Body image issues can be particularly acute for people in entertainment, which also provides most of the icons and role models of appearance. In her new memoir Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain, Portia de Rossi writes about a dark side of pursuing a “perfect” look. “Anorexia was my first love. I didn’t [...]
Amber Riley is one of the dynamic actor-singers on the musical/comedy series Glee. She recalls her rejection from American Idol: “My life was crushed when they told me ‘No.’ But I was 17, it was a long time ago and rejection like that only makes you stronger, gets you asking — how can I better [...]
Julie Benz (on auditioning for “Dexter”): I had to come in with no makeup on and in sweats. And then I took it a step further because they wanted me to look really downtrodden, so I actually drank wine so I was hung over and I put mascara in my hair to give myself really [...]
Monica Raymund trained four years at the Juilliard School of drama, and performed at the Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, before winning her role on the drama series Lie to Me, as an expert in nonverbal communication. She comments about her audition: “I just really didn’t think I was any good on TV,” she says, [...]
Jenna Gavigan’s role in the William Inge play “Come Back, Little Sheba” is the “vixen” Marie. Gavigan is on academic leave from Columbia University to pursue acting. A recent newspaper interview [Shedding the wings, by Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2007; photo: Myung J. Chun] notes that “she wants to major in something [...]
Actor Vera Farmiga currently stars in “Joshua.” In addition to her perspectives below (from a new Los Angeles Times interview), she has also been quoted: “I really don’t feel a need to be famous. But I do feel a need to make a difference, to shed light on human emotion through acting.” [LATimes: Anthony Minghella [...]
A common struggle In my article Actors and Addiction, I quote Philip Seymour Hoffman about using drugs and alcohol earlier in his life: “It was anything I could get my hands on. I liked it all.” He got sober, he says, because “You get panicked. I was 22, and I got panicked for my life.” [...]
“I don’t think I’m very much like anyone else, really. I’m sure there are aspects of other actors that I share, but I don’t see anybody else and go, ‘Damn, they stole my thing.’ I’m me, and I like that there are people who have an appreciation for that.” … “I don’t want to be [...]
Two of the top casting directors in the business, who most recently cast the new James Bond, Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins reminisce about the many films they’ve cast, including Harry Potter, and A Beautiful Mind; the actors they’ve discovered, such as Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Scarlett Johansson; and some of the A-list directors, [...]
Debi Mazar plays publicist Shauna on the HBO series Entourage. “The business has changed as far as the perception of celebrity,” she notes. “Before, you know, you were a working actor and it was cool, and people knew who you were. Now there’s all this tabloid bulls**t and perks that didn’t happen before. People are [...]
Ian McKellen on timing Ian McKellen admits in a recent article that it has taken time and life experience to develop the self-confidence that now helps fuel his dynamic roles. “Suppose it had been me who played Tom Jones [1963], not Albert Finney?” he said. “There was never any question of me playing those sorts [...]
Brad Pitt In a magazine interview, Brad Pitt once candidly admitted, “I’ve got a couple of friends that might as well be family, and I’ve caught myself just ordering one of them to do something because you get accustomed to people doing things for you… It’s the money and the power, it just crushes everything.” [...]
Mainstream film/tv studios are considered a “boys’ club” with good reason: they usually make story and casting decisions based on adolescent male values [eg fast action, violence, t&a] – not exactly high spiritual or creative ideals. Casting often excludes and limits actors with talent. Indira Varma Indira Varma [“Bride & Prejudice” etc] notes in the [...]
Sometimes I feel competitive when I see somebody else in a movie that’s really beautiful and really big, or when I’m vying for a role and I can’t get in and it’s the usual suspects — Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Connelly, all great actresses. Then I feel like a loser and I get sad. [...]
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