Casting Director Renee Godbout explains why daytime television might be the perfect place for you or your child to start acting
By Renee Godbout
Daytime television is a great place for actors of all ages to excel in their career, but it can be an especially good experience for younger actors. I’ve found daytime to be a very supportive environment, which is exactly what young actors need to succeed.
While working at two ABC daytime dramas, General Hospital and Port Charles, I saw firsthand the growth of two young actors. I was honestly excited to see where their careers would go and a decade later was able to say so to one face to face.
Carly Schroeder, who was only seven when she started working as Serena Baldwin on Port Charles, recently starred in the film Gracie and costarred with Harrison Ford in Firewall. I met her briefly at the premiere party for Gracie, where she told me how much she loved her time on Port Charles.
I spoke occasionally with actors, although most of my interaction with them was when we needed scripts signed for charities. But I even had my own script signed before I left my internship and one of those signatures was from a young actress, Amber Tamblyn.
Amber spent almost 6 years at General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine and has since then gone on to star in the CBS series Joan of Arcadia, two Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies, and will be starring in a new series The Unusuals, which will be airing midseason on ABC!
If you or your child has the opportunity to work on a daytime drama, take a cue from Amber Tamblyn: It’s important as an actor to know when is the best time to leave daytime in pursuit of other opportunities.
Renee Godbout - Freelance Casting Director. Renee Godbout recently worked on the first season of The CW's popular teen show Gossip Girl at Grant Wilfey Casting. Some past projects include 2 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the pilot for Dirty Sexy Money, and the Jonathan Demme-directed Rachel Getting Married.
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