shae on the popular HBO series, who is an acclaimed actress in her native Germany.  In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter she spoke about the language barrier she faced, and also talked about working with one of the series’ stars, Peter Dinklage.

Kekilli has high praise for Dinklage, whose acting leaves her mesmerized during filming.  She confesses, “I really love him and his acting. His acting is overwhelming, and I love to watch him. When we act together, I really forget to act. I’m just watching him and I think ‘oh my gosh it’s my turn.’”  When she manages to compose herself, she finds that Dinklage is a wonderful actor to work with, explaining, “Acting for me is like a ping-pong game. That’s the secret of acting. When you have a really good actor, I always want to be as good as he is or she is. Peter gives me the ball and I just want to return it to him.” Read more

‘Lucky Guy’ Star Courtney B. Vance on Choosing Roles and What He Would Be If He Didn’t Make It as an Actor

Naturally the name “Tom Hanks” (also known as the most trusted person in America!) stands out on the poster for Broadway’s Lucky Guy even more than the title.  Being that Hanks is one of the biggest movie stars in the world that makes sense, but it also makes it easy to forget that there are other talented individuals in the production, like Courtney B. Vance.  The New Pittsburgh Courier interviewed Vance about working on Lucky Guy and his thoughts on what road he might have taken had he not become an actor.

First he speaks about what he looks for in a role in general and in his Lucky Guy role in particular.  He says, “I look for roles that challenge me, and I consider whether it is something that I and my family will be proud of. Will my family be proud to watch the work and will it challenge me? In this case it was the opportunity to work with [writer] Nora Ephron and Tom Hanks and [director] George C. Wolfe; if the three of them are involved, I am in it. George is a taskmaster, and we are all exhausted, but exhilarated. He is relentless because his vision is so big.” Read more

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