Actor Roundup
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Photo credit: JPI
Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R)
“It was on the same day I auditioned for ALL MY CHILDREN [as Cliff]. I also tried out for a new Tennessee Williams play and I was awful from the beginning to the end of the audition. I knew from the moment I started and there was no turning back. I heard the director, José Quintero, in the audience seats very quietly say, ‘Thank you.’ ”
2 of 6
Photo credit: JPI
John McCook
(Eric, B&B)
“My scariest audition was when I was in New York City in 1964. I was in rehearsal for West Side Story and Jerome Robbins was directing and he said, ‘What do you sing for auditions?’ and I said, ‘Her Face’ from Carnival, and he said, ‘I want you to come and audition for a new show I’m doing,’ and at lunchtime he put me onstage and I sang the ballad — but I forgot some of the lyrics. About a week later, he told me I didn’t get the part but he said I did fine. He told me that I wasn’t ethnic enough for the role, which turned out to be Perchik in the original Fiddler on the Roof. So, at least I didn’t lose it because I forgot the words to a song!”
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Photo credit: JPI
Marc Anthony Samuel (Felix, GH)
“Years ago, I auditioned to be in a touring cast of The Lion King, for the role of Simba. My agents had sent me out on it, ignoring the fact that I was a baritone singer. If you know the show, you know that there are a lot of high notes that Simba sings. I’d warmed up as best I could prior to getting to the audition, but you wouldn’t have known it by the dying cat of a high note I attempted when it came time to sing my solo. I finished the audition, looked at the casting director, and said, ‘I guess that settles that,’ laughed and walked out. Totally embarrassed.”
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John J. York
(Mac, GH)
“I don’t even remember what it was for, but the breakdown said it was a guy with an edge. I was thinking, ‘Guy with an edge — I see some guys wearing jewelry now, I’ll put an earring in one ear!’ So I went to a secondhand clothing store and bought this hoop earring. And it was big, like something Joan Collins would wear. It was the most ridiculous thing. So I put it on, do my audition, come home, and my wife, Vicki, says, ‘You didn’t wear that in the audition, did you?!’ ‘Uh, yes, I wore that.’ She said, ‘I can imagine what those people were saying and how they were laughing at you when you walked out of that audition. Never, ever wear a hoop earring again!’ ”
5 of 6
Photo credit: Riker Brothers
Laura Kai Chen (Melinda, DAYS)
“I was going in for a big movie that was being directed by a huge director, Ivan Reitman. They had called me back to go in [and audition] for him. I was extremely nervous in the waiting area. When they called my name, I stood up and immediately lost all feeling in both my arms. I couldn’t move them, but I had to go into the room. I went in and did this audition basically paralyzed from the neck down. I did not get the job, needless to say. Luckily, that’s never
happened to me since.”
6 of 6
Photo credit: JPI
Adain Bradley (Xander, B&B)
“I guess I just wasn’t right for it or they just weren’t interested or they’d already found their guy, because I got my first word out and the casting director goes, ‘That was great, Adain. Thanks for coming in,’ and I said, ‘Oh, I can do the whole scene, or we can skip to scene two,’ and they said, ‘No, That’s okay. We got it,’ and the camera wasn’t plugged in.”
Peter Bergman (Jack, Y&R)
“It was on the same day I auditioned for ALL MY CHILDREN [as Cliff]. I also tried out for a new Tennessee Williams play and I was awful from the beginning to the end of the audition. I knew from the moment I started and there was no turning back. I heard the director, José Quintero, in the audience seats very quietly say, ‘Thank you.’ ”
Photo credit: JPI
John McCook
(Eric, B&B)
“My scariest audition was when I was in New York City in 1964. I was in rehearsal for West Side Story and Jerome Robbins was directing and he said, ‘What do you sing for auditions?’ and I said, ‘Her Face’ from Carnival, and he said, ‘I want you to come and audition for a new show I’m doing,’ and at lunchtime he put me onstage and I sang the ballad — but I forgot some of the lyrics. About a week later, he told me I didn’t get the part but he said I did fine. He told me that I wasn’t ethnic enough for the role, which turned out to be Perchik in the original Fiddler on the Roof. So, at least I didn’t lose it because I forgot the words to a song!”
Photo credit: JPI
Marc Anthony Samuel (Felix, GH)
“Years ago, I auditioned to be in a touring cast of The Lion King, for the role of Simba. My agents had sent me out on it, ignoring the fact that I was a baritone singer. If you know the show, you know that there are a lot of high notes that Simba sings. I’d warmed up as best I could prior to getting to the audition, but you wouldn’t have known it by the dying cat of a high note I attempted when it came time to sing my solo. I finished the audition, looked at the casting director, and said, ‘I guess that settles that,’ laughed and walked out. Totally embarrassed.”
Photo credit: JPI
John J. York
(Mac, GH)
“I don’t even remember what it was for, but the breakdown said it was a guy with an edge. I was thinking, ‘Guy with an edge — I see some guys wearing jewelry now, I’ll put an earring in one ear!’ So I went to a secondhand clothing store and bought this hoop earring. And it was big, like something Joan Collins would wear. It was the most ridiculous thing. So I put it on, do my audition, come home, and my wife, Vicki, says, ‘You didn’t wear that in the audition, did you?!’ ‘Uh, yes, I wore that.’ She said, ‘I can imagine what those people were saying and how they were laughing at you when you walked out of that audition. Never, ever wear a hoop earring again!’ ”
Laura Kai Chen (Melinda, DAYS)
“I was going in for a big movie that was being directed by a huge director, Ivan Reitman. They had called me back to go in [and audition] for him. I was extremely nervous in the waiting area. When they called my name, I stood up and immediately lost all feeling in both my arms. I couldn’t move them, but I had to go into the room. I went in and did this audition basically paralyzed from the neck down. I did not get the job, needless to say. Luckily, that’s never
happened to me since.”
Photo credit: Riker Brothers
Adain Bradley (Xander, B&B)
“I guess I just wasn’t right for it or they just weren’t interested or they’d already found their guy, because I got my first word out and the casting director goes, ‘That was great, Adain. Thanks for coming in,’ and I said, ‘Oh, I can do the whole scene, or we can skip to scene two,’ and they said, ‘No, That’s okay. We got it,’ and the camera wasn’t plugged in.”
Photo credit: JPI
Filed Under: Adain Bradley, John J. York, John McCook, Laura Kai Chen, Marc Anthony Samuel, Peter Bergman
