The Working Actor

WATCH JOHN PAUL KARLIAK TALK ABOUT HIS BEST MOMENT IN LA:

Age: “Between 20 and death.”

John has lived in LA for 8 years, but is originally from Scranton, PA. He has worked at USC for 4 years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: “Well you see George Lucas every once in a while, but I haven’t actually bumped into him and said hello. Ok, so it wasn’t this job. I used to work grocery delivery before I did this. My favorite person to deliver to was Kevin Smith. He would just reach into his wallet, take however many bills he had and just give them to you. My last delivery he gave me a $90 tip, I bought a bottle of champagne.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “When my car exploded. I was driving to a temp job downtown. I had this 1st edition PT Cruiser that used to be my dad’s company car, which became a graduation present. My dad knows nothing about cars, but felt that he could take the engine apart and add a supercharger to it. I’m not saying that’s what caused it to explode, but draw your own conclusions. Anyway, it started to smoke while I was driving to work. I pulled over to the side of the road and called for help. While dialing, the car exploded. Fireball out of the engine, the hood popped off, the tires melted. I wasn’t pulled all the way off the road, so people were swerving out of the way. Luckily, my CD’s didn’t melt. They stank, but they still played.”

WORST AUDITION STORY: “It was for McDonalds and was the first audition my agent sent me on in a year and a half. I walked into the room and everybody was a Latin type. So I picked up the copy and it was entirely in Spanish. I asked the casting director if I was in the right place and she said ‘can you speak Spanish?’ When I told her I couldn’t she said, ‘just futz your way through it.’ The girl next to me instructed me to shout out ‘Big Mac por favor, Quarter Pounder Por Favor.’ Once the audition ended I called my agent and asked what happened. He just laughed and said ‘my bad.’ So I fired him.”

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD HIM IN: Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic, A Red Bull Commercial, Tom Clancy’s Endwar (VG), H&R Block radio commercial.

UPCOMING: An AFI short called Little Black Dress

ADVICE FOR PEOPLE MOVING TO LA: “Keep in touch with everyone and thank them. So many people you do random things with move on and do bigger things. It’s about building professional friendships. Also, focus. It’s not enough to just say ‘I want to be an actor.’ What do you want to be on? Do you do Comedy? Drama? Voiceover? Get specific, I spent the first 3 years out here unsure.”

Watch Lisa recall  when she saw Richard Pryor before his return to the stage:

Age: “Ageless and Evergreen” 

Lisa is originally from Minnesota, but has lived in Los Angeles “long enough to know that nothing happens overnight.” Lisa has worked at Milena’s Boutique for 1 year. 

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: Maria Shriver 

MOVED TO LA BECAUSE: “I was a theater junkie. I came out here to do theater.” 

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “Surviving colon cancer.” 

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “The earthquake.” 

BEST AUDITION STORY: “Lee Strasberg accepting me on my first audition when I was 22 years old.” 

WORST AUDITION STORY: “Meeting Robert Dinero and Cis Corman for Raging Bull and being told I looked too young to play a girl carding people in Jake LaMotta’s bar…that was a bummer.” 

YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN HER IN: Deep Cover, “E! Mysteries & Scandals” playing Lana Turner, a Peugeot commercial, Tanzi 

UPCOMING: Baby O 

THIS JOB HELPS ME AS AN ACTOR: “It helps me be centered and focused. It doesn’t take as much from me as other jobs have.” 

DREAM ROLE: “Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” 

ADVICE FOR ANYONE MOVING TO LA TO BE AN ACTOR: “Make sure it’s something you desperately want to do, not because of fame.  Make sure you have a passion for it. Acting is a craft, take it seriously and train for it. Expect to pay your dues, and have a lot of rejection. Actors are a dime a dozen out here…there is a lot of disappointment and heartache.” 

FIND OUT IF DEACON CAN DANCE:

Age: 30

Deacon has lived in LA for 3 years, but is originally from Chicago. He has worked at The Village Idiot for 2 ½ Years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: Thomas Lennon

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “When I got my first apartment, it was the first night I was there, I had no furniture. Everything I shipped broke except for one glass. I sat there and used a suitcase as a table, and got a $5 bottle of wine at 7-Eleven…..I knew I couldn’t be happier.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “It was few months ago, for Budweiser. It was a videoconference audition; the director and producers were in Chicago. I saw them laugh at something I did through the 20-inch screen and thought ‘alright I’m gonna book this,’ and I did.”

YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN HIM IN: “Grey’s Anatomy,’ I played a patient with a broken leg” and a current Mazda 3 commercial.

UPCOMING: Taco Bell Commercial, Budweiser commercial, Twix Commercial, Coors Light Commercial, A Marine Story.

DREAM ROLE: “For them to re-cast ‘Lost’ and run the series again, all 6 seasons of it. I’ll play Jack, I’ll play Sawyer, either one I don’t care. That would be fine with me.”

ADVICE FOR ACTORS MOVING TO LA: “Save up as much money as you can, and don’t take it personally.”

Watch Diann’s advice for actors moving to LA:

Age: 28

Diann has lived in LA for 6 years but is originally from Virginia. She has worked at Moe’s Flowers for 6 years.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: Sidney Poitier

BEST MOMENT IN LA: “Delivering flowers to Diane Keaton, Celebrities never answer the door…it’s always housekeeper. She answered the door.”

WORST MOMENT IN LA: “My first week out here I decided to just drive around. Somehow, I ended up on the 101. I freaked out and tried to get off but ended up on the 134. I had no Idea where I was, it took me 4 hours to get home.”

BEST AUDITION STORY: “The first job I booked. The day of the audition I woke and I don’t know if was nerves or Chicken Pox but my body had red spots all over. When I got there they turned on this music and I was told to start dancing and had to do some cold reading as well. It was crazy I was dancing with these spots all over me…but I got the job, I was in the show it was a good feeling.”

WORST AUDITION STORY: “It was my first audition out in LA. I had just graduated school and it was about nine months since I did an audition. I was super nervous. There were three monologues I had to memorize. I said the first line and just blanked. I forgot everything. I tried to start again but could not remember the lines.”

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN HER IN: “I did a lot of shows for the Outlaw Style Thrance Company.” A short film called Naked Sushi. An eHarmony commercial.

UPCOMING: Heat Train

DREAM ROLE: “Meg Ryan’s Role in When Harry Met Sally.”

Age: 27

Billy has lived in LA for 9 years, but is originally from Chicago. He has worked at Amoeba Music for 5 years.

It took Billy 50 auditions to land his first acting job.

FAVORITE CELEBRITY SIGHTING AT WORK: Parker Posey

YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN HIM IN: A Christmas Too Many, a Wanadoo Cell Phone commercial, and a Partnership For A Healthy Mississippi Anti-Smoking commercial. Click here to see Billy’s IMDB page.

THIS JOB HELPS AS AN ACTOR BECAUSE: “The company is very supportive of the arts. It’s also great to be surrounded by other creative people while at work.”