Have Head Shot, Will Line-Read
The cattle call, at which a large number of aspiring actors audition for casting directors, is a ritual as old as Hollywood. One of the busiest spots for commercial auditions is Westside Casting Studios on South Bundy in Los Angeles, which rents space to casting directors. On a busy day, more than 500 fresh faces wait to read for projects in one of the eight audition studios. We fed the lines to some aspiring stars as well as some old hands.
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James Collins
46, Toluca Lake
What are you auditioning for?
I’m doing some drop-offs and some networking. A lot of casting places have racks, where you can drop off your photos for open submissions.
Acting experience?
I’ve been out here since the early ‘80s. My credits go back to things like “Mork & Mindy.” I’ve picked up voice-over work, commercials. The first films I did were “Escape from New York” and “Rocky II.”
What role wouldn’t work for you?
I’m rarely the male model-love interest. I’m usually a cop or criminal.
What role would you be perfect for?
I’d be a fine choice for any of the cop shows out there, “The Wire,” “NYPD Blue,” “The Shield.”
Funniest audition experience ever?
I went in and they asked my luckiest experience ever. I said, “Well, I’ve met a girl. I think she’s the one, her name is Kathy Fitzgerald.” They went to the next in line and asked her name. She said, “I’m Kathy Fitzgerald.” I sort of set her up.
Did she get the role?
I don’t know what happened to her, but I didn’t get it.
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Cliff Karp
27, Santa Monica
What are you reading for?
A scientist in a Dairy Queen commercial. I have to speak “bee” to a bee. It’s important to play it very straight.
Acting experience?
Theater and small TV parts. And many commercials, thank goodness. That’s where my money comes from.
Why do you want to be an actor?
I have an Ivy League education. I graduated with honors from Cornell. I went to USC’s film school. There’s absolutely no logic to it.
If not acting, what would you do?
I’ve thought about being a park ranger if I could work in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and explain the lava.
Your favorite role so far?
Ian McKellen did “An Enemy of the People” at the Ahmanson. I had a really small role. Trevor Nunn was directing. It was the Royal National Theatre from England. It’s an Ibsen play, and I was playing an English person playing a Norwegian person.
Worst role so far?
A Chicken McNugget. It was 105 degrees and we were playing baseball. Everybody except me threw up.
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Scott Chernoff
32, Los Angeles
What are you reading for today?
The office guy in the big, big Dairy Queen commercial.
Experience?
A bunch of commercials. I was in shock in the hospital over my cellphone bill until Catherine Zeta-Jones introduced me to T-Mobile and made my life better. I’m a writer and an actor like every jerk in L.A.
What role could you never do?
I couldn’t play a Nazi.
What is your typecast role?
The “what-not-to-do guy.” I’ve been the guy who burned down his house because he didn’t know how to cook. I’ve been the guy who doesn’t exercise properly. Lately I seem to be the “just-open-your-eyes-and-look-at-something” guy because I’m wide-eyed and surprised.
What is your dream role?
A space pilot in “Star Wars.”
Big role that should be yours?
I think I’d make a good James Bond. The first Jewish James Bond.
Your worst role so far?
A demented clown in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.
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Jennifer Ferguson
26, Los Angeles
What are you reading for today?
A GMC car commercial. We had to pretend we were at the dealership, oohing and aahing.
Acting experience?
I’ve been acting since high school in Dallas. I’ve done two J.C. Penney commercials and a Taco Bell campaign. I’ve done independent films and a lot of stage. The first TV feature I did is airing on Lifetime network in February.
Is it a woman whose husband is a psycho?
No. She falls in love but has trust issues.
Funniest audition experience?
One time I had to hula hoop and I don’t know how.
What is your typecast role?
Young ingenue. Lately I’ve been cast as a mother, and that really makes me sad.
Your worst role so far?
An educational film a long time ago. I played “Friend Number 2.” It was about George Washington Carver. It’s a great educational film, it just wasn’t a great role.
Oh, I heard about that film.
Did not.