ACTORFEST is like a living issue of Back Stage West: On the exhibit floor, our advertisers will introduce and explain their services-from headshot photography to acting schools, from demo reels to online casting services-and you in turn get an excellent opportunity to comparison-shop.
You can also relax in Back Stage West Park, proudly sponsored by Louise's Trattoria, and chat with the Back Stage West editorial staff. And in the following seminars, our practical, career-oriented editorial is represented with advice and insight from top professionals in casting, filmmaking, and acting as well as top Hollywood agents.
9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
"Back Stage Peek at Breaks in
TV or Film: Big in Hollywood, Bigger in..."
From extra to walk-on to cameo to guest spot to small supporting role to film or series regular-that's how it goes, right? This panel features a wide array of actors with disparate career tracks, from Broadway to pro sports, that gave them the edge to make their first big break and beyond-into the increasingly international entertainment marketplace.
Moderator:
Nelson Aspen
Nelson Aspen is a busy on-air personality, his main gig being as "The Hollywood Insider" for cable's TV Guide Television. He was previously heard as "The Groovy Gossip Guy" on the late, lamented L.A. dance music station Groove 103.1 FM. Aspen started as a child actor, with roles in Ishtar and Off Beat, as well as the long-running soap Search for Tomorrow. He then moved behind the scenes, casting and writing for several East Coast-based soaps, and later working on the series Everything's Relative with Jason Alexander and The Dictator with Christopher Lloyd. A side interest in aerobics led to a worldwide career as an exercise instructor, which in turn led to fitness reporting for the British "breakfast shows" This Morning and The Sunrise Show. His celebrity reporting has since been featured in the magazines Playgirl, Soap Opera Magazine, California Active, The Advocate, and Fitness, and on his website for the Microsoft Network, "Nelson's World."
Panelists:
Tracy Bingham
There's no denying that Traci Bingham is beautiful, but she's not just another pretty face. Bingham has used her run on Baywatch as a springboard into feature film (The Nutty Professor, Demon Nights, Foolish) and other episodic television (The Jamie Foxx Show, Married With Children, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Malcolm and Eddie). Before Baywatch, Bingham had a recurring role on The Young and the Restless and built up quite a resum in music videos, working with Will Smith, "Marky" Mark, Jay-Z, and LL Cool J, among others. And she still carries a passion for the stage, having performed in such shows as West Side Story, Annie, Guys and Dolls, and Grease. Bingham is the hot new host of the BET Action Pay Per View show, Exploring the Fantasy.
Adrienne Frantz
Adrienne Frantz is best known as Amber Moore, a fiery misfit on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful. Her show's title isn't a bad description of Frantz herself: She has two indie films under her belt, including Gus Van Sant's upcoming Speedway Junky, about runaway kids in Las Vegas, and Jimmy Zip. A Michigan native, Frantz has been singing, dancing, and acting since she was a child. Her first big break after moving to New York was a vocal role in the MOW version of Bye Bye Birdie with Jason Alexander. Soon after, she landed the role of Tiffany on Aaron Spelling's Sunset Beach.
Trevor Goddard
First discovered while competing as a light-heavyweight boxer in his native Australia, Trevor Goddard was asked to appear in a few Budweiser beer commercials. A few guest starring roles later, Goddard literally leaped to stardom as Kano in New Line Cinema's wildly successful film based on the Mortal Kombat video games. Roles as snarling action villains followed in such films as Deep Rising and Men of War, as well as the popular TNT movie Assault on Devil's Island. By now, though, he may be better known for his role as a continuing character on CBS' top 10 series JAG. His Aussie heartthrob character, Lt. Commander Mic Brumby, recently asked the female lead, Mac (played by Catherine Bell), to marry him, providing fans with a juicy cliffhanger.
Ricky Paull Goldin
Ricky Paull Goldin is best known for his role as Gary, the dangerous but charming ad exec on the long-running CBS soap The Young and the Restless, whose cast he joined last September. He appeared previously on the soap Another World, intermittently between 1990-1993, 1994-1995, and in 1998. He also starred as Danny Zuko in Broadway's Grease! from 1994 to 1996 and appeared as Billy Ray Jr. in On Golden Pond. Born in San Francisco and raised in Hawaii, Ireland, England, and Long Island, Goldin appeared in lead roles in the feature films The Blob, Hypersapien, Mirror, Mirror, Lambada, Pastime, and Piranha Part II. He also starred in the telefilms Westpoint, VIP, Knockouts, She's Leaving Home, Talk To Me, The Face.
