The true birth of an actor

Hulk Hogan recently said "The longer I've been in the wrestling business, the more I don't know about it".

After this weekend, that's how I felt about acting.

Let me explain.

This past weekend, I took an audition technique course with Crystal Carson, an acting coach out of Hollywood. Simply put, my agent(Jana Van Dyke), sent me a notice that Crystal was coming into town, and I had like one day to pay for the class. Now I'm not the richest actor in the world, but it didn't hurt that I invested in silver over the past six months. I ended up selling it off(Even made a little profit), and paid for the class.

Even signing up for the class, much less stepping foot in the class and meeting Crystal, reminded me how far I've come from the overzealous 27 year old with his first actor training(First teacher's name was Nick Conti, by the way). Being honest, I've never been overzealous when meeting celebrities, or even being in their presence(That comes from having a Dad that hammered that in my head. Story about that another time), but I have to admit that I was very excited to step into that room for the first time on Friday Night. Knowing the people she has worked with, you feel like you could be the next big thing, and she's the reason why. I wasn't nervous walking in, but the heart raced a hundred miles an hour. It felt like I was closer to my goal, even if I've still never been to L.A.

We had eleven in the seminar, and it was apparent that this wasn't going to be garden variety. First off, most acting classes have those three or four people that are as green as grass, and taking their first classes(as I was in 2005). In this one, the most green person still had a year of training. I'm now in a room with some top quality actors, so I felt I had to prove myself that I belonged in there.

Day 1 - I get a side for "The Hills", and I have to read for Spencer. I knew exactly where I was going with this, and asked to go first(ended up being second). Big mistake. I completely forgot cold reading 101 and ended up looking like a bobble head doll on tape. Still, my decisions did get complimented, and we pretty much overlooked my overzealous nature. By the way, the scene was Spencer blasting away on everyone in sight, per usual. Not a hard scene at all.

Day 2 - We work on "Franklin and Bash", and on a scale of 1-10, the scene was about a 5-6 in difficulty(Probably would've been a 3-4 if we had the main characters, but we had to read the bad guy, which is always fun. After my first day overzealousness, I told her I'd go last for the rest of the seminar so I could prepare. It worked on this day. After preparing by myself for a couple of hours, and getting in that moment, I end up going last, and knew I nailed that scene. Saw myself on tape and with the exception of a couple of mistakes, I really nailed it well. I was very happy, and was looking forward to the final day.

In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have been.

Day 3 - Final day, and what timing to lay a proverbial egg. We are reading "Necessary Roughness", and it's a pretty tough scene. Even offering to go last again, I was WAY OFF! Messed up lines, committed a cardinal sin and moved the script around, overacted at points, and completely sucked the rest of it. Saw the tape, and there was only one line of dialogue where I was really in that moment, which was probably three more than I was expecting anyway. I knew that it sucked, and I really didn't want to see myself. I was bummed out for the rest of class, knowing that I laid a huge egg on my last day. Even crazier, I had an open chance to not view it when Crystal asked if we've seen all the videos. I spoke up and said "there's still me". Hey, I may get pissed or discouraged, but I don't run away from anything.

When we finished watching it, Crystal saw the look on my face and reminded me that every actor goes through this. It's hard to remember that because I'm such a perfectionist, and hate making mistakes. She gave me a big hug and also reminded me I had some really good moments in those three days, and to learn from the mistakes.

Even with Crystal's encouragement, I wanted to kick a cat. I was so pissed off that I finished off that great seminar with a horrid performance. Then my girlfriend(Stephanie Santos' is her name.....SAG actress *hint hint*) reminded me of one important thing. She reminded me that we do not learn from having everything go perfectly. We learn from all the bad times we go through. It's funny that I'm the one that gives the people around me motivation, and she turned the tables on me there. After hearing that, it made me contemplate(also reminded me why I love her).

So in closing, I wrote Crystal an email today thanking her for the great class, and asked her to do one thing. When my time comes to hit it big, I want her to show that hideous performance to any and all of her students that ever get discouraged. I want to be the one that motivates someone to know that they can get there with a little luck, a lot of determination, and even more work.

I can say it now folks.......it's just the beginning.