There are some would be actors who seem to think that they are going to become famous actors over night without paying their dues. Before I go any further I have to tell you a little about myself. As a curious teenager I used to watch people on television and felt in my heart I could do that too, but the opportunity was not there, so I went to a local college to learn automotive engineering. As time went by I found my self in an amateur theatre group, and our first play was a comedy based on the antics of the spider man, an African folk tale hero, these tales were brought from Africa by the slaves. There was no script for this production, we had the story told to us and we made up the words as we went along, each actor knew that the priority was to tell the story from start to finish, this was a great way of teaching us how to focus, think on our feet and team work, we had many weeks of rehearsals. The actor playing the lead role was good but he had a habit of coming late to rehearsals, one evening while waiting for our lead actor to get there, the group asked me to do his part, and the rest as they say is history. For the performance we rented a real theatre with real dressing rooms, we sold tickets on the streets and we had a full house. That night was a ball, we brought the house down. There was an important man in the audience who called me the next day and asked me if I would like to go professional, I said I would call him back, which I did. He was a director who was looking for actors to put a touring company together. This director invited me over to his house and threw a book of Shakespearean plays on my lap and said "I want you to learn some of that", this was scary but I did, he gave me tips on how to handle the style and metering of the language, I was a fast learner, and it turned out to be very useful later when I auditioned for "Measure For Measure" for a major theatre company, and when I went up for " The White Devil" by Webster, I got in on both plays, we even took "Measure for Measure" on an international tour. I also played the lead in Aristophanes "The Birds" plus many other plays some for which I got critical aclaim. An actor might not garner the fame on stage that he might on the screen, but it is on the stage that real actors are made. From there I started getting parts on television and in films. One day my agent called me and said there is a guy name George Lucas doing a film and he wants you to be a pilot in it, the title of that movie was "Return Of The Jedi". I told you this brief history to help clarify the next point I want to get to. I didn't go into details about the nights on tour with my first theatre group, sleeping in cold rooms with hard worn out beds, I did not complain, because I was an actor. (see Ronny Cush on imdb.com). I currently have friends in the entertainment business and one such person is an agent. The kind of agent I personally admire for her work ethics, and no nonsence approach to the business which is needed if one is going to survive in this industry. It came to my attention recently that a new "actor", who has never done anything, got a part as an extra in a TV series being filmed here in South Florida. This actor, and I use the term loosely, was asked by the director to come away from the crowd, change outfit and do another role, just so you know, the role was that of a pool cleaner, the "actor" got to his phone and started texting my friend the agent, saying the director was racist and he did not want any part of this racist production anymore, and don't send him up for anything if it's not a featured role, temper, temper, temper. What this "actor" did not realise was that he got pulled out of the crowd because the director liked his look, and gave him the pool cleaning part which was in fact a promotion with an increase in pay. With the agency's reputation on the line, this fool will not be going up for any role, featured or otherwise, from this agency any time soon.
I heard another tale of a second actor who did not understanding his job discription, which is to act. This second "actor" walked away from a project because he did not want to be "killed" in the movie, have you ever heard anything so ridiculous, I know this "actor" personally, I gave him a part in a movie, and on the first day of principal photography he called me and said he did not want the part anymore because it was not big enough for him, having sat with the script for weeks. It's obvious to me that these people aren't really actors, they are looking for a way to look heroic on screen, maybe to compensate for something that's lacking in their lives, to them it's not about portraying a believable character, for them all that matters is "did you get my good side". Back in the day I was always happy to be on the set, because for me it was a learning experience no matter what I was doing.
I heard another tale of a second actor who did not understanding his job discription, which is to act. This second "actor" walked away from a project because he did not want to be "killed" in the movie, have you ever heard anything so ridiculous, I know this "actor" personally, I gave him a part in a movie, and on the first day of principal photography he called me and said he did not want the part anymore because it was not big enough for him, having sat with the script for weeks. It's obvious to me that these people aren't really actors, they are looking for a way to look heroic on screen, maybe to compensate for something that's lacking in their lives, to them it's not about portraying a believable character, for them all that matters is "did you get my good side". Back in the day I was always happy to be on the set, because for me it was a learning experience no matter what I was doing.
About three years ago I was about to do a photo shoot for another agency. I had a female friend who I was trying to help find her sea legs in the business. Before you start thinking about it, no I was not doing her, and no I'm not gay, quite the opposite. Anyway I told my friend to put on a swimwear under her dress, because this shoot was going to be at the beach, and the agent was going to be there, and just before the shoot she would take off her dress, and I would introduce her to the agent while she was wearing her bikini. All went well the agent loved her and signed her up pronto. Three days later my friend got a call from the agent to go work on a Bacardi commercial, no audition required. This idiot showed up forty five minutes late, and when the production assistant spoke to her about it, she started mouthing off with attitude, I really don't know what's wrong with some people, why they find it necessary to cuss anybody anywhere anytime for whatever reason, sometimes the smart thing to do is to shut the f**k up, of course they fired her stupid ass on the spot.
Since that incident, I started minding my own business more, and stop trying to be Santa's little helper. Having said that I have a few people that I will always help whenever I can. To me they are soldiers that I have been in the trenches with, and they never complained about breaking a nail. I recall one evening we were filming a scene inside a Miami apartment. We started at sundown and at four the next morning we took a break, had a two hour nap right there on the carpet unisex style, got up and worked until we got all the shots. I also remember another through the night shoot, the owner of this second location had two cats, a German sherperd dog, and a little green bird in a cage, all co-habiting in a tiny little apartment. The cats and maybe the dog too had been urinating somewhere in the place, the smell was so bad it made my eyes water, I could feel the stench burning the back of my throat, I thought how could anybody live with this? the police could have used the smell for riot control. We stuck it out and got the job done. So to you guys I say you showed that you are made of sterner stuff, and you deserve every success.
