“Thank you John…I remember something you told us in class. “Do you wanna spend your career doing co-star and occasional guest-star roles only, or do you wanna step it up to starring?” That really motivated me and pissed me off at the same time, because my career had gotten stuck in that track. Which is why after that weekend of (The Lawlessness of Sides), I realized I first needed to change how the industry perceived me…so I spent the next several weeks putting together a new reel that would only reflect the roles which are my strengths, and take out everything else that didn’t fit – even if they were good scenes. That clarity immediately started getting me auditions for recurring guest or starring roles for roles that fit my specific niche.
This particular call was for a popular Michael Bay produced action-drama, with the breakdown of the character being similar to what my reel represented. After the read, the casting director got really excited (he last cast me in a film 20 years ago), said “Man that was so fun to watch. You are the character, it’s so great when an actor comes in bold and just takes over the role and becomes it. You nailed every beat we were looking for someone to hit and made it uniquely your own. It’s rare when an actor comes in and does that!”

The kudos continued. My first intense scene with the cast went similarly. One of the stars nodded to me after we cut and said “that’s power, man.” The director came over excited “that was awesome, you were so badass! I love it.” The next time on set a few of the series regs brought that scene up again, saying it “was powerful, what you brought to it.”

All the praise was a bit surreal, but perhaps that’s simply a testament to your work and the way you teach it, John…I used the Catch-phrase technique you teach.”