As I walked down the escalator at Waterloo, I noticed the giant poster for the just-released film "Twin Town". That Monday, I made my way to the rehearsal rooms. To have my name immortalised next to Ian McKellen & Judi Dench. Only fifteen and off to play Shakespeare for the BBC. Or so I thought.Įarlier that week I'd auditioned at BBC to play a part in their upcoming adaptation of MacBeth. One Friday in 1996 I got the phone call that would change my life. Being able to skip school because I had a gig! Payment - sometimes £300 for an afternoon's work - was a fortune for a kid. Nothing tremendously glamorous - but oh so exciting. Usually for a commercial, sometimes for an audio book, the occasional training video. So, every few months I would race up to a studio in London and record a voice-over. We were over the moon! This was it! The chance to free ourselves from the shackles of amateur dramatics and into the big leagues! I was in shows, I went to classes, I passed examinations, I did interviews on the radio, I was a happy kid following in my parents' acting footsteps.Īfter one summer show, my brother and I were both picked up by Hobsons International - a leading voice-over agency. Some Backgroundīefore the Internet, before mobile, before girls, before all the things which make me who I am today - I was an actor. Both leave me wondering if I am where I want to be in the world and - if not - how I get there. Both make me question the choices I've made. What's so hard is that both stories feel like they could have been written about me. The first is by Simon Pegg, the second by Wil Wheaton. In the other, the boy is bought back to Earth with a thump - seemingly never to succeed again. Both stories tell of series of choices made. A boy - a nerd - has success in the fickle world of acting. I've recently finished reading two autobiographies. This is a very hard post for me to write.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |