Ego < Experience

I have an actor friend who works all the time. She’s one of those people you see and go, “Oh, look it’s ... her ... from that ... thing.” In fact, she works so much that there are even times where I’ll be watching a show and she’ll unexpectedly pop up and I’m like, “Well hello, Amazing Actor Friend. What are you doing on there?” It’s a thing of beauty, I tell ya.

And I want explain to all of you lovely people why she works all the time – aside from being generally awesome and amazingly talented, though as her friend, I might be a tad biased.

She works consistently because she doesn’t ever think she’s too good for ANYTHING.

She was recently submitted for a one-line role on a project I was casting, and at first I was like, “oh, but you’re better than that.” But then I was like, “I admire that you value any job, any size, and don’t want to pass up any opportunity.” Smart actor, this one.

She knows that each and every opportunity can lead to something else.

She knows that experience breeds confidence.

She knows that a job is a freaking job!

I can’t tell you how many actors think they are better than small one-line roles. (see example HERE) But the thing is, those actors are usually the ones not working consistently.

What these actors don’t understand is that you need those smaller credits to build up your resume. I’m not saying that you should go be an extra. No. I’m simply saying don’t poo-poo the small roles. Do those co-star roles on TV shows and those one line roles in indie movies. Because guess what? Even the one line roles in bigger blockbuster films are usually reserved for actors with more credits. So build those credits, people!

Experience means everything in this business. We all have to pay our dues. Hell, I had to intern for nine months before getting a paying casting job. NINE months! Of working for FREE! But I did it.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Don’t let your ego stop you from gaining valuable experience.

Does this post make me look fat?

I overheard the most disturbing conversation last week at Starbucks. These two women were talking about Adele with this “good for her being so recognized despite being the size she is” attitude, which I found extremely condescending. Apparently only very thin women can be recognized without question. Each of these ladies then tried to convince the other (and themselves) that Adele is beautiful even if she doesn’t fit the standard definition of “beauty.” My question is: whose standard? Because I think she’s a pretty damn beautiful woman. I mean, you can’t argue with that bone structure! One of these two ladies even said that it shouldn’t matter what she looks like with a voice like hers, but if you have to go out of your way to say this, doesn’t that sort of make your point? If it doesn’t matter why bring it up at all?

Now I would like to talk about the Oscars. Octavia Spencer, in particular. Pretty much every recap I read referred to her as “full-figured” and “curvy.” Are these the only adjectives you could come up with, people? Does it matter? Does it make her brilliant performance any more or less brilliant? Also, why is “curvy” a bad thing?

When we as a society put the likes of Angelina Jolie on a pedestal, do we think we’re sending our young girls the right message? You guys! Did you see her at the Oscars? YIKES, right? Remember when she was athletic and sexy? Bring that Angie back! #AngelinaJolie was trending on Twitter right after the awards, so for fun, I read through a bunch of the posts. About half were making fun of that ridiculous leg pose, and the other half were saying she needs to eat something. And, of course, there were a few that defended her waifish (can we call her that? Is there one step beyond waifish that might be more appropriate?) figure. They said that all the haters were probably just jealous, fat women. Interestingly, most of those “eat a cookie” comments were from MEN!

Oh, you guys, I’m not sure what the answer is here, and I know things probably won’t change in my lifetime, but, seriously, something’s got to give.