By Si Dunn
Actors arrive at the craft and art of acting from many different directions.
This point was well illustrated during the “Acting for Dollars” panel discussion at the 1st Lone Star International Film Festival, Nov. 9, 2007, in Fort Worth, Texas.
For more than 25 years, Xander Berkeley (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0075359/) has been playing mainly character roles in movies and television, and he typically is cast as “the bad guy.” Indeed, one of his best-known roles is Gibbs, the evil Secret Service agent who betrays the President (Harrison Ford) in Air Force One. Berkeley isn’t exactly sure when his acting spark started during childhood. “But I didn’t want toys when I was little. I only wanted costumes,” he told the panel’s audience. “I also got interested in accents.” Later, he became adept as a makeup artist, as well, a talent he recently displayed while playing the character George Mason on the hit TV show, “24.”
Xander Berkeley’s wife, Sarah Clarke (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1020124/), was an architectural photographer before she became an actor, with recent roles that include the turncoat government agent Nina Myers on “24.” “I just thought actors were big hams,” she told the panel audience. “But later, I took an acting class in Italy, in Italian.” The challenges of that experience kindled a deeper interest that led her onto the stage, then into movies and television. “The universe kind of guides you, but you need to pay attention,” she said.
Matthew Steven Tompkins (Missionary Man, Living & Dying, Killing Down) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867004/) has had a wide range of roles in a career stretching more than 15 years. “My father was an actor who never got to act,” Tompkins told the audience. The elder Tompkins’ family wouldn’t let him perform. But he never lost his enthusiasm for acting and actors, and his “performances” while watching others perform ultimately gave young Matthew an excellent role model for his own acting career. “My father would pull up a chair to watch Peter Sellers and The Pink Panther, and I would pull up a chair to watch my father,” Tompkins explained.
Julio Cedillo (The Mist, Killing Down, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0147814/) also has been working as an actor for more than 15 years. “I came here from Mexico at age four. I learned to speak English when I was six, sitting in front of the TV,” he explained. “I started mimicking the people who were on TV, while my mother made tortillas. And I was hooked.”
Oliver Tull (Killing Down, Equilateral, Saving Jessica Lynch) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0876358/) got his first acting role in 1982 “to get out of work” while he was in the Army. “Being on a sports team got us out of work. Then there was a play on the base. I auditioned and got picked.” He discovered then that he also had an in innate love of story.
The acting career of the panel’s moderator, David Newsom (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628392/), spans almost 20 years. He said he started out wanting “to play a bunch of great roles.” But the New York theater and movie business was crowded and fiercely competitive. “My father said, ‘Why don’t you move to a smaller market?’” Newsom took the advice. While building sets for the Catskill Actors Theater, he was given two lines to speak as a waiter in “Death of a Salesman.” Later, he went to Los Angeles, worked odd jobs, and eventually landed roles in TV shows, including “China Beach” and “Quantum Leap.” After parts in many other shows, Newsom recently has been pursuing other career directions, including producing the award-winning short film, Mother. As an actor, he pointed out, “your destiny is out of your own hands. People in other rooms make decisions about the next six months of your life. I want to be able to tell my own stories in my own ways.”
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Actors arrive at the craft and art of acting from many different directions.
This point was well illustrated during the “Acting for Dollars” panel discussion at the 1st Lone Star International Film Festival, Nov. 9, 2007, in Fort Worth, Texas.
For more than 25 years, Xander Berkeley (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0075359/) has been playing mainly character roles in movies and television, and he typically is cast as “the bad guy.” Indeed, one of his best-known roles is Gibbs, the evil Secret Service agent who betrays the President (Harrison Ford) in Air Force One. Berkeley isn’t exactly sure when his acting spark started during childhood. “But I didn’t want toys when I was little. I only wanted costumes,” he told the panel’s audience. “I also got interested in accents.” Later, he became adept as a makeup artist, as well, a talent he recently displayed while playing the character George Mason on the hit TV show, “24.”
Xander Berkeley’s wife, Sarah Clarke (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1020124/), was an architectural photographer before she became an actor, with recent roles that include the turncoat government agent Nina Myers on “24.” “I just thought actors were big hams,” she told the panel audience. “But later, I took an acting class in Italy, in Italian.” The challenges of that experience kindled a deeper interest that led her onto the stage, then into movies and television. “The universe kind of guides you, but you need to pay attention,” she said.
Matthew Steven Tompkins (Missionary Man, Living & Dying, Killing Down) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867004/) has had a wide range of roles in a career stretching more than 15 years. “My father was an actor who never got to act,” Tompkins told the audience. The elder Tompkins’ family wouldn’t let him perform. But he never lost his enthusiasm for acting and actors, and his “performances” while watching others perform ultimately gave young Matthew an excellent role model for his own acting career. “My father would pull up a chair to watch Peter Sellers and The Pink Panther, and I would pull up a chair to watch my father,” Tompkins explained.
Julio Cedillo (The Mist, Killing Down, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0147814/) also has been working as an actor for more than 15 years. “I came here from Mexico at age four. I learned to speak English when I was six, sitting in front of the TV,” he explained. “I started mimicking the people who were on TV, while my mother made tortillas. And I was hooked.”
Oliver Tull (Killing Down, Equilateral, Saving Jessica Lynch) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0876358/) got his first acting role in 1982 “to get out of work” while he was in the Army. “Being on a sports team got us out of work. Then there was a play on the base. I auditioned and got picked.” He discovered then that he also had an in innate love of story.
The acting career of the panel’s moderator, David Newsom (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0628392/), spans almost 20 years. He said he started out wanting “to play a bunch of great roles.” But the New York theater and movie business was crowded and fiercely competitive. “My father said, ‘Why don’t you move to a smaller market?’” Newsom took the advice. While building sets for the Catskill Actors Theater, he was given two lines to speak as a waiter in “Death of a Salesman.” Later, he went to Los Angeles, worked odd jobs, and eventually landed roles in TV shows, including “China Beach” and “Quantum Leap.” After parts in many other shows, Newsom recently has been pursuing other career directions, including producing the award-winning short film, Mother. As an actor, he pointed out, “your destiny is out of your own hands. People in other rooms make decisions about the next six months of your life. I want to be able to tell my own stories in my own ways.”
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