Moved to tears.

Originally posted on August 29, 2011

I’m the kind of girl who cries at pretty much anything. Those animal cruelty commercials with Sarah McLachlan, THE NOTEBOOK, and don’t even get me started about the last HARRY POTTER film. That being said, I rarely cry during auditions. I guess I watch them with a bit of professional detachment.

However, about four years ago I cast a little indie film called POWDER BLUE. It had the hardest role I’ve ever had to cast: a transgender prostitute who could hold her own in some very emotional scenes opposite Forest Whitaker. We auditioned hundreds of actors for this role. Male, female, and transgender, we didn’t discriminate. We may or may not have even read one young A-lister (in drag) who went on to headline a very popular *sparkly* franchise. Sorry, I don’t have pictures.

But the thing I’m probably most proud of in my 12+ years of doing this, is finding the actor we cast in the role. He came in during a very strange (and scary at times) meet-and-greet open call. He was new to Los Angeles, didn't have an agent, and wasn't even in SAG, but he had the right look so we gave him a callback.

When he did the scene in the callback, something happened… I was sucked into another dimension where this character lived. The actor wasn’t there anymore. In his place was this tragic transgender prostitute weighing her options with a rather heartbreaking outcome. By the end of the scene I was bawling. When the actor left the room I jumped up and followed him out. I couldn’t let him leave without telling him that he was the first person to make me cry in an audition. (I wasn’t the only one in the room crying either). He got the role and his performance held up in the final product. But sometimes I pull up that audition video on my laptop just to remember what magic actors are capable of, and how awesome my job is.