actors take stand in jobs!!!
There seems to be a disagreement between actors and agents in that acting classes are far more important to them than they are to actors.
Don’t get me wrong, acting classes are good to get you vulnerable and to drop your ego. However, when it comes to training, I have learned most as a stand in. This being because you are in the actors shoes and get an up front look at professionals at work. I could go on for years, but thank you to this stand in that shared all the details on why you should take stand in roles even if people tell you not to.
“What are some things standing in has taught you about TV/film and being on set that you didn’t know before?
Wow, this is a great question! I actually learn something new about TV/film every single day that I stand in. I've been standing in non-stop now for 13-14 years and it has been better than any acting class that I've ever taken. You are on set every day, you are a valuable part of the crew, you see the show from beginning to end...the opportunities to learn are endless.”
Actors that started in background
Matt Damon
At age 18, Damon was an extra in the Julia Roberts flick. He then went on to play a fan in Fenway Park in “Field of Dreams” with Affleck.
Viola Davis
Though she’s now one of the elite few to win the Triple Crown of Acting (Academy Award, Emmy Award, Tony Award) and achieve EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status, Davis got her start as an extra in “The Substance of Fire” and on “NYPD Blue.”
Clint Eastwood
Before “Gran Torino” and “Million Dollar Baby,” Eastwood landed several uncredited roles, beginning with 1955’s “Revenge of the Creature.” In his twenties, Eastwood was a steady-working extra, appearing in other films including “Francis in the Navy,” “Lady Godiva of Coventry,” and “Tarantula.” It wasn’t until 1959 that his career took off a bit when he landed the role of Rowdy Yates on the TV show “Rawhide.” This compilation of Eastwood’s early background roles shows how far the actor—and film technology—has come.
Brad Pitt
Though he came to be Hollywood royalty, Pitt once acted in much smaller parts. In 1987 alone, he appeared as “boy at the beach” in “Hunk,” “party guest” in “No Way Out,” and “partygoer/preppy kid at fight” in “Less Than Zero.”
Sylvester Stallone
Stallone appeared as an extra in some unlikely places: Woody Allen’s 1971 flick, “Bananas,” and the Oscar-winning, Jane Fonda-starring “Klute.” Here he is in his role of the former’s “subway thug.”
Channing Tatum
Before he gained fame stepping up and stripping down, Tatum was “boy in church” in “War of the Worlds.” Over a decade and a half later, after becoming a household name, he took on another uncredited background role as “train passenger” in “Bullet Train.”
Bruce Willis
Another actor who took multiple background roles when he was just getting started, Willis can be seen as an extra in quite a few productions, including “The First Deadly Sin” and the TV movie “Ein Guru kommt.” He was also a courtroom observer in “The Verdict”—nominated for five Oscars!—starring Paul Newman.
Renée Zellweger
Years before becoming Bridget Jones, Zellweger was “girl in blue pickup truck” in “Dazed and Confused.” You might not have noticed the Oscar-winning actor then, but she’s hard to miss now!
