Quotes About Auditions

In my early days depression did inhibit me because I was too debilitated and terrified to tell anyone why I couldn't get on a train from Manchester for auditions in London.

You can over-think things. If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorising rather than being real.

If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorizing rather than being real. Maybe every other actor would think that was terrible, I don't know. But it seems to have worked for me, so far.

It's such an awkward, strange thing that was concocted, to have auditions. Back in the old days, you'd just have a screen test, and they'd say, 'Oh, you seem natural in front of the camera,' and you'd just go do 10 pictures for Paramount or whatever.

I've tested for I-don't-know-how-many pilots, and I didn't get any of them. I would always try to go off the top and make it as spontaneous as possible, but acting in sitcoms is such a skill set, and I didn't have it. I wish I did back when I was younger.

In between shooting for 'Awake,' I was attempting to have my own pilot season. The audition for 'Anger Management' actually came during a week that I was already testing for a couple other shows and we weren't really letting any other shows into the mix.

Holding auditions in front of an audience is testing.

The pilots I did test for, I was the only black actor testing against white actors for parts that were written white.

I would travel by train and then would take an auto-rickshaw to travel for auditions and look tests.

I went on countless auditions. I begged my parents until I finally was allowed to be in a theatrical play when I was 13. It was the most important thing in my life

I go on at least 2-3 auditions a week in the pursuit of more work. So I'm constantly working on material and constantly honing and trying to perfect a craft that is never perfectible - it's always new, and it's always different. It's always a work in progress.

It's not every day people fly you to New York for auditions.

It used to be true that to succeed in the creative class, you had to move immediately to where the action was. It was how you made connections, how you got auditions, how you found an audience and funding and some attention for your craft. But not anymore.

I used to see my friend Harland Williams in a lot of auditions. Then you'd see one of the DeLuise kids because they're kind of heavy and character-y. You'd just see a lot of the same guys over the years.

At 'The West Wing,' I cast newscasters, and when you put out a casting call for actors, half of the people who come in are real local L.A. newscasters. Each time, I ended up hiring one of them, because they're better at it. Big surprise! A newscaster is better at playing a newscaster than an actor is.

There are no shortcuts, and you can't wing your way through real hard work. I learned the hard way by not taking auditions seriously when I first came out to L.A. and probably wasted a good seven years.

My mum was no pushy parent. She would drop me off for auditions when I was in my teens at the Lyric Theatre, then give me my bus fare and say she would see me later at home. She wasn't hanging around in the wings geeing me on. I had to do it on my own; it was up to me.

I did so many interviews and auditions for films, and it was just zilch. Nothing I did impressed anybody! I could just feel it. It was always, 'Okay, thank you, Mr. Lloyd.' Then, out of the blue, 'Cuckoo's Nest' came to cast. A casting director who sent me up for different things over the years sent me up for that, and it just clicked.

The first thing I say when someone says they want to be an actor is, 'Go get 'Backstage.' You know what's going on, you know who's doing what, and there's work that you can find in there. It's an incredible resource, and there's nothing else like it.

Where having been an actor was extremely helpful to me was in casting. That's where I think a director who has acted can really shine, and casting is the most important thing you do.

I think that casting is probably the most important thing in television production.

The problem with being an actress is there's a lot of rejection.

Because I was a dancer, I started going to auditions for musical theater, which forced me to sing.

I've been in auditions without screens, and I can assure you that I was prejudiced. I began to listen with my eyes, and there is no way that your eyes don't affect your judgement. The only true way to listen is with your ears and your heart. (p.251)