Popular quotes about Audition! Wisdom and inspiration are here!
I used to be a wonderful auditioner. When I was living in New York, I'd audition every day. And I like to audition. But then it got to a point where I didn't like it anymore. So once it got to there and I also knew more about the business and I thought, "I can't do this anymore."
Ed O'NeillIt was an audition process after Breakfast Club, and I wasn't really sure I wanted to do the movie. There was a bigger role that Rob [Lowe] was already set to play, so the role they wanted me to audition for was Alec. [Director] Joel Schumacher... this is back in the days when you could trick me with things like this. He goes, "Don't you think you can play it?" And I go, "Okaaaaay." So then I did it for all the wrong reasons but I don't think I would fall for that again. Who knows. I might.
Judd NelsonI think having pointers and having guidance from mentors is very important, but it never actually embodies what you go through. And if something doesn't feel good, why do you repeat it? If you feel good bemoaning an audition for a week, go for it. But if you feel better bemoaning an audition that didn't go very well for 30 minutes because you believe in the craft and the process, then I suggest you do that. And that's what I suggest to myself. The alternative is way too painful and destructive.
Nina AriandaYou're going from audition to audition, changing in the backseat, and all that fun stuff that's great to do at one time in your life. That's when the 49-cent taco, as disgusting as it is, really plays into your day. It really helps you out.
Eva MendesI think professionally I admire people and the way they've handled their careers and being in the media. But the people that I used to inspire me and keep me going were my peers in Toronto - I would see the same girls going to audition after audition, and their resilience to do it again, and I found that inspiring.
Anna SilkI knew I wanted to be in comedy but the path of least resistance was doing stand-up in folk music clubs where I could get on stage. I guess you could get up no matter how bad you were and you didn't have to audition. You just got up. Everything else required an audition and if you auditioned for a TV show, you would stand in line with a hundred other people. But at the clubs, it was okay just to get up, so that's why I started in stand-up.
Steve MartinWhen I went to do my big audition with actors for Mr. Blonde, the thing that was very interesting was the first person to actually do the audition with the song, and they kind of actually acted out the whole scene, they weren't so great. It wasn't that they were magnificent, but the song, it was the first -it was all - been in my head.
Quentin TarantinoI love auditioning. Since โThe Notebookโ and โWedding Crashers,โ I donโt have to audition anymore, and I miss it. You get to show your interpretation of the character. I get nervous when I donโt audition. What if they hate what I want to do?
Rachel McAdamsThe only recording studio was in Motown - it was called Tamla/Motown at that time and we used to audition there because Smokey Robinson was at that studio and Berry Gordy was the president. I remember asking Smokey to listen to my group and he did. For the first couple of years we were just singing background. We used to back up Marvin Gaye; Mary Wells was there then, Marv Johnson, the Marvelettes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Junior Walker and the All-Stars.
Diana RossMy first professional audition - god, I've never told anybody about this - was for a test commercial, I think it was for Xbox. It involved me getting kidnapped by a granny who wanted to play the Xbox. It was very weird and I definitely had no idea what I was doing. I actually got the gig. It wasn't a commercial; it was what directors did when they wanted to show the company what they would do with a commercial.
Henry Lloyd-HughesI've always been slightly self-conscious as an actor, and I guess that sometimes reads as pomposity. Starting when I was 30, I somehow gave off an impression at an audition that had them mentally put me in a three-piece suit or put an attache case in my hand. If there was a stiff-guy part, the director would brighten up when I came in.
Charles KimbroughFinally, I was called for "The Office" and I was really lucky, because a lot of the shows that I went out for I would work my way up from, like, an audition with the casting director to the director to the producers to the studio, I'd go through seven auditions, and then they'd give the role to a famous actress.
Jenna FischerI'd done two years' worth of extra work, and all my friends who I would go on auditions with went to school for acting. These were kids who knew when they were 14 years old that this was what they wanted to do with their lives, and they prepared for it, and they're getting canned at every audition.
Michelle RodriguezMost actors have to sit by the phone and wait for somebody to call them up to audition and stuff. I don't think I can exist in Hollywood just on that. I think I need to be proactive and making sure that things I really want to do are being developed to the point where somebody wants to make them?
Ice CubeI've been doing American auditions for a while, and it always felt sort of like sending these audition tapes off into the ether. So just hearing anything back from anyone was kind of startling.
Xavier SamuelThe first audition I ever went on, I was accompanied by my mother at the instruction of my father. You have to learn how to take rejection if you really want to be an actor, he said. He had to eat his own words. I got the job.
Michele LeeEvery audition, I still get nervous. I still get sweaty palms. I don't think that ever goes away. You just get accustomed to it.
Tanc SadeIf you do an American TV series, before the audition you sign away the next five years of your life.
Dominic WestIt took a very long time to really enjoy an audition, and to get in the room and do the best that I can. I've just been deeply grateful for my career, and that the love for the work and the characters is alive still. I try to let go of the armor as much as possible and not be afraid.
Ann DowdI had to audition for the part of Jnior, and I wanted the role terribly because I knew it was a great character. This guy is a wonderful, funny, mean old guy.
