My Next Step?

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. I really haven't had much to blog about.

Still working out everyday after work. Eating healthy for the most part. Slowly losing weight, shedding inches and gaining a lot of muscle. LOTS of muscle. I'm actually stronger now that I've ever been. I can even do 1.5 pull ups now! Which is pretty good considering how much weight I have to pull up!

Acting-wise, things have been great as far as auditions. I've been going on tons of auditions and really good auditions for lead roles in movies and recurring characters on major tv shows and networks. Unfortunately, I haven't booked anything yet. I went on 7 auditions in the last 8 days and if I don't book anything, then I'm too the point where I need to re-evaluate things.

Don't get me wrong, I know it can take years and hundreds of auditions before booking something and so far I've booked a decent amount of things, however, I haven't booked anything really big. Big enough that I can live solely as an actor. And there are two major reasons for that.

Reason 1 is that the number of auditions I have is limited while I'm still overweight. This I'm working on and it'll be dealt with by the end of the year.

Reason 2 is that I don't speak Spanish or have an accent.

Unfortunately, LA creativity is limited and the majority of the Latino roles out there are stereotypical roles where they want you to have an accent. Unless you are the main star such as Hugo on Lost or America Ferrera on Ugly Betty, they make you stereotypical Mexican with an accent. Think about it. Even on Ugly Betty, the majority of her family are all stereotypical Latinos. Casting directors and writers haven't evolved to the 3rd, 4th, 5th generation, American born Latinos where we are just like every other American in how we act, dress and talk, and many of us don't speak Spanish or have an accent.

So I feel like I've hit a wall in acting. I can continue to get little bit parts and commercials, however, to get a big supporting role, I have to be able to pull off a good accent. And the only way to work my way up to a lead role is to build up big supporting role credits.

At my audition today for a recurring role on HBO's Eastbound and Down, I auditioned to be the neighbor. A Latino with 3 kids, wife, living with a lot of extended family, you know, all the stereotypes. Unfortunately, I don't think my audition went well because when I have to do an accent, I think my acting ability goes down 30% because I'm concentrating on making a good accent as opposed to being natural in the audition and concentrating on being in the moment in the scene.

What can I do?

When I hit a road block, I try to be pro-active and come up with solutions. There are always more than one path to get to the end.

Here's 1 idea.

Get a great paying day job and give up acting, and focus on stand up comedy and use stand up as a way to break into acting as a lead role so that I'm accepted as I am and don't have to worry about getting an accent. This is really hard to do though, because how many latino stand up comedians do you see in the movies and on tv? George Lopez and Carlos Mencia. And it took them decades before they made it.

Second idea.

Move back to the Bay Area. Live with Kiyo. Get in shape since he would train me. Work during the day and make a lot more money and save up my money. Do stand up comedy at night just to keep at it and make extra money. Save up for a year. After a year move to Spain or South America and live there for a year teaching English and learning Spanish and an accent. Move back to LA and start back at acting with my new Spanish and accent that I can use for auditions, and with my new in shape body.

If I don't get anything by the end of the year, then I really think I will put plan 2 into action. Plus I think it'd be just a great experience to have while I'm still relatively young and single. I have no family or girlfriend in LA, so there's not much attachment to keep me here besides acting and a few friends, most of whom I never see anymore now that I work weekends.

Right now I'm brainstorming. I may even just get a regular job now and not do any acting, so I can save up and move to Spain or South America sooner. Plus I'm really not happy with my work hours.

On another note, I'm dating again. I know, I was gonna wait a year. But I couldn't help myself. So I'm back on the market. But that's another story for another day.

So online family. What do you think of my potential moves? Ideas? Words of wisdom? Suggestions? I'm open to anything at this point. I'm pretty frustrated and feel like I need to do something to give myself more of an advantage in these auditions. I know I have the talent, I'm just missing the accent, which is holding me back from booking so many more roles.

Next week if I don't hear back on any auditions I'm going to meet with my agent and tell her the plan. So it's time for me to really think about what my next step is going to be.