A lot of the time, booking commercials has a lot more to do with one's special or unique skills rather than acting ability or even physical appearance -- "must be a pro-level surfer," "must have a black belt in karate," "looking for REAL kletzmer musicians and also bagpipe players and they must own their own equipment," or "must be experienced in parkour" (by the way, what the H even is parkour? One time, I met someone who said he "does parkour" and I was like, "oh, are you an actor?" and he gave me a weird look and was like, "no." I told him he should consider it since he'd totally book a commercial). Sometimes, the postings are sad, like, "MUST be a real Cancer survivor. No actor types!"
No matter what the specific qualifications, it's hard not to get down on yourself, like maybe you should've spent that semester abroad during college more wisely and gone to a snowboarding school in the French alps and perfected your goofy stance rather than study Chekhov at the Moscow Art Theatre (it's still so devastating each time all they want me to do at a commercial audition is slate my name and smile rather than describe why Chekhov titled The Seagull "The Seagull" -- duh, because seagulls are beautiful from far away but ugly up close, just like the characters in the play -- they're total "Monets" to put it Clueless terms). Either way, it's too late now to become an expert at some crazy, daredevil sport or obscure instrument, and I certainly pray that I won't be able to submit for the depressing, sad postings looking for survivors of life threatening illnesses or heart attacks. Until copywriters start writing juicy, acting-heavy scenes to advertise products, I'll be waiting patiently.
However, there are few areas in which I actually do qualify with my strange and hidden talents to submit for some pretty specific roles. These include but are not limited to speaking multiple languages (I got away with being a native Russian speaker at a commercial audition, so I guess studying abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre wasn't entirely futile -- jk it was the best experience of my life), owning adorable dogs (Stella and Cas almost booked a Petco commercial a few months back), having short hair (yes, that is a talent. Not every girl can pull it off, and it allows me submit for any roles described as "edgy," "techy," or "stand-in for the girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo"), and of course, yoga (note: I saved this blog post as a draft because I had to go to yoga class).
Yoga is a passion of mine and since it's so "mainstream" these days (proof), it's actually in a lot of commercials and print ads and so forth. Actually, as a former Public Relations junior account executive, I'd venture to say that it's actually a bit overused in advertising....like it comes up in ads that have absolutely nothing to do with yoga -- have you seen that random one for a bank or a credit card that gives cash back or something so all of these peoples' heads in a yoga class turn into Ben Franklin's head on the $100 bill? Or Ford telling who I'm assuming is my demographic (if I were quite a bit richer) that I'll save so much money on the new Fiesta that it'll translate to more yoga classes for me? K, maybe it's just me who notices these things. The point is, Casting Directors need yogis, like, all the time. So, when my number 1 lady Stephanie (shout out!!) asked if I'd be willing to do some yoga/athletic modeling for her photographer friend Mel, I jumped at the opportunity. Ok, I guess I "flowed" into it gracefully, rather.
It was a fun shoot and Mel is really talented! Check out her site HERE, and my little cameo on it HERE. Below are a few of my favorites, for your viewing pleasure. Namaste!
