Our Coaches
BRIAN
I currently make a living as an actor; I work in commercials (70+), hosting, voiceover, television, theatre, and print. I’ve worked on both coasts and around the globe, including Dublin, London, and on the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, and Mediterranean Seas. I live in Los Angeles, but called Manhattan home for 11 years. I freelanced with 12 agents before choosing my current representation. I spent my first two years in New York as an advertising account executive and copywriter for Broadway shows and subsequently worked as a career coach (where I found one of my callings!). I’m proud and touched to say that I help many actors realize their dreams. If you’d like to know more, check out www.BrianPatacca.com, follow me on Twitter or learn about me at About.Me/BrianPatacca. I hope to see you at an audition soon. Give your career a kick in the AAS (Actor Accountability Salon)!
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Check out my articles on Backstage
BRET
1. Nickname: – The Broadway Badass
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2. When I came to NYC: I came to NYC when it was still the 90’s. RENT was still on Broadway, and my passion for the entertainment industry has only grown. The theatre community in NYC is unlike any other community in the world. The first thing I learned about the biz when I arrived was that there are an awful lot of people going for their dreams in NYC. Talent is only part of what it takes in NYC, building relationships and becoming part of the community – is vital. What drives me is the constant passion for new creative inspiration, I look for authentic people with ambition and a willingness to risk failure.
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3. Favorites…
Actor – Sandra Bullock
Book – The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Play – The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Quote – “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson
Pastime – Searching for the best cup of coffee
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4. Where You’ve Seen Me: On Broadway in Amazing Grace, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – also in the movie THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. Or on TV in The Good Wife or One Life to Live.
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5. Pro-Tip: Make the audition about booking the NEXT job. Every audition is a chance to build a relationship.
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6. Hometown: Beaumont/Orange, Texas
BRITT
password for vimeo: actorsalon
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1. Nickname: The Road Less Traveled
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2. When I came to LA: I came to LA with a classical theatre background and an MFA. Why? Because I quickly realized that my favorite shows were opening on Broadway starring…actors from television and film. So I made the decision to come to Los Angeles and work my way up in the television and film world, hoping to bring my career full circle one day. Since that inception, I have come to realize there are no boundaries regarding access to your own creativity – and LA is a wonderful melting pot of a variety of mediums in which an artist can thrive. I also learned to pay even more attention to street parking signs than I did to the SAT’s.
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3. Favorites…
Book – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Play – The Night Season by Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Quote – “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” – Jack Kerouac
Pastime – diving into experiences – food, art, music, travel – getting my hands dirty. If it’s live and the memory is the canvas, I’m there.
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4. Where You’ve Seen Me: ABC, Nickelodeon, Lifetime Networks, smiling happily or sassily in national commercials; writing, performing, and directing in festival shorts, and funny or die exclusive videos.
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5. Pro-Tip: The Boundaries are IMAGINARY.
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6. Hometown: Birmingham, AL. Roll Tide, Y’all.
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7. Education & training: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Duke University, MFA University of Central Florida in Partnership with The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Reiki Master
ERIN
1. Nickname: The Do-It-Yourselfer
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2. After spending a year in New York City auditioning for broadway musicals and working regionally, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue film and television.Erin also writes, directs and produces funny films about lady things. She's a member of the grammy-nominated indie music group The Silver Lake Chorus and produces and co-hosts the podcast Erin and Aliee HATE Everything.
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3. Favorites:
Actor: (if you change this to actress because they’re women I’ll throw a fit…but also I have too many and I noticed Britt didn’t have this category so…?): Katherine Hepburn, Amy Morton, Viola Davis, Audra McDonald
Book: God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Play: Like...teleplay? Jane the Virgin. It's quietly the smartest show on TV.
Quote: “When it is genuine, when it is born of the need to speak, no one can stop the human voice. When denied a mouth, it speaks with the hands or the eyes, or the pores, or anything at all. Because every single one of us has something to say to the others, something that deserves to be celebrated or forgiven by others.” -Eduardo Galeano, The Book of Embraces
Pastime: podcasts- listening, hosting, producing; raising my rescued pitbull child, collecting hobbies like they’re Pokemon
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4. Where You've Seen Me: HBO's VEEP, Hulu's Dimension 404, as well as the original pilot of Lifetime's UnReal (BEFORE they moved to Canada). She's probably on your TV right now wearing a 19th century wig in a national commercial. In past two years Erin has become a part of the LA theater community, performing in the LA Fringe and in new musicals at the Lounge Theater in Hollywood and as part of USC's Visions and Voices. She also originated a role in a national tour of a new musical produced by the Valley Center for the Performing Arts.
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5. Pro-Tip: Everyone is focused on their own mistakes...they aren't paying attention to yours.
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6. Hometown: Gainesville, FL
7. Education & Training: BFA in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts