The acting hype is real. Believe everything you read about it. It’s wonderful. Walking the red carpet, applause at a premiere, learning a new character, trying to nail that moment when the characters fall in love, meeting the big stars, waiting to be called on set. The only bit that’s not real is that silly voice in your head that tells you to be terrified. Don’t be. What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t star in a movie with Brad Pitt? So what. Trillions of other people never will either.

To take the most beautiful lines from my favourite Aussie musician Pete Murray “Don’t be scared of what you can not see, your only fear is possibility.”

B.a.b.e is about you creating your future.

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

31. Meeting your arch nemesis

Now this is fun isn't it.  I am about to get down to the nitty gritty of what happens in the casting room.

You arrive.  You look around, you observe all the other girls (or guys) who look quite similar to you. Occasionally you see a mate and quickly latch onto them.  Other times you just sit quietly and do what you do.

But what happens when you keep seeing that same girl in the room at EVERY SINGLE AUDITION.  The reality is there will always be a few girls who look like you and who are also highly suitable for that same role, especially with commercial castings where the emphasis is often more on the look and less on the acting (did I just say that out loud).  Usually you just have to awkwardly ignore one another.

But this month I met a lovely actor who I see constantly in auditions... the one who has always been my commercial arch nemesis.  You know the one.  Just like Samuel L Jackson was to Bruce Willis, only Bruce didn't know it.  It was exactly the same with Grace.


How did I meet her out of the blue? I just happened to be shooting a project and she was in the production office where the director was preparing for the shoot.  And in a strange turn of events she ended up being awesome! I am secretly sure that in the tiny little actor part of my tummy I always knew she would be [awesome].  We had a good old laugh about the amount of times we have seen one another at auditions, and then we exchanged actor business cards and vowed to catch up again.

And truth be told, even if we don't catch up at least there will be a friendly face in the waiting room at my next commercial casting.  They say that there are no such things as strangers and that everyone is just a friend we haven't met yet.  Maybe I'll have to make that saying apply to my own personal commercial arch nemeses from now on! Oh the fun.

  • "An archenemy, archfoe, archvillain or archnemesis (sometimes spelled arch-enemy, arch-foe, arch-villain or arch-nemesis, originated around the mid-16th century) is the principal enemy of a character in a work of fiction, often described as the hero's worst enemy (compare )."    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch-nemesis
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