Expert: Taylor Sheppard - 7/6/2010

Question
I'm going on 23, in my younger years I worked with Children's Media Project, a nonprofit organization in New York, working in both production and amateur acting in some of the segments. Currently, I'm enlisted in the USN but still had my thoughts on becoming an actress. What are some small steps I could take to realize my goal?

Answer
Hi Veoncia,

Interesting question!

Given that you have filled your dance card pretty full with a military career, the actual acting will have to be put on hold until you get your freedom back. Unfortunately, when doing projects, the shooting schedule doesn't cater to the actor. Example: In the recent "Twilight" movie, "Eclipse" -the actor who played "Victoria" (a female vampire whose boyfriend was killed by the Cullen family to protect Bella, a mortal, -the lead actress) was replaced in the production by another actor. Reason? schedule conflict, supposedly. The original actress was about to have her big moment, because the film focused on an ordeal with her character, but the studio claims she waited until 0 hr. before letting them know that there was an 10 day filming overlap with another show she committed to do. Rather than try to re-arrange the shooting schedule, she was replaced!
Perhaps she thought she was "Big" enough that at the last minute, the studio would do what they had to to keep her. OOOPS! they instead thought they could find an actor who looked close enough, that it would be no biggie. To tell the truth, I noticed something different, but thought it was makeup. Later I checked imdb.com, and sure enough, CHANGE! So, she was left out and was gracious and said she wished she could have stayed with the cast to stay, but wished them well.

So, we have 2 lessons. 1. Don't think you are too important to be replaced. -Even as an A-list star! 2. Be upfront with the studio and don't try to dick them around!

As I was saying before the tangent, you will often have short notice on auditions and schedules, so you have to have a job that allows you to control your time. That being said, acting lessons are a must. Even if you act for years, you can always get better. An actress who I used to like a little, just gave a Playboy interview and kind of let it out that she isn't the best actress. She didn't make it sound as if she was doing much about it. At 37, she SHOULD care more and depend less on her beauty and looks, cause everyone gets old and ugly. Helen Mirren isn't perfect, but she will show some skin in her next film. If she was Mary Brown, unknown, do you think that would happen? No! Helen is one hell of an actor. Always train. A lot of classes in LA and other places have classes that you can attend ala cart -a day or week here, and there.
Reading acting books: Stanislovsky Method, Meisner on Acting, etc.,etc...read all you can, anything you can! If you have college money after you are up, why not attend USC or schools in New York to study acting and theatre? That would get you farther faster too. The thing is, you can always act, but getting in earlier in life is better than later, usually.

Best,

Taylor