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Allison Tolman on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

Allison Tolman
Allison Tolman 1920 960 Alyshia Ochse

Allison Tolman is a Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actress who successfully avoided actually making a living in the field until she was in her early thirties. Before then, Tolman played a veterinary receptionist, personal assistant, children’s theatre teacher, vocal coach, phone sales associate, client services representative, and dog walker – never on film, but in her actual life in order to pay her rent. However, in the fall of 2013 she landed a seminal role in FX’s Fargo and quit her last day job. Her performance as Molly Solverson put her on the map and garnered her a Critic’s Choice Award.

Born in Houston, Texas- Allison holds a BFA in theatrical performance from Baylor University. After graduation, she moved to Dallas where she helped found and foster the independent ensemble-based non-profit Second Thought Theatre, while also learning that being an adult is super hard. In 2009, she relocated to Chicago and was accepted into Second City’s Conservatory Training Program. She went on to write and perform comedy in some of Chicago’s finest dive bars before relocating to California in 2014. There she continues to act, write, and lie to herself about one day doing the nine mile hike in her area where you supposedly get to see a waterfall. Other notable roles include Natalie in The Facts of Life, Live!, Mary Pat in Good Girls, Alma in Why Women Kill, and Seemingly Normal Woman that time she met Katey Sagal at a party. She currently lives in Hollywood with a toothless cat named Bud who enjoys lying on wrapping paper and sneezing directly into her face.

Resources

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EPISODE CREDITS:
  • WRITER: Lizzy Dalla Betta
  • SOUND DESIGN: Zachary Jameson
  • WEBSITE & GRAPHICS: Chase Jennings
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  • SOCIAL OUTREACH: Bebe Katsenes

074: Katie O’Brien & Katy Colloton
074: Katie O’Brien & Katy Colloton 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Today we’re chatting with TWO extraordinary women who took the advice we’ve all heard, “Create your own content,” to the extreme and landed themselves with Series Regular, Writing, and Producing roles on their own comedy show on TV Land. These ladies began performing together in sketch groups in Chicago, where they created their own short-form webseries that ultimately lead them to Los Angeles, where they sold their show TEACHERS to TV Land. 50 episodes later, and they’re here to share what they’ve learned about acting, producing, auditioning, and being a boss!

Katie O’Brien hails from Omaha, Nebraska, but is now an actress and comedienne living and working in Los Angeles. Katie has appeared in Nora Ephron’s, Love, Lost and What I Wore, Key and Peele, and is currently one of the creators, writers, executive producers and stars in TV Land’s hit, underground comedy, Teachers. Katie has also appeared on the Today Show, Comedy Central’s @ Midnight and Kocktails with Khloe.

Katy Colloton is one of the creators, executive producers, writers and actors on the TV Land show Teachers.  This year she has developed TV for NBC Universal and a feature with Bluegrass Films and Scott Stuber.  Katy received her B.A. in theater and psychology from Vanderbilt University.  Before moving to LA, Katy performed comedy in Chicago at Second City, iO, and The Annoyance Theater.

 

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Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“There was so much we learned. It taught me to trust my instincts…I don’t really believe people buy a show, I think they buy your voice…Trust your instincts. They’re buying what you love.”

“So much of this experience for me was that everybody knows more than I do. Because I’ve never done this before. But then I realized, no, nobody knows what they’re doing. Everybody is faking it till they make it.”

“The only thing you have to offer, that’s different than everyone else, is You. I formed a million sketch groups to get attention and be seen. Do a webseries to get noticed, yes. But create something that you want to create, who cares if everyone says no one’s going to watch that.”

VIDEOS:

Alanna Ubach on That One Audition with Alyshia Ochse

068: Alanna Ubach
068: Alanna Ubach 1500 750 Alyshia Ochse

Alanna Ubach has cultivated a career marked by the kind of range that many actors dream of. A bonified character actress,with equal parts grit and grace, she is unequivocally honest about her experience in Hollywood, generously sharing what she’s learned along the way.

Hardly recognizable from one character to the next, Alanna Ubach has starred in nearly 150 theater, film, and TV projects. Born in Downey, California to a Mexican-born mother and Puerto Rican father, Ubach has been a working actress since childhood. Following her television debut on “Romper Room,” she joined the Lee Strasberg Institute’s Children’s Program. At 15, she fearlessly travelled to New York to star in WPA’s Off-Broadway production of “Club Soda.”

She made her mark in the industry playing the family housekeeper-turned wedding caterer and Gaylord’s first lover in “Meet the Fockers,” the sorority sister/best friend to Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde,” and the sex-starved Israeli neighbor on “Hung.” In addition to her role as Jo on Bravo’s first original scripted series, “Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce,” She can also be heard lending her voice to Disney/Pixar’s Oscar winning animated film “Coco,” featuring an all-Latino cast, where she plays great-great-grandmother Mama Imelda.

Tune in

Listen On iTunes

 

Resources

LINKS:
QUOTES:

“Every time you get some kind of offer or opportunity, just be the lights. I’ve been trying to be the lights forever.”

“When the ego comes into play, that is the beginning of cancer for the artist”

“Rejection is God’s protection.”

009: Gillian Vigman
009: Gillian Vigman 1500 1000 Alyshia Ochse

Gillian Vigman deems herself a late bloomer to the acting game, but she has always been an entertainer. She hailed from Second City in Chicago, but didn’t give Los Angeles a try till she was 30 years old. A comedic genius with a self-depricating heart of gold, this woman knows how to make the uncomfortable job of auditioning into a humorous experience for everyone involved. Life has come full circle for Gillian from being taught by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler back in Chicago to now sharing the screen with them. Gillian held down multiple jobs for years to support her craft and find her “special something” that made her stand out from the crowd. Comedy. Life with Gillian is a constant chuckle, even as she journeys down the tragic moments of her career, she does so with such wit and amusement. You don’t want to miss a moment of what might come out of this woman’s mouth. Her story defies the Hollywood idealism of age and success. Her amusing approach to auditions has left an impactful imprint on my heart and to the Hollywood casting gods. Gillian has worked in over 70 television and film projects and countless commercial campaigns. She is most recognizable as “Jack’s wife” in many Jack in the Box commercials and Bradley Cooper’s wife in all the Hangover movies, but also for notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on the sketch series MADtv. Gillian appeared in the critcially acclaimed show Son’s & Daughters, Californication, New Girl, Suburgatory, Parks and Recreation, Dr. Ken, Life in Pieces, and Scrubs.

Gillian currently can be seen in THE HOUSE with Amy Poehler and Will Ferrel, in HBO’s show DIVORCE and new CW show LIFE SENTENCE.

Tune into our interview right HERE

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ALYSHIA OCHSE

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

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