Showing titles in Acting & Auditioning

In Behind the Star: A Guide to Mastering the Craft of Stand-In Work and Thriving Beyond the Set, Chad Gregory delivers a lean, gritty love letter to the unsung grinders of Hollywood—the stand-ins who keep the cameras rolling while stars sip coffee. A veteran stand-in for an A-list titan, Gregory doesn’t just lift the veil on this overlooked craft; he rips it down with a mix of raw memoir, practical know-how, and a life philosophy that hits like a well-timed mark.

Learning how easy improv is can be the hard part. There are important lessons in life that can lead to better improv scenes. And there are important lessons in improv that can lead to a better life. By putting improv techniques under an electron microscope of reason, The Tao of Improv: A Philosophy of Creating a Scene can improve the way we function, understand, and interact - on stage and off. Excerpts from the Tao Te Ching are woven into an overall philosophy of scenic improv acting.

Beat your competition and book acting jobs worthy of your talent! Download now and listen to Amy’s words of wisdom over and over - anywhere, anytime! The Lyndon Technique is the secret weapon for 50+ network series regulars, an Emmy winner, an Imagen Award winner, and thousands of working actors around the globe and at universities for more than 20 years! Amy Lyndon has over 100 IMDB Credits, was a former personal manager, and has been published all over the world as an expert in her field.

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. A unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.

Learn the ins and outs of how to get started in Voice-Over, including: microphone etiquette, how to make some of the most common noises and sounds (you might be surprised), working with copy, creating a demo reel, what to expect in the studio, the business of the business and much more. This is, hands down, the most comprehensive book on Voice-Over available. From beginners to pros, you’ll find value in Debi’s wealth of knowledge. Her tips and advice are the gems that only a true industry veteran and hard-working professional would know. Now she’s sharing it all with you!

Performing children have a very special existence which sometimes sets them apart from their peers. Parents are often excluded from this world but are expected to support them all the way. There is very little authoritative advice on how to cope and what to expect. This book will help children and their parents navigate their way through all of this: to advise, guide, inform and demystify the wonderful world of live theatre.

When Lin-Manuel Miranda’s groundbreaking musical Hamilton opened in London’s West End in December 2017, it was as huge a hit as it had been in its original production off - and on Broadway. For Terera, though, his journey as Burr had begun more than a year earlier, with his first audition in New York, and continuing through extensive research and preparation, intense rehearsals, previews and finally opening night itself. Throughout this time he kept a journal, recording his experiences of the production and his process of creating his award-winning performance.

In seven years of blogging only to the community of voice actors, specifically on the subject of voice acting, I've educated myself and others on the challenges of being a freelance voice artist. My first diplomatic answer to my caller is: being a success in voice acting requires more than just a voice. I've had to gingerly explain the real secret to voiceover success so often that it became clear: somebody needed to tell the truth about being a voice-actor. It's hard work! It's a business and should be approached as a business.

The poster-child victim of a dysfunctional family from Beech Grove, Indiana, Steve McQueen experienced an unsettled early life with a rebellious and alcoholic mother. McQueen channeled his difficult childhood into a masterful career on screen portraying tough, self-sufficient characters in such iconic films as The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, Bullitt, and Papillon.

With so much written, rumored, told, and retold about Marilyn Monroe, it's amazing to consider how much we still don't know. On the screen she was iconic, radiant, yet her talent so rarely earned her respect. In life she was intelligent, brilliant, yet regarded as little more than Hollywood's blond bombshell. But who was the real Marilyn Monroe beyond the hit films and the headlines?

The Aspiring Actor's Handbook is written for curious and want-to-be actors, and designed to help them make informed decisions about pursuing an acting career. Veteran actresses Molly Cheek and Debbie Zipp have culled the wit and wisdom of a wide array of successful actors from Dee Wallace to Beth Grant, to bring aspiring and new actors the kind of mentoring perspective so many in the business wish they had had when they were starting out.

Veteran character actor David Dean Bottrell draws on his 35-plus tumultuous years of work in the entertainment industry to offer a guide to breaking in, making a living, and making a life in the fabulous trenches of show business. Mixing prescriptive advice with wisdom drawn from Bottrell's own professional highs and lows and those of his acting compatriots, this book's humorous, tell-it-like-it-is tone is a must-have guide for anyone hoping to successfully navigate show business.

In Character Breakdown, Zawe scrolls through a version of her life. Or is it a version of her art? Or something in between. In it, she encounters glamour, horror, absurdity and questions like: is a life spent more on performance than reality any life at all?

Professional stage actors are expected to have ready knowledge of a multitude of unwritten yet well-established protocols. Traditionally, this knowledge was passed along from one generation of stage actors to the next via word of mouth, or were learned by having one’s missteps corrected—until now.

Learn how to become a successful working actor in TV commercials in Los Angeles in this fun step-by-step guide by top casting session director and commercial actor Shaan Sharma. The audiobook covers everything you need to know about the business, what you need to get started, how to get the right training, and walks you through the entire process of auditioning, booking and shooting projects - all from an insider's point of view. Even veterans will learn useful tips for converting more auditions into bookings.

At 17, Susanna Moore left her home in Hawaii, with no money, no belongings and no prospects. But in Philadelphia, an unexpected gift of four trunks of beautiful clothes allowed her to assume the first of many disguises. Her journey takes her from New York to Los Angeles where she becomes a model and meets Joan Didion and Audrey Hepburn. She works as a script reader for Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson and is given a screen test by Mike Nichols.

Emmy-winning editor Jordan Goldman, ACE, takes you inside the cutting room and pulls back the curtain on how and why directors, showrunners, and editors decide whether your performance makes it to the screen. He explains the key things actors should do—and shouldn't do—to avoid getting cut out. Topics include what an editor does, how editors evaluate your work, why actors get cut, what you can control, and what you can't control.

Voice actors across the globe rely on commercials as a good source of income, but success in this area of the voice over industry can be tricky. VO talent need a strong understanding of the many elements involved in delivering captivating, original commercial reads. Commercial Voice Over Strategies: Tell a Story, Land the Job is the answer. Veteran voice talent Chris Agos walks you through a step-by-step way of ensuring your reads will resonate with talent buyers.

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. They offer a unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.

Access Accents bring the highly sought-after voice techniques of top voice coach Penny Dyer to the actor's audio device. A unique opportunity to prepare for auditions at short notice.