'Practice' Makes For Perfect Opportunities

As we hung up the phone with our manager it occurred to us that the audition we just received was to be held at a casting office we had been to before.

Ellery had been up for a part on Gray’s Anatomy, but unfortunately for us casting went with a different ethnicity – they had informed us upfront that it was between the two children. That's just one of those situations that I think every actor faces. As a parent I guess you just have to let your child know that she did her best and the decision had nothing to do with her performance or talents. In entertainment, sometimes it just comes down to the desire for "a different look," and if a child can learn that early on , they can take such situations with stride and even be happy for the chosen fellow actor.

But for Ellery, here was the great news: the audition we were now being called for was for the new ABC spin-off series of Gray’s Anatomy, Private Practice. We knew casting had thought well of Ellery; she was the only girl at the Gray’s Anatomy callback!

So here she was back with the same casting team and auditioning for Private Practice. She gets a callback! Thank you! Then she went on to book the episode! It’s called “In Which Addison Finds The Magic;" we are thrilled! As an extra bonus, one of Ellery’s friends was cast as her big sister; how fun is that?

Ellery shot for six days at Raleigh Studios. She had a fantastic time. The director, writer, producer, cast and ABC were all wonderful to work with.

So what’s the moral here? Well, we realized that Casting remembers your performance and rewards you when the right part for you comes up - for us it came sooner than later. It’s just another “small world, what goes around comes around, you never know who’s watching, and don’t burn bridges” kind of experience.

Our ambition is to always do our best, be prepared, practice the character and know that casting is always watching. Plus something that is easy to forget: they want you to do well and they will not forget a well done audition.

~CS