I grew up in Iowa, and the improv comedy club Comedy-Sportz across the river in Illinois held auditions. They took me even though I was only 16 - you really had to be 18, but they never checked me for ID.

I fell into acting because I was really shy, and so at night after work, I took public speaking and improv classes, and I started going to auditions sort of as a dare. That was my version of 'Fear Factor.'

I was going on years and years of auditions and being told I was too this, too that, not enough of this, not enough of that, to the point where I was so afraid and diluting myself into absolutely nothing...

The concept of 'The Voice' has received acclamation worldwide. There will be blind auditions where the coaches will pick contestants without seeing them. It will be a unique concept for the Indian audience.

I got into musical comedy because of Shakespeare, not because of singing. They needed someone to understudy Richard Burton. I was also going to musical auditions because the agent I had insisted I go to them.

One thing I refuse to do is force it. So I've canceled many auditions because nothing has come up, and I don't want to waste anybody's time. God forbid they outright give it to me and I don't connect with it.

I was working at a restaurant in L.A. when a producer came in. He said I should audition for this movie Cellular. I did, and I got the part. It actually makes me sick to tell that story because its obnoxious.

I didn't know how to box so I would have looked like a complete street fighter actually, but what we did have to do was pick up some sides and then just memorize them within two days and go there and audition.

Even when I was little and going on auditions, it was clear who was there because they wanted to be there, and who was there because their stage parents were making them be there. There was a major difference.

I did a lot of community theatre and met a manager that worked out of Philadelphia, and she started sending me up to New York for auditions, and I got the part in a play at Manhattan Theatre Club when I was 15.

At one time in my life, I stood in queues for 'Indian Idol' auditions, and I got eliminated at Top 8 or Top 9. I could have never imagined that one day I will be judging this show where I was a contestant myself.

Then, in 2000, John Reid, Elton John's former manager, asked me to audition for the stage version of The Graduate he was producing. So I worked on it, got the part, and after three weeks' rehearsal I was on stage!

If you read the script, and the character's got something in it that you relate to, then I am keen. But I really think, a lot of the time, my successful auditions are those where I really care about the characters.

In North Carolina nobody bothers us; we're all about concentrating on the work or our auditions that we're trying to get a flight out for. So all that crap is not something that I'm confronted with on a daily basis.

I got a manager, and I thought, since I was going out on auditions, I should do this for a living. Then there was this moment on set when I realized I was having a lot of fun, and I really wanted to do this forever.

My brother was a radio jockey while I was studying law. I have assisted a lawyer at the High Court. But I decided to give it up. I cleared auditions for radio jockey in the first go, and within a week, I was on air.

Well, the hard part about doing auditions is that the person reading you the lines, they're not really into it. They're just going, 'Oh really, so why do you think that?' And they're just looking at a piece of paper.

I just used to go to the same auditions with all these other kids I went to school with. I didn't feel like I was really good at acting. I didn't feel like I was a really talented person that needed to be doing this.

I would have gone to law school, or gotten a psychology degree. I wasn't interested in sleeping on a futon forever. And what happened is I walked into auditions, and I had nothing to lose, because I had a backup plan.

Birdie is amazing and such an incredible child and I'm having such a great time being a mom but I still want to have a career and I still look forward to auditions and parts, and when I don't get them I'm disappointed.

I started playing the violin at age 3, and I was very fortunate because there were people who heard me who were influential in getting me auditions. By the time I was 7, I was playing concerts - it was just ridiculous.

My agent called me and said, "You have an audition for James Bond. They're looking for the girl." And I told him, "Listen, it's all in English. I'm not an actress. I'm not going to go." He thought I was kidding with him.

Paul Haggis, who's now a big movie guy, cast me as a lawyer in 'Family Law.' When that series ended, I thought that I would be going on more auditions and booking more jobs, but everything just came to a screeching halt.

I've done some awful auditions, and I've really done some horrible work, but it forced me to flex those muscles, and that's what makes you a better actor, just doing bad work and seeing what looks bad and growing from it.

If I said to most of the people who auditioned, 'Good job, awesome, well done,' it would have made me actually look and feel ridiculous. It's quite obvious most of the people who turned up for this audition were hopeless.

I was auditioned for 'Sultan' for the lead role in 2015. My auditions were very detailed as it was for the female lead. They took around 10-11 auditions for it in the span of 2 weeks. It was very hectic and tiring for me.

