For the purpose of this article we have to skip past the usual audition advice. You know you need to be well-prepared and a bit early. I've been telling actors for years to always hold the sides and coach whenever possible. But I want to address something more advanced. Assuming you have taken all my past advice and know what goes into a good audition, I want to help you make your audition great. Every time.

We see a lot of solid auditions. They are good. They can book. We bring these actors in again and again. But what adds your name to the short list of actors we can count on every time to come in and do inspired work? How do you come into the room consistently and show us scenes that we will remember for years?
As someone who has sat through thousands of auditions over the past twenty-five years, I can tell you that only a handful stick out on each project as truly amazing and the one thing that all those auditions have in common is that the actor chose to do something risky and specific.

Michael Shamus Wiles is one of my favorite actors. You probably saw him on Breaking Bad. I started casting him back in the 90's. He came in to read for me and the late Tobe Hooper, about a decade ago and gave one of the most memorable auditions I had ever seen. He was playing a sheriff in Pomona and needed to be threatening and ominous. He gave the character a slight stammer and these creepy, pregnant pauses. No one else did anything like this. Immediately, Michael became the guy to beat for the role. Nobody did. The part was his from the minute he started reading his sides for us.

The late, great Bruce Gray was another one of my favorites. He never came into the room with less than a truly inspired, specific choice unlike anything anyone else showed us. I watched him use posture, stance, gestures, inflections and more to create so many wonderful characters in my office. I was thrilled to hire him several times so I could see how he developed those characters even further. His genius was in the details.

For example, let's say that you are auditioning for the role of a police officer. It's a guest-star role so you can put some backstory into it. Most actors will consider the authority of the character and who is in the scene. Are you talking to a criminal or your partner? Good stuff. But you access specificity by going deeper and sometimes by going a little into left field. Think differently. What is this police officer's sense of humor? Is it ironic, glib or just plain absent in the sides? If there's room for it, tweak it without forgetting that this is a cop. The show Major Crimes does an excellent job of handling the drama well while weaving in some nice moments of humor. Identify in your sides immediately if your character might be the comic relief.

she oversees the daily strategic career and personal development of film & TV actors. Her clients can be seen on Daredevil, Timeless, Shades of Blue, Teen Wolf, Troy: Fall of a City, and more. She is also a certified life coach and business consultant, has a Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA, and is an active alumna and mentor of the non-profit Inner-City Filmmakers.

If you want to look at some amazing, specific choices that actors have made you can pick your five favorite actors, the ones that are up for awards consistently, and examine what they did in the roles that made them so specific. Of course, with auditions you don't have the role yet and you have a lot less time, but there's no better way to guarantee the work is excellent than to challenge yourself to show us even a glimpse of what you would do with the role if we cast you. A great audition is always specific.