EC132_Guide.pdf

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 132

TOPICS

Ask an American: Working as an actor in Los Angeles; nevertheless versus

despite versus even though, to screw up

_____________

GLOSSARY

to be driven – to have a strong desire for and to work hard to do something; to

have high motivation to achieve something

* It takes many years of schooling to become a doctor, so students must be very

driven to want to enter that profession.

craft – profession; activity requiring a high level of skill or ability

* Douglas is spending the summer working with a master wood-worker to

develop his craft.

rejection – dismissal or refusal because someone or something is not good

enough or does not meet the requirements

* It was difficult for Mark to continue applying for jobs after getting so much

rejection.

to get crushed – to be very disappointed; to have a strong feeling that one has

failed

* Celia was crushed when she didn’t win the award for the best science project.

headshot – a photograph of a person’s face, usually used by actors to apply for

jobs

* The photographer took these headshots of me, but I don’t think they are very

high quality. What do you think?

casting – the process of selecting actors for a play, television show, commercial,

or movie

* For this movie, the casting director is looking for two women in their 20s who

can sing and dance.

submissions – applications; proposals

* How many submissions did we get for art contest?

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 132

studio – a movie or television company that produces shows or films

* The major Hollywood studios are making more movies this year than ever.

eye contact – looking directly at someone’s eyes while they look back at yours

* I had a fight with Dean yesterday and at today’s meeting, I tried to make eye

contact with him, but he kept looking away.

to prep – to prepare; to get ready

* Let’s make this chicken for dinner tonight. Do you know how to prep it for

cooking?

to be off – to be finished; to complete something and then leave

* We just need write this letter and then we’re off.

nevertheless – in spite of; however

* It’s raining very hard outside. Nevertheless, we need to find our missing dog

before it gets dark!

despite – even though, in spite of

* Our city had a lot of visitors this year despite a very hot summer.

even though – despite; in spite of; although

* Even though they were friends, Bea decided not to lend a large amount of

money to Josh because she didn’t think he could pay it back.

to screw up – to make a mistake; to make an error; to do something wrong

* Nick really screwed up on his class project and the teacher gave him a very

poor grade.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 132

WHAT INSIDERS KNOW

Typecasting

When an actor plays a “memorable” (difficult to forget) role, he or she may get a

lot of praise for their performance. However, there is a “downside” (problem) to

playing a famous role: typecasting. “Typecasting” happens when an actor is

strongly identified with a specific character and has difficulty getting other acting

jobs because casting directors don’t think the audience will believe in them as a

different character. For example, in the 1950s, the actor George Reeves who

played the superhero Superman in a popular television series called The

Adventures of Superman had a hard time finding other work in movies because

of typecasting. In the 1970s, the actor, Mark Hamill, played the lead character

Luke Skywalker in the very successful and popular Star Wars movies, and he

also had difficulty finding other acting work.

Typecasting can also happen when an actor is identified as only good for certain

acting roles because of a “character trait” (characteristic; feature) or because of

their “ethnic” (related to a specific cultural or racial group) background. Beautiful

blond actors may only get roles as dumb and “frivolous” (not serious; silly)

women. An African American actor may easily get roles as rap singer, but has

difficult getting the role of a scientist or a family man. An Asian American actor

may get roles as the serious student or doctor, but gets “passed over”

(dismissed; not considered) for the roles of a “leading man” (the main actor,

usually in a romantic role).

Some actors, especially those who have already been successful, try to avoid

typecasting. A recent example is the actor Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the

character Harry Potter in the popular Harry Potter film series. After completing

several Harry Potter films, he starred in a theater play where he plays a very

“risqué” (surprising or shocking because of the sexual nature) role that involves

adult themes and sex. By doing this play, he let people know that he was willing

to move beyond the role of Harry Potter.

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

English as a Second Language Podcast

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 132

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

You’re listening to ESL Podcast’s English Café number 132.

This is the English Café episode 132. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming

to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles,

California.

