Tyler is a 20-year-old actor living in New York. In this short, but heartfelt interview he tells us about his recent acting gigs, his struggles and how he got his first real acting jobs through allcasting.
So, tell us about your first audition
My first audition ever was a student sci-fi film. It was alien taking over a human body and they really went into detail. They were teaching us how to walk, how to talk and stuff like that. So, for the audition, we had to do different stuff. So I had to walk around, and I had to try to write something down with a pen and paper and had to speak like I didn't know how to speak.
How many auditions have you had so far?
Oh gosh. I'd say at least a hundred by now.
And have you had any gigs?
My first real gig was playing Gregory in Romeo and Juliet out in the East Hamptons, and then I came back a month ago and got a role in a short film where I played Gluttony in a modern-day version of 'Seven Deadly Sins.' And then there was a role of a sibling on TV, and my most recent production will be on Sunday. I'm a guy in a feature film where I will be playing a victim who dies from a very well-known serial killer.
Tell me, what are your most significant challenges as an actor?
I'd say my biggest challenge, especially for self-tapes because that's how I got some of these roles is just wondering if I went big enough. If I made bold enough choices and if I looked comfortable on screen because tension is a big part of me, so I'm always working on that. When I was in East Hampton's for Romeo and Juliet, the person who was my partner for the whole play told me he always nails a self-tape. The reason he nails a self-tape is that he sends some three different ways to deliver what they want.
What would be your perfect role?
I'd say anything that Vin Diesel or Adam Sandler is doing right now.
What are your thoughts regarding AllCasting?
I liked the fact once it says 'apply,' it starts sending that email right away because other times you have to do that stuff yourself. And I mean it tells you what you need to include since sometimes on other sites it doesn't have a character breakdown or it doesn't have age or a bunch of other details. So I think it's pretty good where it's at.
What do you do to improve yourself as an actor? Do you take classes, read books, watch videos?
I do a little bit of everything. Like, I take every acting opportunity I can, to gain experience. So right now it's my survival job. I do a bunch of background work for movies and TV shows, and I'm always learning on set from either talking to people or seeing different things happening. I'm constantly working on new monologues for myself. If I have a self-tape, I'm always doing my best, you know, to learn the sides right away to start improving how fast I can memorize things.
Recently you got a job through AllCasting. How did it go?
It was a short film, and in the description, it said you must be able to memorize the script quickly because it was like ten pages worth of dialogue. So, I sat down and did it. It took me maybe 10 minutes because I just have an above average memory, so I'm good with this stuff. Then we got there, and we rehearsed it in a room for a couple of times, and then from there, they took us this to the studio where they had three different cameras, and they had a whole light fixture set up above us. They had like a background, and then they started bringing different props to make it look like a basement and each camera was on a different character, and I feel like they were going for a TV show or newscast sort of filming. And I mean, it was the easiest thing, they loved the actors and everything we did, and we were out of there pretty quick.
Let Tyler be your inspiration - you need to do things and hustle hard to get somewhere. Take your headshots and self-tapes seriously, learn new skills and improve the existing ones. One of the more important notes is to go to auditions frequently - try going to one at least once a week, which means submitting to at least 3-5 casting calls every week. It's hard to even get an opportunity in show business, but that's why we're here - AllCasting offers the opportunity to show yourself. We open the door, but you need to take the steps to succeed. If you really want it, you will make it and see your success, just like Tyler did.
