I started writing because it was hard to find acting jobs. I didn’t like any monologues in auditions, so I started to write my own things. Since then, I have written a couple of shows. I was nominated for playwright of the year for a play I wrote called ‘Potential Space.’
I was auditioned for ‘Sultan’ for the lead role in 2015. My auditions were very detailed as it was for the female lead. They took around 10-11 auditions for it in the span of 2 weeks. It was very hectic and tiring for me.
Most kids, you can turn off their auditions after five seconds, because there’s nothing authentic about it.
I’ve done plays where you get into the run and can go to auditions during the day, or can have lunch with someone, and then you go to half-hour and show up.
I got a manager, and I thought, since I was going out on auditions, I should do this for a living. Then there was this moment on set when I realized I was having a lot of fun, and I really wanted to do this forever.
Those auditions – you sit down, and literally the whole time you’re there, they scrutinize you, and you know that. But you can’t take it personally.
You go on a million auditions anyway as an actor, and one out of a hundred, you get. It’s a hard life, but you can’t really think about it that way.
There have been auditions where they’ve said nicely, ‘Would you be willing to go to the gym for this role?’
I didn’t want to be known as the reality-show star trying to be an actress, so I kept a lot of the failed auditions to myself.
People recognize me, I have scripts, and auditions. And I meet great people.
I faced many ups and downs, like any other actor: not getting through auditions or even worse – getting shortlisted and not being selected. Most actors go through the process.
People think that I can just walk into a room and get a job, but of the 200 interviews and auditions I go through a year, I may get three yeses. I just have to use my sense of humour to get me through.
You’ve got to be dedicated and throw yourself into parts and auditions in a way that is completely selfless.
Jekyll is quite close to me, a little bit more shy. Whereas Hyde is a mish-mash of lots of things. I didn’t realise I was borrowing it throughout the auditions – but Heath Ledger’s Joker was an influence.
I’ve been on over 1000 auditions.
I’ve never shown up to a session in my pajamas – but I definitely do auditions in my pajamas all the time, if I do them from home.
Plow through the weeds. Go to the auditions and go to the meetings and be on time. Stop looking to the left or the right. Keep your head down and keep moving.
I used to wear sweats and a T-shirt to auditions, but my agent would yell at me and tell me I had to look nice and presentable. So I had to drop that habit.
I got the call to play Tony Manero in ‘Saturday Night Fever’ in Madrid, a role I’d always wanted, as it’s such a well-constructed show, and my background is in musical theatre. I’d been travelling back and forth between London and Spain for auditions and had been borrowing money from friends to do it.
I loved eating and I did put on weight. I never actually felt fat until I started going for castings, for auditions.
Actors who say they don’t watch TV are stupid. I was raised by TV! And it’s how I research for auditions.
I’ve turned up to auditions and seen faces that I recognise and I think I know them. Then I realise I know them because they are on the telly.
I usually tape about 99 percent of my auditions at my house. I have a camera and record myself, and my mom reads the other lines off-camera. Then I send it to my agent and manager, and they send it to the casting director, and we see how it goes from there.
After I finished university and started going to auditions again, and I also did a bunch of other jobs. I worked in the insurance industry, the digital media industry; I worked in a financial services company for three years.
When you’re an actor starting out, you have no control. All you can do is prepare the best you can for auditions and turn up on time.
I’m down to act a little bit – go on a couple auditions or make one of those three-second cameos with one line.
I learned certain exercises to help me cope, to get myself in tip-top mental shape to deal with auditions and rejection.
Because I was a dancer, I started going to auditions for musical theater, which forced me to sing.
If you have a passion and love for something, it’s hard to give it up. I had jobs where the people were helpful and let me go to auditions, and I’d make up the hours another day. I was lucky in that respect: I could afford to get to London.
If you wanna be the comic relief in a big-budget movie, go to L.A. because there are five auditions in a week that you could hit up, and that increases your chances of getting those jobs.
There are days when you are busy even without having work as you are going for auditions. So you are not acting in a way. To sustain yourself mentally, physically, emotionally is challenging for sure.
When I go to these auditions, I feel like I have to prove myself 10 times over… acting is a challenge.
Being a director, whether you’re in rehearsal or you’re in auditions or you’re in a creative meeting, is so much to me about being present in the moment. There’s a sense of time stopping.
My grandmother was a huge influence on me. She allowed me to be my flamboyant self as a kid. She babysat me; auditions came later – by later, I mean six years old. She sang and played piano, and I’d sit beside her. I don’t know how confident I am, but I think you need it to survive in this industry.
I wouldn’t have made it past the first round of American Idol auditions. It was months before our first song was recorded. The guys were like, ‘Just seeng!’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know how to seeng! Can’t I just play the triangle?’
When you go to meetings or auditions and you fail to prepare, prepare to fail. It is simple but true.
One of the things I love about ‘Idol’ besides the drama, the backstories, and the crazy arrangements on popular songs is the auditions, when everyone is full of hope and nerves.
One thing I refuse to do is force it. So I’ve canceled many auditions because nothing has come up, and I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. God forbid they outright give it to me and I don’t connect with it.
No one understands my accent. I’m constantly going to auditions and being told they don’t like how I talk. You have to live with criticism, and I don’t take it personally.
Sometimes with auditions and going up for a role, you don’t want to admit to yourself that it’s everything you’ve ever wanted.
My performances in auditions were so inept that I hardly got any jobs in film or TV. I just could not learn the lines and the thought of doing theatre terrified me. What if I forgot my lines in the middle of a scene with an entire audience watching?
Choirs, auditions, talent shows, I was doing it all.
I used to visit one production house every day, and I used to take up auditions even for small roles. Before my debut, I must have auditioned at almost every single production house.
Every mistake that you make, or every thing that you might regret, you don’t need to necessarily regret it, because it can be a step forward. You just move forward and let them go because there will be a lot of bad auditions, and there will be a lot of negative responses. But that won’t last forever.
It’s my motor, it’s the thing that keeps me going and so when I have these auditions for these big movies, I can depend on myself because I’ve been working consistently.
