Missi Arrives - Advice Dispenser
Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 2:23PM - by Missi Pyle
So Hello and Welcome to The Film E -- The Missi Experience! I'll be guest-blogging for the next 24 hours.
First of all. I always feel a bit like a con artist or something when I am interviewed. I read other actors interviews and I always think. Oh thats how you do it. Thats how you say it. I feel often like a charlatan. Other actors - they seem to be super picky. Or somehow more artistic. But me, I will pretty much do anything. I say yes to literally 90 percent of jobs that come to me. I am so happy and truly shocked to be a working actor.
WITH MEKHI PHIFER ON SET
I was on a set yesterday with Mekhi Phifer. We are doing this crazy low budget Virus movie and we have to wear hazmat suits and helmets and tape or gloves on and we were doing this scene where we are leaving the safe compound and going on a mission to find uninfecteds and we go through this tunnel and we are on this shitty bus whacking stunt people with rubber bats and crow bars and I was just laughing because its like -what the fuck are we doing? We are grown ups who leave their home and go to work and play dress up and make believe. And its awesome.
And then after like 11 hours you get so tired. And you get pissy and want to go home but then its like:
I am getting paid for this.
God. I don't know how anybody makes it as an actor. Really. I look back at my journey. And I think about how much LUCK had to happen. But you know what they say about luck. 'When hard work meets opportunity...'
I went to North Carolina School of the Arts and it was an incredible school. But before that I ended up in a small town in Tennessee called Germantown. This was after my parents divorce. My mom married a German dude and we moved there. Totally unrelated. He was probably the only German in all of Germantown. Anyway, This school randomly had this magical Drama program led by this man Frank Bluestein. He was this gothic southern Jewish man. He is truly one of the most incredible humans I have ever met. I wouldn't be where I am without him. He just never would accept the words "I can't". So they left my vocabulary.
And I guess that would be my advice to young actors:
AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997) at the very beginning...Take the words "I can't" out of your vocabulary.
And work hard. Harder than you think you need to. And try not to compare yourself to other people in the room when you are auditioning or, really, ever. You are uniquely you and that is what everyone is looking for. Someone who is genuinely just themselves. I think.
Anyway. thats it for advice. Oh and move to Atlanta. You will get mountains of work there.
previous Missi...
Gone Girl & Nancy Grace
Reader Comments (15)
A pleasure to have you here, Missi!
I'm surprised that Atlanta has lots of work for actors! I guess I have the notions of NYC and LA as the hub to get gigs. Virus sounds fun/ridiculous/awesome!
So happy you're joining us, Missi, and really appreciate the good-humored but earnest and reassuring advice. Works for many other careers, too!
So glad "Sage Advice" is now a clickable Label on TFE blog posts. I'll never have to go anywhere else!
Welcome! So glad you were able to find the time to to do this. I remember seeing you the first time as the actress with all the flowers to Tori Spelling's none in Trick, you were so funny, and in dozens of different shows and movies since. Looking forward to what The Missi Experience will have in store for us over the next 24 hours.
Great start. You've set the bar high for yourself. Looking forward to the day.
Hello, Missi!
Your presence here reminds me I am way behind on seeing Gone Girl, so I am going at 10 tonight. I love the idea of a fictional take on Nancy Grace!
Hi Missi! So excited you'll be around for the day. The combo of the picture and the first paragraph made me lowkey belly laugh—no small feat mid-finals. So this rulez.
When you write your memoirs, there needs to be a chapter called "The Only German Dude in All of Germantown."
SAN FRAN -- Brilliant. See Missi can consider the blogging her rough draft memoir pitch. Publishers interested should get in line before it's long.
i also think this needs to be the name of a forthcoming Missi Pyle song.
Oh, Missi, so brilliantly funny and underrated. <3
Love this! Thanks for joining us, MIssi! Adds even more vibrancy to the blog. Can't wait to hear more..especially if you got thoughts to share on working silently in The Artist :)
Oh, and I can't forget to post my favorite picture of Missi and La Pfeiffer!
http://cache3.asset-cache.net/gc/107267353-actors-missi-pyle-and-michelle-pfeiffer-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=R4V%2FQay2ANwpmCZhkZDSEpzaYZOrj5fItAIRT4XRTE3Oul8F%2Bio1IdltOXbTAhTF
Two queens!
Oops, forget that last link:
http://i57.tinypic.com/2vsrhb5.jpg
<3 Lovelies
Mekhi is so damn hot! Do you have any sex scenes with him? You know, after dealing with the whole virus thing.
For some reason I had always thought she was in The Wedding Planner as Matthew's fiancee. Apparently not!
Just had to say I trully luv U! You do have a lot of brazilian friends!