We have a website – oh, yes we do! Our website is eslpod.com. You can go

there to download a Learning Guide for this episode to help you improve your

English even faster. You can also take look at our ESL Podcast Store, which has

some additional courses in business and daily English I’m sure you’ll be

interested in.

On this Café, we’re going to do another “Ask an American” interview. This is

where we take someone talking at a normal speed, and go back and explain

what they’re saying and listen to it a couple of times. The topic today is going to

be acting, how people work as actors here in Los Angeles, what it requires, what

they have to do. Los Angeles, as you probably know, is the capital – the main

city for entertainment, movies, and television in the United States, and very

popular in other countries as well. We’ll talk about what it means to be an actor

by interviewing an actor. As always, we’ll also answer a few of your questions.

Let’s get started.

We’re talking about acting on this Café. I interviewed an actor here in Los

Angeles, Carin Chea. She’s an actor working here in Los Angeles. I talked to

her about what it means to be an actor, what it requires.

Carin is in her late 20s; she studied acting at Berkeley, a university here in

California. She also studied in New York City, at a famous acting school. She

has acted in many different plays and has done other television work, as well as

work for commercials and advertising. We’re going to start by asking her to talk

about how difficult it is to be an actor, what it requires, and what you actually do

to try to get a job. First we’ll listen to Carin speaking at a normal speed, then I’ll

explain what she said and we’ll listen to it again.

[recording]

An actor in Los Angeles has to be very driven. Umm, I personally believe that

you have to really want it, to truly love the craft of acting, because there is so

much rejection involved that if you really don’t want it, you will get crushed – your

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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ENGLISH CAFÉ – 132

soul will wither and it will die! And you know, sometimes it felt like that. But, it’s

the passion that just drives me to wake up every morning, go online to, umm,

these places called, umm, break down services online where I submit my

headshot and résumé to maybe a dozen or two dozen casting directors a day.

And maybe, out of 50 or so submissions, maybe I’ll get two auditions.

[end of recording]

Let’s go back and talk about what Carin just said. She says that an actor in Los

Angeles has to be driven. When we say someone is “driven,” we mean, in this

case, someone who is very ambitious, someone who has a lot of motivation,

somebody who really, really wants to do something. If you want to be president

of the United States, you have to be very driven; you have to have a great deal of

ambition and motivation, because it’s very difficult.

She says, “I personally believe that you have to really want it, to truly love the

craft of acting.” When we use the word “craft” (craft) in talking about someone

working, we usually mean the skill, the knowledge, the things that that person

has to do and know in order to be able to work at that job. You could talk about

the “actor’s craft,” what it means to be an actor. “Craft” has a couple of different

meanings; “craft” can also means something you make with your hands. But

here it means the knowledge and skills that you need in order to do a certain job.

Actors often talk about their work as being a “craft.” It’s not a word that you

would commonly use in most jobs, but it is one that gets used a lot to talk about

acting, especially by actors!

Carin says that there is so much rejection involved. “Rejection” is when

someone says no to you. I experienced this many times in high school and

college, and as a young adult – mostly with women! When Carin says rejection

is “involved,” that means it’s part of the process; it’s part of being an actor. She

says, “if you really don’t want it (if you’re not driven), you will get crushed.” “To

crush (crush) something” means to destroy it, to make something flat. For

example, if you have a can of soda and you crush it, you destroy it; you put your

foot on it make it flat. In this case, “to be crushed” means that you will be hurt,

you will be damaged, you will feel pain.

She then uses a somewhat poetic expression: “your soul will wither.” “Your soul

(your life force) will wither.” To “wither” (wither) means to slowly die. It’s a word

we often use to talk about a flower that doesn’t get enough sun or water; it

eventually will “wither,” it will die slowly. That won’t happen to your soul if you

don’t really want to become an actor because of all of the rejection. She says,

These materials are copyrighted by the Center for Educational Development (2008). Posting of

these materials on another website or distributing them in any way is prohibited.

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