Dominic ChianeseEverybody I meet in public seems to want to audition for me. If I ask a guy what time it is, he'll sing it to me.
Johnny CarsonBeing a writer is so great because you're literally not dependent on anybody. Whereas, as an actor, you have to audition or wait for somebody else to make a decision about how to use you, with writing, you can do it anywhere, anytime you want. You don't have to ask permission.
Sam ShepardI remember thinking, 'I'll audition just once and if it doesn't work out I'll never think about it ever again.'
Jared HarrisWhen I finished my A-levels, I assumed I'd be able to get work as an actor. But I couldn't. I didn't get an audition. Nothing. So I thought I'd better train and then the parts would come.
Ben WhishawFor me it's a new experience every single time, because - The dance community has a great strength in synergizing immediately. So we recognize that opposed to being competition, which we are in the audition process, once we're on the job is about cohesion, it's about striving to highlight each individual in their own element, while also creating something that is visually tantalizing to the audience. While the ingredients of each movie has been different, the recipe for success is the same, which is to click immediately and make the best possible movie.
Alyson StonerI was working at a restaurant in L.A. when a producer came in. He said I should audition for this movie Cellular. I did, and I got the part. It actually makes me sick to tell that story because its obnoxious.
Mircea MonroeMy teachers encouraged me to audition for some professional work during our summer vacation. I landed my first job. It was for the National Theatre Company's Mimika Pantomime troupe. I ended up touring with them for the next two years.
Didi ConnWhen I found out about the audition, I knew that I was going in for 'From Dusk Till Dawn,' but I actually didnt know that I was going to be reading with Robert Rodriguez.
Madison DavenportIt doesn't matter how smart you are; to audition for 'Jeopardy,' you just have to luck out and know what they're asking you that day.
Drew CareyWhen I audition, I understand what it takes and the insecurities that come with it. If I do anything, I put actors at ease. I used to tell directors who weren't actors, the best thing they could do was take an acting class for a couple of months. Just to understand.
Albert BrooksWhen I started singing as a freshman, I didn't sing for anybody - my parents or my friends. By the time I was a senior, the teacher asked me if I wanted to audition for a solo at my graduation. I was really nervous but I got it.
Toby LightmanI have had the auditioning process go on for two weeks or three weeks. I am always incredibly anxious. The audition and the wait is definitely the hardest part for me.
Joe LandoYou have to read scripts and audition and develop relationships. It takes a long time to develop a body of work but over the last 25 years I guess I've done that many movies. In hindsight it may seem effortless, but there's a lot of work that goes into it.
Harry Connick, Jr.I like doing films and I wish that I could do more but I still have to audition. I don't get offered starring roles in movies even though I've written and starred in a movie.
Tim MeadowsI didn't audition or anything like that. But I went into John Loganhis office... It was his screening room in his office, actually, and I sat and schmoozed with him for about two minutes, which I think is standard, and, y'know, we got on fine.
Brent SpinerMy dad became a soap opera actor, and I was an extra in a skating rink scene on the soap. I didn't audition. It was nepotism all the way.
Jennifer AnistonAt the time, I was in L.A., just auditioning and hoping to land a part, dramatic or comedic. I started to feel really stagnant, waiting for a part. I was also taking classes at UCB and Groundlings, and at the higher levels, they focus on writing. It was such a relief to be able to write. During those programs, I wrote a one-woman show called Me, Myself, and Iran, and it ended up getting to Tina Fey. She recommended me to audition for SNL, so I got my first of two auditions through her.
Nasim PedradI once used henna to dye my hair brown for an audition, thinking I was being clever as it's all natural.
Sienna MillerI started to write before I went to SUNY Purchase music conservatory. As an audition I submitted what I now think are really awful songs, but I guess they saw something in them.
Regina SpektorI feel like a lot of times when you get signed to an agent they just send you everywhere, so I still audition for a lot for voiceover stuff. I actually don't book a lot of it, and I love doing it so I get disappointed because I want to do more voice stuff.
Jonathan LipnickiI'm never offered any sort of roles. I need to audition in a typically lengthy process to receive roles.
Dylan O'BrienI need work. I still audition for work. I dont get offered things out of nowhere. I have to work hard, still, and I get a lot of rejections. It just goes on and on.
Bojana NovakovicWhen I was a kid I was a big fan of the Universal Monsters movies of the 1930's and the 1940's. I loved movies like The Wolfman (1941) and Dracula (1931). I really wanted to be in those movies. Eventually I started nagging my parents about it, and it turned from, "I wanna be in a monster movie! I wanna be in a monster movie!" to "I just wanna be in a movie." So I think my parents just thought that if they took me to one audition I'd see how boring it was and I wouldn't wanna do it. But I ended up getting the part, and I got a bunch of roles after that as well.
Robbie RistIf you go in and audition for roles rather than just be offered them, then you kind of get a chance to kind of discover that you can do something that you didn't think you could do.
Peter SarsgaardMy little sister told me about the Twilight books and what a big fan she was. She said, "It's like Harry Potter in love," which it's not. So, when the audition came up, I wanted to get the film for her. It was great because I got to take her to the premiere. She got all dolled up and was treated like a princess for the day.
Tinsel Korey