Will Gets His Star

So the other day I was driving through the grubby wasteland that is Hollywood and came across a crowd of camera waving fans. Fans of what, I wondered. Was it a premiere? No, in fact it was a Star ceremony on the Walk of Fame. The recipient - Will Smith.

Will had yet to arrive, so I pulled into a rare parking spot and stood amongst the excited throng, waiting across the street from Graumann's Chinese Theatre, to catch a glimpse of a true A-list star. After 30 minutes of jostling (and curses thrown at drivers who chose to stop and block our view), Will Smith arrived looking remarkably like Will Smith. He gave a sweet little speech about his meeting with Mandela and how the former President of South Africa shared an experience from his 27 years in captivity.

The prisoners saw one movie a year, and it so happened that they screened "In the Heat of the Night" that particular year. Mandela noticed an edit where something had been cut out by the censors, and asked through his channels what that might be. He discovered it was the scene where Sydney Poitier slapped Rod Steiger. At that moment, he said, he discovered the true power of film for change. If a Black man could be shown to strike a White man in an American film, then film was a powerful force.

Whether or not that made Will feel better about making $20m a picture, I do not know. I do know that Will always delivers. And even Elvis (albeit an Elvis impersonator on Hollywood Blvd), was captivated by the man of the hour. I managed to take this snap of him without him asking me for the customary 5 bucks. So we all went home happy, I guess. Some of us are just on a different list. The "no-one's really heard of me yet but they might one day" list. And that's promising.

"Yet" is a powerful thing, too.

You can throw the word at the end of any task or goal you've yet to complete or accomplish, and turn the whole thing around. Make it a positive.

Eg: I haven't started my diet..yet.

Or: I haven't done the dishes...yet.

You haven't done them yet, but the implication is that you will, sometime in the not-too-distant future. You WILL get to them. You WILL get it done.

So may I bid you a fond and festive farewell and wish that all your "yets" become yesses in the not-too-distant future!

Happy Holidays!

Lights On

Well we're there finally. My episode of Moonlight airs tonight at 9pm Pacific on CBS. Here's this week's storyline:

When a cult target a young woman based on their belief that she was responsible for their leader's death, Mick offers to help her.

I get to play the cult's leader, Donovan Shepherd, whose death may be a little less final than everyone would like to believe. (And whose most terrifying weapon is his hair) I couldn't resist but give a little snap of just how creepy this guy is. Definitely a departure from my Mr Nice Guy.

I don't think I'll be booking any baby sitter roles after this one...

I Saw the Moonlight

Great news. I get to play two of my longtime character dreams in one role. Can't go into detail (as usual), except to say I'm a guest star on new TV show Moonlighting, which follows vampire investigator (or investigating vampire) Mick as he solves crimes and battles evil. The show was Number 1 in it's Friday night slot last week, so a good episodic to get on!

I also read for a feature called The Human Contract, written and directed by Jada Pinkett Smith. Got to meet Jada, too, which was a treat. She was really warm and engaging and yes - she is gorgeous.

Moonlight airs Friday nights on CBS. Look out for a very different, follicly enhanced Gideon five weeks from now.

You won't be inviting this character over to babysit the kids...

Greetings from Temecula

Indie coming-of-age feature Greetings From the Shore opens the Temecula film festival today and I'm off to check it out. It's my first film festival (I know - you'd think I go to these all the time), so I'm keen to see what's what. I played a supporting role of a Russian sailor who's a migrant laborer on the Jersey shore.

Leads Kim Shaw and David Fumero are great as the unlikely couple who hook up one summer. It was a great opportunity working in the picture postcard town of Lavalette and to play with the gang, which included good buds Lars Arentz-Hansen and Ron Geren - and our intrepid leader, Greg Chwerchak.

For more info, you can visit the Temecula Film Fest website.
There's also a great review of the film HERE.

Apparently we get ferried to the red carpet in vintage cars! I can see the puzzled expressions on people's faces now, as I cruise by in my open-top MG: "Who the %&$# is that?!"

Hehehe.

Not a bad way to spend your birthday...

Hair

Not the musical. Real hair. Folicles. I'm talking about that dead tissue that collects and gathers round the neck. Mine is clearly growing out of control, thanks in part to recent movie role that required me not to touch it. 8 weeks after that request I have a mop that no-one would touch - not even me. The Malawian government even has a phrase for it: "Hair falling in bulk to the collar". It's illegal!

I blame Armenia. Or at least one of it's flock; my hairdresser Marta, who decided to "retire" and not tell me. Quite why a woman in her 30s feels the need to retire from hair dressing is beyond me. Maybe she grew tired of looking at scalps all day. Maybe there's a breaking point at around 10,000 heads. Or maybe it's just me.

In any event (and this really IS an event) I have no stylist. I'm not shy to say it, but I like my stylist. She cuts my hair well. Very well. Better in fact than any of her predecessors. She's also the only person to touch my hair since I moved to the States 4 years ago. And now she's gone. And I do not want to jump on just anyone's stool. I've done that before and it's not a happy place - I am always the guinea pig for some new style that has yet to (and will probably never) catch on. It doesn't matter if I say "Just a little off the front please". I'll get a short back 'n sides. It's inevitable.

So in the meantime, I have a mullet in training. And at the risk of this sounding awfully similar to a, well, similar post I made a couple years ago, I am in sore need of a snip. It's not easy, people. If they get carried away, I need to get new headshots. And headshots in LA don't come cheap. So it's really a critical business decision. (He said hastily, to avoid casting assertions on his own sexuality)

That said, business is good. I've booked a couple of video game voices since being back home. No acting work - only 2 castings. No callbacks. Maybe that's cos the voices are off-camera.

Hmmmm...

I might have a point there...

Back to Work

..or looking for work. Yes, I'm back in LA at last. Haven't missed not driving for 5 weeks - it's convenient having a driver. Very convenient. Reduced stress. You can drink without the fear of being pulled over. Funnily, most taxi drivers in Bulgaria drive with a little plastic cup - of espresso. Love it. They'll come to a traffic light and have a little sip. I could be a taxi driver too, if the coffee's good. I would need a sound proof partition for my passengers, though - I can't stand back seat drivers. Nor do I enjoy laughter. From anyone. I always think they're laughing at me. Which makes me rather angry. And potentially violent. And if I kill or maim a client, I may lose my taxi license and there goes my dream gig right there.

Also my neck's a little stiff today. Not sure if I could handle all the craning around to look at Jeff and Janet as they dig for their change in oversized leather bags. While they giggle and snort. I hate snorting. I snort too, on occasion. That's not good. I've grown less and less fond of Jeff the more I think about him. Janet's a little better. But not much.

Speaking of soundproofing, here's a snap of my home studio. Because I clearly have nothing of any import to impart. I like my mic. I like it more than Jeff.

He sounds almost life-like!

So I'm finally on the home stretch of the Train shoot. Only a few days left. Tomorrow I film my death scene. Buckets of blood, I tell you. In the meantime, a telephonic interview I did for South African website TVSA just posted online, to coincide with the SA screening of the 24 episode I'm in. It's a playable or downloadable podcast, which means you can just click on the pic of me and enjoy 10 minutes of my warbling on about life in LA and how I got the gig opposite Jack Bauer. Strictly for the committed fans I imagine, but nevertheless here's the link to the TVSA interview.

I sound more South African in this soundbite than I ever did back home. Strange that, but I think that's what LA-LA land does to a foreigner - makes him/her desperately try to assert some sense of identity. Funny.

That's all from Sofia. More news soon...