Marc McClure
McClure is probably best known as Jimmy Olsen from the Superman series of films starring Christopher Reeve or as Dave McFly in the Back to the Future films. McClure started his career in TV sitcoms with guest roles on Happy Days. Since then he has appeared in numerous feature films (Chances Are, Apollo 13, That Thing You Do!) and TV shows (Hunter, The Commish, Beverly Hills, 90210).
Natalie Raitano
Natalie Raitano has a diverse background, with singing, dancing, and athletics prominent on her resum . In fact, she landed her regular role on the syndicated hit V.I.P. because its creator and executive producer, J.F. Lawton, was looking for a personal trainer. Lawton encouraged Raitano-who'd performed as a singer but had never acted before-to audition, and she got the part of Nikki Franco, the weapons expert in Pamela Anderson's telegenic team of Beverly Hills crime fighters. As it tends to do, her work on V.I.P. has led to more work: a four-episode stint on Martial Law, a hosting gig on ESPN's Hip Hop Body Shop. About her "overnight" success as an actress, the Pittsburgh native was quoted in TV Guide as saying: "I know a lot of actresses out there would like to strangle me, but I've been struggling, too. It's not like I drove out to L.A. yesterday and got a TV show."
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
"Hollywood's Hottest Agencies"
Hosted by The Hollywood Reporter
Moderator:
Dawn Allen
As advertising manager at the industry trade The Hollywood Reporter, Dawn Allen works with actors, agents, and managers to assist them with promotional ideas and marketing campaigns that draw industry attention to actors' work. She has helped numerous celebrities develop strategic marketing plans to garner Emmy and Oscar nominations. She has also developed special issues of THR focusing on talent-a Summer and Winter Comedy Issue, a fall Showbiz Kids Editions, two Country Music Issues, and individual celebrity salutes-as well creating the YoungStar Awards with Dick Clark Productions. Allen got her start in nonprofit theatre, working with Olympia Dukakis at the Whole Theatre Company in New Jersey and later with Robert Moss at Playwrights Horizons in New York. She has produced, cast, and directed more than 30 plays and musicals on the East Coast.
Panelists:
Paul Doherty
When he became vice president of Cunningham, Escott & Dipene's voiceover division in 1995, Paul Doherty saw it as an opportunity to reinvent the voiceover business. Given today's information explosion-encompassing Internet, cable, animation, commercials, promotions, trailers, and new media-and the growth in star talent available for voiceover work, Doherty strove to create a voiceover division at CED that could respond to the diversity of customers and clients through inventive restructuring, a revamping of in-house technical systems, and a talent branding and marketing program unheard of in the voice industry. His efforts have paid off with a record 200 percent growth in CED's voiceover departments over the past five years. Prior to CED, Doherty worked as a voiceover agent for JHR Talent Agency and as an assistant manager at Schumer Personal Management in New York. He is also the owner of a world-class collection of classic television, film, and radio programming.
Marc Finkel
In 1994, when he was a freshman at Emory University in Atlanta, Marc Finkel had an epiphany: He needed to combine the strengths of his personality with his passion. Knowing his passion was for movies, Marc interned for New Line Cinema in the summer of 1995. In 1996, when he was a junior at Emory, Marc Finkel had another epiphany: To use the strengths of his personality in the movie business, he decided to pursue a career in producing. Having no idea what "producing" meant, Marc joined the New York office of International Creative Management for a summer internship in 1996. After graduating from Emory University's Goizueta Business School with a degree in Finance and Entrepeneurship, Marc entered the mailroom of the ICM training program in 1997. In October of last year, he was made Motion Picture Literary Agent at the age of 24.
Dianne Fraser
After graduating from UCLA with a degree in French and producing theatre for several years, Dianne Fraser became an agent at boutique talent agency McCartt-Oreck-Barrett which later merged with a literary agency to form Metropolitan Talent. There Fraser became co-head of the literary division and later was one of four partners to form Major Clients Agency, a boutique literary agency. In 1997, Fraser joined International Creative Management as a vice president, where she concentrates her efforts in ICM's television literary and series packaging departments.
Vivian Hollander
Agent and owner of the Hollander Talent Group, Vivian Hollender worked previously at Twentieth Century Artists, where her clients included Nia Long, Regina King, Ariana Richards, Michael Goorjian, Lamont Bentley, Tricia Cast, Cirroc Lofton, and Adam Wylie. Educated in Theatre Arts at Brooklyn College and Cal Stage Northridge, she is currently a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Women in Film, Advertising Business Affairs Association, and the YoungStar Awards Advisory Board.
