You're walking into the audition room feeling super confident because of how well-prepared you are you've got your lines all memorized you've made some awesome choices and you're just you're just ready to rock it but right before you start they throw a curveball at you and ask so tell me about yourself do you want to know why they asked you this question you want to know what you should say and what you definitely shouldn't say I'll tell you the answers in just a sec hey guys it's Kurt from small-market actor calm in this video I'll be talking about how to deal with the dreaded tell me about yourself question I remember the first time I was asked this question in an audition and I was totally caught off guard by it the audition was for a commercial for a home improvement product and as I walked into the audition room.
I was running the lines one last time in my head to make sure I had them down when one of the clients said to me so Kurt tell me about yourself uh-huh Oh died uh I like um I like I like sandwiches okay so my actual response probably wasn't quite that bad but it was still pretty bad and here's what really sought not only was I totally unprepared for that question and had no idea how to answer it but the whole situation throughout my entire audition because I was so in my head about the stupid tell me about yourself question needless to say I did not book the job so in order to help you avoid making the same mistake I did I'm gonna share with you everything that I've learned since about why that question is asked and what you should and definitely shouldn't say in response while it may seem vague and meaningless to you there are actually a number of reasons why a casting director a director or a client might ask you tell me about yourself in an audition room.
So here are the top three reasons one they want to get a sense of your personality casting decisions aren't made on the basis of acting ability alone clients are also looking at the real person they'll be working with on set so a big reason why this question is asked is to strike up a conversation with you to make sure that you're a nice person to be around and you're in a total nut case - they want to see if your personality translates to the camera guess what even though this isn't part of your actual audition they'll be recording your answer to this question why because your ability to look comfortable natural and real on camera even in an unscripted situation like this will be a big factor in their decision sometimes on a shoot the director will ask the actors to improvise some dialogue they need to see that you're not gonna totally freeze up if that happens three they want to see you tell a story actors are storytellers whether you're in a play a movie a TV show or you're given a commercial you're telling a story of some kind.
So if you're able to show them that you can tell an entertaining or compelling story of your own it would give them much more confidence that you're the right person to tell their story okay now that we know why you're being asked that tell me about yourself question let's talk about how to answer it now I can't tell you exactly what to say because this is a personal question that you're gonna have to answer based on your own life but I can give you a few general tips first talk about something you're genuinely enthusiastic and passionate about your energy will be contagious and will get them excited about your audition and more importantly it's gonna look a lot better and a lot more interesting on camera to see somebody with some life in them rather than someone who just stands there.
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