I auditioned for Lamorne Morris’ part, Winston, on ‘New Girl.’ In the scene, the character was eating a mayonnaise sandwich. I thought, ‘Nobody else is going to go into the audition eating, and this is how I’m gonna set myself apart.’
My mom suggested studying acting in college, but I was a bit scared to choose that path because I couldn’t wrap my head around the drama school audition process.
Initially, when I’d heard of ‘Teen Wolf,’ I had never actually sat down to watch the series. But during my audition process, before I had a clue that I would even be considered, I started watching the show to get a feel for it and to see what type of show it was.
A month and a half after my first audition, I won the role on ‘Lost.’
If you do a scene and you really like a character in it or a premise in it to write it down and to work on it so that you can have five or six characters that you can pull out in an audition.
I was on vacation in New York when my agent called asking if I wanted to go right in and audition for ‘Billy Elliot,’ so I was lucky to be there.
Everyone I know, including myself, has missed or lost an audition.
When I went to get my master’s in creative writing at San Francisco State after Grinnell, I joined the moribund remnants of the Actor’s Workshop, until I saw Kay Hayward and Sandy Archer in the San Francisco Mime Troupe and drove down that day to audition. The rest is history.
One thing that seems to surprise the studios is finding out later my willingness to audition. Under the right circumstances, I actually enjoy it very much.
My first audition was the worst I have ever done, ever.
I’ve not gotten so much stuff because I improvise in an audition, but I always feel like, if that’s the case, the reason is because it wouldn’t have worked out anyway with us working together.
My mom convinced me to audition for ‘The X Factor.’ And I just said, ‘O.K., let me see what it’s about. $5 million? Might as well try.’ I tried out, and it worked out. I got through top seven out of 200,000, so I’m proud.
If David Lynch wants me to audition I will do it. But a young filmmaker, no. I won’t.
I used to get some flack from my agents because I wouldn’t even audition for parts where the hero uses violent force to be a hero.
Sometimes I think I missed out on things like travelling. I’d have been terrified of missing an audition. I didn’t start a family because that’s not something I take lightly. Acting meant so much to me.
I was so excited to audition for ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ I knew it was going to be huge. Maybe, by some small chance, Peter Jackson’s a ‘Star Trek Deep Space Nine’ fan.’
I was the first person in the world to audition for ‘The Hobbit’. The casting director told me that when I went in. That’s a lot of pressure, isn’t it? The first person in the world.
I found out that you could audition by sending a picture of yourself and some information to Newsround.
I was given an opportunity to do sports in college and get a degree because of it. I ran track for the University of Texas and was studying to be a petroleum landman. And I was gifted an opportunity to audition for a film during my last semester in college, which I discovered while jogging around campus.
My first audition for ‘The Magicians’ came up in conversation with a close friend who, right then, handed me the first book.
I did six Broadway shows, and I noticed there weren’t many female comedians. When I went to a dancing audition, there were 1,000 girls. And there were three jobs. So I said I’ll just try comedy. And I loved it.
Sometimes I’ll read an audition and I’ll get a very strong first impression about who the person is, and I usually go with it.
For me, in the audition, the song that you choose should make you cry. It doesn’t matter why: it could be because you’re happy, but it gives you that feeling that you’re overflowing.
A bad audition is usually the director’s fault, not the actor’s. It’s up to the director to get the atmosphere right to get the best out of your auditionees.
I remember going to the audition for ‘Corrie.’ I wasn’t an actor – what they’re often looking for in these rooms is a character, not what’s on the page. They want to see what you are going to bring. So somehow, I got the job on ‘Corrie.’ For the first time in a while, someone really believed in me.
I was still in school when I heard about this audition for this fairness cream ad. I got selected and subsequently, did a lot of ads and I got noticed by Ramesh Taurani and Ken Ghosh and ‘Ishq Vishk’ happened.
I think I was first choice for the part. I don’t know – that’s what they always tell you anyway. I didn’t have to do any audition for the part. Sam saw me in Dinner and the whole thing slipped into place.
