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Playhouse West

010 Cassidy Freeman on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

Cassidy Freeman
Cassidy Freeman 1920 960 Alyshia Ochse

A Sweet Kind of “Fuck It”

Today’s guest grew up the daughter of two prominent Chicago attorneys and the youngest of three siblings immersed in the arts. Everyone welcome: Cassidy Freeman. Her poise, work ethic and determination to constantly challenge herself quickly paid off. She embraced her old soul and let go of her aspirations of being an ingénue which immediately led to her first big break. Not knowing what a “stand in” or a “#2 on a call sheet” might deter other folks, but not Cassidy. She used that experience on her first big show as her TV Acting grad school.

You’ve definitely seen her in the star turning role as “Tess Luthor” on SMALLVILLE and she continued to THE PLAYBOY CLUB, VAMPIRE DIARIES, LONGMIRE and THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES. But before blazing the small screen with these credits, she had to learn some hard lessons along the way that led her to have fun when acting…especially for auditions.

We go from 7 year old Cassidy gracing the stage of The Chicago Lyric Opera to performing at The Atlantic Theater in New York City at 22 years old, with some sound advice from a close Broadway novice that completely shifted her dreams to Broadway by way of TV. She shares her appalling experience of auditioning for a prominent Casting Director who gave her advice that she still thinks about to this day. You will hear why acting is the one art form you can’t do in a vacuum since we have to listen in order to be present which is why she still takes classes at Playhouse West to this day. This is why she continues to redefine success to this day by loving life by living it.

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“You have to keep redefining your idea of success. We are changing all the time.”

“You gotta live your life and love it.”

“Would you rather get a part where you are ‘not being you’ and have to ‘not be you’ for the entire job or would you rather NOT get the part and ‘be you’?”

Credits:

  • WRITER: Juan Francisco Villa
  • SOUND DESIGN: Zachary Jameson
  • WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
  • ASSISTANT: Elle Powell
  • SOCIAL OUTREACH: Bebe Katsenes
030 Ahna O'Reilly - Square (2)

S2 030: Ahna O’Reilly
S2 030: Ahna O’Reilly 750 750 Alyshia Ochse

Kismet and a Work Ethic to Back It Up

Ahna O’Reilly is an American actress from Northern California but also grew up all over France and Washington State. She attended USC for one year as an English major before she dropped out to pursue acting and never looked back.

Ahna forayed her great love of literature onto the screen starring in an adaptation of Steinback’s IN DUBIOUS BATTLE, and two Faulkner adaptions, AS I LAY DYING, and THE SOUND AND THE FURY. She has also graced the Off-Broadway stage in THE LONG SHRIFT at the Rattlestick Theater and THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, which won three Lucile Lortel Awards, including Outstanding Revival.

Appeared in nearly 50 films to date, including such marquee films as FRUITVALE STATION, MARHSHALL, JOBS, and BOMBSHELL, Ahna is perhaps best known for her breakout role in THE HELP, for which she won a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

She is currently starring in Apple TV’s THE MORNING SHOW.

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“I was really driven by how much I LOVED Elizabeth (my character) — I loved the book, I loved the dialect, I just loved it so fiercely!”

“You do realize how different it is; what we think something is going to do for us, and the reality.”

“What makes you an interesting actor in the long run is the life you live.”

VIDEOS:

Credits:

  • WRITER: Nicole Steinwedell
  • SOUND DESIGN: Zachary Jameson
  • WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
  • ASSISTANT: Elle Powell
  • SOCIAL OUTREACH: Bebe Katsenes
Leven Rambin on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

066: Leven Rambin
066: Leven Rambin 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Our episode today is a must listen for actors who want to learn how to orchestrate a career. This is an conversation about empowering yourself as an artist, about staying power, about the necessity to invest in yourself, and the importance of having a vision of where you want to go in your career and how to align everything in your life around that vision. Our guest today has fully arrived as an artist and is here to stay!

Leven Rambin is an award winning actress and director originally from Houston, Texas who trained and taught at Playhouse West in New York City. Leven began her career at just thirteen years old on the set of “All My Children” as Lily Montgomery. Since then she’s worked on dozens of films, including “The Hunger Games,” “Chasing Mavericks,” “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters,” and “Two Night Stand.” Most recently she starred in Ramaa Mosley’s independent film “Lost Child” as an army veteran who has returned to her home in the Ozarks to find a young, mysterious boy in the woods. She is currently working on the film “London Calling” with Ron Perlman and Malcolm McDowell and “The Dirt,” which follows the origin story of Mötley Crüe. Her television credits include “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “One Tree Hill,” “Scoundrels,” “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “The Tomorrow People,” and “Private Practice.” Leven joined the cast of “True Detective” in the shows second season before portrating Chloe Jones on Hulu’s “The Path,” starring alongside Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan. She is currently leading WGN’s crime drama “Gone” with Chris Noth and Danny Pino. “Gone” follows Leven Rambin’s character Kick Lannigan, a survivor of a famous child-abduction case, after joining a special task force dedicated to solving missing person and abduction cases.

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“Invest in yourself, have a vision of where you want to go, operate from that vision. I’m constantly evolving and becoming what it is that I still want to become.”

VIDEOS:

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ALYSHIA OCHSE

Los Angeles-based actress, bestselling author, host of That One Audition podcast, entrepreneur, & mother.

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