Michael O'Dell
Actors may identify with Michael O'Dell, since he worked his way up from food services-bartending and managing bars in Texas and in Los Angeles-and, after paying his dues in various agency jobs and as an agent's assistant for Artist Management Co. in San Diego, joined commercial agency Sutton, Barth & Vennari, which represents more than 800 clients, and last fall was promoted to an agent in the on-camera division, where he submits actors or national and regional commercial consideration, as well as coordinating schudles between casting directors and actors.
Pam Wagner
Pam Wagner works as a film and TV agent for the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA).
1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
"Commercial Work:
Your 30-60 Seconds of Fame"
This is an even hotter topic right now than we planned it to be, with the actors' unions SAG and AFTRA currently on strike against the advertising industry. If nothing else, the controversy is a testament to the importance and economic significance of this booming business. In addition to possibly touching on the issues relating to the commercial strike, this panel will give insight and advice on how to break into commercials and how then to maximize the exposure they afford for a rich (in more than one sense) acting career.
Moderator:
Bryan Michael Stoller
A native of Canada, Bryan Michael Stoller came to Los Angeles as a "director fellow" at American Film Institute. He has since produced, directed, and written more than 70 productions and garnered more than 26 international awards. They include commercials, episodic television, and several feature films, including the psychological thriller Turn of the Blade, the cult action flick Dragon Fury II, and the sci-fi mystery The Random Factor, featuring Dan Aykroyd as the voice of the Deyoxir Chamber.
Bryan's honors include a proclamation from the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board for his latest film, UnderCover Angel, starring Yasmine Bleeth and featuring James Earl Jones.
Panelists:
Carlos Alazraqui
Giving voice to the immortal Taco Bell chihuahua is Carlos Alazraqui, a multitalented actor who began his career as a standup comedian in San Franciso. Back Stage West critic Polly Warfield wrote, reviewing Alazraqui's one-man show This Is a Size Six and This Is Your Head last year at Theatre at the Improv, "Carlos is anyone or anything he wants to be." Indeed, he's played everything from Jackie's alter ego on That '70s Show to a Scottish cab driver on Men Behaving Badly. Recent voiceover work includes the Fox animated series Family Guy and a recurring gig as "Voice Guy Extraordinaire" on Stephanie Miller's ABC radio show.
Alexandra Boyd
Boyd raised the down payment on her first house from the residuals of a Meow Mix commercial that has been running for more than three years. (She is the woman who says, "Don't answer that, Frank," when Baxter the cat calls at their wedding.) She will soon be heard as the voice of Bertha the Beetle in the animated film The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Elijah Wood. Funny to think with such a resum that Boyd, born and raised in England, was classically trained at the Drama Studio in London. Her first break into Hollywood films occurred when Richard Dreyfuss got her a meeting for the role of Sarah Olmstead, the English drama teacher in Mr. Holland's Opus, after Boyd acted as his dialect coach for a Seattle stage production of A Child's Christmas in Wales.
Susan Cash
Cash's unbelievably extensive work in commercials actually led to an invitation to be a guest on The Tonight Show, where Jay Leno introduced her as "one of television's most successful commercial actresses." He was on the money: Cash has appeared in more than 100 televisions commercials and four long-running campaigns for Hughes Family Markets, Sunsweet Prune Juice, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, and Carpet Fresh. In addition, she has won numerous guest star roles on primetime television, as well as a recurring role as Debbie on Step by Step. Trained in drama at Carnegie-Mellon, Cash is familiar to Southland theatregoers from her work at South Coast Rep (Lips Together Teeth Apart and Let's Play Two) and Santa Monica Playhouse (Almost Perfect, A Love Affair).
Scotty Leavenworth
Nine-year-old Scotty Leavenworth may be most widely known to film audiences as the young son of Erin Brockovich in current hit film of the same name, starring Julia Roberts and Albert Finney. But this young thespian got his start by landing a commercial at age four. He quickly moved on to roles on such TV shows as The Young and the Restless and Meego, and in such films as Simon Birch and The Green Mile. Most recently on TV, audiences saw him as Chris in ABC's Partridge family biopic Come On, Get Happy and as Melissa Gilbert's son in the CBS MOW Soul Collector. Upcoming is an appearance on the hit sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
Kirsten Storms
Kirsten Storms got her career rolling at the tender age of five with commercials for the Galoob Doll, Sea World, and Tyco Toys, and landed the coveted spot of cover girl for Mattel's "Talk to Me Barbie." She now appears on the soap opera Days of Our Lives as the young Belle Black. She also appeared on Lifetime's Any Day Now as the teacher's pet Lydia.
3 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
"Inside the Music Network"
Hosted by the Music Video Production Association
From Britney Spears to Ricky Martin, music videos are among the newest entertainment media to introduce young talent to a wide audience. In a departure from previous years, this year's ACTORFEST will take a look at music video casting, how music videos use talent, and what music video exposure can mean to a performing career.
