Ernie Hudson on his worst non-acting job, auditioning and more!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:38 — 19.0MB)

Ernie Hudson is probably best known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters, the warden in OZ or his role in his current series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

But, he’s been on stage and screen for years also appearing in Las Vegas, Law and Order, Desperate Housewives, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and was on Broadway in last year’s,  Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

In his new film, Doonby, he plays Leroy, a blues musician who quits his life on the road to settle down with the woman of his dreams.

He’s a truly talented guy and gave a wonderfully candid interview. We talk about how he got his start, the worst non-acting job he’s ever had, if he still has to audition (and when he does, his tech savvy way around it), his new film Doonby and so much more!

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

How did you get your start?

Ernie Hudson: I grew up in Michigan in a small town, Benton Harbor. Then through a series of life changes, ended up at Wayne State University and discovered theatre there and just fell in love with it. Started acting back in 67, somewhere around there, and worked in Detroit. I got a scholarship to Yale after I graduated from Wayne State, went there and came out to Hollywood and did a film with Gordon Parks. I went to University of Minnesota for a while because my wife at the time was working on her degree and then when that marriage ended me and my two sons came out to California. And we just got a little place and did what actors do.

Basically, I had got into college and was really trying hard to find– my grandmother raised me and wanted me to find a good job. And I really tried the good job thing and did a lot of different things and never really felt comfortable until I walked in the theatre one night and saw a play and I just felt at home. And I think it was when I did my first play, I just knew how to do that. I think all the jobs I had, I always felt like ‘they’re going to fire me at any minute and if they don’t they should fire me at any minute.’ Whereas, with this I just felt,  ‘okay I can do this.’

What was the worst real job that you had?

Ernie Hudson: Well, probably the worst job I had actually while I was in high school, I was working at a foundry. My brother got me a job there when I was in my senior year of high school and so I would leave school at noon and I would meet him and we would drive up and I’d work from 3 to midnight. And my job was shoveling dirt in a room that was filled with this black dirt that they would use for the molding machine. They had a conveyor belt that just kept going continuously, so I had to shovel through the dirt for nine hours a day, filling these things up. And you never had the satisfaction of filling anything up because the conveyor belt kept going and you were just shoveling all day.

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Television Shows and Pilots Now Casting

TV SHOWS CASTING NOW
90210
All My Children
Anubis House
Better With You
Big Bang Theory
Big Love
Big Time Rush
Bleep My Dad Says
Blue Bloods
Blue Mountain State
Body of Proof
Bold & The Beautiful, The
Bones
Brothers & Sisters
Cape, The
Castle
Chaos
Chase
Chuck
Closer, The
Community
Cougar Town
Covert Affairs
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
CSI
CSI: MIAMI
CSI: NY
Days of Our Lives
Defenders, The
Detroit 1-8-7
Desperate Housewives
Dexter
Drop Dead Diva
Eagleheart

Read more

LA Television Shows Now Casting

Television Shows Now Casting
90210
All My Children
Being Human
Better Together
Big Bang Theory
Big Love
Big Time Rush
Bleep My Dad Says
Blue Bloods
Blue Mountain State
Body of Proof
Bold & The Beautiful, The
Bones
Brothers & Sisters
Cape, The
Castle
Chase
Chuck
Closer, The
Community
Cougar Town
Covert Affairs
Criminal Minds
CSI
CSI: MIAMI
CSI: NY
Days of Our Lives
Defenders, The
Detroit 1-8-7
Desperate Housewives
Dexter

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“Skateland” star Shiloh Fernandez: “I’ve learned more on this film than I’ve ever learned about acting in my life”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:59 — 6.9MB)

Shiloh Fernandez is currently starring in the film, Skateland with Ashley Greene.

I saw Skateland at SXSW and it’s a cross between Sixteen Candles and Dazed and Confused. I liked the movie a lot and Shiloh was a big part of that reason.

He’s got a really good story on how he got started and how he got the role of Ritchie Wheeler in Skateland.

He was such a nice guy, loves the craft of acting and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about him in the future.

So tell me about your character in Skateland.