I know Asian actors out there won’t even audition for a role that have an accent. But for me, I was the kid with an accent. I still have an accent to some degree.
My first audition was for Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life.’ These casting directors came through Texas, and they recruited somewhere around 10,000 kids to come and audition for this movie. They sent me a letter in the mail, and I went and auditioned for this movie.
It’s funny because the perception is that the typical ‘X Factor’ contestant is the person who’s just working 9 to 5 and just decides to one day go and audition. So yeah, for me, it was a very different story.
I started out doing musical theater specifically – I thought I would eventually move to New York and audition for stuff, and maybe wind up on Broadway or something. Well, that didn’t happen.
I’m just thinking I’m just like a normal actor who gets scripts, and I read them, and… if I enjoy reading them, then that’s what’s exciting, then I get excited about the audition or the project itself.
I have been a fan of Dexter since the pilot. Once I got the audition I just squealed, and you would have thought I just won 45 million dollars.
I didn’t get jobs because when I went into the audition, I tried to be somebody else. I had to realize, what I can actually bring to the table is unique. No one else has experienced what I’ve experienced; no one else has walked in my shoes.
I came to New York when I was eighteen years old, and the first audition that I ever went to was this huge cattle call at the Equity building where I had gone two days earlier to sign up – I didn’t have an agent or anything. It was for ‘Chicago.’ There were probably three hundred people there.
I studied Shakespeare at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, and ‘Orange’ was my first audition ever for TV or film.
The wonderful drama teacher at my high school, Barbara Patterson, saw me standing in the hall and told me I should audition for ‘West Side Story.’ I guess she thought I looked like a gang member.
I never get a role if I audition for it.
I think fear is unavoidable and that, when recognized and embraced, it’s something that can work for you – especially in the audition room.
I once used henna to dye my hair brown for an audition, thinking I was being clever as it’s all natural.
After high school I was going to be an architect. In fact, I was studying to be an architect when the audition for ‘The Monkees’ came along.
I grew up with my parents in the kitchen discussing the audition my dad had that day or moaning about something or other in the industry, so it was unglamourised and normalised for me from a very young age.
I had this job at Hollywood Video, and during my worst audition ever, I forgot all of my lines in front of Chuck Lorre at the callback for the ‘Mike and Molly’ pilot.
I’m not really into destiny, but it’s funny – I bumped into a woman who told me about an audition, and now I have a BAFTA.
When we get to a point when trans folks are included in the creative process, the narrative will be much more authentic. Trans actors playing trans roles is a key part of that. But some of the trans talent is not even making it into the audition room, let’s be honest.
I give myself homework when I have an audition. I give myself goals, and that’s how I check how I’m doing. It can be something simple like ‘listen,’ or ‘find your feet.’ And then afterward it’s an assessment, so in a way it’s not about booking the job or not. It’s about what I learned as an actor about that character.
I want to do acting as much as I can. When you’re on contract with a show, you can’t really do other shows. It’s hard to do film. I haven’t had the opportunity to even audition much for films because I don’t have an agent.
I was discovered on the Sony lot through an audition by Denzel Washington.
The audition process is like playing games at times, where you have to pass many levels. Sometimes, you could pass the contract negotiation level, but in the end, the producer may decide to use a different actor instead.
Investment banks started recruiting at Harvard back in the day, and they’d fly me down to New York City and I was so poor so I would take advantage of the free flight, the per diem, the hotel. And then I would go audition for stuff.
My dad took me for an audition once, to show me, ‘OK, you want to be a child actor, this is what it’s like.’ I sang a folk song about donkeys on this West End stage with this big director, and there was a queue of 200 girls all singing ‘Memory.’ I was terrible. Terrible.
All you have is yourself and what you have to present, and just focus on that. And if you can walk out of the audition and say to yourself, ‘I hit all my beats,’ ‘I accomplished my emotional honesty,’ or ‘I remembered my words,’ then that’s winning.