The Music Video Production Association (MVPA) is a nonprofit trade organization for professionals in the field, from production companies, record labels, and recording artists to production crew and on-camera talent. Among regular activities for MVPA members are a quarterly newsletter, an annual awards presentation, a job fair, workshops, panel discussions, and evenings of "Director's Cut" screenings.
Moderator:
Gary Owens
Once described as the "Babe Ruth of Broadcasting," broadcaster/actor Gary Owens has enjoyed a legendary career spanning decades and mediums, from radio to television to film. Owens has lent his compelling baritone vocal skills to the Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy Awards telecasts, TV's Wonderful World of Disney, Comic Relief, and America's Funniest Home Videos, and promos for Home Improvement, Roseanne, Hollywood Squares, and Rosie O'Donnell. He has hosted more than 10,000 national and local radio shows since the age of 16, when his career began. He was a longtime radio personality at KMPC in Los Angeles and at KEWB in San Francisco. His extensive work as a broadcaster and radio disc jockey earned him respected places in the National Broadcaster's Hall of Fame, the Radio Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. His voice has also been heard in nearly 3,000 animated TV shows, including Felix the Cat, The Mask, Space Ghost, Scooby Doo's All-Stars, Ren and Stimpy, The Banana Splits, Casper the Ghost, Batman, and many more. He may be best known by face as a regular on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, but he has also appeared on camera in more than 1,000 network shows, including Mad About You, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Roseanne, That '70s Show, The Gong Show, and The Munsters, to name just a few. He has also appeared on numerous specials with Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, and Johnny Carson. His many movies include Muppets in Outer Space, National Lampoon's European Vacation, The Love Bug, and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
Panelists:
Nadia Bjorlin
Nadia Bjorlin, who may be best known as the reclusive musical prodigy Chloe on the popular soap Days of Our Lives, feels equally at home singing on the concert stage or dancing in the Ricky Martin video for "Shake Your Bon Bon." The daughter of Swedish conductor Ulf Bjorlin and his Persian wife Fary, Nadia grew up all over the world before her family settled in Florida, and she studied theatre, dance, music, and voice at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts and at Boston University's Tanglewood Institute.
Tolley Casparis-Pierson
The list of artists for whom Tolley Casparis-Pierson has cast music videos is impressively diverse-from Tupac Shakur to Smokey Robinson, from R.E.M. to Blink 182, from Smash Mouth to Ricky Martin, from Korn to Britney Spears-and it's allowed her to work with such directors as Nigel Dick, Darren Grant, McG, Julien Temple, and Scott Kalvert. She began her career in the fashion world in London, returning to her native L.A. to run the the New Faces Division for modeling agent Nina Blanchard. In 1988, she worked as Model Editor at Mademoiselle, finally entering the world of casting in 1990. After casting several music videos with partner Kim Davis-Wagner (for a while as the company Partners in Crime Casting), Casparis-Pierson took a break to get a degree in sociology at UC Santa Cruz. She recently completed casting the feature The Distance.
Chris Dane Owens
Singer/solo artist Chris Dane Owens' single "Love Like an Eskimo" was a Top 10 hit in Japan; the album it appeared on, Cipher, sold more than 200,000 units. He produced the instructional home video Sing Like the Stars, featuring Bobby Brown, Def Leppard, Chicago, Wilson Phillips, and Nelson. Owens also produced the feature film Border to Border, which won best picture at the Las Vegas International Film Festival and best comedy at the New York Independent Film Festival. He was the star and executive producer of the TV pilot Rapscallion, featuring Jonathan Winters, and appeared on NBC's Generations and the Paramount film Soap Dish. Owens was also a contributing author to the books Earth Angels and 101 Ways to See the Light.
Eli Swanson
A young heartthrob whose current claim to fame is appearing as Britney Spears' love interest in her video for "Oops, I Did It Again," Eli Swanson was trained at the University of Puget Sound and at the Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. He has graced several fashion spreads, done many commercials, and appeared in Kevin Costner's The Postman.
Krista Tesreau
Krista started playing piano at the age of three and began lessons a year later. By age 14, she placed in the Top 10 in the nationwide Liberace music competition. She also competed in gymnastics and studied, dancing, singing, and clarinet. After modeling throughout college, she was spotted at a comedy writer's workshop by a producer who invited her to Los Angeles-where she was soon cast as Mindy on Guiding Light, which is shot in New York. After six years there, she returned to California and landed recurring roles on My Two Dads and Silk Stalkings, eventually returning to the daytime fold with Santa Barbara and eventually One Life To Live.