Ageless

And I don't mean that in the terms of seeming to never age.  I mean in in the terms of: I feel like right now I am in limbo; at some strange, undefinable age. 

At mt last agent seminar I once again got the question, "What ages do you usually play?" - complete with the perplexed head tilt, furrowed brow, and slight air of worry that they might be treading on my toes or asking the obvious.  And, truthfully, I'm not sure how to answer that.  Or if I want to answer that.  Or if I have to answer that - I mean, you have eyeballs.  What do you think?

What age do I usually play?  On stage:  mostly older.  In commercials:  mostly older.  On film: about my real age. And what is that exactly?  Well I am no older than Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet or Angelina Jolie.  How would you classify them?

It's not like I've had a "break-out role" yet, so no matter what I usually do - we can still experiment until we find the sweet spot.

I don't mind playing older - it was fun when it first started happening in college.  After all, campuses generally don't have many students in their late 30's or early 40's, so I didn't take it personally.  I could adopt that air of the mature sophisticate a la Ruth in Table Manners, or an older recovering alcoholic nun in Penguin Blues (some good monos for guys in that, by the way, especially since the male character is an actor), or Elmire in Tartuffe.  But now that I am closer to those appropriate ages... I find those roles (or any, it seems) harder to get.  What gives?  Am I still too young since now I am in the "real world" where actual 40 year-old actresses are readily available?  (But then how come in my late 20's I was asked to play the mother of a 12 year-old for a commercial?) Or am I now too old - since I've a naturally "mature" demeanor on top of also just plain chronologically older, as well?  Do I need to shoot for roles that are still 20 years beyond me?

It's all very, very frustrating.  Especially when I am trying to get an agent and trying to market myself, as it were.  And it breaks my heart when I walk into a room and I feel the agent/CD just look at me blankly - like I am a type heretofore unknown.  Completely unclassifiable and therefore useless.

Where do I see myself?  Well... an Angelina Jolie or Kate Winslet or Charlize Theron role would be good (ha ha).  But I don't have any delusions of grandeur (ok, maybe sometimes).  I could be a myriad of characters - wives, mothers, girlfriends, professionals - on any of the NYC shows - Rescue Me (people always think I'm Irish so I think playing an NYC fireman's wife/girlfriend/relative is an easy pick), Ugly Betty (dear lord, how I would love to play an equally catty friend/relative of Becky Newton's character), Damages, Law & Order, etc.  But unfortunately when I look into the eyes of these people that I meet... I see myself reflected as a wasteland. 

 But I'm not.  What to do...

--Susan Atwood

Comments

[Stacey Jackson]

As far as age goes, I'm having the same problem. The truth is, if you aren't 18-22 and you don't yet play mom or easily mid 30s, there isn't much out there if you don't already have a resume full of ingenue roles (Kate Winselt, Angelina Jolie etc). I keep hanging onto younger, because I'm definitely not playing older. It is frustrating, but what can we do? Keep going. Constantly assess how we are perceived and do everything to fit that mold WHILE showing our bag of tricks that break those molds. It's better than the alternative, right?

[Justine]

Hey Susan,

I know what you mean. It's weird that the agents would ask *you* what age you play. As you said, they have eyes - what do they think? But, sometimes people start to appear younger (or older) when they are performing. So maybe that's why they just weren't sure or wanted to see what your thoughts were.

I think you have to figure out your age range based on the cross-section of opinions you usually get. So then you can say, "My age range on film tends to be early thirties and in commercials I tend to get cast for 35-40."

(I'm not saying that's your age range. I'm saying *you* decide based on what you are hearing from others who have seen you in person most often.)

As you said, the demeanor that comes across is part of it, combined with physical appearance. So try to figure out a "realistic" age range for different genres. You want the roles you audition for to be ones that you could realistically play without seeming too young or too old.

I hope that helps. It's not an exact science, of course. Good for you that you are trying to figure out where you 'see yourself' and which roles you identify with the most. Keep watching films/television and identifying which roles you could see yourself playing. Don't worry if you think others might not right away see you as that role/that person. If your reading is impression enough, they'll "throw away" their preconceived notions about what the character looks like.