Shiloh Fernandez: It’s funny because I’m the worst person at explaining things.  Well, I guess that’s not funny (laughter).  That’s terrible.  I play a kid named Richie Wheeler, I think he’s like 19, 20.  Just kind of complacent in his life.  He’s had this job at the skating rink since he was 14.  He’s become the manager and it’s kind of an easy life.  He doesn’t have to deal with the hassles of responsibility in any kind of widespread arena.  But he is a talented kid and he’s got a good heart.  Everybody around him is kind of rallying to make him understand that he should test the waters outside of this small town in his, not mundane, but his normal life.  And I related with some of the, there’s some family problems, some friends, friends that want to stay in town, friends that have gone off.  I guess I kind of identified with that.

How do you approach a role?

Shiloh: This was a part where I felt really connected to this kid.  A lot of the parts that I’ve gotten in the past were very, not necessarily one-dimensional, but the go-to for me to get the job was to be very intense and kind of, not hardcore, but just… I don’t know, not super light-hearted or friendly or smiley.  If that’s a word.  And so, I really just wanted to bring a lot of who I am in real life.  I mean, at the same time it takes place in East Texas and I’m from Northern California.  Obviously Tony, the director, whenever I felt kind of out of place or like I didn’t know what I was doing, I’d look at him because he is similar to Richie Wheeler.  So it’s good to have your director to look at.  It’s like this good old boy, he’s funny and he’s friendly and he’s genuine.  So just trying to bring out the best traits of myself.  Ashley Greene plays my friend/love interest, so that wasn’t hard.

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Mad Men Cast Biographies

JON HAMM
“Donald Draper”

Jon Hamm plays the lead character of ‘Donald Draper’ in the award-winning, critically-acclaimed AMC original series “Mad Men,” created by Matthew Weiner, about the professional lives, social mores and sexual exploits of advertising executives on Madison Avenue circa 1960. Among his many accolades for his performance on the show, Hamm won the 2008 Golden Globe® Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama, and has been nominated for an Emmy® Award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Screen Actors Guild® Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (the cast received the award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards).

Hamm will next be seen starring opposite James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, and David Strathairn in the indie feature Howl, about poet Allen Ginsberg, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

Hamm recently starred opposite Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates in the sci-fi remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still directed by Scott Derrickson. He also completed work on the independent thriller The Boy in the Box, with Josh Lucas. Additional film credits include Kissing Jessica Stein, We Were Soldiers and Space Cowboys.

Hamm recently completed a three-episode arc on the Emmy-winning comedy, “30 Rock,” in which he played a love interest to Tina Fey, as well as a critically acclaimed hosting debut on “Saturday Night Live.” Other television credits include the popular Lifetime television series “The Division,” as well as “What About Brian,” “The Unit,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI Miami,” among others. He landed his first big role in the NBC series “Providence” where a cameo performance turned into an 18-episode run.

Hamm received BA in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

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Richard Schiff: SAG – Just Say No

From The Huffington Post:

I am far away from the fray. In London working for beans on toast and about to take another film here. As I contemplate the upcoming SAG contract vote I can’t help but see the irony that this next film’s subject is the 1968 women’s strike for equal pay at the Dagenham Ford Motor plant. This movement began as just a job grade increase request whereby the women wanted to be deemed as skilled workers so they would get the relative pay increase accompanying such a classification. It snowballed into the first job action and strike for women’s equal pay and led to a fundamental shift in the way women were treated in the work place world-wide.

England at the time was an economic disaster waiting to happen. Millions of workers went on strike every year trying to pound out a living wage and the environment was growing increasingly anti labor. So why was this women’s strike effective? Because no one could deny the fundamental fairness of the women’s position. Even as Ford shut down all production so as to incite the men to corral their female counterparts, the movement garnered its strength from the undeniable reality that they were on the right side of morality. That’s not to say that the gains were easily won; that unity was a foregone conclusion; that fellow union rank and filers weren’t antagonistic and combative; that fear of lost jobs and broken intra-union marriages weren’t colossal obstacles. These women united in force through and despite the army of opposition and the clamors for common sense and reasonable capitulation for the sake of the plant, the industry and the country.

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Tales of a Hollywood Temp

Want to hear some good Hollywood horror stories?

Check out Hollywood Temp Diaries!

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