How to Become an Actor: Interview with Eric Michael Gillet

I had the great opportunity to interview Eric Michael Gillett, who is a friend of mine and not only a professional working actor with an agent and a lot of credits under his belt, but also someone who worked as a teacher for a number of years who taught his students the business-side of acting.

His tips and tricks that he recommends in this article are absolutely fantastic, and I highly recommend you read this and implement some of them in your own acting career!

Here are some of the key takeaways from the interview:

• Even when you're on tour, you need to continuously come back to meet with people who can continue to move your career forward, otherwise they'll forget about you.
• A lot of actors get hired just because they know someone on the production team already - even if their skill level isn't perfect!
• ​Live the life of the character for a day or two before your audition so by the time you come in, you are literally a walking, talking, breathing version of the character they want.
• Ensure that when contacting people, you contact them in the way they like to be contacted - if someone hates snail mail, use email!
• ​Reach out to at least 2-3 people you've worked with in the past but haven't spoken to in a year to catch up so you stay on their radar.
• If you're not hearing back and consistently seeing the same casting directors over and over again, its time to start seeing new people.
• Thanks casting directors or filmmakers when they give you an adjustment in an audition. Email them afterwards to thank them again, and they'll remember you.
• Keep up to date with who is casting what projects so you know who you want to target ahead of time when going in for classes with casting directors.
• And much more...

To read or listen to the full interview, click here.


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Check out his reel.
Check out his music reel.
Check out his website.