It's true; I have a skill and it's... it has not related to acting, it's not related to auditions, it's not related to studios, not related to public whim. It's whether I'm funny or not and whether I can entertain people.

I got to L.A., and they said I had to lose weight, let my hair grow and buy some dresses. I was nailing auditions with my readings, but they wouldn't hire me because I wasn't putting on the glam. It just didn't occur to me.

I took 'Grease' to play my trump card, my voice, and get attention that would lead to auditions for serious work like 'Angels in America.' But I backed myself into a corner with 'Grease,' and it took me 17 years to get out.

I don't really want to start my career again, and I don't like Hollywood. If it had happened to me when I was young, yes, I'd be there like a shot, but I wouldn't like to go there and hang out and go to auditions at my age.

I loved the domesticity of my life as a struggling actor. When I wasn't going to auditions, I could do things like cook dishes from scratch and take them to parties or be really thoughtful about birthdays and anniversaries.

I like going to the matinee. I like taking my daughter there. It's just my favorite place in the world. I go there after auditions. I lived in New York City, I would go to the theater right after because it clears your mind.

I honestly don't even know how I got into acting. It happened so quickly because my mom and sister used to do commercials, and apparently when I was little I would unbuckle myself from the stroller and crash their auditions.

After I finished university and started going to auditions again, and I also did a bunch of other jobs. I worked in the insurance industry, the digital media industry; I worked in a financial services company for three years.

In auditions, you're not up against anyone else; you're both going in for the role, and it's like, whoever's right for it will get it. It's simple. It's not like, 'Oh I won!' There's never that element. It is very supportive.

When I was going on auditions, it was nerve-racking. I'd always say to my mom that it would be awesome if I could get a series. When Modern Family came along, I said, 'You know what, Mom? I believe I'm going to get this role.'

The narrative of, 'You won an award, so you're going to skyrocket' - it's very emotive language but not necessarily true. I've definitely got auditions I wouldn't have got before, but it's not like jobs get rained down on you.

I know what it's like to audition, so it's important that everybody who auditions, even if I know right off they're not right for it, has a good experience. So I'll never just have someone do one pass at it and say "Thank you".

And I was victim to that very early in my career, where I would go into auditions, and I'd be wearing a big T shirt, a big baggy T shirt and loose jeans. You know, to try and show people that there was more to me than just that.

It was not even that long ago when my acting career was in the gutter. I was just thinking that I didn't want to live a life still going on auditions and not getting work. I wasn't inspired or anything at the time, and it sucked.

It's become like an urban myth. I don't know her. I don't know anybody she knows. I was standing there at the party by myself for an hour and then I left. Once I got those auditions, I worked really hard. Nobody did me any favors.

I had done a couple of auditions for 'Amistad' and didn't feel it was going to go any further - and then the call came about heading to Los Angeles to work with Steven Spielberg. It was surreal: exciting, challenging, overwhelming.

When I was little, I was very loud and loved performing in front of people. I was fearless. When I hit puberty, I became very shy and self-conscious. I still get nervous sometimes before shooting and definitely before big auditions.

I wouldn't have made it past the first round of American Idol auditions. It was months before our first song was recorded. The guys were like, 'Just seeng!' And I was like, 'I don't know how to seeng! Can't I just play the triangle?'

I don't like auditions. I feel like they're a very unnatural setting and it's a very unsettling experience. Because you can't help but walk in and feel like you're trying to prove yourself to people. And you should just walk in and be.

Since I started acting, I had to quit a lot of bad habits. I've tried to stop biting my nails, because people always look at your nails during auditions. Truth be told, I still have a 'cheat nail,' but I've been cheating less and less.

I totally heard by chance that they were doing the casting for a James Bond movie, and that one of the auditions was taking place in Paris. So I tried myself to contact every name involved in the movie I could possibly find on the IMDb!

You're going to a bunch of auditions, and most of the time you're just getting denied, but just staying in there and keeping my head and being determined helped. Growing is what's challenging; you have to constantly practice your craft.

I got the regular call, that they were doing a Broadway musical of Hairspray, and would I come and audition. I was familiar with the movie, because at the time it came out my lover wrote for Premiere magazine, and we had to see everything.

You can over-think things. If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it and do it honestly. I also don't learn things for auditions, because I feel like it's just a test of memorising rather than being real.

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