Tell Us A Little About Yourself
It’s a simple enough question. It’s asked in audition rooms and castings all over the world. And yet, it is the most unanswered question in show business.
You see the question is simple enough, but we fall all over ourselves to answer it. When an audition panel convenes, they have several important questions in their head.
ONE: Does this person meet the casting description?
TWO: Do they have the ability?
THREE: Who are they?
You have no control over the answer to the first question. You can make subtle suggestions in your clothing choice, you can look like you headshot, but you can’t determine how closely you resemble the image in their head.
You have some control over the second question. You can work your ass off to give the best audition performance you possibly can.
But it’s in the third question that people lose their chances. Why?
Because the panel represent people that are potentially going to be in your
company for a year or more – they need to know something about you as a person, what are you going to be like to hang around with? On set, off set, in make up, in readings, at lunch? Are you a pain in the ass? Are you fascinating, Who. Are. You?
So even if you’ve just passed the first two tests, they need the third to uncover who you are.
And how do actors almost universally answer this question? Their love of performing, their string of accomplishments, a gushing love of the film, script, show, music…
For the love of Zeus, they asked you for a little about YOURSELF.
A little.
Tell them about yourself. A little. You are more interesting as a person than a list of your achievements.
A little. If you’re still speaking 90 seconds later, you’re doing a monologue.
The great Russian acting teacher Constantin Stanislavski once said: “The person you are is a thousand times more interesting than the best actor you could ever hope to be.”. Or more simply, be a person first and an actor second.
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