Acting 101

12:00-1:30 pm -- Annex Room 
Get great career advice from a Panel that includes the Casting Director of "JFK" and Top Agents, Managers, and Acting Teachers.

You know one thing only: that you want to act. Otherwise, you have no idea the difference between an agent and a manager, a theatrical headshot and a commercial one, a film director and a casting director. Nor do you have any idea how to even get started. Where do you turn for information? To our Acting 101 session, of course! Moderated by Dany Margolies, Executive Editor, Back Stage.

Speakers
-- Heidi Levitt, Casting Director, Heidi Levitt Casting
-- Ross Grossman, Talent Agent, Affinity Artists Agency
-- Brad Lemack, Manager and Author
-- Judy Kerr, Teacher and Author

SPEAKER BIOS

Heidi Levitt
Heidi Levitt has cast such successful films as "JFK," "Nixon," "Natural Born Killers," "Nurse Betty," "The Rock," "The Joy Luck Club," and "Lakeview Terrace." Alternating between studio and indie fare, she has repeatedly worked with directors Oliver Stone, Wayne Wang, Wim Wenders, and Neil LaBute.

In 1997, on the eve of Hong Kong's unification with China, Levitt collaborated with Wang on "The Chinese Box," which she co-produced and cast. She served as a producer on the feature films "Fido," "Center of the World," "Coastlines," and "Delivering Milo."

Last year the film Levitt executive produced and cast, "The High Cost of Living," directed by Deborah Chow, won best first feature at TIFF and was released by Tribeca Films. This December, Magnolia Pictures is releasing "I Melt With You," directed by Mark Pellington, another film Levitt executive produced and cast.

Levitt is casting several indie features, including the biopic "Chavez," which will be directed by Diego Luna. Levitt is most excited about the Weinstein Company release of "The Artist," directed by Michel Hazanavicius.

Other recent casting credits include "Rage," written and directed by Sally Potter and starring Jude Law, Judi Dench, Dianne Wiest, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, and John Leguizamo; "Sympathy for Delicious," with actor-director Mark Ruffalo; and "Mother and Child," with director Rodrigo Garcia and starring Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson.

A graduate of Barnard College and the AFI Producers Program, Levitt began her casting career working in Off-Broadway theater in New York. She continues to work in theater: She cast LaBute's play "Wrecks," starring Ed Harris, at the Public Theater in New York, as well as Claudia Shear's play "Restoration" at La Jolla Playhouse in California.

Levitt is also the creator of Actor Genie, an iPhone app featured on iTunes as a top app.

Ross Grossman
In 1998, after many years in the entertainment industry, Ross Grossman founded Affinity Artists Agency. In 2002, Affinity moved its main offices to Los Angeles while maintaining active involvement in the San Francisco market.

Grossman began his entertainment career as a child actor in Chicago's prestigious Other Theater with director- playwright David Mamet and director Douglas Leiberman. Throughout the '90s he performed standup comedy and solo performance shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

As a former child actor, filmmaker, standup comic, and solo performer, Grossman understands the challenges that face actors in the entertainment industry. He received his B.F.A. in film from UCLA Film School and an M.A. in clinical psychology from JFKU.

As the world's only licensed talent agent and licensed psychotherapist and author, he has been featured in US magazine, Back Stage, San Jose Mercury News, Speak Up magazine, at the SAG Foundation, and on multiple radio stations and media outlets.

Grossman has judged at several national talent events, including Great American Pitchfest, Scriptapalooza, IMTA–Los Angeles, Miss San Francisco, and Miss Asian International.

Brad Lemack
Brad Lemack has been a talent manager and entertainment publicist since the early 1980s. Prior to that, he was a publicity executive for Norman Lear's Embassy Television. Before moving to Los Angeles to accept that position in 1980, he was a television and radio talk show host, producer, and newscaster in Boston through most of the 1970s.

He is much older than he looks and has been worked on. Lemack is the author of two popular books for actors, "The Business of Acting: Learn the Skills You Need to Build the Career You Want," first published in 2002, and "The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape," published last year.

Lemack has been a professor of performing arts and communications at the Emerson College Los Angeles Center since 1995, where he teaches courses in The Business of Acting and Entertainment PR. In addition, in 2010 he joined the faculty of the Elon University in Los Angeles Program, where he teaches a course in Entertainment Publicity.

Lemack is also the host of the web TV series "Inside the Business of Acting" and writer of the blog The Business of Acting; both are accessible at thebusinessofacting.com.

Judy Kerr
Judy Kerr, well-known acting coach, is the author of "Acting Is Everything: An Actor's Guidebook for a Successful Career," now in its 11th edition. She teaches and lectures throughout the world. She is recognized in Hollywood for her gift for nurturing talent and helping actors succeed.

Back Stage's Readers' Choice Awards have listed her as one of Los Angeles' favorite private acting coaches. Coaching some of the top names in the business one-on-one, Kerr works to enhance the artistry and technical skills of actors, helping to build their confidence so they deliver their best performance.

As the dialogue coach on the hit series "Seinfeld," Kerr worked with series regulars Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander, as well as guest stars including Teri Hatcher, Janeane Garofalo, Raquel Welch, and Bette Midler.

Other television coaching credits include "It's All Relative," "All About the Andersons," "Bob Patterson," "The Ellen Show," "The Michael Richards Show," "It's Like, You Know...," "The Single Guy," and "Alright Already."