What happens when actors fall ill the day of their audition? Should they call their agents or the casting office and try to reschedule or just put on their best healthy face and go anyway?
Actor Todd Ryan Jones has gone to several auditions sick and says he will do so again. "Whenever you are sick and don't feel like going to the audition, just remember that there are about 5,000 other actors in this town who would make it there regardless of being sick or not. I mean, if you can't stop throwing up, that's one thing. But you are not going to stay ahead of the crowd if you need to stay home every time you get the sniffles."
Casting director Mindy Marin ("Repo Men") says actors come in sick to her office all the time. "That is a very selfish thing to do. No one should come in when they are sick," she says. "I would also highlight the importance of no perfume or cologne." That, of course, might make your CD sick.
Casting director Nicole Abellera ("Dinner for Schmucks") also says any sort of sickness means you're too sick to come in and see her. "I prefer for actors to reschedule. It's not worth the chance of passing on your cold/flu/virus to everyone else," Abellera explains. "We understand when actors are sick, but we would rather have an actor come in when they are at their best. Sometimes there is a misconception that casting directors frown upon and will remember when auditions are missed. However, I find that we are pretty forgiving."
Jones says he uses a bit of discretion to avoid getting casting people or other actors sick. "I mean you don't want to go up breathing on them, and if something in the audition calls for closer contact, then you can warn them that you're sick," he clarifies.
Actor and owner of CastingsnClasses.com Jagger Kaye has also attended auditions and important meetings feeling less than 100 percent. "If you can physically be there without risking long-term health, your job is to nut up and do it," says Kaye, adding that he booked his first national commercial while ill. Last year, he missed an audition for the season finale of a major network show due to a 102-degree fever, and it wound up costing him the relationship with that casting office.
"I tried to make myself 'better' by throwing up, and I coughed up blood," reveals Kaye. "I contacted the assistant to see if I could come in a day later and was told that the last day for that character was that afternoon. Once the blood came up from my bleeding ulcer, I knew it was futile and canceled. I wrote the CD several times since then to no reply and was 'unfriended' on Facebook by them." He adds, "I don't regret [not going], because it was out of my control, and in 2009 I had a mild stroke and was diagnosed with a heart issue, so I had to listen to my body. I am a lot healthier now, so the timing of being ill was what pissed me off. But when the episode aired, the character's lines were cut anyway."
Once an actor has the job, casting people still advise staying home in the case of illness. Holly Dorff ("TRON: Legacy") is an ADR voice casting director, and she says sickness typically affects the voice too much to do voiceover properly. "For ADR, it's super-important [not to come in sick], as typically we are all working very close together in a group in a closed room. So if you are sick, there is an excellent chance we will all be infected. [That's] not nice to do to your fellow actor."
This issue will most likely continue to divide actors and casting directors. However, as long as all remember to be compassionate enough to implement the "golden rule"—treat others as you would like to be treated—then perhaps there can be more understanding on both ends, in sickness and in health.